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A review by bookish_bailee
The Montessori Toddler: A Parent's Guide to Raising a Curious and Responsible Human Being by Simone Davies
3.0
A very accessible and enjoyable-to-read overview of facilitating a Montessori-style home. It was comprehensive if also at times repetitive, with actionable ideas and activities that I am looking forward to applying. I also appreciated the check-lists and visuals and will likely be referring back to these.
My greatest complaint about modern appropriations of Montessori is the socioeconomic privilege that often comes with the territory. Dr. Maria Montessori was class-conscious and sought to bridge the education gap caused by the class divide. Her observations and philosophies were developed with children from underprivileged backgrounds foremost in mind, and yet in the modern applications it is most often families with social or financial privilege who have the greatest access to Montessori schools, "Montessori" marketed materials, time, communal support, etc. I do not feel that this book did a particularly good job addressing this problem and fed into the "montessori aesthetic".
My greatest complaint about modern appropriations of Montessori is the socioeconomic privilege that often comes with the territory. Dr. Maria Montessori was class-conscious and sought to bridge the education gap caused by the class divide. Her observations and philosophies were developed with children from underprivileged backgrounds foremost in mind, and yet in the modern applications it is most often families with social or financial privilege who have the greatest access to Montessori schools, "Montessori" marketed materials, time, communal support, etc. I do not feel that this book did a particularly good job addressing this problem and fed into the "montessori aesthetic".