The first phase of the child’s educational development begins from zero to six years.  The child is partly at home and partly in school, so the school should emulate as much of the home environment as possible to make it inviting and comfortable for the child.  Children need to be with other children or other people beside their parents to begin the process of independence.  For example, they can learn the practical things in life like dressing themselves and feeding themselves as well as cleaning and cooking.  They need to do this in a social setting.  They need their environment in their own size to have the freedom to do what they need to do themselves.  Dr. Montessori said it best.  “Liberty is not to be free to do anything one likes; it is to be able to act without help”.[1]  In this social setting, they learn to be socially responsible. They learn manners and respect for others.  They learn to emulate people who dress well and want to know how to care for themselves.  In this small environment, they are in their own home and feel a sense of dignity and control over their own life.  They feel safe in this environment.  They feel belonged, it belongs to them. Once they feel that ownership, they will feel the need to protect it. They become more careful, more harmonious with each other so as not to disturb that sense of peace and order. This kind of environment is vital to the periods of sensitivity for the child. Social development is not only interaction through play. It is the daily activities in our community.

The environment of the modern era is so varied and complex.  A child facing the world for the fist time could not help but feel confused and even scared.  Eventually, they must come to terms with the world.  This can be achieved only through experiences.  We must give them the freedom to gain these experiences in their own way, free from adult interventions and prejudices.  They must learn to live with the rules of life. The Montessori education bridges the gap between the adult world and the child’s world through prepared environment. A general characteristic of a Montessori environment is a child-centered environment. We are developing the child’s whole personality and not simply academics. We are respecting the child’s rate of development and each child varies.  The environment fosters a type of self-education and this requires repetition to develop physical as well as intellectual skills. The environment builds the skills for independence because it fulfills a biological need, necessary and vital for the formation of child’s personality.  This independence means that they can choose any material to work with, repeat it as often times as needed and terminate it when their inner self felt that the work has been done and their needs satisfied. They use concrete objects that have abstract purpose. They are helped only when absolutely needed for every useless aid hinders the development of the child.

In a prepared environment, all the equipments are proportionate to the size of the children so that they can freely move about intelligently.  Shelves are low and very simple for the children to reach. Materials are carefully spaced so as not to feel too crowded. The prepared environment is not meant to reproduce an adult world in miniature size, as if it were a dollhouse.  Neither is it to distort reality into a make-believe world like Disneyland. The prepared environment brings the big wide world of the adult “within reach of the child at whatever stage of development it is at any given moment”.[2]

[1] Mario M. Montessori, Jr., Education for Human development: Understanding Montessori.  The CLIO Montessori Series Volume 11, Oxford, England, 1999, Page 18.