
Practical Life is an essential part of the Montessori curriculum. Students begin as early as 18 months old working on daily living skills. The areas of a Practical Life environment include; care of self, care of environment, grace and courtesy, and control of movement. Activities are carefully designed to not only prepare the child to LITERALLY become independent in all areas but also to develop the mathematical and language areas of the brain. This is accomplished when a teacher in the environment sets up each activity and presents it methodically, paying careful attention to every detail. For example, a lesson on table washing would be presented to a child starting to scrub the table at the top-moving from left to right and top to bottom. The child moves cross-body as their washing hand literally crosses from the left side of the body, past the center, and to the far right, preparing...