The celebrated Montessori philosophy of child development and education can easily be applied to infants at home. Founder Dr. Maria Montessori believed that a child’s mental development begins at birth and grows with the greatest intensity during the first three years of life. While your child is in this “absorbent” state of mind, there’s no better time or place to foster your child’s education than in your home.

I’m sure you’ve heard of helicopter parenting by now. It’s that thing we do (and we all do it, at least a little bit) when we hover over our child’s life, making sure everything’s okay and diving in to intervene whenever they hit a little rough patch.

Today’s blog is brought to you by our guest blogger, KellyAnn Mcnamara, the Assistant Director of Training, Policies & Procedures. One question that all of our teachers hear from our parents is “What can I do at home?” It is natural for families to want to feel connected to their child’s school and our teachers absolutely love when a child can show off their Montessori skills at home. However, deciding how to integrate Montessori into your home may be a daunting task. The Montessori curriculum is made up of so many beautiful areas-sensorial, language, geography, math, etc. but one of the easiest areas to incorporate into your home is Practical Life.

6 Tips for Managing Those Big Emotions The first day of school is a major milestone for your child. It’s a huge one for you, too. A few years ago, I took my son to school for his very first day of kindergarten. When I walked him up the hill to the school grounds, it dawned on me: I had never been without him. From the moment he was born to this very first day of school, he was never far away. When he wasn’t in my arms or just in front of me, I could always look at him on the baby monitor or hear him playing in the next room.

Last week while watching a tennis match between two young girls, I was reminded of the importance of teaching a child to be a good sport. While both girls were skilled and competitive, one of the girls was very loud and aggressive on the court, yelling and throwing her racquet when she missed a ball. The ill-mannered girl won the first set and gloated over her victory. The other girl was obviously distracted by her opponent’s outbursts and rude behavior.

One of the tenets of Apple Montessori Schools’ approach to child development and education is to encourage children to be independent and express themselves, while at the same time be respectful of you and others.

What does it mean to have a memorable summer? For many of us, it’s relaxing on the beach or throwing backyard cookouts. But for our children, an unforgettable summer looks very different.

Mindfulness means being aware of the present moment, focusing on what’s happening now, and experiencing it in a non-critical, non-judgmental way. That can be difficult for a parent to do when you’re feeling stressed or tired and your child does something you don’t like or is being difficult. That’s when you need to take a minute and stay calm before reacting in frustration or anger.

Recently, my brother and I were laughing about when we were four and six years old, we would spend hours in our home’s bedroom hallway spinning in circles, chanting “China, China, China.” My mother asked why we did that. We replied, “We are drilling ourselves to China to build a castle.” My brother wondered who gave us that idea that we could dig to China. I said I don’t think anyone told us what to do, we were just having fun with the freedom of moving, spinning, and letting our creativity and imagination develop a story and purpose around what we were doing. We created our own unique activity and entertainment with some very simple, carefree movements.

With the start of the school year just around the corner, we’re willing to bet there is a bit of nervousness mixed in with the excitement. That’s understandable. Even if it’s not your child’s first year at school, it can still feel like a major change after the summer break.