Dr Montessoris Own Handbook

Project Gutenberg's Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook, by Maria Montessori This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook Author: Maria Montessori Release Date: August 8, 2009 [EBook #29635] Language: English *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DR. MONTESSORI'S OWN HANDBOOK *** Produced by Alicia Williams, Dan Horwood and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) [Illustration: Dr. Maria Montessori] DR. MONTESSORI'S OWN HANDBOOK BY MARIA MONTESSORI AUTHOR OF "THE MONTESSORI METHOD" AND "PEDAGOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY" _WITH FORTY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS_ NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS _Copyright, 1914, by_ FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY _All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages_ FASC May, 1914 TO MY DEAR FRIEND DONNA MARIA MARAINI MARCHIONESS GUERRIERI-GONZAGA WHO DEVOTEDLY AND WITH SACRIFICE HAS GENEROUSLY UPHELD THIS WORK OF EDUCATION BROUGHT TO BIRTH IN OUR BELOVED COUNTRY BUT OFFERED TO THE CHILDREN OF HUMANITY NOTE BY THE AUTHOR As a result of the widespread interest that has been taken in my method of child education, certain books have been issued, which may appear to the general reader to be authoritative expositions of the Montessori system. I wish to state definitely that the present work, the English translation of which has been authorised and approved by me, is the only authentic manual of the Montessori method, and that the only other authentic or authorised works of mine in the English language are "The Montessori Method," and "Pedagogical Anthropology." [Signed: Maria Montessori] PREFACE If a preface is a light which should serve to illumine the contents of a volume, I choose, not words, but human figures to illustrate this little book intended to enter families where children are growing up. I therefore recall here, as an eloquent symbol, Helen Keller and Mrs. Anne Sullivan Macy, who are, by their example, both teachers to myself--and, before the world, living documents of the miracle in education. In fact, Helen Keller is a marvelous example of the phenomenon common to all human beings: the possibility of the liberation of the imprisoned spirit of man by the education of the senses. Here lies the basis of the method of education of which the book gives a succinct idea. If one only of the senses sufficed to make of Helen Keller a woman of exceptional culture and a writer, who better than she proves the potency of that method of education which builds on the senses? If Helen Keller attained through exquisite natural gifts to an elevated conception of the world, who better than she proves that in the inmost self of man lies the spirit ready to reveal itself? Helen, clasp to your heart these little children, since they, above all others, will understand you. They are your younger brothers: when, with bandaged eyes and in silence, they touch with their little hands, profound impressions rise in their consciousness, and they exclaim with a new form of happiness: "I see with my hands." They alone, then, can fully understand the drama of the mysterious privilege your soul has known. When, in darkness and in silence, their spirit left free to expand, their intellectual energy redoubled, they become able to read and write without having learnt, almost as it were by intuition, they, only they, can understand in part the ecstasy which God granted you on the luminous path of learning. MARIA MONTESSORI.