This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Who Loves Summer School?

What do you think of year-round school? Would you like to spend your summer in a classroom? At our school we say, "When learning is doing, a classroom is just a playground for the mind."

 

Would you like to spend your summer in a classroom?  Probably not.  So why are children so happy to attend the Montessori Summer Program at Evergreen School?

Here is why: When learning is doing, a classroom is just a playground for the mind.

Find out what's happening in Wheatonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A Montessori classroom is unlike what most people associate with school.  In programs like ours, children get to make decisions about the work they choose.  Their interests and independence are honored.  A child may be so involved with building words that he or she spends all morning putting letters together. Another child may be busy manipulating numbers. And another is building a model or identifying parts of a frog.

Everything is hands-on and active.

Find out what's happening in Wheatonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Children are natural learners with absorbent minds.  In the right environment, the distinction between concepts like “work” and “play” has no meaning. There is only discovering, doing and mastering. Likewise, the distinction between “summer vacation” and “school” has no meaning.

Around the country, parents and educators are reacting to the crisis in education by experimenting with the traditional school calendar.  Year-round school is gaining popularity.  Yet if the classroom structure does not change, more time in school may not lead to more learning.  Longer hours or more months in a teacher-driven classroom may only erode students’ already flagging enthusiasm for learning.

What will improve education? More classrooms modeled on Montessori principles.

Last year, before I saw the Montessori Summer Program at Evergreen in action, I mistakenly thought that a summer in a classroom was cruel punishment.  After seeing the joy of learning continue around the calendar, I realize that no one wants a nine-week vacation from doing the things they love.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?