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Montessori’s Vision of the Child: Practical Considerations

2/25/2026

In the next few weeks, I am going to try to apply these theoretical Montessori ideas to the practicality of the Atrium environment. In this, we are looking at how to serve all children in the Atrium, particularly those children who are struggling. One question we need to ask is, “What is possible / fitting for the Atrium Environment?” Here are a few “principles” which can guide our answers:

The Atrium is a place of prayer. It is purposeful work, fitting to the developmental plane, which leads to prayer (#3 of the 32 Points of Reflection).
In the Atrium we must balance the needs of the individual and needs of the group.
We must provide an environment that has a healthy balance of freedom and limits. (Destructive, Disruptive, Dangerous, or Distracting behavior must be limited.)

Tiers of Accommodation in relation to the Atrium:

There are some children who struggle in other settings, but in the Atrium, because of the peaceful environment, they settle in and function well.
At times, one child counts as several children in order to balance the needs of the individual with the needs of the group. Thus, while we typically have a limit of twelve children in L1, a particular child might count as three children so there are only ten in that group.
If a child is struggling primarily with transitions or who is fine for a while but cannot handle the full amount of time, a parent stays outside of the Atrium and is there to take the child when (or hopefully just before!) the child is “finished.”
There are times when an extra adult is present in the Atrium, possibly 1:1 with a particular child. It is typically best that this adult not be the parent of this child. You might consider inviting a teenager to take on this role.
As we move into children who have greater difficulty being present in the Atrium, another way of serving them would be to have just a few children along with several adults present in the Atrium for a shorter amount of time.
Finally, there are some children who are best served by time 1:1 with a catechist for a very short amount time, sometimes just twenty minutes or so.

The hope, particularly for the children who fit into the tiers mentioned later in this list, would be to move towards integrating them into the regular Atrium session. However, this might take months, years, or it might never be reached. In the meantime, truly following the child means adjusting the environment for their sake and this list provides some ideas for how to do that in a way that still offers the gift of CGS to the child.

Self-Reflection Questions:

Which of the first three “principles” do you find easiest to facilitate with the children in the Atrium?
Which of them is most challenging for you?
Which “tiers of accommodation” have you tried?
Can you think of a child who might benefit from one of these options which you have not yet attempted? How might you use this list to help serve him better?

Montessori’s Vision of the Child: Overcoming Deviations

2/18/2026

Within a Montessori environment overcoming deviations is the greatest and most important goal. But what does this look like in practice? The child entering the environment at the 3yo age has his physical and mental abilities operating independently of each other. This child will constantly flit from one activity to another. The link to normalization is purposeful activity, with freedom for purposeful activity and movement involving the hand. This is often first given in EPL. The work in this area is crucial for the youngest child.

There is a three-step cycle that that Dr. Montessori identified as leading to normalization.

The first stage is to spark the child's interest or to inspire the child. This comes as a result of much observation and experimentation. The adult must have faith that there is something within the child that will respond to attempts to arouse his interest. This stage constitutes a point of departure for the child.
The second stage starts when an activity involving some physical object is presented which begins to inspire the child to focus his attention on it. Signs of concentration include focused attention, control of movement, repetition, exactness and precision, and, when finished, a sense of satisfaction and pleasure. Through this process of movement, intellect, and action of the will, the body begins to serve the mind.
Rest is part of the third stage of this process. Here the child replaces the material to end the work cycle. He may engage in a time of wandering or a drink of water or, for an older child in L1, he may take out an EPL material which is below his ability. There is a sense of satisfaction and of closure as well.

The prepared environment must be orderly, calm, and not overly stimulating for the process of normalization to be best supported. The adult in the environment must show forth these qualities. Even when presenting, the adult must realize that his job is to focus the child on the material itself and so he must present in a manner that does not captivate the child's attention but directs it to the material. The environment must also provide authentic freedom, i.e. freedom within limits.

Normalization is constantly needing to be nurtured and maintained. The educator must be constantly seeking a new and clearer attitude and outlook, observing, examining, adjusting. Purposeful work must be provided. The adult must do all that is possible to avoid random, purposeless activity because it leads to distraction. "Only one lever is capable of raising the child from the chaos of deviations to the order of normality and that is concentrated, purposeful work which varies at each level of development" (Molly O’Shaughnessy).

Self-Reflection Questions:

In what way do you struggle to “show forth” order, calmness, and a resistance to over-stimulation?
When did you experience a moment of normalization this week?
In what way was there purposeful work present in that moment?
How could you help facilitate more purposeful work for a particular child who is struggling with normalization?

Montessori’s Vision of the Child: The Process of Normalization

2/11/2026

Normalization is an active process. It is the process of change from the characteristics of deviations which have occurred along the way to the normal path of development. Dr. Montessori says, in fact, that "at three, when they come to us, almost all of them are suffering from some kind of abnormality which is nevertheless correctable" (The Absorbent Mind). In a prepared environment such temporary deviations can and will often disappear. The “cure,” according to Dr. Montessori, primarily resulted through purposeful work, freely chosen, done by the hands, with real objects, accompanied by mental concentration. The result is a peaceful, joyful child. “When the children had completed an absorbing bit of work, they appeared rested and deeply pleased. It almost seemed as if a road had opened up within their souls that led to all their latent powers, revealing the better part of themselves. They exhibited a great affability to everyone, put themselves out to help others and seemed full of good will." (The Child in the Family).

“Purposeful work…” The child’s whole being is focused on constructing themselves, seeking out opportunities to develop their minds and bodies. It is through work, purposeful work, that this construction occurs. I often wonder if this is one of our greatest issues; we don’t understand “purposeful work” and don’t know how to help them reach this.
“…freely chosen…” “Freely chosen” can be easily misunderstood. “If freedom is understood as letting the children do as they like, using or more likely misusing, the things that are available, it is clear that only their ‘deviations’ are free to develop” (The Absorbent Mind). What we mean by “freely chosen” is that the children have the knowledge, capacity, and opportunity to choose an activity that will best support their personal development. Limits to this freedom include choosing only what has been shown and using it in the way it has been shown.
“…done by the hands…” Particularly in L1, it is the child’s hands that are the instrument of the mind. This is why the L1 child must have the opportunity and even the limit of working primarily with sensorial, physical materials, not with paper and pencil until around kindergarten. Setting an Altar or moving sheep around the sheepfold behind the Good Shepherd connects pathways in the brain that coloring a picture will not accomplish. Moving into L2, the use of the reasoning mind necessitates bridging into using the hand as a writing instrument in connection with the sensorial materials.
“…with real objects…” Real objects focus the attention and necessitate control of movement. Carrying a glass pitcher filled with water is accompanied by the risk of spilling and breaking, something impossible when carrying an empty plastic pitcher with "pretend" water. The "reality" calls the child to concentration and care! The use of real objects lead to concentration, which is the key to it all.
“…accompanied by mental concentration.” It is not busyness or “occupation” but concentration. “The essential thing is for the task to arouse such an interest that it engages the child’s whole personality” (The Absorbent Mind). This includes the hand guided by intelligence, the uniting of physical and mental energy. For concentration to be reached, there must be interest, challenge, but also the potential for success. The right amount of interest and challenge leads to repetition and it is repetition that leads to mental concentration and focus.

Self-Reflection Questions:

When have you, personally, experienced this “cure” in your own life?
What work of the hand brought you to this type of mental concentration and focus?
Where have you seen this happen in the Atrium? With which children? Through which materials?

Montessori’s Vision of the Child: Hope!

2/4/2026

The behaviors which come as a result of these “deviations” are often so commonplace in children that we think of them as normal characteristics of childhood: overactive imagination, inattentive, messy, lazy, whiney, clingy, destructive, bored, selfish, aggressive, untruthful. While they may be commonplace, it is important that we recognize that these behaviors are not normal! Dr. Montessori herself described some of the first children she worked with as follows: “[They were] timid and clumsy, apparently stupid and unresponsive. They could not walk together and the mistress had to make each child take the pinafore of the one in front…they wept and seemed to be afraid of everything…they did not answer when spoken to. They were really like a set of wild children… (wild) in a forest of people, lost and beyond the bounds of civilized society” (The Discovery of the Child).

However, Dr. Montessori also, almost immediately, began to see a change. The personalities of the children began to be transformed. The negative behaviors and characteristics began to disappear and, in their place, the children began to show orderliness and care in their movements, focused, concentrated work, loving actions offered to one another with peaceful joy. This didn’t happen just in one environment, but, over time, it began to happen consistently across numerous Montessori environments over a great variety of cultures and socio-economic levels.

Dr. Montessori wrote, “The disorderly became orderly, the passive became active, and the troublesome disturbing child became a help in the classroom. This result made us understand their former defects had been acquired and were not innate. But all these disturbances came from a single cause, which was insufficient nourishment for the life of the mind” (The Absorbent Mind).
Led by the children, Dr. Montessori felt she had discovered their true nature. Through observing the process of “conversion” of the child, she found that the “normal” child is in no way “average.” We might, instead, say that the “normal” child is “saintly.” In fact, Dr. Montessori herself said, "[Normalization] is the most important single result of our work" (The Absorbent Mind). Instead of “conversion” to describe this phenomenon, “normalization” was used in order to indicate the child’s return to the normal, healthy course of development. "Normalization," for Dr. Montessori, was "the optimal functioning of the organism at its best" (The Absorbent Mind).

So how do we get there?? That’s the big question, right?? As we continue, please keep in mind that, in a Montessori environment, what I am about to describe would have taken place more quickly than we might experience in the Atrium. The children Dr. Montessori was observing were in a prepared environment for a significant amount of time, with consistency. We typically have children for 90 – 120 minutes/week. Montessori had two to four times that amount in a single day, five days a week. Time makes a huge difference in this process. Still, we are here to look at how to help the children we serve, and what Dr. Montessori has to say about the process of Normalization is beautiful.

Self-Reflection Questions:

How have you grown (personally) in the process of normalization / sanctification?
How has CGS Training and your time in the Atrium affected your growth in normalization?
Name children whom you have seen move towards this type of "conversion."
What was it that influenced their growth?

Montessori’s Vision of the Child: Practical Considerations

Montessori’s Vision of the Child: Overcoming Deviations

Montessori’s Vision of the Child: The Process of Normalization

Montessori’s Vision of the Child: Hope!

Carolyn Kohlhaas

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