"Cosmic Education" is the title of Dr. Montessori’s unique method of synthesizing all education into one all-encompassing springboard for an inspired and purposeful study of a vast variety of subjects. Cosmic Education is initiated through the Great Lessons, a series of five stories which tell the beginnings of our universe. They work to lay the foundation for further exploration and engaged study by giving keys and inspiring questions instead of providing all of the answers. The Great Lessons form the basis of the innumerable directions the interest of each individual child might take. They supply the theme to which the children add variation and embellishment. As the imagination is sparked the children branch out into an infinite variety of subjects through their desire to learn more of our marvelous universe and its history. Reading, writing, and mathematics skills become tools in this process of discovery, essential helps in their search through the endless caverns of knowledge at their fingertips.
Within the Atrium, Cosmic Education has its springboard in the Great Lesson of the Level 2 (E1) Atrium, "La Fettuccia" (in Italian) or "The Ribbon." La Fettuccia follows the History of Salvation beginning with God who always existed and Who at a particular time chose to create. The moment of Creation continues even today but has been joined by a new moment, that of Redemption, with the Incarnation of Jesus in response to Mary's "Yes." We live in the moment of Redemption today, carrying His Risen Life out into the world as we await the third and final moment, Parousia. When Parousia begins it will never end and God "will be all in all" as He shares fullness of life with His creation.