In this episode, Dr S Rekha Reddy shares her experience visiting Montessori school for the first time.
A Montessori school is called ‘House of Children’ since it’s a place specifically created for the children. It is categorically different from regular schools as it has been constructed keeping in mind the specific needs of the children. It is quite an enigma to see the children work independently within the confines of discipline when they are seemingly contradictory. What is typical of a Montessori environment is the premise of this episode.

Freedom and discipline are essential in a child's development. We can observe both these in the Montessori Houses of Children. How does discipline prevail with freedom? The kinds of freedoms and their limitations in the Montessori environment.

All living and non-living things in this world are influenced by some power. Human beings are not exempt from this. The child also develops according to the rules laid by that power which Maria Montessori calls Natural Laws of Development. Understanding these laws helps us to support the child better. This episode provides a brief introduction to the Laws of Development.

This episode explores the idea of metamorphosis in children. Ordinarily, metamorphosis is associated with Insects and frogs, which go through striking transformations in their life cycle. Contrary to the popular belief that development is constantly upward, the child's development has ups and downs, births and rebirths, and metamorphosis in mental and physical aspects! This is exactly how the child develops.

This episode is about the developmental stages of the human being. It discusses the difference in growth and development and the reasons for classifying developmental stages in the blocks of 6 years.

This episode discusses how the child is born incomplete compared to the animal babies. At birth, the child has eyes but no sight, ears but no listening, hands but no grasp, legs without coordination. In short, the child is almost a mass of flesh. During the first days of life, the spirit is blown into this mass of flesh. Nature has provided the child with the powers to create his future being.

This episode presents the non-conscious powers: Absorbent Mind, Horme and Mneme in the Spiritual Embryo. While the Absorbent Mind absorbs the elements from the environment, the Mneme incarnates whatever absorbent mind has absorbed. Horme drives the child to accomplish the tasks. The child will not retain these powers forever. Once the conscious powers like Intelligence, Willpower and conscious memory are developed, the non-conscious powers, Horme, Mneme and Absorbent Mind, gradually decrease and fade away. 

This episode presents the first phase of the first plane of development – birth to three years. Its characteristics, needs, and the help required to satisfy those needs to develop to the fullest.