Montessori Today: A Comprehensive Approach to Education from Birth to Adulthood

Lillard (Montessori: A Modern Approach) brings over a decade of experience as a Montessori teacher and administrator to this overview of Maria Montessori's teaching methods which, says Lillard, ``balance freedom with responsibility in the classroom and also set high standards of intellectual and social development for children. Lillard uses graphs to explain the fundamental difference between ``regular'' education and Montessori, showing that regular education offers an ascending, relentless scale of information and responsibility while virtually ignoring the pivotal years between birth and Kindergarten. She contrasts this with Montessori which considers the ages from birth through 24 years, and within those argues that there will be four periods of ``intense change'' in the child as well as four periods of ``slower pace.'' Lillard, co-founder, director and teacher atthe Forest Bluff School in Lake Bluff, Illinois, draws heavily upon classroom anecdotes and examples, bringing these theories to life by discussing real children and their very real imaginations, words and artowrk. Teachers of ``regular'' classrooms would gain insight from Lillard's ideas; any adult interested in children and education would find this book an important link between the ideal of liberal education and the reality of the United States' collapsing school system. (Feb.)