No and no. Never wanted kids. Even as a child I never "parented" any dolls or stuffed animals, they went on adventures. Conversely, my brother was "dad" to his Cabbage Patch Kid.
You meet a woman your age and you... immediately want her to mother you. It's not funny and I don't think many people in your life tell you that enough. It's not cute. You both are overgrown men infantalizing yourselves.
When Jessica was speaking about not praising your child, it reminded me of a story of my daughter. She placed into a higher level math class, she did not want to be in the class. I told her at least try it because she placed into it, so she should be able to keep up, she’s smart, etc. She did take the class and massively struggled. The teacher told her she should drop back down, but she did not want to. We told her it was fine, she tried, it didn’t work out, so drop back down. She was so mad at me. Through her tears, she told me “But you made me believe I could do it!” I was stunned. Wasn’t that what I was supposed to do? Turns out, that was not what I was supposed to do.
I never had any exams until SATs at the end of Primary School. This was at a state special needs Primary School in England, by the way. We did do assessments, but the teachers always made it very clear to us that they were so they could monitor what we knew and what we needed to go over again, so that they knew what they needed to teach us. There was never a big deal made of them, or an expectation to "do well", just to do our best. I don't think we were necessarily even told the result, or if we were it was a percentage not a grade, and we were told not to worry about what it was.
Weirdly enough this gave me a bit of insight into why I was so messy as a kid: I'd often get distracted halfway through doing something, and I didn't want to put things away because I hadn't finished with them, but I never ended up finishing what I was originally doing.
Hearing Jessica explain this feels like it started some kind of grieving and healing process. I wish I could go back in time, put tiny little me in a montessori kind of environment, and see how that would influence me.
Finding out about Montessori and Gentle Parenting is so interesting. Some of the things that are key in the parenting styles seem so normal and obvious to me that I find it odd that it isn't to most people. I was lucky that my parents instinctively stumbled into some of these ways of teaching so it's so fascinating. The fact that parents wouldn't explain to their kids why things had to be certain ways, or even explain what was happening is wild to me. Any time something wasn't explained to me as a kid (also to a certain extent now) I would get even more upset or frustrated. Also the whole thing of not making a massive deal over little things so later on when something big does happen you can respond quickly (both kid and parent), like how Jessica talked about the "nono cupboard". I was also allowed to bake and make crafts (even using a craft knife) earlier than most (Independently baking at 8) because a certain amount of trust was put into me (after clear guidance of course). In short I guess I just have to thank my parents 😆
Same here. By the time we had cooking classes at age 12, I could plan meals, buy groeries and cook almost independently because my mom let us kids do so when we wanted. 😊
hi! I am a student primary teacher and early years practitioner, starting a masters in education! this episode is amazing and very interesting, the thing I've gotten most from this episode is that I have noticed from my experience that a lot of the early years settings nowadays (from age 0-5), especially in Scotland draws from Montessori practices. in a lot of settings we encourage independence through table setting and self serve snack and lunch, along with continuous provision of materials around the room! in terms of discipline we also follow the idea that children need there needs met and if they are enjoying dropping things squeezing them etc, so we will set up an activity which allows them to explore this! there has been government policy which has allowed these ideas to continue into the early years of primary school which now predominantly follow a play- based way of teaching that draws from children's interests and focuses on building relationships in the classroom :) bit of positivity and hopefully a change in the experiences of children as they go through the education system!
This is maybe my favourite episode. Jess's clear enunciation and soft voice really agrees with my adhd. And early childhood education is the field I am studying towards. Perfect. This Is the second time in a row I am watching this episode. There will be a third. Thanks for the dopamine, Corey, Luke and Jess!
I love Jessica’s content and follow her too. Just hearing her speak always makes my brain happy. It makes it easier to hear and listen to what she says.❤
One of our friends has her children in a Montessori school. Her youngest is autistic and seems to be doing well, his social life just looks different. He's not afraid to reach out to husband and ask for help learning about computers and coding (He's been doing it since he was 8 ish) . I love hanging out with her kids 😅
Yay, Jessica - always love seeing collabs & cross-pollinations between the awesome creators I follow 😊 Can definitely confirm from my own childhood & early homeschooling that Montessori-type educational toys can be made on a non-existent budget, with a bit of parental time & creativity? I really wish we'd been able to afford to go into environments that respected our autonomy when we finally joined the public schooling system - it would've meant a lot less unlearning of negative imposed ideas and pointless inhibitions as an adult! 😔
Group projects in school were always the worst. As Corry said, we're not taught to work together in groups, so we get shoved together with random people and are expected to just come up with something. I was undiagnosed autistic, so working with others didn't come naturally. My parents were no help either, as my father lectured me on how I'd have to work with people I hate in the workplace when I grow up. The only good advice they gave me was that I should set out a task list for the group and run it by the teacher, so that everyone knows what they're supposed to do. When I got to university, I tried to apply this advice, but it didn't work out so well because I had no way of keeping tabs on the other group members, and there was nothing stopping them from procrastinating until the last minute. I realized I would have to take charge of the group if I wanted to get a decent grade, which meant forcing myself into a leadership role, whether they liked it or not. I would immediately outline the project, tell each group member what was expected of them, and do 90% of the legwork myself. It turns out, this worked pretty well. Sometimes you have to take the reins if you want things to go your way.
Yes, as a former primary teacher, one thing that always frustrated me was not having the time to work with students on things like that. To just do relaxed group activities where we figured out how to co-operate effectively, how to listen properly to each other, strategies for when we want different things from each other, how to speak to each other, how to accommodate each other's' needs or adapt when we have difficulties etc. There's just no time; so often that's the one lesson/period/hour in a week a teacher has to cover a particular part of the curriculum, so putting off the "real work" isn’t an option.
@@skriela-la-li9767 If you're referring to the cruelty of traditional "breaking" methods, most trainers who say "start" tend to be the ones who also use kinder methods, not just use kinder language to fool buyers/clients.
@@JennaGetsCreative Even of you use "kinder" methods, you're still manipulating them into letting you do something to them that only benefits you. The reason the horse lets you ride them isn't because _they_ want to be ridden, but because _you_ want to ride them, so you make them "want" it. The relationship is inherently exploitative. It's not like training a dog or cat to be ok with being picked up; there are plenty of ways in which being comfortable with that would be beneficial to the dog/ cat themselves, but there really aren't any situations where a horse actually needs to be ridden.
@@skriela-la-li9767the only situation i can think of where picking up a pet is beneficial to them is if they're in danger? but wouldn't it be most beneficial for them to be released into the wild? it's just curious to me how u think horse riding is so harmful, or r u against all pets?
I don't think my parents had ever heard of Montessori, but they did many things that were similar to that/gentle parenting. It might have been partly because I was naturally very self motivated, knowledge driven, kind and rule follower. -I did not really have food dropping phase as experimentation. I only dropped my salad. It wasn't because I did not like salad. I actually ate all the salad from the floor after the lunch. I just did not like warm and cold food touching. My mum learned this rather quickly. -My parents did not speek much of baby language to me. It made me upset when some other adults did that. "Do you think, I'm stupid or something?" I might have thought. -I liked listening adults talking and taking part to discussion from very early on. I am first born and was talked to like I was a human. Not a child. -I have selected my own clothes quite independently from the age of 2. Of course they told if it was cold outside, so I should select warmer clothes etc. but then I selected clothes based on that. -I around the age of 6 to 8, I had 2 home coming deadlines in the evening. One where I get the good night story/stories with parent and later one where I would not get story time...I almost always selected earlier time to get home (unless I had some really fun play ongoing with a friend). I still think this was one of their best parenting practices. I got some freedom to choose what was best for me that day, but there were healthy limits in my choices. 😍😍
I spoke about something similar to this years ago with a friend about how we think schools could be run better. Amazing to learn this is already a thing and would be amazing if we could get it to permeate through society more!
I went to a Montessori school from pre-k to 8th grade and I absolutely loved it. I am a very art driven person and for all my assignments (History, math, science, etc.) I was allowed to create art pieces. This honestly helped me to continue my passion for art later in my life (currently enrolled in Uni and majoring in animation). I never sat at a desk (we typically worked on the floor on rugs/lap desks or at a table meant for 4 people) and I always thought that the rows of desks and switching classes that I would see in movies was fake. I would have 1 teacher for 3 years and then we would “Graduate” and go to a new class. I never felt scared to ask questions or to talk to others. I loved to do group work. We asked about each other's strengths and came up with a plan based on that. I would typically create the poster board and the visuals for the subject we learned and then we would present it in front of the class and teach our friends about the subject. After the presentation if we missed explaining something the teacher would briefly teach the class what we missed and then we would move on. From 7-8 grade every 6 weeks we went on a 5 day trip to the mountains and we would be assigned into groups to learn how to do group work through fun tasks and to help build our bond as a community. And it’s true that we would serve each other food and learn to clean up after ourselves. Starting from kindergarten we would learn to cook our snacks and at lunch time we would clean the tables, fold the picnic blanket, or sweep the floor. It was truly an amazing experience and I highly recommend going to a Montessori school if you can!
Just listening to the bit on teachers around the 30 min mark and feeling a bit teary. Thank you so much for this - I promise that most of us are trying really, really hard and often don't get much support. The system changing thing is absolutely real, as well, and it's soul destroying. One more point for societal change - even when there is a political will to change to more child centred learning, this is almost impossible if the kids and families we're working with expect a sit-quiet-and-do-what-you're-told structure (speaking here as someone who tries extremely hard to avoid this format in my own classes). Because kid centred teaching and learning in large groups can look really different to what 'good' classes (aka sit quite and do as told & study 'hard' for the end of year exam) have looked like in the past, they can be poorly perceived as lacking discipline by many families. Everyone needs to be on the same page here, or it doesn't matter what the schools are doing, we will run into conflict.
I spent the first 5 years of my schooling at a self-proclaimed Montessori, and I really wish the values had been as direct and the activities as informing as they were meant to be. I had the ability to read whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, but that was essentially all that was individually guided to the extent of gaining any real independence, as everything else was done as a group without much room for variation or guidance. I struggle with executive and motor function for a multitude of reasons, and the principles of self-encouragement taught within a more nuanced model would have been very valuable to me.
I appreciated the mention of how it can be hard to get involved in Montessori stuff. I really like the method but there are no schools near us that use it, only nurseries. I have found though with my daughter's pre-school and school that they do use some of the ideas from it (such as having natural materials and different learning stations in the classroom). At home a lot of our parenting has been this style or more gentle parenting, but my kid has changed so much over time and I find myself having to change approaches a lot. I know other parents who are pretty much the same as me but their kids turn out so different. I think it's easy to say that your kid is really independent because of their learning style, but in my experience you might then find that their next stage or your next kid is totally different.
I'm currently finishing my Masters in teaching (biology and music). And it's so frustrating that even my studies (in Berlin, GER) are so out of touch with reality and the reality we face in schools and the world in general.
This is an awesome episode! I don't even have children yet, but I know that if I do have them, I'd want them to have an education like this. So, out of curiosity, I checked my city (in the US) and actually found out that there is at least one, maybe two tuition-free Montessori schools in my area. It's reassuring to know I'll have options, especially knowing how public schooling has had its funding continuously stripped over the past several election cycles. Editing to add that I found out that the second one is over 5k per school year (but dw, you can pay in monthly payments for the low low cost of $550 a month)
"breaking a horse" is a thing, it's short for breaking their spirit and comes from when we thought taming a horse was like conquering. these days equestrians say "start" instead, because we know that's absurd and gross. i wish i had been brought up montessori, it was much the opposite 😅 i don't know if i want kids because of my health issues but if i do have them, gentle parenting and montessori + a little "it takes a village" will be the way.
I have adhd & autism and had a horrible time in Montessori school. Was bullied by kids and then neglected by teachers. Like the teachers would allow the bullying which included stealing large objects of mine, as well as completely ignoring me. THis description of Montessoris being about teaching individual children based on their unique brains or learning styles is completely the opposite of how it's sometimes implemented, in my experience.
I saw Jessica in the thumbnail, and clicked right away. Glad I found your show. :) Would you please consider including human-edited subtitles/captions, instead of relying on auto-generated CC? Accessibility is important. UA-cam's auto CC are never accurate, and the uneven movement movement across the screen makes them harder to process than 1-2 static lines of correct text. (CC accuracy also increases your SEO and algorithmic reach.) I'm so glad that more people put their podcasts on UA-cam these days, because being able to pair the captions with the audio really helps me as someone with ADHD and sensory processing spiciness. Thanks ❤
@@SciGuys so you invited someone who notoriously advocates for the deaf community and you... refuse to accomodate the deaf community. I would say "do better" but I don't think it's even worth it really.
The OP asked us to consider human-edited CCs, and I explained that it’s something we are aware of, care about, & have provided in the past. We haven’t refused to consider it, we’ve just already considered it; it’s just not something that’s currently feasible for us to provide, as we don’t have the time to do it ourselves and can’t afford the cost of hiring someone else. Genuine question, how would you suggest we “do better” in this scenario?
The elementary my son goes to has actually adopted many of these things! It seems elementary has more wiggle room to adapt to better learning styles. Middle and high school are still pretty crappy though.
I mean this constructively, but this episode was a bit of a miss for me. It was interesting for sure, but it didn’t feel much like the ‘science’ of Montessori and more like a primer on the subject from an anecdotal source. I’m glad to have learned about it, and it’s made me reconsider many of my childhood experiences, but after awhile it began to feel a little like an ad for the practice.
@@SciGuys I wouldn't say the episode lacked science any more or less than any other episode, seeing as you have several episodes that aren't focused on scientific literature that I found really engaging and interesting (such as The Science of Social Interaction or The Five Stages of Grief). My gripe with this episode is how, after Corry explained who Montessori was, the episode turned mostly into an interview with the guest. This isn't inherently unusual for the podcast (The Science of Transgender Sexuality and The Science of LGBTQ+ Scientists are a couple of my favorite episodes), but in this case the guest isn't someone who worked on researching the subject, she's a practitioner of a method. That's not to say her perspective has no value (it absolutely does and I think her presence was crucial specifically her anecdotal experience and perspective), but when I finished the episode it really felt I knew more about just how well this is working for her kid then I knew about the actual topic. At the end Corry mentioned that it's a very difficult topic to research and gave a brief rundown of what research does exist, but that's in the last 3 minutes of the episode! That brief foray into the preliminary research left me with so many cool questions, and a solid hour long episode that didn't have the time for them, which left me felling disappointed, overall.
Ultimately there’s not really very much to say on the method outside discussing it’s principles, how it works, and the experiences of those using it. The research can be summarised fairly quickly & getting in the weeds with it isn’t really a great basis for an episode. What unanswered questions were you left with?
Just as the previous commenter said, it quicky turned into a wikipedia esque description of montessori. You both are clearly out of your depth here, you didn't prepare much and didn't try to connect with your lovely guest. It felt more like a presentation than a podcast. A half effort from the guys who have no idea about raising kids, montessori or having a good podcast. Something about men starting a random podcast about nothing because they have nothing better to do.
Do you have (or want) kids?
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nope and nope, i can barely take care if myself let alone a whole other human being
Yes. 2. Soon to be 3 (hopefully).
No and no. Never wanted kids. Even as a child I never "parented" any dolls or stuffed animals, they went on adventures. Conversely, my brother was "dad" to his Cabbage Patch Kid.
No and maybe
If animals count then yes and yes if not then no and maybe but only adoption
The chaotic energy of me and Corry mixed with the soothing energy of Jessica is so funny 😆I feel like she is Montessori parenting us.
You meet a woman your age and you... immediately want her to mother you. It's not funny and I don't think many people in your life tell you that enough. It's not cute. You both are overgrown men infantalizing yourselves.
When Jessica was speaking about not praising your child, it reminded me of a story of my daughter. She placed into a higher level math class, she did not want to be in the class. I told her at least try it because she placed into it, so she should be able to keep up, she’s smart, etc. She did take the class and massively struggled. The teacher told her she should drop back down, but she did not want to. We told her it was fine, she tried, it didn’t work out, so drop back down. She was so mad at me. Through her tears, she told me “But you made me believe I could do it!” I was stunned. Wasn’t that what I was supposed to do? Turns out, that was not what I was supposed to do.
I never had any exams until SATs at the end of Primary School. This was at a state special needs Primary School in England, by the way. We did do assessments, but the teachers always made it very clear to us that they were so they could monitor what we knew and what we needed to go over again, so that they knew what they needed to teach us. There was never a big deal made of them, or an expectation to "do well", just to do our best. I don't think we were necessarily even told the result, or if we were it was a percentage not a grade, and we were told not to worry about what it was.
Weirdly enough this gave me a bit of insight into why I was so messy as a kid: I'd often get distracted halfway through doing something, and I didn't want to put things away because I hadn't finished with them, but I never ended up finishing what I was originally doing.
Hearing Jessica explain this feels like it started some kind of grieving and healing process. I wish I could go back in time, put tiny little me in a montessori kind of environment, and see how that would influence me.
Finding out about Montessori and Gentle Parenting is so interesting. Some of the things that are key in the parenting styles seem so normal and obvious to me that I find it odd that it isn't to most people. I was lucky that my parents instinctively stumbled into some of these ways of teaching so it's so fascinating. The fact that parents wouldn't explain to their kids why things had to be certain ways, or even explain what was happening is wild to me. Any time something wasn't explained to me as a kid (also to a certain extent now) I would get even more upset or frustrated. Also the whole thing of not making a massive deal over little things so later on when something big does happen you can respond quickly (both kid and parent), like how Jessica talked about the "nono cupboard". I was also allowed to bake and make crafts (even using a craft knife) earlier than most (Independently baking at 8) because a certain amount of trust was put into me (after clear guidance of course). In short I guess I just have to thank my parents 😆
Same here. By the time we had cooking classes at age 12, I could plan meals, buy groeries and cook almost independently because my mom let us kids do so when we wanted. 😊
hi! I am a student primary teacher and early years practitioner, starting a masters in education! this episode is amazing and very interesting, the thing I've gotten most from this episode is that I have noticed from my experience that a lot of the early years settings nowadays (from age 0-5), especially in Scotland draws from Montessori practices. in a lot of settings we encourage independence through table setting and self serve snack and lunch, along with continuous provision of materials around the room! in terms of discipline we also follow the idea that children need there needs met and if they are enjoying dropping things squeezing them etc, so we will set up an activity which allows them to explore this!
there has been government policy which has allowed these ideas to continue into the early years of primary school which now predominantly follow a play- based way of teaching that draws from children's interests and focuses on building relationships in the classroom :) bit of positivity and hopefully a change in the experiences of children as they go through the education system!
Yeh the focus on evidence based early years provision in the UK and esp Scotland is really cool
This is maybe my favourite episode. Jess's clear enunciation and soft voice really agrees with my adhd. And early childhood education is the field I am studying towards. Perfect. This Is the second time in a row I am watching this episode. There will be a third. Thanks for the dopamine, Corey, Luke and Jess!
Jessica makes a lot of great disability and diversity content! I really recommend it if you're into education and similar humanities type content!
Just so you know, Jessica hates to be called "Jess".
I love Jessica’s content and follow her too. Just hearing her speak always makes my brain happy. It makes it easier to hear and listen to what she says.❤
One of our friends has her children in a Montessori school. Her youngest is autistic and seems to be doing well, his social life just looks different. He's not afraid to reach out to husband and ask for help learning about computers and coding (He's been doing it since he was 8 ish) . I love hanging out with her kids 😅
Yay, Jessica - always love seeing collabs & cross-pollinations between the awesome creators I follow 😊 Can definitely confirm from my own childhood & early homeschooling that Montessori-type educational toys can be made on a non-existent budget, with a bit of parental time & creativity? I really wish we'd been able to afford to go into environments that respected our autonomy when we finally joined the public schooling system - it would've meant a lot less unlearning of negative imposed ideas and pointless inhibitions as an adult! 😔
Group projects in school were always the worst. As Corry said, we're not taught to work together in groups, so we get shoved together with random people and are expected to just come up with something. I was undiagnosed autistic, so working with others didn't come naturally. My parents were no help either, as my father lectured me on how I'd have to work with people I hate in the workplace when I grow up. The only good advice they gave me was that I should set out a task list for the group and run it by the teacher, so that everyone knows what they're supposed to do.
When I got to university, I tried to apply this advice, but it didn't work out so well because I had no way of keeping tabs on the other group members, and there was nothing stopping them from procrastinating until the last minute. I realized I would have to take charge of the group if I wanted to get a decent grade, which meant forcing myself into a leadership role, whether they liked it or not. I would immediately outline the project, tell each group member what was expected of them, and do 90% of the legwork myself. It turns out, this worked pretty well. Sometimes you have to take the reins if you want things to go your way.
Yes, as a former primary teacher, one thing that always frustrated me was not having the time to work with students on things like that. To just do relaxed group activities where we figured out how to co-operate effectively, how to listen properly to each other, strategies for when we want different things from each other, how to speak to each other, how to accommodate each other's' needs or adapt when we have difficulties etc. There's just no time; so often that's the one lesson/period/hour in a week a teacher has to cover a particular part of the curriculum, so putting off the "real work" isn’t an option.
Luke is actually correct for North American terminology, just "break" a horse. The kinder, more modern term is "start."
Using more euphemistic language doesn't help. You're still essentially doing the same thing.
@@skriela-la-li9767 If you're referring to the cruelty of traditional "breaking" methods, most trainers who say "start" tend to be the ones who also use kinder methods, not just use kinder language to fool buyers/clients.
@@JennaGetsCreative Even of you use "kinder" methods, you're still manipulating them into letting you do something to them that only benefits you. The reason the horse lets you ride them isn't because _they_ want to be ridden, but because _you_ want to ride them, so you make them "want" it. The relationship is inherently exploitative. It's not like training a dog or cat to be ok with being picked up; there are plenty of ways in which being comfortable with that would be beneficial to the dog/ cat themselves, but there really aren't any situations where a horse actually needs to be ridden.
Pretty certain that's cars
@@skriela-la-li9767the only situation i can think of where picking up a pet is beneficial to them is if they're in danger? but wouldn't it be most beneficial for them to be released into the wild? it's just curious to me how u think horse riding is so harmful, or r u against all pets?
Yes I do have one child. Yay Jessica! I've been a fan of her channel for years.
I don't think my parents had ever heard of Montessori, but they did many things that were similar to that/gentle parenting. It might have been partly because I was naturally very self motivated, knowledge driven, kind and rule follower.
-I did not really have food dropping phase as experimentation. I only dropped my salad. It wasn't because I did not like salad. I actually ate all the salad from the floor after the lunch. I just did not like warm and cold food touching. My mum learned this rather quickly.
-My parents did not speek much of baby language to me. It made me upset when some other adults did that. "Do you think, I'm stupid or something?" I might have thought.
-I liked listening adults talking and taking part to discussion from very early on. I am first born and was talked to like I was a human. Not a child.
-I have selected my own clothes quite independently from the age of 2. Of course they told if it was cold outside, so I should select warmer clothes etc. but then I selected clothes based on that.
-I around the age of 6 to 8, I had 2 home coming deadlines in the evening. One where I get the good night story/stories with parent and later one where I would not get story time...I almost always selected earlier time to get home (unless I had some really fun play ongoing with a friend). I still think this was one of their best parenting practices. I got some freedom to choose what was best for me that day, but there were healthy limits in my choices. 😍😍
I spoke about something similar to this years ago with a friend about how we think schools could be run better. Amazing to learn this is already a thing and would be amazing if we could get it to permeate through society more!
I watched this because I follow Jessica. Thanks for such an interesting conversation with her!
I went to a Montessori school from pre-k to 8th grade and I absolutely loved it. I am a very art driven person and for all my assignments (History, math, science, etc.) I was allowed to create art pieces. This honestly helped me to continue my passion for art later in my life (currently enrolled in Uni and majoring in animation). I never sat at a desk (we typically worked on the floor on rugs/lap desks or at a table meant for 4 people) and I always thought that the rows of desks and switching classes that I would see in movies was fake. I would have 1 teacher for 3 years and then we would “Graduate” and go to a new class. I never felt scared to ask questions or to talk to others. I loved to do group work. We asked about each other's strengths and came up with a plan based on that. I would typically create the poster board and the visuals for the subject we learned and then we would present it in front of the class and teach our friends about the subject. After the presentation if we missed explaining something the teacher would briefly teach the class what we missed and then we would move on. From 7-8 grade every 6 weeks we went on a 5 day trip to the mountains and we would be assigned into groups to learn how to do group work through fun tasks and to help build our bond as a community. And it’s true that we would serve each other food and learn to clean up after ourselves. Starting from kindergarten we would learn to cook our snacks and at lunch time we would clean the tables, fold the picnic blanket, or sweep the floor. It was truly an amazing experience and I highly recommend going to a Montessori school if you can!
Just listening to the bit on teachers around the 30 min mark and feeling a bit teary. Thank you so much for this - I promise that most of us are trying really, really hard and often don't get much support. The system changing thing is absolutely real, as well, and it's soul destroying.
One more point for societal change - even when there is a political will to change to more child centred learning, this is almost impossible if the kids and families we're working with expect a sit-quiet-and-do-what-you're-told structure (speaking here as someone who tries extremely hard to avoid this format in my own classes). Because kid centred teaching and learning in large groups can look really different to what 'good' classes (aka sit quite and do as told & study 'hard' for the end of year exam) have looked like in the past, they can be poorly perceived as lacking discipline by many families. Everyone needs to be on the same page here, or it doesn't matter what the schools are doing, we will run into conflict.
I spent the first 5 years of my schooling at a self-proclaimed Montessori, and I really wish the values had been as direct and the activities as informing as they were meant to be. I had the ability to read whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, but that was essentially all that was individually guided to the extent of gaining any real independence, as everything else was done as a group without much room for variation or guidance. I struggle with executive and motor function for a multitude of reasons, and the principles of self-encouragement taught within a more nuanced model would have been very valuable to me.
this made me rethink my entire montessori school experience in the best way possible wow thanku
I appreciated the mention of how it can be hard to get involved in Montessori stuff. I really like the method but there are no schools near us that use it, only nurseries. I have found though with my daughter's pre-school and school that they do use some of the ideas from it (such as having natural materials and different learning stations in the classroom).
At home a lot of our parenting has been this style or more gentle parenting, but my kid has changed so much over time and I find myself having to change approaches a lot. I know other parents who are pretty much the same as me but their kids turn out so different. I think it's easy to say that your kid is really independent because of their learning style, but in my experience you might then find that their next stage or your next kid is totally different.
I'm currently finishing my Masters in teaching (biology and music). And it's so frustrating that even my studies (in Berlin, GER) are so out of touch with reality and the reality we face in schools and the world in general.
Going on about the point of Montessori schools not being new, Anne Frank mentions going to a Montessori school in her diary!
This is an awesome episode! I don't even have children yet, but I know that if I do have them, I'd want them to have an education like this. So, out of curiosity, I checked my city (in the US) and actually found out that there is at least one, maybe two tuition-free Montessori schools in my area. It's reassuring to know I'll have options, especially knowing how public schooling has had its funding continuously stripped over the past several election cycles.
Editing to add that I found out that the second one is over 5k per school year (but dw, you can pay in monthly payments for the low low cost of $550 a month)
"breaking a horse" is a thing, it's short for breaking their spirit and comes from when we thought taming a horse was like conquering. these days equestrians say "start" instead, because we know that's absurd and gross.
i wish i had been brought up montessori, it was much the opposite 😅 i don't know if i want kids because of my health issues but if i do have them, gentle parenting and montessori + a little "it takes a village" will be the way.
Gosh, the bin of paper to cut up at Montessori preschool was my favourite and I don’t have kids but I would very much like to have some at some point
Love to see lesser known discoveries from italian culture other the usual stuff. Thanks!
Great episode.
I have adhd & autism and had a horrible time in Montessori school. Was bullied by kids and then neglected by teachers. Like the teachers would allow the bullying which included stealing large objects of mine, as well as completely ignoring me. THis description of Montessoris being about teaching individual children based on their unique brains or learning styles is completely the opposite of how it's sometimes implemented, in my experience.
I saw Jessica in the thumbnail, and clicked right away.
Glad I found your show. :)
Would you please consider including human-edited subtitles/captions, instead of relying on auto-generated CC?
Accessibility is important. UA-cam's auto CC are never accurate, and the uneven movement movement across the screen makes them harder to process than 1-2 static lines of correct text.
(CC accuracy also increases your SEO and algorithmic reach.)
I'm so glad that more people put their podcasts on UA-cam these days, because being able to pair the captions with the audio really helps me as someone with ADHD and sensory processing spiciness.
Thanks ❤
We used to but this is an added cost/time investment that we can’t really afford right now!
@@SciGuys so you invited someone who notoriously advocates for the deaf community and you... refuse to accomodate the deaf community. I would say "do better" but I don't think it's even worth it really.
The OP asked us to consider human-edited CCs, and I explained that it’s something we are aware of, care about, & have provided in the past.
We haven’t refused to consider it, we’ve just already considered it; it’s just not something that’s currently feasible for us to provide, as we don’t have the time to do it ourselves and can’t afford the cost of hiring someone else.
Genuine question, how would you suggest we “do better” in this scenario?
aw man I wish I had montessori education and parenting :(
This is making me want to cry (/pos) on like a spiritual level. Wow
The elementary my son goes to has actually adopted many of these things! It seems elementary has more wiggle room to adapt to better learning styles. Middle and high school are still pretty crappy though.
Went to a Montessori preschool in the 80's. So much math!!
Can you add an episode that goes into the reggio emillia method of teaching a different point and one of the best education curriculums in the world
😍🫶 both of my favs!!
Luke isn’t wrong. Saying “break a horse” isn’t incorrect. At least in part of the American west it’s common to say you need to break a horse.
I'd love to hear a similar podcast about Waldorf
Don’t want kids won’t have them but I hope as an aunt I can do a great job
god i wish i had been taught like this lol
I mean this constructively, but this episode was a bit of a miss for me. It was interesting for sure, but it didn’t feel much like the ‘science’ of Montessori and more like a primer on the subject from an anecdotal source. I’m glad to have learned about it, and it’s made me reconsider many of my childhood experiences, but after awhile it began to feel a little like an ad for the practice.
What science did you feel was lacking?
@@SciGuys I wouldn't say the episode lacked science any more or less than any other episode, seeing as you have several episodes that aren't focused on scientific literature that I found really engaging and interesting (such as The Science of Social Interaction or The Five Stages of Grief). My gripe with this episode is how, after Corry explained who Montessori was, the episode turned mostly into an interview with the guest. This isn't inherently unusual for the podcast (The Science of Transgender Sexuality and The Science of LGBTQ+ Scientists are a couple of my favorite episodes), but in this case the guest isn't someone who worked on researching the subject, she's a practitioner of a method. That's not to say her perspective has no value (it absolutely does and I think her presence was crucial specifically her anecdotal experience and perspective), but when I finished the episode it really felt I knew more about just how well this is working for her kid then I knew about the actual topic.
At the end Corry mentioned that it's a very difficult topic to research and gave a brief rundown of what research does exist, but that's in the last 3 minutes of the episode! That brief foray into the preliminary research left me with so many cool questions, and a solid hour long episode that didn't have the time for them, which left me felling disappointed, overall.
Ultimately there’s not really very much to say on the method outside discussing it’s principles, how it works, and the experiences of those using it. The research can be summarised fairly quickly & getting in the weeds with it isn’t really a great basis for an episode.
What unanswered questions were you left with?
I have no kids, but I want 4 someday 😬 (I know that’s a lot 🤣)
Some do beautifully with four or six or two or twelve! Just listen to your heart and body and partner💜
Just as the previous commenter said, it quicky turned into a wikipedia esque description of montessori. You both are clearly out of your depth here, you didn't prepare much and didn't try to connect with your lovely guest. It felt more like a presentation than a podcast. A half effort from the guys who have no idea about raising kids, montessori or having a good podcast. Something about men starting a random podcast about nothing because they have nothing better to do.
You can dislike the podcast all you want but there’s really no need to be so rude. :)