BOOKS

Parents are amazed by the advantages of a Montessori education for their children, and scientific evidence continues to support Maria Montessori's discoveries. But what if you want the benefits of Dr. Montessori's insights from birth? Is there Montessori for babies? How does Montessori's advocacy of hands-on learning and self-discovery relate to infants? What can parents do to help their youngest children in their task of self-formation? This authoritative and accessible book answers these and many other questions. Paula Polk Lillard and Lynn Lillard Jessen have used Maria Montessori's theories for raising infants to create a comprehensive program for the first three years, incorporating the furnishings and tools Dr.

Maria Montessori went beyond the conventions of the day to seek a new way of knowing and loving a child.

In THE DISCOVERY OF THE CHILD, she describes the nature of the child and her method of working more fully with the child's urge to learn.

Maria Montessori believes that "once the general principles have been grasped, the parts dealing with the material application are extremely simple. Gone are teachers who wear out their lungs maintaining discipline, and verbal instruction is replaced by 'material for development', which affords children the opportunity of teaching themselves by their own efforts. The teacher thus becomes a director of the children's own spontaneous work."