Here’s why academics in early childhood isn’t a bad word.
The “unschooling” trend can make academics in early childhood seem like a bad word.
Did you know academics in early childhood if introduced correctly and at the right time IS developmentally appropriate and a natural to human development?
Let’s talk about it !
If we look at what Dr. Maria Montessori observed and studied about children. We know these two things about the first plane of development(sub-plane ages 3-6) which explains the reasoning for introducing academics in early childhood.
1.) Children possess an absorbent mind until age 6! At age 2.5 they begin to have more of a conscious absorbent mind. This means they are actively seeking out experiences in their environment to learn from and build their understanding of the world. The absorbent mind in early childhood does this constantly and without effort. This slows down significantly after age six. You can see this to be true in neuroscience studies looking at brain development in early childhood. The first six years is when the brain is hungry for making foundational connections to build from.
2,) Children experience sensitive periods for “academic” concepts such as writing, reading and math. A sensitive period is a natural sensitivity in their development toward learning a certain concept. It’s a natural part of human development. These sensitive periods fade away after a certain time and may make more difficult to for children to learn these concepts. The ages on these sensitive periods are approximate and Dr. Montessori suggested ultimately to use observation to determine when a child experiences these sensitivities.
Sensitive period for writing and reading- The child may experience be sensitive period for writing around age 3.5 and can possibly fade around 4.5 and reading is 4.5 to 5.5. Children from birth work to express themselves through language. Writing and reading is a bit more complex part to language development that happens later in early childhood. During this sensitive period children will find an intense interest in learning the alphabet (letter sounds)and writing the letters; this is the basis of written language. Then shortly after, they experience intense interest in putting letter sounds together to make words; that’s reading and understanding written language! This opens a whole new exciting world for children!
“The Letters are a stimulus, which illustrate the spoken language already in the mind of the child. ~Maria Montessori
“The development of language is part of the development of the personality, for words are the natural means of expressing thoughts and establishing understanding between people." - Maria Montessori
Sensitive period for mathematics - This sensitive period begins around age 4 and can fade around 5.5. Dr. Maria Montessori observed that babies are born with a mathematical mind. At birth children absorb numerical patterns and relationships from their environment. Recent studies continue to confirm this truth. "We are born with a core sense of cardinal number," says Brian Butterworth, Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology and Author of The Mathematical Brain. Then around age 4 the child may experience an intense interest or begin a sensitive period for numeral symbols (math language), quantity, classifying, comparing as they apply to mathematics.
“Children display a universal love of mathematics, which is par excellence the science of precision, order, and intelligence.” - Dr. Maria Montessori
Tips to introducing writing, reading and math that IS developmentally appropriate:
*This is such a large topic of how to introduce these concepts to your child but these are some general tips that may help.
Time spent learning about these concepts should never replace outdoor time and free play! entering these sensitive periods. Follow their pace in learning! Learning these concepts should be fun and never pressured!
Always follow your child! Follow the interests of your own child and watch for signs of entering these sensitive periods. Follow their pace in learning! Learning these concepts should be fun and never pressured!
Discuss and model academic concepts in real life tasks and situations. Mathematics - measuring when cooking, counting, patterns, subtraction (“I ate one apple slice so how many are left now?”), addition( “Jonny just joined us so how many plates will we need now?” ), mathematical comparing (less than, more than, most, least, shortest, tallest…). Reading & writing - pointing out letters and their sounds in texts you read through the day. Writing letters and cards. Reading books.
Always use hands-on learning materials. Worksheets and workbooks really aren't developmentally appropriate. Children (3-6) are active learners. They need movement and manipulate materials to learn these concepts. Such as sandpaper numerals and letters, 3D letters and numbers, objects to count quantity for each number, objects with matching beginning sounds and so much more for a different time to go into this!
Don’t push the pencil. When your child is interested in writing, start with writing letters with chalk or even writing in the sand. Pre-writing activities are so important here before they reach the age to hold a pencil.
Let go of expectations, relax and enjoy this fun stage in your child’s development! Love is the key.
