One of the many wonderful things about the Montessori method is the uninterrupted 3 hour work cycle. In this time the children are actively engaged with their work, ideally with minimal input from any adults. They have freedom to move around and choose the work tasks that they are interested in (within certain boundaries), and due to the work cycle there is the opportunity to engage deeply with them if they want to.

Like today. Grace arrived at school, did her journal check, and then started with the addition box. 3 hours later, the addition box was done…entirely. She had worked through all the material in the addition box. Tomorrow? Subtraction…or maybe art…or science, geography, hand weaving…or all of them. Grace gets to decide and to follow her interests. And just in case you’re worried about a narrow band of interests, the entire environment is set up to stimulate a wide variety of interests, and the teachers are there to guide them as they explore everything that there is to explore.