The basic idea in the Montessori Philosophy of education is that all children carry within "the adult they will become". In order to develop their physical, intellectual, social and emotional powers to the fullest, they must have freedom, a freedom to be achieved through order and self discipline. The world of the child is full of sights and sounds which at first appear chaotic. From this chaos, children must gradually create order, and learn to distinguish among impressions that assail their senses, slowly but surely gaining mastery of Self and the environment.

Dr. Maria Montessori developed what she called the "prepared" environment which already possesses a certain order and disposes children to develop at their own speed, according to their own abilities, and in a non-competitive atmosphere in the first school years. "Never let a child risk failure, until understanding the necessity for the acquisition of a basic skill before its use in a competitive learning situation." The years between three and six are the years that a child most easily learns the ground rules of human behavior. These years can be constructively devoted to "civilizing" children freeing them through the acquisition of good manners and habits, to take their place in our culture.

Dr Maria Montessori recognized that the only valid impulse to learning is the self-motivation of the child. Children move themselves toward learning. The teacher prepares the environment, structures the activities, functions as the reference person and role model, offers the children stimulation: but the children are the ones who learn, who are motivated through the work itself (not solely by the teachers personality) to persist in their chosen tasks. If the Montessori children are free to learn, it is because they have acquired from their exposure to both physical and mental order, an "inner discipline." This is the core of Dr Montessori's educational philosophy. Patterns of concentration, stick to-tiveness, and the thoroughness established in early childhood, produce a confident learner in later years. Schools have existed historically to teach children to observe, to think, to judge. Montessori adds to that the joy of learning at an early age and provides the framework in which intellectual and social discipline go hand in hand.

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