The Montessori Method, 2nd Edition - Restoration # Chapter 07 - Exercises of Practical Life ## [7.1 Suggested schedule for the “Children’s Houses”](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+07+-+Exercises+for+Practical+Life#7.1-suggested-schedule-for-the-%E2%80%9Cchildren%E2%80%99s-houses%E2%80%9D (Link to Montessori.Zone's Translation Base Text "The Montessori Method")) **Proposed Winter Schedule of Hours in the "Children's Houses"** **Opening Time: 09:00 - 16:00**\ Opening at Nine O'clock–Closing at Four O'clock * **09:00 - 10:00**\ Entrance. Greeting. \ Inspection as to personal cleanliness. \ Exercises of practical life; helping one another to take off and put on the aprons. \ Going over the room to see that everything is dusted and in order. \ Language: Conversation period: Children give an account of the events of the day before. \ Religious exercises. * **10:00 - 11:00**\ Intellectual exercises. \ Objective lessons are interrupted by short rest periods. \ Nomenclature, Sense exercises. * **11:00 - 11:30**\ Simple gymnastics: \ Ordinary movements have done gracefully, \ the normal position of the body, \ walking, marching in line, \ salutations, \ movements for attention, \ and placing of objects gracefully. * **11:30 - 12:00**\ Luncheon: \ Short prayer. * **12:00 - 13:00** \ Free games. * **13:00 - 14:00** \ Directed games, if possible, in the open air. \ During this period the older children in turn go through with the exercises of practical life, \ cleaning the room, dusting, and putting the material in order. \ General inspection for cleanliness: Conversation. * **14:00 - 15:00** \ Manual work. \ Clay modeling, design, etc. * **15:00 - 16:00** \ Collective gymnastics and songs, if possible in the open air. \ Exercises to develop forethought: Visiting, and caring for, plants and animals. As soon as a school is established, the question of schedule arises. This must be considered from two points of view; the length of the school day and the distribution of study and the activities of life. I shall begin by affirming that in the "Children's Houses," as in the school for deficients, the hours may be very long, occupying the entire day. For poor children, and especially for the "Children's Houses" annexed to workingmen's tenements, I should advise that the school day should be from nine in the morning to five in the evening in winter, and from eight to six in summer. These long hours are necessary if we are to follow a directed line of action that shall be helpful to the growth of the child. It goes without saying, that in the case of little children such a long school day should be interrupted by at least an hour's rest in bed. And here lies the great practical difficulty. At present we must allow our little ones to sleep in their seats in a wretched position, but I foresee a time, not distant when we shall be able to have a quiet, darkened room where the children may sleep in low-swung hammocks. I should like still better have this nap taken in the open air. In the "Children's Houses" in Rome we send the little ones to their own apartments for a nap, as this can be done without their having to go out into the streets. It must be observed that these long hours include not only the nap but the luncheon. This must be considered in such schools as the "Children's Houses," whose aim is to help and direct the growth of children in such an important period of development as that from three to six years of age. ## [7.2 The child must be prepared for the forms of social life and his attention attracted to these forms](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+07+-+Exercises+for+Practical+Life#7.2-the-child-must-be-prepared-for-the-forms-of-social-life-and-his-attention-attracted-to-these-forms (Link to Montessori.Zone's Translation Base Text "The Montessori Method")) The "Children's House" is a garden of child culture, and we most certainly do not keep the children for so many hours in school with the idea of making students of them! The first step which we must take in our method is to *call* to the pupil. We call now to his attention, now to his interior life, now to the life he leads with others. Making a comparison that must not be taken in a literal sense, it is necessary to proceed as in experimental psychology or anthropology when one makes an experiment, that is, after having prepared the instrument (to which in this case the environment may correspond) we prepare the subject. Considering the method as a whole, we must begin our work by preparing the child for the forms of social life, and we must attract his attention to these forms. In the schedule which we outlined when we established the first "Children's House," but which we have never followed entirely, (a sign that a schedule in which the material is distributed arbitrarily is not adapted to the régime of liberty) we begin the day with a series of exercises of practical life, and I must confess that these exercises were the only part of the program which proved thoroughly stationary. These exercises were such a success that they formed the beginning of the day in all of the "Children's Houses." First: * Cleanliness. * Order. * Poise. * Conversation. As soon as the children arrive at school we inspect for cleanliness. If possible, this should be carried on in the presence of the mothers, but their attention should not be called to it directly. We examine the hands, the nails, the neck, the ears, the face, the teeth; and care is given to the tidiness of the hair. If any of the garments are torn or soiled or ripped, if the buttons are lacking, or if the shoes are not clean, we call the attention of the child to this. In this way, the children become accustomed to observing themselves and take an interest in their own appearance. The children in our "Children's Houses" are given a bath in turn, but this, of course, can not be done daily. In the class, however, the teacher, by using a little washstand with small pitchers and basins, teaches the children to take a partial bath: for example, they learn how to wash their hands and clean their nails. Indeed, sometimes we teach them how to take a foot bath. They are shown especially how to wash their ears and eyes with great care. They are taught to brush their teeth and rinse their mouths carefully. In all of this, we call their attention to the different parts of the body which they are washing, and to the different means which we use to cleanse them: clear water for the eyes, soap, and water for the hands, the brush for the teeth, etc. We teach the big ones to help the little ones, and, so, encourage the younger children to learn quickly to take care of themselves. After this care of their persons, we put on the little aprons. The children can put these on themselves, or, with the help of each other. Then we begin our visit to the schoolroom. We notice if all of the various materials are in order and if they are clean. The teacher shows the children how to clean out the little corners where dust has accumulated, and shows them how to use the various objects necessary in cleaning a room, dust cloths, dust brushes, little brooms, etc. All of this, when the children are allowed ***to do it by themselves**,* is very quickly accomplished. Then the children go each to their own place. The teacher explains to them that the normal position is for each child to be seated in his own place, in silence, with his feet together on the floor, his hands resting on the table, and his head erect. In this way, she teaches them poise and equilibrium. Then she has them rise on their feet to sing the hymn, teaching them that in rising and sitting down it is not necessary to be noisy. In this way, the children learn to move about the furniture with poise and with care. After this we have a series of exercises in which the children learn to move gracefully, to go and come, to salute each other, to lift objects carefully, and to receive various objects from each other politely. The teacher calls attention with little exclamations to a clean child, a room that is well ordered, a class seated quietly, a graceful movement, etc. From such a starting point we proceed to free teaching. That is, the teacher will no longer make comments to the children, directing them on how to move from their seats, etc., she will limit herself to correcting the disordered movements. After the directress has talked in this way about the attitude of the children and the arrangement of the room, she invites the children to talk with her. She questions them concerning what they have done the day before, regulating her inquiries in such a way that the children need not report the intimate happenings of the family but their individual behavior, their games, attitude to parents, etc. She will ask if they have been able to go up the stairs without getting muddy, if they have spoken politely to their friends who passed, if they have helped their mothers, if they have shown their family what they have learned at school, if they have played in the street, etc. The conversations are longer on Monday after the vacation, and on that day the children are invited to tell what they have done with the family; if they have gone away from home, whether they have eaten things not usual for children to eat, and if this is the case we urge them not to eat these things and try to teach them that they are bad for them. Such conversations as these encourage the ***unfolding*** or development of language and are of great educational value, since the directress can prevent the children from recounting happenings in the house or the neighborhood and can select, instead, topics which are adapted to a pleasant conversation, and in this way can teach the children those things which it is desirable to talk about; that is, things with which we occupy ourselves in life, public events, or things which have happened in the different houses, perhaps, to the children themselves–as baptism, birthday parties, any of which may serve for occasional conversation. Things of this sort will encourage children to describe, themselves. After this morning's talk, we pass on the various lessons. > ##### **The License of this page:** > > This page is part of the “**Montessori Restoration and Translation Project**”.\ > Please [support](https://ko-fi.com/montessori) our “**All-Inclusive Montessori Education for All 0-100+ Worldwide**” initiative. We create open, free, and affordable resources available for everybody interested in Montessori Education. We transform people and environments to be authentic Montessori worldwide. Thank You! > > [](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) > > **License:** This work with all its restoration edits and translations is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). > > Check out the **Page History** of each wiki page in the right column to learn more about all contributors and edits, restorations, and translations done on this page. > > [Contributions](https://ko-fi.com/montessori) and [Sponsors](https://ko-fi.com/montessori) are welcome and very appreciated! * [The Montessori Method, 2nd Edition](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/+Chapter+Index+-+The+Montessori+Method%2C+2nd+Edition+-+Restoration+-+Open+Library#the-montessori-method%2C-2nd-edition---restoration---open-library "The Montessori Method on Montessori Zone - English Language") - English Restoration - [Archive.Org](https://archive.org/details/montessorimethod00montuoft/ "The Montessori Method on Aechive.Org") - [Open Library](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7089223M/The_Montessori_method "The Montessori Method on Open Library") * [Chapter Index](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/+Chapter+Index+-+The+Montessori+Method%2C+2nd+Edition+-+Restoration+-+Open+Library) * [Chapter 00 - Dedication, Acknowledgements, Preface to the American Edition, Introduction](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+00+-+Dedication%2C+Acknowledgements%2C+Preface+to+the+American+Edition%2C+Introduction) * [Chapter 01 - A critical consideration of the new pedagogy in its relation to modern science](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+01+-+A+critical+consideration+of+the+new+pedagogy+in+its+relation+to+modern+science) * [Chapter 02 - History of Methods](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+02+-+History+of+Methods) * [Chapter 03 - Inaugural address delivered on the occasion of the opening of one of the “Children’s Houses”](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+03+-+Inaugural+address+delivered+on+the+occasion+of+the+opening+of+one+of+the+%E2%80%9CChildren%E2%80%99s+Houses%E2%80%9D) * [Chapter 04 - Pedagogical Methods used in the “Children’s Houses”](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+04+-+Pedagogical+Methods+used+in+the+%E2%80%9CChildren%E2%80%99s+Houses%E2%80%9D) * [Chapter 05 - Discipline](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+05+-+Discipline) * [Chapter 06 - How the lesson should be given](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+06+-+How+the+lesson+should+be+given) * [Chapter 07 - Exercises for Practical Life](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+07+-+Exercises+for+Practical+Life) * [Chapter 08 - Reflection the Child’s diet](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+08+-+Reflection+the+Child%E2%80%99s+diet) * [Chapter 09 - Muscular education gymnastics](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+09+-+Muscular+education+gymnastics) * [Chapter 10 - Nature in education agricultural labor: Culture of plants and animals](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+10+-+Nature+in+education+agricultural+labor%3A+Culture+of+plants+and+animals) * [Chapter 11 - Manual labor the potter’s art, and building](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+11+-+Manual+labor+the+potter%E2%80%99s+art%2C+and+building) * [Chapter 12 - Education of the senses](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+12+-+Education+of+the+senses) * [Chapter 13 - Education of the senses and illustrations of the didactic material: General sensibility: The tactile, thermic, basic, and stereo gnostic senses](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+13+-+Education+of+the+senses+and+illustrations+of+the+didactic+material%3A+General+sensibility%3A+The+tactile%2C+thermic%2C+basic%2C+and+stereo+gnostic+senses) * [Chapter 14 - General notes on the education of the senses](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+14+-+General+notes+on+the+education+of+the+senses) * [Chapter 15 - Intellectual education](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+15+-+Intellectual+education) * [Chapter 16 - Method for the teaching of reading and writing](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+16+-+Method+for+the+teaching+of+reading+and+writing) * [Chapter 17 - Description of the method and didactic material used](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+17+-+Description+of+the+method+and+didactic+material+used) * [Chapter 18 - Language in childhood](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+18+-+Language+in+childhood) * [Chapter 19 - Teaching of numeration: Introduction to arithmetic](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+19+-+Teaching+of+numeration%3A+Introduction+to+arithmetic) * [Chapter 20 - Sequence of exercise](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+20+-+Sequence+of+exercise) * [Chapter 21 - General review of discipline](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+21+-+General+review+of+discipline) * [Chapter 22 - Conclusions and impressions](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+22+-+Conclusions+and+impressions) * [Chapter 23 - Illustrations](https://montessori-international.com/s/the-montessori-method/wiki/Chapter+23+-+Illustrations)