Susan Mayclin Stephenson

Montessori Adolescents –  Farm School in Sweden
In the 1970’s several of us met periodically to discuss Montessori’s plan for the adolescent and I created a newsletter The Erdkinder Project sharing progress with the group and stayed in touch with our mentor, Margaret Stephenson, who was adamant that most Montessori 6-12 classes were not preparing children for the independence and real work essential for an adolescent program. She did NOT mean academic preparation, but preparation in planning one’s own work,  being responsible for completing it, and finding it to be valuable to others, and as a result feeling the dignity and value during this first stage of adulthood.

Montessori Centre for Work and Study
In October 2019 I was invited to speak at the teacher-training course being held in Sweden, on the southwest coast, at one of the oldest  authentic “Erdkinders” (Montessori land children school for adolescents). This is a working farm run for the most part by adolescents, students from many countries.

Some school details from that year: The students take turns getting up early in the dark winter to care for the animals; they grow as much of their own food as possible and freeze or can for the winter and to sell in the community; they cook and clean and take care of the farm and each other and still maintain high academic standards. They know what they do every day matters; they are needed. The school does not advertise nor do they have a website. Families find them by word of mouth.

SATILA, SWEDEN – ADOLESCENT ORIENTATION
This is an AMI (Association Montessori  Internationale) teacher-training program where teachers who are working with Montessori students from age 12-15+ come together somewhere in the world to study this age, to make a plan, to go home and attempt to execute it, and then come together again to share their experiences. This was the second summer and they were sharing with each other. The teachers here were from Norway, Germany, France, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Réunion (a French Island in the Indian Ocean), the USA, and other countries.

The head of the school, Jenny Marie Hogland, and I had been planning to get together here for a long time. Finally we did it. My first work with adolescents was as a Latin tutor for high school students and then as a counselor for girls in a detention center in California. Drawing on this experience, involvement with the first planning in the USA, and the homeschooling of our last child through middle and high school, I was able to share my experiences with the teachers. I spoke about three things:
– the similarities in development and needs of the human being from birth to three and from age 12-15, two periods of human development when adult as model is vital—as only one example.
– The skills that should be fostered in Montessori education, where high academic accomplishment is a by-product and a natural result, not the prime focus.
– Our primary and secondary years as a homeschooling family. The story of this experience, recorded in a book, can be found here: here: CLICK: Montessori Homeschooling

The best part of my work was getting to know the people. Just as in any Montessori class, the Adolescent Orientation Program  for teachers-in-training, and the trainers, treat each other as equals, as co-workers in the process of getting educated. In the first picture you see, from left to right: a graduate of the Erdkinder, Jenny-Marie, me, one of the orientation participants who was then a housefather at the Erdkinder, an adolescent expert from the USA, and Jenny’s daughter, also a graduate of the Erdkinder, who is now on the staff. The picture on the right shows three women, participants in the adolescent orientation, from Romania. Information on Montessori introduction to programs, CLICK: Orientation

One of the most exciting things about the Montessori world is that we never know what our children are going to do next. We meet their needs, fire their imagination, foster their curiosity, and then step back and enjoy the opening of each new flower, the unfolding of each unique and fascinating individual. We don’t know what they will be when they grow up, but we know that they will love learning and will be kind, creative, hardworking,  generous, practical, and compassionate. And they will know how to be happy.

Having worked in many countries I know from experience that many of the “truths” we accept as adolescent characteristics are not universal. Adolescents do not need to sleep late unless the previous day was filled with adult-directed time-consuming assignments, and only late at night there is time for quiet introspection, thinking, and communicating about life with peers. Adolescents naturally learn from and along with their parents and other respected adults. But if this is not possible they try to learn just from others their own age and the internet. They deserve, they NEED, more than that. When spoken to as colleagues and with their dignity respected, adolescents respond in same.

It is not the age of 12-18 that is the problem; I believe it is our own Western toxic society that has lost touch with what children and young adults need to grow up fulfilled, contributing, and happy members of the human family.

Today, however, those things which occupy us in the field of education are the interests of humanity at large, and of civilization. Before such great forces we can recognize only one country—the entire world.
—Maria Montessori (The Montessori Method)

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For information about the books such as the Montessori homeschooling title, several of which have information about the adolescent years: CLICK: BOOKS

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Blessings,
Susan

Home page, CLICK: Susan