Adolesence: Montessori Beyond Elementary

Keys of the Universe is building onto the adolescent portion of the Keys of the Universe Discussion Community (private link).

The glitches with the weekly reading announcement have been overcome (sort of - they're just going to be manually sent out now, instead of the auto-sending that didn't want to work).

And now there is a place to share adolescent resources. YAY!

Current Topic Headings

Adolescence is primarily the ages of 12-15 (which are equivalent years to 0-3 in the first plane of development); but for our purposes, we also include ages 15-18 (equivalent experience to years 3-6 of the first plane of development). See these Montessori Nuggets on the Planes of Development.

I hope I am preaching to the choir when I say that elementary covers ages 6-12. I have seen a few places that try to group 9-12 in with the 12-18 year olds and that isn't a fair grouping for the children of either group OR the adults! 9-12 is still firmly in the second plane of development. 12-15 is the rapid changes, hormones, emotional development; and the 15-18 settles back out and consolidates the way that the 3-6 year old did.
9-12 is still elementary. ;)


So what is it about adolescence that makes it SO tricky!?

1. Maria Montessori had limited time in her life - she was intense and did a LOT; no-one since then has been as intense so it's taking more time to make the same discoveries. 
2. She did discover the correlation of the years of 12-18 and the years 0-6. 
3. Personal interests and personal growth. It starts in primary - we have core materials and then we create a few language materials based on personal interests; we encourage the children to creatively apply what they have learned; we have experiences to expand their horizons as well deepen their interests. In elementary we have the core materials, but now the child's imagination takes off and within the framework/foundation of elementary, the child can explore SO MUCH! Now, in adolescence, the child has a strong foundation and is ready to take on the world - but is dealing with the emotional and hormonal changes of adolescence. Now, we want to take what they know and *apply* it in a very practical manner, in a manner that places him within society. In a way, the adolescent is back to first plane of development. By high school, the not-so-child is ready to take some typical high school lecture-based courses, along with apprenticeships and other real-world experiences. 
4. (really "3B") The needs of every adolescent will be different - interests, personalities, foundation, environment.... 
5. Thus we are working on what that framework looks like (NAMTA has some great publications we are studying over at the Keys of the Universe adolescent study group) and then we utilize a variety of resources that meet the needs of the particular child before us. 

cross-posted here at Keys of the Universe Articles