The air was still pretty crisp on the way to school that March morning, so Westyn, at his mother’s insistence, had on a sweatshirt when he climbed into my car for the drive to school. Not caring much for the extra responsibility of an unnecessary item to keep up with, in this case a bulky sweatshirt, he brought up the subject of the day’s weather. Partly to work through his internal struggle with following Mom’s directions, secretly hoping I'd side with his desire to leave it behind, and partly because he was, by nature, a questioner. He made it his job to ask “why?” Taking the opportunity to squeeze in a quick lesson, I pointed out the digital temperature reading on my dashboard. As he stared at the glowing 57 it suddenly acclimated to 61 soliciting an excited, “it changed, the number is bigger now” from the back seat. I described how the warming, increase in temperature was like the mercury of the thermometer rising upward, or “north” and when it got colder, the opposite occurred, it traveled “south” and the number got smaller. “The number is getting bigger, so it is getting warmer, he questioned?” Quickly confirming, I set my focus back on the drive. After the briefest of pause came, “What happens to the number when it goes from east to west?” Humored and impressed at the five year’s old understanding of directionality, I came up with a quick explanation before scratching a note to remind myself to share this little moment with others. I love the opportunities I have with Westyn, much like those with my own children, which remind me of the seemingly effortless exposure to general knowledge the Montessori environments provide our children. It's the freedom to move spontaneously, in any direction, at the mere suggestion of the child or the teacher, that makes learning in a Montessori classroom so relatable. Thankfully, here, the minutes of the day don't have to be scheduled to perfection in an effort to "get it all in." Moments of interest can be shared, embraced, or just breathed in. The next thing you know, one is witnessing the evolution of thought processes from concrete to abstract, east to west.
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