Interesting articles, Bookworm, thanks for posting them.
I haven’t read about Montessori methods extensively, but from what I have read, I would say one big difference I have noticed between Montessori early-childhood methods and CM early-childhood methods is that Montessori seems to be very much based on a “prepared environment”, wheras CM stresses a young child learning in his natural environment, both at home and outdoors.
That said, I have used some Montessori inspired activities with my preschoolers at home. I like the way that each activity has a fairly clearly defined purpose and I think they are less ‘twaddly’ than other preschool type activities. However, what I know of CM early-childhood methods allows me to resist the temptation feel inadequate because I haven’t replicated a Montessori-style prepared environment in my home or that I am ruining my child because I’ve picked and chosen among the activities that suited our purposes even if they didn’t necessarily fall into the sequence as defined by Montessori.
FWIW,
Jen