Montessori Monday: Beautification

Sunday afternoon, I had just finished making a cup of tea when I was walking out of the kitchen and had to stop to admire our little flower arrangement on the kitchen table. Having flowers in our home brings me an incredible amount of joy and happiness. Such a small thing has such a lovely impact. 

The idea, feeling and understanding of beautification is also integrated into the Montessori curriculum. The classroom isn't just a room with materials where lessons can take place. It is a carefully laid out, inviting, beautiful place that calls to children and motivates them to explore. That is why instead of calling it a schoolroom, it's called The Children's House or Casa dei Bambini in Italian. Montessori believed the children should feel at home and that through creating an attractive place, they would also feel called upon to care for it. Isn't that wonderful?

The only other place I've seen that idea laid out is in the book Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure. Have you read it? It is fascinating. Over the course of eight weeks, you completely re-energize, de-clutter and deep clean your home. I can't recommend it enough. About flowers, he writes:

As simple as it sounds, the act of buying flowers for your apartment holds great significance and will heal your apartment on many levels. As organic elements, flowers strengthen the bones and contribute to the breath of your apartment through humidifying and cleansing the air...Typically one buys flowers for another, but it is particularly important that, whether you live alone or not, you view flowers as a gift to your home. This is the beginning of nurturing your home and taking care of it. 

I think it's absolutely beautiful. Now every time I buy flowers, I see them as a gift to our home and I love the atmosphere fresh flowers create. It truly is an interaction and brings new energy into our space. In Montessori classrooms, the children learn flower arranging from age four or five. This awareness in Caring for the Environment instills in them a love of beauty, order and nurturing their space. 

Do you buy flowers often? What are your favorites to have at home?

PS - Pink carnations!