Derech Eretz Montessori encourages parents to become educated about their child’s experience in the Bayit. In addition to monthly parent information sessions where you will be introduced to the materials your child explores on a daily basis, we will also have book discussion nights. Derech Eretz Montessori has an extensive lending library for its parent population.

The following are books by Dr. Montessori that parents are encouraged to read:

The Absorbent Mind
Discusses the development of infants and young children from birth to three years. Gives a clear explanation of the basis of Montessori theory and method.

The Child in the Family
A series of short essays about the child, the family, and the school, with a philosophical emphasis.

To Educate the Human Potential
Describes the needs of the elementary-aged child in the process of acquiring culture.

The Secret of Childhood(the Orient Longman Edition)
An introduction, both practical and theoretical, including observations and insights into the nature of young children.

The Discovery of the Child
Early writings of Dr. Montessori highlighting the materials and the work of the child in the primary class (ages 3-6).

The Following are books written about Montessori or that touch on a subject that is important to Montessori Pedagogy or Philosophy.

Silvana Montanaro,MD: Italian psychiatrist, pediatrician and AMI Montessori teacher trainer.
Understanding the Human Being

Angeline Lillard, Phd: professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, has been studying Montessori's methods for more than two decades.
The Science Behind The Genius

Paula Polk Lillard: co-founded the Forest Bluff School in Lake Bluff, Illinois.
Montessori from the Start: The Child at Home, from Birth to Age Three
Montessori Today

Dorothy Canfield Fisher: was an educational reformer, social activist, and best-selling American author in the early decades of the Twentieth century. She was named by Eleanor Roosevelt one of the ten most influential women in the United States. Dorothy Canfield brought the Montessori method of child rearing to the United States.
A Montessori Mother

Alfie Kohn : American lecturer and author in the fields of education, psychology and parenting.
PUNISHED BY REWARDS: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes
Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason
THE HOMEWORK MYTH:Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing
THE CASE AGAINST STANDARDIZED TESTING:Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools
THE SCHOOLS OUR CHILDREN DESERVE: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "TougherStandards"
BEYOND DISCIPLINE: From Compliance to Community

Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, Phd: Croatian-born American psychology professor at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California and is the former head of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago and of the department of sociology and anthropology at Lake Forest College. He is one of the most widely cited psychologists today in a variety of fields related to psychology and business.
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Lise Eliot, Phd: research neuroscientist
What’s Going on in There? How the Brain Develops in the First 5 Years of Life

Jane Healy, Phd: Educational psychologist and professional educator for more than thirty-five years as a classroom teacher, college professor, reading and learning specialist, and elementary school administrator.
Your Child’s Growing Mind
Endangered Minds: Why Children Don’t Think & What We Can Do About It?
Failure to Connect: How Computers Affect Our Children’s Minds- And What We Can Do About It.

Steven Pinker, Phd: Harvard College Professor and the Johnstone Professor of Psychology.
How the Mind Works
The Language Instinct
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature

Frank Wilson, MD: Neurologist and medical director of the Peter F. Ostwald Health Program for Performing Artists at the University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco.
The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human Culture

Juliet B. Schor, Phd.: Professor of sociology at Boston College
Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture

Richard Restak, MD: Clinical Professor of Neurology at George Washington University's School of Medicine and is president of the American Neuropsychiatric Association
The Brain: The Last Frontier
Brainscapes: An Introduction to What Neuroscience has Learned about the Structure, Function, and Abilites of the Brain
The Infant Mind

John J. Ratey, MD: is associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School
The User’s Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

Norbert Weiner: received his Ph.D. from Harvard at the age of eighteen, and joined the mathematics department at M.I.T. when he was twenty-five.
The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society