Practical Life

Upon entering the Bayit, one might be struck by the independent activity of the three-year-old. He may be cutting a banana or she may be polishing candle sticks for Shabbat. The five-year-old may be measuring flour to bake challah or the four-year-old selecting, cutting, and arranging flowers. These are activities the child sees his parents doing and these are the activities he seeks to imitate in his quest for independence. Helping the child to orient and adapt to his culture is one of the purposes of Practical Life.

A second purpose of the Practical Life area is to provide an aid for the child in his quest towards coordination and consolidation of movement. This is achieved through the completion of purposeful work. For example, when a child washes a table he will make large circles with a scrub brush to distribute soap across the table. This provides for the indirect preparation for the skills needed in handwriting. Both fine and gross motor skills are used on a daily basis. Through materials found in Practical Life, the child has unlimited opportunities to work on balance, posture, crossing the midline, hand and finger dexterity and strength, as well as the ability to have the spine vertical.

A third purpose of Practical Life is to enable the child to graciously relate to others in a social setting and problem solve when the need arises. For example, the child practices patience when waiting until an activity he wants to use becomes available or he may simply decide to select another activity instead. He also learns Middos and has opportunities to practice acts of Chesed by participating in role playing activities called Grace and Courtesy.

The fourth purpose of the Practical Life area is to support the child in his development of independence and self-confidence. Rather than the external praise of "good job", the child is allowed to naturally build self-confidence and independence through the mastery of purposeful physical work. Self-esteem is built not by always getting things right the first time, but by being challenged and then mastering the challenge through interest, concentration and repetition.

The exercises of Practical Life are divided into four distinct groups and each allow for naturally occurring Judaic components:

1. Care of Self: A child who can successfully care for himself is able to develop independence through the coordination of his movements; when the effort to move comes from within, it is directed by the will and free choice of the child. He is shown how to dress, fasten clothing, iron, polish shoes, wash hands and face, put on tzitzit, wash before eating bread (Natilat Yadayim), etc.


2. Care of Environment: A child who can participate in and positively contribute to the upkeep of the Bayit learns that he has something to offer to living and non-living things around him. He is shown how to water plants, clean the floor, prepare snacks for others, set the table for Shabbat, polish candle sticks or a Kiddush cup, etc. The older children in the Bayit are drawn to the exercises because they take pride in being leaders within their community and in fulfilling Hashem's will to be stewards of the Earth.


3. Grace and Courtesy/Middos: A child who can establish and maintain harmonious relationships with other children in the Bayit learns valuable skills that will provide him with a strong foundation for social interaction throughout his lifetime. Usually, small groups of children participate in these activities where they experience how to find assistance without interruption, how to apologize and how to invite a guest, etc.
   
   We have chosen to include the traditional Jewish term Middos as a component of this group. It is a Jewish tradition that Middos are proper character traits that allow one to follow the Proper Path (Derech Eretz) that leads to the Tree of Life. First one must refine his Middos so that he may be on the Derech Eretz, only then can the Torah dwell within him. "Where there is no derech eretz, there is no Torah." (see Rabbeinu Yona to Pirkei Avos 3:22) As such, we will provide the child with the support he will need to develop his Middos through activities that involve Bikur Cholim, Returning a Lost Item, and many others.


4. Exercises of Movement: Through two activities, Walking on the Line and the Silence Game, the child is given a means for perfecting his own actions.
   
   Walking on the Line is done daily as an individual or group activity. In both the individual and group activity, the child develops balance, posture, and increased awareness of body and movement, but the concentration of the individual child is expanded and challenged further when he participates in a group. This group exercise leads to cohesion of the social unit; working together as one unified group to accomplish a goal.
   
   In her biography, Dr. Montessori is quoted as speaking about her experience with the Silence Game when she said, “Silence often brings us the knowledge which we had not fully realized, that we possess within ourselves an interior life. The child by means of silence sometimes becomes aware of this for the first time.” In our very hectic and over stimulated world today, children have few opportunities for quiet reflection and stillness or the tranquility that both can bring.
   
   It is important that the child is aware of his body and its relation to those around him when he enters the sacred space of the Synagogue, sits with his family at the table for a Shabbat or Yom Tov meal, and when he is developmentally able and interested, he takes the initiative to study some aspect of Jewish practice and tradition. A child who has mastered his movements, which include those movements needed to inhibit his speech and actions, moves with a harmony of both body and mind.

1 E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori, Her Life and Work, pg 226