Spiritual embryo is the phase of development that starts right after the baby is born and continues to at least the age of three. It is the beginning of the newborn’s life in a new radical environment. It is unique to humans because of the increased length of the time bringing up the child’s state of independence and autonomy when compared to other animals. In this phase a child learns to talk, communicate, to think and remember. Man seems to have two embryonic periods. One is prenatal like that of the animals; the other one is postnatal and only man has this. According to Montessori it is the uniqueness in human soul.
In her work, Maria Montessori said, “A man is the procreator and the child is the creator. A child would go to create his personality, intelligence, emotional make up and character within his or her own environment. The child becoming incarnate is a spiritual embryo which needs its own special environment ,just as the physical embryo needs its mother’s womb in which to grow, so the spiritual embryo needs to be protected by an external environment that is warm with love and rich in nourishment, where anything is disposed to welcome and nothing to harm it. The most important aspect of education begins at birth.Therfore for a child to grow naturally in a Montessori class there are principles that should be considered and well taken care of.
For a Montessori class to cater for the nature of the spiritual embryo there should be freedom. Montessori believed that a child must be free to explore and follow his own natural ability that will lead to developing his potential and increasing his level of knowledge of the world around him. Within the class environment a child must experience freedom of movement, freedom of exploration, freedom to interact with others and freedom from interference with others. Thus this freedom is alternatively leads to the greater freedom of choice.
There should be structure and...