If you are sending your child to a Montessori preschool, you are ensuring that he or she has adequate space to grow and explore on his or her own, but still get ready for kindergarten. One of the cornerstones of the Montessori method of teaching preschool is making sure that the child learns to everything himself or herself and builds both mastery and confidence. You don't want to undermine mastery or confidence at home because that will make your child's development slower.  Here are some tips for reinforcing the independence your child learns at his or her preschool in the home so that your child can be more successful later in life.

1. Encourage Independence

In order to encourage independence, talk to the preschool teacher and figure out what basic tasks your child is expected to do on his or her own. These tasks could include tying his or her shoes, going to the bathroom by him or herself, or pouring him or herself a glass of juice for snack. Make sure that you expect the same level of functioning of your child with these tasks that the preschool does in order to help reinforce the fact that he or she is able to perform these tasks for him or herself and to help him or her practice.

Then, go a step further by encouraging your child to do more tasks for him or herself within the home. This will help your child explore the world and become more confident in his or her ability to function within it.

2. Organize Anything Your Child Might Need

In order to help truly inspire independence, your child needs to feel secure in the fact that he or she is going to be able to find anything that he or she might need. If he or she can rely on being able to find tools, such as crayons and watercolors for drawing and clean clothing for getting dressed in the morning, he or she is going to feel much more confident taking on those activities.

If your house is not particularly organized, focus on one space at a time, starting with your child's room. Get your child involved in picking out boxes, caddies, and other storage units for his or her toys and art supplies. Start putting your child's toys in these storage containers with the help of your child so that he or she is going to know exactly where they are. Then, label these containers with both a picture of the contents and a label consisting of words so that your child can easily identify the container that he or she is looking for. Move from room to room.

For more information, talk to a company that specializes in Montessori education.