Reply #6: Montessori methods are good because they are concrete. & I can't support enough a

[patrice]

suggestion further up this thread to study Scientific methodology as early as possible, with a goal to understand the basic philosophical assumptions of empirical science and apply them to its methods. Rational (Scientific) empiricism is the foundation of what we refer to as knowledge and one of the reasons for understanding it is not only to recognize the relevance of "the facts", but also to have a sense of its limitations (i.e. that about which Science does NOT speak, e.g. things such as what we call Art), because that other kind of "knowledge" can be important/significant too.

Another area that is useful to older students is Linguistics (and its logical fundaments in Grammar). All of us use language all of the time for almost everything (ask an attorney sometime about the importance of words), yet few of us stop and think about what language actually is. Noam Chomsky has a lot to say about this, but you will find it in Literature too, especially amongst the post-modern groups, such as the Existentialists and the Absurdists.

Good Luck with that little guy!! I ENVY you. :hi: