Was thumbing through a book today (no comments please) entitled Montessori: A Modern Approach by Paula Polk Lillard.
Anyway, I found the following quotes:
“Because the child’s mind is not yet formed, he must learn in a different way from the adult. The adult has knowledge of his environment on which to build, but the child must begin with nothing. It is the ABSORBANT MIND (I added emphasis) that accomplishes this seemingly impossible task. It permits an UNCONSCIOUS (me again) absorption of the environment by means of a special PRE-CONSCIOUS (me) state of mind . “
Further it says,
“An unconscious activity thus prepares the mind. It is ‘succeeded by a conscious process which slowly awakens and takes from the unconscious what it can offer.”
Conclusion? Maria Montessori could PhotoRead 
Cheers - CS
