She is trained to recognize a child's readiness according to age, ability, and interest in a specific lesson, and is prepared to guide individual progress. A child can work on any material he understands at any time. The schedule Under the age of six, there are one or two 3-hour, uninterrupted, work periods each day, not broken up by required group lessons. Older children schedule meetings or study groups with each other the teacher when necessary. Adults and children respect concentration and do not interrupt someone who is busy at a task.
Groups form spontaneously or are arranged ahead by special appointment.
They almost never take precedence over self-selected work. This is possible because the children stay in the same group for three to six years and much of the teaching comes from the children and the environment. This particular model is backed up by Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. There are no grades, or other forms of reward or punishment, subtle or overt. Assessment is by portfolio and the teacher's observation and record keeping.