Becoming

Awww... I'm reposting this message here since it is so inspiring. Thank you so much, Erin!
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The task of becoming is one in which no one ever develops expertise. As a result it sometimes seems insane that we are allowed to bear and raise subsequent generations. Yet, somehow the complexity and enormity of the love we feel for our children makes knowing everything less important than learning what's important and letting go of everything else.
This morning with my knew arsenal of knowledge, three hours of sleep and the courage of my convictions my usually uncooperative three year old dressed, ate, cleaned up and with a little coaxing and a game of tickle monster put on her coat and went to school. Just before she left I said "Laney, thank you for helping out this morning. You are an important part of our family and in a family everyone make a contribution" to which she promptly replied "a contribution to your PBS station" and walked out the door. There was a time when my ego would have prevented me from admitting that I no longer had the skill set to deal with certain situations. I would have plugged along, on my own, in the futile search for answers. But an amazing thing happens when you become a parent your ego is suddenly smaller than your love for your child. In this end you go out admit defeat and do everything you can to obtain the skills necessary to ensure your part in helping your child to become the remarkable person they are meant to be. No matter what, there is no substitute for the sharing of experiences between people who embrace the same goal.
Everyone will ultimately find the path that works for them, and there are so many, but knowing that we are not alone in our journey is monumentally comforting. Thank you to Sarah, Tina and all of the MCC parents for providing a judgment free zone where we may all work toward mastering the task of becoming better parents and stronger people.

Happy Holidays best to you all in the coming year.
Erin Mahone (and Laney too)

My Week.../ or Can you overdose on Vitamin C?

At the moment, I am taking a break to drink my Super Vitamin C booster and Airborne tablets while children are peacefully resting. I have had a very interesting roller-coaster kind of week. The ups have been way high up, and the downs have never felt lower. I can tell the manic energy of the holiday season is here. Everywhere I go, lights, decorations, the jangling bells in front of stores, and the constant holiday music make the background set. Going out in public feels like being cocooned in holiday scented bubble wrap.

Don't misunderstand me and think I am a scrooge-- I love this season. I love gift giving and caroling, and I tend to have 3 weeks of a spruce in my home. And I always, always go overboard.

But for some reason, this year the background hum of Christmas is jarring me, pressing in on me-- only 1 more week of school! Only 18 days til Christmas! Only 100 hours before the holiday party so I need to get my presents made and wrapped! These deadlines and the oncoming dates have become mounting pressures. Each mark on the calendar is another flag waving at me.

Can you imagine what it's like to be a child at this time? It must be exciting-- even though you might not even know why-- but it's bound to be stressful on them too.

I pay lip-service to the notion that we shouldn't overschedule our lives, filling our lives with the clutter of way too much activity... when I honestly look at my schedule and my children's schedule, it's simply way too much. Is it any wonder that the holiday season would be stressful? If our day to day lives are filled to maximum capacity, then shopping, decorating, holiday making, traveling, and feasting put us on overdrive.

So here is my promise to myself-- that I'll have to do since I declared it to the world via this blog-- I am going to take the time to BREATHE.

For everything that this time of year adds to our lives, there are opportunities to enjoy the season. I will stop and look at the holiday lights with my children. I will take my time in each task and notice what I am doing. I will take a moment to look out at the trees, the river, the winter sky, the full moon-- knowing that this time is special, and that it passes all too quickly.

And I will fight off this cold! :)

Taking a moment...

I wanted to take a moment to recognize the passing of my mother's best friend, Sandy Swift. She was a great friend of my family and she recently passed away. Tomorrow I will leave a little early to attend her memorial service. She was a really unique person who dedicated her life teaching literature to college students. She left such a mark on my imagination as a child, from her handmade puppets to her house full of cats. I loved her incredible library of books and her brick Riverview home. I will truly miss her.

Here is her obituary:
http://home.hamptonroads.com/obits/details.cfm?obitID=43046

My mom chose this for Sandy's eulogy:
(From After Apple Picking by Robert Frost)
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.

==Sandy, your spirit lives on in all the lives you have touched==
With a sad heart today,
Sarah

oops, another song

I forgot to post the lyrics to another song, adapted from Sanford Jones:

Harvest Time
Harvest Time is near
Thanksgiving's coming soon
Indian Summer Days
And Nights of Harvest Moon
Gather all the gifts
And offer thanks above
For all our many blessings
The bounty of the Sun.

Hopefully, we'll sing it for the parents before the Thanksgiving Feast!

updates from the classroom

WHEW! It has been such a busy couple of weeks I haven't been able to catch my breath. I figure I am overdue in posting about my classroom.

First off, I had a great time at the IMC Annual Conference in Clearwater, FL. It was AMAZING. The presenters were top-notch, the hotel and beach were beautiful, the keynote speakers were very interesting, the meals were great and the vendors were very tempting!
Highlights:
1. Workshop with Jane Nelson, author of Positive Discipline and co-author the various series with that title.
2. Workshop with Kathryn Kvols, author or Redirecting Children's Behavior
3. Keynote speaker Jackie Costentino (hope I spelled that right) from Williamsbug Montessori School on the history and future trends in Montessori education
5. Sitting at the dinner table with Tim Seldin, president of IMC and hearing his plans to revolutionize Montessori teacher education
6. Finding out that I was absolutely correct in that I was leaving my class in safe hands-- apparently both days I was out went very well.

Secondly, my classroom has exploded with new works! I brought back goodies from conference, of course. Also, the geography and science areas have been hopping! Today we talked about how mountains are made and looked at the layers of the Earth. I made a model from colored plasticine clay, and cut it open so we could see the layers. The children have been talking to each other during class about how we live "on the crust." We also have some interesting Native American inspired works out, including a Lunar Calendar work, pictograph writing, and crayon rubbings. In preparation for Thanksgiving, we've been reading about Squanto and the First Thanksgiving. We are also doing Yoga poses each day before we leave group time, courtesy of Ms. Marcia! French lessons are already popular as well!

Tying together the cultural and physical geography, I will be presenting a lesson on the Native American Four Elements. All week we have been studying the Lithosphere related topics, so that goes along with Earth. Next we'll look at the Hydrosphere which goes along with Water. Right around Thanksgiving, we will talk a little bit about Fire, with a few Native American tales in there. After Thanksgiving, we'll do a few lessons on the Atmosphere, and introduce weather and clouds. (I could use some baby food jars if anyone has any, by the way.) This seems like a perfect way to give an overview of physical geography.

This year's emphasis will be on biomes and climates, so we will be starting that in December, as well as beginning a study of Europe.

All the children are doing really well right now in the classroom. Daylight savings and Halloween definitely disrupted everyone some, but we are back in the swing of things.

I've had some requests to post the words to the songs we sing at school, so here goes!

The Continent Song
Do you know your continents, your continents, your continents
Do you know your continents, then please sing with me
North and South America, Europe and Asia, Africa, Australia, Antartica too
Now you're through

Five Little Pumpkins
5 Little Pumpkins sitting on a gate
1st one says, oh my it's getting late
2nd one says, there are witches in the air
3rd one says, oh but we don't care
4th one says, lets run and run and run
5th one says, I'm ready for some fun
oooooohhhh went the wind and out went the light
and the 5 little pumpkins ROLLED out of sight

Happy Birthday, Montessori-style second verse
We celebrate your birth
And your place on the Earth
May the Sun, Moon and Stars
Bring you peace where you are

Let me know if there are any others out there you'd like to know!
Have a great weekend! (We'll be at the Celtic Festival Saturday... maybe we'll see a few folks there.)

Last Night's Montessori Education Parent Night

Hello out there! Here is the handout I prepared for last night's meeting. It was a lot of fun. My favorite part was slicing the apple much faster than Ms. Tina! ;)

Thanks to those who came and participated!
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Montessori from Home to School: The Prepared Environment & Practical Life

I. Practical Life
II. Montessori Prepared Environment
III. Developmental Goals: Order, Concentration, Coordination and Control of Movement and Independence
IV. Grace and Courtesy
V. Linking Home to School and Obstacles to Development: Brainstorming Session

What is Practical Life?

In Montessori, we define Practical Life as the area of the classroom reflecting the skills of everyday living. Practical life work is real things children can do. The activities of the Practical Life area are scaled down real life tasks that children can accomplish. These activities build skills leading into new rewarding activities. The tasks of Practical Life promote belonging and self-esteem: “I can do this. I can contribute something. My work is important. I know I belong. I know I am capable.” Because Practical Life ranges from pouring one’s own juice to sewing a button, it meets the needs of children to find a way to belong in the greater world.

What is the Prepared Environment?

The “Montessori Triad” consists of 3 factors that contribute to healthy development: the child, the adult, and the environment. These factors interact with each other, and when in balance, promote positive and healthy development.

The environment is emphasized in the Montessori classroom. Every area of the classroom is organized and sequenced. There is an order to every task. All the parts of an exercise are grouped together to promote success and limit error. The classroom environment is meant to enable children to be independent. The size of tables, chairs, sinks, etc. enable the child to be successful. The child can reach all the things he or she needs, and finds the environment suited to him or her. This prepared environment should be orderly and pleasing to the eye, without being distracting or overwhelming.

Seven Basic components:
Freedom
Structure/ Order
Reality and nature
Beauty and atmosphere
The Montessori Materials
Development of Community Life
The Teacher/ Adult

“Our schools offer the tinies a sheltering refuge in which the first elements of character can take shape, all of which has its own importance.”
“We may truly say that these things have been chosen by the children. We found there were objects liked by all children, and these we regard as essential.” Montessori, The Absorbent Mind.

Developmental Goals: Order, Concentration, Coordination and Control of Movement and Independence

A child develops order in practical life by remembering position of items on shelf, remembering a sequence of steps, restoring the work, completing a cycle and using simple determinations and decisions. Tasks are geared to draw attention to fine detail and distinctions. When a child’s sense of order is satisfied, it brings a state of calm and is rejuvenating even for older children.
Because these tasks are engaging and on the child’s level, they naturally capture a child’s attention. After the attention is captured, concentration becomes possible. Although children may spend a great deal of time with toys and TV, theses stimuli often do not produce active concentration. To encourage concentration, the task must be active and hands-on, have a purpose, require attention to detail, and can be cycled or repeated again. The passion children show in grinding coffee or whisking bubbles helps them learn to concentrate. This kind of concentration is crucial to academic goals, like learning to read.
Montessori found “every complex action comprises a series of distinct movements; one act follows the other. The analysis of movements consists in trying to recognize and to carry out these separate and distinct acts.” (Discovery of the Child) Practical life works are sequenced carefully to require increasing motor skill and strength. Much of the grace and courtesy lessons given, such as carrying a chair or sitting on a line, represent the child’s blossoming ability to function in a classroom and lead towards the next goal, independence.
Independence describes a range of behaviors and attitudes and sense of being that a child possesses. To be independent is to choose things, carry out decisions, care for self and react appropriately so that one achieves a desired result without interventions. Many tasks are geared right at the child’s level, as to empower the child. A child also learns natural consequences for carelessness and mistakes without adult judgment. Montessori described the dressing frames as a way children can “prepare themselves separately for these movements by means of repeated exercises. We succeed in teaching the child to dress himself without his rally being aware of it, that is, without any direct or arbitrary command we have led him to this mastery.” (The Montessori Method)

Grace and Courtesy

The Grace and Courtesy lessons are the heart and soul of the Montessori Environment. They are the means by which the teacher creates a peaceful and cooperative classroom. They teach the details of simple procedures, which we adults take for granted, but children need explained and demonstrated in order to be successful in life. The child learns the customs of the classroom, which help to develop discipline, the behaviors acceptable in society, to respect self and others, to be a kind and caring person, and to be confident in social situations.

OBSTACLES

• Clutter: “Overabundance debilitates and retards progress.”
• Assisting the Child (unnecessarily)
• Interruptions

We brainstormed ways to help independence at home and the obstaacles to independence at home. More to be added later...

check out this article

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=407528&in_page_id=1770

A parent emailed me this article.

The article mentions A. Lillard's work through UVA (check out her book Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius.) These kind of articles give me hope that having research based information that supports what educators and parents have been saying all along will make a difference.

Nature Deficit Disorder?

My children enjoyed scaring away all the ducks at Bryan Park! :)

I found a topic for the day!
At the NAMTA (North American Montessori Teacher Association) Conference in Atlanta last January, the keynote speaker, Richard Louv addressed what he coined as a "Nature Deficit Disorder."

Here's a quote from Louv on the Nature Deficit Disorder:
"It's the cumulative effect of withdrawing nature from children's experiences, but not just individual children. Families too can show the symptoms -- increased feelings of stress, trouble paying attention, feelings of not being rooted in the world. So can communities, so can whole cities. Really, what I'm talking about is a disorder of society -- and children are victimized by it."

I've been slowing reading Louv's book Last Child in the Woods for a few months now. He raises some interesting points about how our society is limiting the interaction between children and nature. He points out the litigation issues that often deprive children of nature. For one thing, our parks and play spaces for children have much more to do with limiting liability for injury than anything else. Here's another interview quote:

"For instance, I bring up the idea of the "criminalization" of natural play, where if you take all the state regulations, the well-intended and often needed environmental restrictions, and add those to the covenants and restrictions that now cover almost any new development that has been built in the last 20 years -- things that control everything to whether you can plant rosebushes in the front to what color your curtains -- well, the idea of a freewheeling, tree-house-building, nature-loving kid doesn't fit that. So if all of [these restrictions] were to be enforced, playing outdoors by kids would be essentially illegal. It's not all enforced, but the message still gets through -- kids get a sense that there's something unsavory about playing outdoors. And it's too easy to blame this on lazy parents who let the TV do the baby sitting, when the truth is there is a matrix of forces that have come together to create this problem, and those forces are hard to stand up against as an individual and as a people."

It's a bold statement that Louv makes-- that the symptoms of ADHD would be reduced in children if we put them back in the woods, back outdoors in a natural environment. So far there is evidence to support the claims that stress reduction, increased creativity, cognitive skills, and full use of the senses are the immediate benefits of being in nature. I share with many adults the same feeling of relief to be outdoors.

(One of my goals this year is to make it a regular part of my life to go hiking and camping with my family. )

So here's the question I think parents need to ask themselves: is it worth the risk of poison ivy, ticks or other common (and mostly avoidable) hazards to put children back in the woods? If the benefits are increased creativity, concentration, and to reduce stress, are these "less controlled" environments worth it?

It was this issue that inspired me to offer a nature themed camp over the summer. We definitely immersed ourselves more with nature. Campers found lizards, a toad, many insects, a bird's nest with eggs and a hatchling bird, wild blackberries, the farmer's fields of tomatoes, corn, sunflowers, etc. and collected apples and fresh food and flowers from nearby fields. We took nature walks almost every day and spent an hour outside if we could. We watered the garden and pulled weeds all summer. It was a taste of nature, but not quite on the level as the author's childhood memories of unstructured play, fort building, and tree climbing

The only bad part about this book so far-- no one needs another label or issue to obsess about! In our modern tendency to frantically overschedule, is this just one more thing to stress over? I hope not. I hope it is a term that gives us permission to:
- take vacations
- go wild places
- relax
- play in the mud; get dirty, REALLY DIRTY with your child.
- have more fun outdoors!

Warmly,
Sarah

Are there any famous or successful people who were Montessori educated?

From a Montessori list...

Many familiar people, who were Montessori educated, are listed below:
Peter Drucker, Management Guru
Larry Page, Co-Founder of Google
Sergey Brin, Co-Founder of Google
Jeffrey Bezos, Founder of Amazon.com
Katharine Graham, Owner/Editor of the Washington Post "The Montessori method—learning by doing— once again became my stock intrade..." from Personal History by Katharine Graham
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, Editor, Former First Lady
Sean 'P.Diddy' (formerly known as Puffy) Combs, RAP mega-star
Anne Frank, Author of The Diary of Anne Frank
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Nobel Prize winner for Literature Prince
William and Prince Harry, English royal family
T. Berry Brazelton, Pediatrician and Author J
ulia Child, Chef, Star of many TV Cooking Shows, and Author
Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian painter and Architect
Many famous people chose Montessori schools for their own children including the following: Stephen J. Cannell, TV Writer-Producer-Director
Patty Duke Austin, Actress
Cher Bono, Singer and Actress
John Bradshaw, Psychologist and Author
Yul Brynner, Actor Marcy Carcy, TV producer
Bill and Hillary Clinton, Former President and New York Senator
Michael Douglas, Actor
Shari Lewis, Puppeteer
Yo Yo Ma, Cellist
Jennifer Granholm and Daniel Mulhern, Governor of Michigan

Other famous people connected to Montessori include:
Alexander Graham Bell (inventor) and his wife Mabel founded the MontessoriEducation Association in 1913. They also provided financial support directly to Dr. Maria Montessori and helped establish the first Montessori class in Canada and one of the first in the United States. Mister Rogers, children's TV personality, was a strong supporter ofMontessori education. Thomas Edison, scientist and inventor, helped found a Montessori school.
President Wilson's daughter trained as a Montessori teacher. There was aMontessori classroom in the basement of the White House during Wilson'spresidency.
Alice Waters, restaurateur and writer, is a former Montessori teacher.
Bruno Bettelheim, noted psychologist/author, was married to a Montessori teacher.
Erik Erikson, noted anthropologist/author, had a Montessori teaching certificate.
Jean Piaget, noted Swiss psychologist, made his first observations of children in a Montessori school. He was also head of the Swiss MontessoriSociety for many years.
-Ruth Liliana Tizon Caminante del Cielo Cosmico Rojo Kin/Sello 13 -

Welcome Back!

The new animals in the classroom are a real attraction. The parakeets are definitely still a little nervous around people. The newts and toad seem happy in their tank. There is actually a fish in there too, but it hides under the rock until I put out fish flakes. Getting the newts to eat is a challenge. The darkest brown newt does not seem to be eating at all. I've even bought some bloodworms (yeargh!) Looks like I've got some newt research ahead of me.

The classroom looks fantastic. I have Ms. Colleen to thank for the pretty windows and the inspiration! I love our new rug.

Here is one of the Stanford Jones songs we sing in the beginning of the year:

At the beginning is a good place to be
What will each day bring for you and me
New life new hope new things to do
At the beginning is a good place to be!

a few more summer memories

My children went to Horseback Riding Camp this year at Level Green. Yvonne, one of the moms at the school, is an instructor there and her parents own Level Green.

It really is a beautiful place and the horses seem so happy! For our May Faire last year, Yvonne brought ponies from Level Green for pony rides.

So here is Rowan, a very improved rider, in my not-so-humble opinion, after one week of camp. He rides Tina, a sweet mare that sometimes just won't go! Anyway, a big thanks to Level Green for both my children's wonderful camp week and my own wonderful planning week while they were there! :)

more at oxford; stained glass

Just a few more photos here of my trip to Oxford at Christchurch College. What an amazing place. I fell in love with all the stained glass in the cathedral there. The one above is my very favorite piece of all the stained glass we saw in England.

It was fun to do these dramatic poses here. My children recognized these hallways from the Harry Potter films.

The best part of traveling is getting inspired for life. It gets you back in touch with the essential part of yourself that mundane life can sometimes supress. Well, that's it for now!

Some pictures of my trip to England

Oxford was one of my favorite places that we visited in England. I really like old doors so I had us take pictures of each other in front of this old door.
Chris and I both agreed things did not look quite real here... just too beautiful to be real.

A Blog For Me?

It feels like a important moment here. I'm typing an online journal that people may actually read. It already feels kind of strange.

Actually, I love to journal. That part of my Montessori training, observing and journaling, was one of the easier things for me. In my own way though, I'm a private person. Like a turtle with a tough shell, I perfer to be able to hide my thoughts and feelings away. :)

I guess I'll see how this goes. I'm Sarah, and I teach at a little Montessori school in Richmond, VA.

I had a great day today training with Ms. Marcia and Ms. Tina. While the winds and rain shook the trees outside, we discussed the importance of grace and courtesy and control of movement. Maria Montessori waxes most eloquently on how the personality can express itself through refined movement. According to Maria, in order to organize your mind to learn, you must first learn to organize your body's movements.

I like how the grace and courtesy curriculum takes nothing for granted. Even the most basic routines, like blowing your nose or closing a door, are included as an important part of the child's acclimation to classroom life. We will practice social relations: how to get someone's attention, how to listen, how to take turns, how to apologize, etc. etc. Through these lessons, the foundation of respect is forged. Soon they will spontaneously create a community with each other. "I sliced a banana. Would you like a piece?" They will proudly offer a serving to a friend. "Yes, please. Thank you." "You are welcome." I am such a lucky person that I get to see these moments that make you believe that people are capable of living civilized and at peace!

St. Ignatius of Loyola once said, “Give me the first seven years, and I’ll give you the man.”

Here's my Montessori quote of the day:
“And so we discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words, but in virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment. The teacher's task is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made for the child.”Dr. Maria Montessori: The Absorbent Mind

I look forward to meeting all these little people on Tuesday!