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Destination Imagination & Free Materials

Over the years I have been asked about making materials and sharing them. I am always happy to do so...and my materials are all over the place...mmshare, montessori makers, just to name a few.......however time is not always on my side with raising 4 boys and our new venture of Destination Imagination.

I will not say enough good things about DI. It teaches problem solving, it's self directed and without adult interference. It teaches team work and so many things that are important in life. This adventure has kept me very busy. Now with this adventure unfortunately comes a price, which is steep to compete all the way up to Globals. For the last 3 years my boys (all 5-6 of them) have won State. Two of the three years we have ventured to Tennessee for the Global competition. Last year they took 3rd place. Now with that said I am not trying to be boastful and I am not in the program to win because IMO if you do the program you are all winners! Just being able to complete the task is phenomenal, again as in Montessori it is the process and the road traveled that is important.

With such projects comes fundraising. I am a terrible fundraiser. Endless tapping on doors knowing I am anoying someone is not me and not very considerate. So I had a hairbrain idea....if I am to spend time doing something, why not spend it doing something that is not annoying and will help someone?

So is anyone interested in a whole lesson plan for home-schoolers that is Montessori based? I am thinking that for a onetime donation of say $10-15? I will set up a classroom type group that is self lead and will walk you through a whole lesson plan from start to finish. This will include books to get, videos to watch, montessori cards all made by myself, personal support and much much more.

If you are interested.....e-mail me and I will take the first 10 people and subscribe you to Montessori's Great Lessons group for free for 30 days. My e-mail button is located to the right all the way at the bottom of the page.

Peace........

Peace......

Such a simple word...
Such a beautiful word......
With wonderful calming undertones....
Such complexity
So unreachable......











I was asked once, in a Montessori Peace Education class, to define peace. Although I received an A for my answer I was not totally convinced I could truly define this complex word in it's root form. It sounded so easy......until.................we all tried to answer it.....

Now today, 2 years later, as I watched my 4....yes 4....boys, I felt more drained than usual.......it did not help to have another 4 neighbor boys, who have spent their every waking moment this summer at my house playing in their true valor. Rolling, jumping, thumping, wrestling, throwing, posturing............

Ah.......

Peace.......

What is it?
It is freedom.......

What it is not........

It is not.........being free from....
noise
excitement
energy
laughter
screaming
running
differences
likenesses
friendships
foes
compromises
competition

What is it?

Peace.......IS being free of........
winning
oppression
shame
perception
judgment
impression
rightness

It is the ability within yourself to be able to accept others around you as they learn the path to their peace and what it is, and what it is not.

What I would not do for a day, in the life of home schooling 4 boys and their friends, to have a day of "peace and quiet".......

Then again......what does that mean?

Don't have.....
children
friends
a spouse
siblings
mothers or fathers
in-laws

Peace is not the right to be left alone.....Nor would we want it that way..

Peace, it IS replenishing your being, having that moment of solitude, so you may rejuvenate yourself with nature around you.....ironically............................

Peace is playing the silence game.......

As Montessori perceived it.....

To teach to listen to ones own heart.

(May you find your own peace in your life as you journey through all it has to offer......)

Homeschooling Montessori Mom

Ah, the balance between the internal instinct of protecting your children from harm including the pain of learning is a hard one.

To choose to observe a child in a classroom as a Montessori educator is far easier than observing your own child.

As we are into contract work for the older children now, where they choose their work in each of the categories, I feel we have accomplished a balance that is both comfortable and child self empowering.

BUT.......what happens when "work time" is over and your child still feels the need to complete the sheet? Is it out of desperation? Is it out of sense of accomplishment? What makes a child want to keep working.....yet cry at the same time saying that they are not playing? No matter what I said to encourage it only seemed to make it worse. I stood aside and said nothing watching and fighting my internal instincts of wanting to scoop him up and force him to stop, I put my trust into Montessori.

Now when I had rethought the events I realized that he had played during work time and perhaps he felt some sense of duty......

The next morning to my amazement my trust was not only restored but blooming! This child had sat down and chosen a different schedule for himself and was focused like a hawk on it's prey. As the others watched they too became focused and worked to their hearts content.

I just laughed and shook my head and said.....Yes Maria, YES!

Montessori Quote for Today

The greatness of human personality begins at the hour of birth …

During this early period education must be understood as a help to the unfolding of the child’s inborn psychic powers. The child’s true constructive energy, a dynamic power, has remained unnoticed for thousands of years … the men of our day make progress after progress in civilized life without noticing the treasure that lie hidden in the psychic world of infancy …

Today we are beginning to see the value of the ungathered fruits, more precious than gold, for they are man’s own spirit.

read more from Dr. Silvana Quattrocchi Montanaro, M.D.

Montessori Tip of the Day

Does your child have selective hearing?

Do they hear you better the louder you yell?
Then yell louder!
Did they hear you then?
Well surely their ears must be filled with cotton....
So go an remove the cotton, then yell very loudly so the neighbors hear you!
Hum.. still didn't work?

Ah *shacking my head*
but have you tried this? ....

WHISPER.......

"WHAT?" You say.
Here let me remove the cotton from your ear....

Yes, WHISPER.....that is right.
Look your child in the eye and move your mouth as quietly as you can. You will be amazed at how well they hear you.

For stubborn kids try adding an open armed hug like come to me gesture with your arms and shacking those fingers, with a smile.
No back flips are necessary in this exercise...

Why does it work? Perhaps....

Maria Montessori once did an experiment. She notice the children working on language and making great progress, but she wondered were they understanding the concept. That spelling out the words using the movable alphabet really meant something.

So she stood at the blackboard and wrote "If you love me, come to me"

One child who was so engrossed in his work just happened to look up. Puzzled he saw the letters on the board. Soon his face lite so quickly and so brightly, he jumped up and walked to her giving her a big hug. He then returned to his work. Soon the children came to her one by one. She never said a word, only smiled and hugged.

So as you whisper think of the story and see if your children "hear" you better. You'll be surprised.....

Montessori Quote For Today

The child becomes a person through work. Bring the child to the consciousness of his own dignity and he will feel free.

-M Montessori