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!