Why you choose Montessori

I have been thinking a lot lately about how unhappy I am with our system of public education.  I volunteer in my daughter's classroom frequently because it is important to support the teacher and the children.  My daughter is missing her time at Maple Tree Montessori very much.  What to do?  I know what I should do, and I know what my heart is telling me.  The problem is twofold: time and money.

It has taken me five years to get to a place where we could finally buy our own building for the school.  It has come at a bit of a cost to my family -- that we will be in relatively small quarters for a couple of years while we save up another downpayment to buy another house, just for our family, apart from the school.  We are all ok with this.  Maple Tree has been a part of our family for ten years and, in so many ways, I am truly grateful for that.

I mentioned previously that time and money are the impediments but time is truly the most important factor.  I feel like I have so very little of it and what I do have seems so precious that I don't want to give it up.  This past Sunday, I bumped into a friend who saw me with my over-full grocery cart and enquired if the contents were for Maple Tree.  I responded, "Yes."  He said, "You do the grocery shopping for the school?"  What I thought about in that moment is what a time sucker it is and how I have to shop twice a week -- once for the school and then again for home.  I can't do them at the same time.  It's just too hard to manage two carts and two grocery lists. There just never feels like enough time in my day for all the things I feel like I still need to do.

Someone asked me recently how do I find the time to make and do all that I do at the school.  My answer was simple.  I love what I do and I believe in Montessori.  I do not have all the answers about what to do about public school and I feel very strongly that if we all abandon the system then we will not have a public system.  So, it means for me and my children that I will have to develop an enrichment program to reach them on weekends and after school.  Oh, wait!  I already do that and you probably do too!!  Teaching doesn't stop when you leave the school.  It is everywhere, in everything we do with our children.

This past weekend, I read an article in the Globe and Mail about about a professor that confessed to having an addiction to his email.  He said he spent crazy amounts of time checking it and responding to it.  It was such a problem that he did not feel like he read for personal enjoyment anymore or for that matter, his work.  Hello, he's a teacher and he needs to read to be good at what he does!!  It really made me think.  How much time do I devote to my phone and email how much do I actually read beyond work and email.  I guess what I am trying to say is that be aware, be present in your life and everyday moments and know your children and their needs.  The needs of a child are changing every second of the day.  I want to leave you with a clip from youtube about Montessori and why we chose it for our children and why it is so important to embrace it in our lives.