My husband and I embarked on the parenting roller coaster late in life and well, we thought at least adequately prepared. It’s like learning to drive at 80 years old in a foreign country. So with two children less than a year apart we learned quickly that we need expert help. How do you prepare children to not just live in the world but to make it a better place, when you can’t even get them to pick up their socks? We have a clear vision of where we want them to go, but how to get them there?
So what about school, learning, achieving and what about just keeping them somewhere while we go to work? What do you do? How do you decide? What if we make a mistake, what if they eat candy and then can’t behave because of a sugar high and then need tens of thousand of dollars worth a psychiatric care and dental work? Yes, I had anxiety about picking a school, among other things.
Growing Lights Montessori School in Oakland does very little PR and BS. They don’t “wow” you with a fancy campus or the latest toys. They put the teachers front and center and the teachers talk about the Montessori philosophy and the curriculum and about how much they like what they do. No one brags or pushes. They give Maria Montessori all the credit and talk about how they apply her philosophy in each class. I give Montessori credit also but the talent of the teachers at the school and the administration’s support of their talents makes the school more magic than Montessori.
We live in the age of stuff and check lists. Hurry, learn to read, learn to write and don’t fall behind in math. I’m a natural worrier, sometimes I set the alarm and wake up early so I can start worrying. So, what about homework, can they read yet?
The first thing I noticed when my kids came home from their new school was that they could do handstands. I took them to the park and they ran fearlessly and confidently up slides and rock walls they previously avoided. They started acting cocky and they got thinner and more muscular. Then they demanded notebooks because “they need to write notes.” In an attempt to check their skills, I asked my son to read, he said, he’d like to write the word then read it. Both children began insisting on helping with cooking and laundry and they told me that, “a million, you know, is a lot.”
My children became fearless and confident about everything they do and about their ability to learn new things but most importantly they began to ask big questions like: “why are cats so serious?” or “do gummy bears have bones?” You see, it’s about the big questions, what do we know, what don’t we know and what we can figure out. Growing Light’s teachers made my children fully believe in the power and the importance of their own ideas. I have always told them “you should make the world a better place” but their school has given them the tools to do it. A great teacher changes your life; a collection of great teachers can change the world. Growing Lights Montessori School makes better people, better parents and a better planet.
