Blog
April 1, 2020
Many parents, soon to be parents or care providers often wonder what they are supposed to say and read to the little ones they care for. The answer is very simple, ANYTHING. This past year I had a new mom be completely transparent with me, confessing that she didn’t know her baby was old enough to listen to stories, be involved in a conversation, or really understand anything she said. I was able to quickly reassure the new mom that her sweet baby was a sponge soaki...
March 18, 2020
The word “crisis” can have several meanings. I propose two: First, a crisis is an adverse situation that could not have been reasonably anticipated. Second, it could refer to an adverse situation that could have been anticipated but was not. Neither is our current circumstance an unprecedented event. I led a Montessori school in Beijing at the height of the SARS epidemic, which is very much like what we are currently experiencing. Historians love to quote the Spanis...
February 26, 2020
The two pictures below are beautiful and are great pictures of focus and concentration. The tongue hanging to the side of one child’s lip and the other not concerned at all by her friend watching her is priceless. In order to succeed or accomplish goals in life, one must be able to concentrate on the task. The task could be something that could be accomplished within an hour or it could take years. However long it takes to achieve, one must be able to keep a clear m...
January 22, 2020
Oftentimes parents ask how they can help their child at home. Here are some thoughts.
Reading to your child is a gift that never stops giving. Reading to your child opens up their imaginations and activate their brains. This opportunity allows them to envision in their imagination' the setting and characters.
Reading aloud for 20 minutes develops language development. Daily reading will help the brain make connections to written and spoken words which incre...
January 9, 2020
As you talk with your children each day, there are tons of ways you can help them be more successful in their early childhood education. Most of these ways are simple and cost you nothing more than what your children crave from you the most…your time and attention.
First of all, talk with your children. Answer their questions. Ask them questions. Pretend with your children. Tell stories. Ask your children to tell you stories. Read with them EVERY DAY....
January 1, 2020
Today begins 2020 which, depending on your point of view, is either the last year of the first decade of the 21st century or the first year of the second decade. But usually when people hear “2020” they think of eyesight. Anyone with 20-20 vision can see well. Anyone with 20-20 hindsight can be annoying who those have to make hard decisions.
I am referring, of course, to a calendar year, which interrupts in the middle of our school year. I thought what better time to...
December 18, 2019
Are you looking for the best gift for your child/children? The answer is so easy. Just read aloud to and with your child every day. Reading aloud has so many benefits. First of all, brain research shows that hearing stories strengthens the part of the brain associated with visual imagery, story comprehension, and word meaning. “Reading aloud is the single most important activity for building knowledge for their eventual success in reading” according to the Becoming...
September 3, 2019
As Dorian scoots up the coast I thought this would be a good time to review how the school addresses threats like these.
First, we normally don’t close school when Kershaw County School District finds it necessary to do so. On the one hand, we don’t have buses that reach out to the perimeter of the county. Second, because students at MSC work at their own pace, the loss of a day by one student does not disconnect him from the place of his peers. Unless MSC announces...
August 7, 2019
For many of our parents the beginning of parent-school interaction, Montessori is new. A few parents attended a Montessori school (including our own!) as a child but most take a leap of faith that the Method best serves the developmental needs of their children. Any faith can be tried by a number of factors—classroom techniques that seem counter-intuitive, a child’s perception that may differ every-so-slightly from the facts, and sometimes mistakes teachers, student...
July 17, 2019
Today we started the first day of our school year. The temperature was 80°F, expected to soar to 104°F, presumably including the heat index. Some people might ask why we start so early, in the middle of summer.
Traditional 180-day school calendars have started in August or September and end in May or June to allow children to be available for the spring planting and harvest—in New England! Of course, we’re not in New England and very few of our families farm—and most...
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