T’s Montessori

I first heard about Maria Montessori from you. Since then, I have learned from the internet that Maria Montessori was born in Chiaravalle,  Italy in 1807. Maria Montessori was an Italian physician and a pioneer of early childhood education methodologies. You were one of the best, one  of the few young educators who was sent to Italy to study the advance Montessori teaching method, was that in Bergamo, sorella? This blog post is my reflection on your article “Losing My Montessori”. 

I just Googled “who is Maria Montessori” to refresh my knowledge about significance of a Montessori education and the search engine led to the website of Maria Montessori Schools in San Diego. 

“Maria Montessori School is the school you wish you’d attended. Warm staff, individualized lessons, low student-teacher ratio and hands on education are the hallmarks of our  private Montessori school.” 

I think of James being homeschooled on the premise presented in a book by Mary Hood, Ph D:  “Onto the Yellow School Bus And Through The Gates Of Hell”.

I have since relegated the book to the recycling bin after I took its picture. The fact that parents of homeschooled children call themselves teachers to save their children from meeting Satan in public schools is more than despicable, sorella.  Not everyone can be a teacher. Not even me who was pushed into attending a public college for teachers in Manila. My father may have taught in a provincial high  school but I only remember him working as a government employee with the country’s Civil Service Commission. I know that an aunt, my father's sister, was a teacher upon graduating from the same public college for teachers that I attended but her children had only seen her as postal worker in Seattle. How I wish I could proudly say I come from a family of teachers myself.  My only alibi for not becoming a teacher is that of Matthew’s excuse: “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

I don’t know why I am associating individualized lessons, low student-teacher ratio and hands-on education into the homeschooling trend but as a public school teacher with a Montessori training, would you be concerned about the quality of education homeschooled children are getting? Maybe...maybe...maybe