Before you speak.

My trainer Ginni said in my training: "With young children keep it brief but true." And that is more difficult to do than it sounds.

even more rumi.

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." ― Rumi

All day, All year, Indoor Outdoor Montessori

*This is a "water slide" that one of the five year olds built while he was outside today.


As the year progresses and begins it's (vertiginous) wrap up, I am feeling very interested in the idea of moving our school towards an all year, all day, indoor/outdoor free flow program. I'm attracted to that idea like a moth to a light bulb, not yet sure if it's a wise choice for us...

Our current school day ends at 1:30, so we have a three hour work period in the morning, and an hour and a half work period after lunch. The day often slips through my fingers and I cannot believe it when I look up and see that it's time to clean up.

There are MAJOR reasons why I think year round, day long, free flow is the way for us to go. The truth is that in most families in our school both parents are working (at least until 4pm). Children are regularly picked up after school and taken to other places before going home. I can imagine that for a child of 3-6, having all this environment switching and rules and routine switching must be tiring. It would be more consistent and clear for them if they just have a longer day at school.

The summer is just a magnification of this issue. I'm all for families and children taking vacations together, but in most cases, the vacation in company of parents is just a few weeks, and the rest of the time the children are at an alternate care environment once again. Upon returning to school there is a re-acclimating process.

From a teacher's point of view, if the day is longer, and the year is longer, then there is PLENTY of time to give all those lessons that I am so eager to give and sometimes am disappointed when there is no time for.

With a year long, day long structure, an successful indoor/outdoor flow in the classroom seems much more realistically achievable. There is enough time to get to everything, both indoors and outdoors.

There are some mental hurdles to overcome when contemplating these changes:

1) Staffing and finances: We have a humble staff of 3 adults at our school. An all day, year long school would require more humans and more money.

2) My fear of napping areas. An all day program would require the creation of a napping set up which we don't have. I have visited several schools with napping policies that just didn't seem that awesome for the four year olds who had to lie in their cots for two hours.

3) Will the children ever choose to come indoors? At our school, one child at a time may be outside as long as he/she likes (it's like choosing a material). And we have a time before lunch when everyone may (or not) be outside (they mostly all choose to). I admit I have a fear that some children, when given the choice to be outdoors the whole day, WOULD (I know I would have as a child).

4) Supervision of the outdoor environment. In a free flow environment, I suspect one adult would have to be outdoors the whole time (if there were say, more than 2-3 children outside). That takes me back to number one.

5) The organization of this would require some letting go of some control of environment which is hard for some people. (Ok, it's me. I have a hard time with it.)

6) My own love of summer vacation. Which takes me back to number one.


I am curious if there are any blog readers who can allay my fears of taking this leap by sharing some of their experience in any of the following: ALL DAY/ YEAR LONG/ INDOOR OUTDOOR FREE FLOW

or at least kindly point me in the direction of some excellent resources... :)

SUCH AS: http://www.montessori.org/imc/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=272:reflections-on-all-day-montessori&catid=84:casa&Itemid=73

(This article in itself holds the vision of what I want to move towards)

Live your life, live your life, live your life.

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/20/140435330/this-pig-wants-to-party-maurice-sendaks-latest

Do not withhold

“Do not withhold yourself from each other.
To withhold is to lie to yourselfand to each other.
Do not withhold your feelingsbut share them openly and with compassion.
Do not withhold your forgivenessbut give it freely as a natural gift.
Do not withhold your delightbut dance and laugh and play with ease.
Do not withhold your body,but give it often in the myriad ways of passion.”

-From The Couple’s Tao Te Ching

more Rumi.

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I want to change myself. — Rumi

Out beyond right and wrong there is a field... I will meet you there. – Rumi

Happiness in education.

When parents visit the school for the first time, I like to ask them what they are looking for in an educational program. Invariably, most responses have to do with their concern for the happiness of their child. I have many parents who ask me, first thing at conferences, whether their child seems happy at school. All this concern about happiness, and yet, where does happiness figure in the educational curriculum? If joy is what we are aching for in ourselves and children, why are not more conversations in education centered around happiness research? I watched this fantatsic video that touches just on that subject:

Loving the Universe

"It is not enough for the teacher to restrict herself to loving and understanding the child; she must first love and understand the universe." Maria Montessori

Sometimes it's time to put away the books, the thoughts about children, the techniques, and spend the afternoon floating in the sea, sitting under the tree, walking in the national park with the cacti and the bats, under the blinking stars.

Developing young children's relationship to nature.

*(Note: the cushion star was safely returned to the sea bottom away from harms way after the children got to meet it)

Hearing about the Global Summit for Climate Change, and the amount (and at the same time lack) of attention given to environmental awareness made me ask myself if we are doing enough at our school to cultivate environmental mindfulness in the children. Lots of research (Richard Luov's book "Last Child in the Woods" among them) points to the conclusion that it is in the early years that the foundation for environmental consciousness arises. Logically so, it is only by connecting to the natural world do children develop a relationship to it. He also states that if they have adults around them that can facilitate that interaction, the impact is more likely to stick.

I read this (click here) great article about the importance of outdoor environments in the development of environmental consciousness. It mentions designs for play spaces that help foster the relationship between children and nature and got me thinking about our own outdoor environment. The recommended elements for an outdoor play space in the article included:

*Water: this is a tricky one for us living in desesrt landscapes. Any ideas anyone perhaps from Arizona out there?

* Plentiful indigenous vegetation, including trees, bushes, flowers and long grasses that children can explore and interact with: we do this already and I'm inspired to plant more indigenous vegetation, including succulents and cacti with the children

*Animals, creatures in ponds, butterflies, bugs: We have bird feeders and a bird bath, and a butterfly plants garden, but I have strong feelings about keeping animals "in captivity". Luckily we have enough iguanas and lizards roaming our playground to satisfy this element.

*Sand, and best if it can be mixed with water: we have two sandboxes and every year have a sand party when the dump truck brings in more sand. However, I haven't had the experience of mixing it with water. Any ideas out there?

*Diversity of color, textures and materials: This one is a bit vague... but I think possible to satisfy with perhaps wooden structures, rocks, flower beds, perhaps some small structures like a teepee (I really want to build one with the children)


*Ways to experience the changing seasons, wind, light, sounds and weather: We don't have changing seasons, but I guess this could include raking leaves of deciduous trees, shady spaces and open spaces

*Natural places to sit in, on, under, lean against, climb and provide shelter and shade: We have a tree for climbing (with a sandbox underneath in case of accidents) park benches under some of the other trees, but I think it would be fun to build a few more low tree structures for one or two people to sit in, and the teepee (did I mention the teepee?)


*Different levels and nooks and crannies, places that offer socialization, privacy and views: see above

*Structures, equipment and materials that can be changed, actually, or in their imaginations, including plentiful loose parts: In Sweden I saw a playground full of logs and boards, and children built bridges and small huts and carried the logs and boards around and stacked them and it was pretty amazing. We have large driftwood blocks that the children use for props for play outdoors, but I think we could definitely have more loose materials for work/play outside.


I've also been thinking about a comment that Annicles left recently on the post about Flow:
"In the UK all children under the age of 5 must be allowed access to the outside environment all the time. It is called free-flow. We would be severely reprimanded if we kept under fives in the classroom for three hours without the possibility of going out. The work that happens outside is often quite amazing."

I love the idea of free flow, and I know that many Montessori schools with outdoor environments have this type of arrangement. We have something like it, but for a limited amount of children at a time. I am thinking about incorporating complete free flow in our school as well. It seems to be the best arrangement for an organic flow of the day and for fostering connection with nature. I am excited to try it out.

Aside from what we can do inside of the school, we take the children on field trips (mainly to outdoor locations) once a month (whether it's to the beach, the National Park, or for a nature walk somewhere). In preparation for our outings we make vocabulary card sets about what we will encounter there, tell true stories about the creatures/plants/structures that we will see, and generally enthuse the children in the environment before we go out to spend the day exploring what we have been studying.

The aspect of conscientious environmental practices seems to me to work with 3-6 year olds best if it can be a part of their day to day life at school. Composting, recycling, plant and animal care, reduction of wastes, reusing of materials are some of the ways we try to inculcate these practices in the school. Does anyone have any ideas or great resources to share about other ways we can help foster this important connection? Comments please!

Vulnerability and Connection

"Connection is why we are here, it's what gives purpose and meaning to our lives.[...] Our job is to tell to our children: I know you are imperfect and you're wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging."


Brene Brown