I first really got to understand what the Montessori philosophy was all about when I started searching for a pre-school for our then-2 1/2-year old son. We were living in suburban Chicago at the time and I happened to stumble upon an ad for a local Montessori preschool in the area. I called to set up a time to observe for an hour or so at Seton Montessori in Clarendon Hills.

I instantly fell in love with the environment. I watched children using a hand mixer to crank a liquid mixture in a bowl and create bubbles. I watched others pouring water from one vessel to another. Each way I turned, each child was engaged in one activity or another, and freely moving between the activities as they chose. I knew in my gut that this was the right fit for our son.

That was the start of a beautiful relationship with Montessori education. Our two children started in toddler programs and continued through Upper Elementary in southern Nevada. It has served them well and given them a solid foundation as they transitioned to a non-Montessori school this year in middle school.

The funny thing was that when I pursued my elementary teaching credential long before I had children, there was but a blip mentioned about Montessori’s educational philosophy in my credential courses, which I find, in retrospect, to be unfortunate. I’m glad that I found Montessori through my children, both for their sake and mine. I have since gone on to pursue my Montessori teacher credentials for ages 3 – 12 years. I have taught in a Montessori school for 5 years, with the majority of those years in Upper Elementary, which I found is a great fit for me.