S2 E10 What is cosmic education with Hannah Baynham

Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of The Montessori Notebook podcast. Today I'm talking with Hannah Baynham  from Collaborative Montessori about some of the big picture principles in Montessori. Hannah is a teacher educator who is passionate about issues of social justice, sustainability and the spiritual preparation of the guide. Having worked in schools around the world, she has a unique view of the importance of Cosmic Education in our early years environments. 

Don’t know what cosmic education is? Then you’ve come to the right place as Hannah will guide us through it all and I hope you’ll leave feeling as inspired as I did.

Links from the show

• Collaborative Montessori - website / instagram / facebook group
• Montessori Movement Unites facebook group
• Sustainable development goals nesting boxes - youtube
• “In order to love others, all of us must first love ourselves. This self-love is not to be confused with selfishness which means over-concern with one’s self without regard to others. A healthy self-love tells a child that she is a worthy person, unique in the universe, with special attributes and talents to contribute to the world. It does not say that she is better than anyone else.” Aline D Wolf, Nurturing the Spirit
• Art Engager podcast with Claire Bown - ep 4 about asking great questions; ep 2 about slow looking
• Aubrey Hargis, Child of the Redwoods

Listener question
Ruth asks, "I'm a mother of a 9 month old baby. I knew about Montessori before becoming a mother but dove into learning more once our baby was born. I am passionate about the Montessori approach to development, especially the principles like follow the child, the prepared environment and prepared parent, building peace, and being in nature. Lately I find myself getting too focused on the "stuff", or materials. It feels like consumerism, waste, and endless activities are the visuals of Montessori that I see online all the time. Expensive wooden toys and materials, perfectly clean spaces.  I know this isn't what is about, but I still feel some pressure to meet all my baby's developmental needs with the right "thing" at the right time. I'd love to hear a discussion about this and how I can reset my focus on the bigger picture. I love following you and Aubrey from child the redwoods, you always help to keep it real and de-centre the stuff. I guess this isn't really a question, but maybe an idea for discussion. I feel Montessori must be accessible and inclusive and I don't want to lose sight of that. Thanks! "

Episode Transcript

(00:12):
Hi, everyone and welcome back toanother episode of The
Montessori notebook podcast. I'mSimone Davies, a Montessori
educator since 2004, and aMontessori parent since I found
out about Montessori nearly 20years ago. And today we have a
deep dive conversation withHannah Bayhnam from
Collaborative Montessori. Andit's all about cosmic education
in Montessori, an inclusiveeducation, how we can help make

(00:35):
our children, stewards of theworld and so much more. So if
you don't know what cosmiceducation is, then you've come
to the right place as Hannahwill guide us through it all.
And I hope you'll leave itfeeling as inspired as I did.
And before we get to theconversation today, I wanted to
talk about quizzing our childrenand why I mostly like to avoid
it. So what I mean by quizzingis asking our child more those

(00:58):
kind of closed questions like orclose this and we'll close that.
And what's this called? And whatsound does this animal make? And
I'll admit that when Oliver wassmall, before I knew about
Montessori, I'd say all of thosekinds of things. And can you
clap your hands for grammar? orWhat does the dog say? And I'd
often just get this blank lookback, or he tried to guess, but
often get it wrong, and then youend up correcting him, and

(01:21):
you'll see their face just drop.
And it's kind of like we'renonstop testing them. And in
Montessori, instead of testingkids to know if they know
something we rather observe andkeep teaching and exploring
until we see that they'vegot it.
So let's just think about ifsomeone, for example, asked us a
question that only had a rightor wrong answer, and we weren't
sure. So maybe it's somethinglike what's the capital of

(01:44):
Australia? And we'd be thinking,is it Sydney? Or is it Canberra,
so we have to make a guess. Andif we get it wrong, we end up
feeling silly or ashamed. Andthis is certainly not a way to
teach us the capital ofAustralia, if we want to have
confident learners. And it'sconfusing, because Canberra is
the capital, even though Sydneyis the largest city. So what
might be a better way for us tolearn it. I mean, maybe the

(02:07):
person could keep repeatingtheir name in natural ways, just
in our daily life until weremember it. Or if they're being
more explicit, we could look ata map to see which was the
capital, they maybe could tellus a story about why camera was
selected as the capital. Andapparently it was as sort of
compromise between the twobiggest cities of Melbourne and

(02:27):
Sydney, we could maybe pretendto plan a visit there or
actually visit there, do someresearch on it, you know, you
get the idea. So rather thanjust in the learning phase,
asking, what's the capital,what's the capital,
you know, beforethey ask us, again, what is the
capital of Australia, they needto observe some evidence that we
know it before they ask him, andthen I'm sure we will be

(02:49):
delighted to tell them as it'ssomething new to us, and we're
excited to share. And if theyjust keep asking us before we do
know it, we might just lose ourcuriosity or lose some
confidence otherwise, or wemight just give up interest
completely. So that kind ofexample, is almost like a three
period lesson in Montessori. Sothe first period just means the

(03:10):
first part is naming it. So thisis yellow, for example. And
there's many opportunities forthe first period that we could
be doing in our daily life,like, here's the yellow cup, and
the buses yellow. And so you'repointing out the name of those
kind of things in the firstperiod. Then the second lesson,
the second part of the lesson,is playing games, like matching

(03:30):
to yellow objects, collectinglots of yellow items. And then
you can actually visually see ifthey match or not, oh, yeah,
that doesn't look the same. Sothat's not yellow. And you're
working in that yourself. Andthen once I see that, you know,
yellow Well, I could say, oh,what color is this, and then
again, you're going to bedelighted to say it's yellow,

(03:50):
because it's something new thatyou've learned and mastered. So
that's the third period. And inmy Montessori training, we
learned that we rarely use thatthird period, with children,
particularly under three yearsold, until we absolutely know
that they know the answer, andwould be delighted to tell us.
So it's kind of then about whento ask that question, and how

(04:11):
often to ask it. And I'd saythat it's a whole lot less than
we usually do now. And we canrather stay in that teaching and
exploring discovery phase for alot longer. Because at the end
of the day, like, what are werushing them for? And it is a
good question. Like, why do weask these questions so early?
And so often? Are we trying toget our child to learn faster?

(04:32):
or perform on cue? Or is maybethat just how we learned? So
definitely don't worry if you'vebeen doing it, or you notice
yourself now saying these thingsa lot. But maybe just think
about why you're asking them andwhat you could ask them or teach
them in a more natural wayinstead. And I'm just thinking a
lot about my conversations withtoddlers and well with any age

(04:53):
child, and I'm not so busy withtesting or quizzing them, I want
to be like in conversation withthem. So we'll learning
together. And I might saysomething and you know, leave
time for them to respond. So Ah,yeah, look, there's a letter.
And then I might look up at theerror. And then just give some
time and you might hear thechild say, letter

(05:13):
letter. And then they'rerepeating the word. Or it might
ask an open question, I wonderwhat they're doing. And again,
like, I try and remember topause to see if, you know, they
might say, oh, they're paintingor climbing the ladder or
anything like that. And maybenot, maybe I might fill in the
gap. It looks like they might bedoing some painting. Or it might

(05:35):
like describe the louder Oh, itlooks pretty tall and silver,
and I think it's made frommetal. And then, you know, you
see if they respond in any way,or continue with like, I'm
trying to remember if we've seenany letters before. Do you
remember any letters and askthese kind of more open ended
questions that lead to someconversations where they might

(05:55):
like, then want to tell a storyabout when they have seen a
letter. Maybe you were paintingon a letter at home, or you used
a letter to read something? Orthey may even make that
connection, like, oh, there's aletter on my fire engine. And if
you actually want to learn aboutasking great questions, I have a
really fun suggestion for you.
I've just started listening toanother podcast called the Art
Engager podcast, and it's byClaire Bown of the Thinking

(06:18):
Museum. And I actually knowClaire personally as she came
with her twins my classes 12 or13 years ago, and She now works
in the same building as aclassroom. And I always love
chatting to her when I see herbecause she's also busy with how
humans learn and engage. Andwhilst her podcast is for museum
educators to create engagingprograms, episode four of the
podcast is all about askinggreat questions. And I think

(06:41):
it's really helpful if you findyourself always asking those
kinds of closed questions wherethere's only a yes or no type
answer. And there's also areally fun episode, which you
should check out as well aboutslow looking, which reminds me a
lot of Montessori observation,too. Anyway, all that to say
that for building curiosity, Iwould love to suggest to try and

(07:02):
have more open questions,questions that sparked their
interest and save the right andwrong ones for when they're
excited to tell you about whatthey've just learned. And one
last thing, we do play games inMontessori, like Oh, can you
find the octopus when we'reworking with like language
baskets, or maybe reading abook? And if they show us the

(07:22):
right one, we say, Oh, you foundthe octopus. And if they point
to something else, instead ofsaying, No, you that's not the
octopus would say, Oh, youwanted to show me the giant
squid. And so we're just simplynaming the one they pointed to
instead, and then make thatmental note that they're still
learning octopus, and might liketo teach that to them again at
another time. Anyway, I hopethat's interesting. And

(07:44):
something to think about. And Ithink now it's time for us to
definitely jump into myconversation with Hannah. And
I'll be back afterwards toanswer another question.
everyone, Simone here, andtoday, I want to introduce you

(08:05):
to Hannah Bayhnam, who isjoining us. She's on holidays at
the moment in the US. Butreally, when we get into it, you
will hear that Hannah is fromaround the world. Hi, Hannah,
thank you so much for joiningus.
Thank you so much. I'm reallyhappy to be here.
And I'm so excited to introduceyou to Hannah, because she has
such a rich experience ofworking in Montessori all around

(08:25):
the world. And I guess it startsprobably from your childhood,
would you like to speak a littlebit into as Hannah about where
you grew up, and how that may beimpacted on your work so far,
like your commitment to givechildren a voice and promoting
this global citizenship and allof the work you do on diversity
and inclusion and respect.

(08:46):
Thank you. Yes. So I was bornand raised in India. My father
is British and my mother'sAmerican. And they were hippies.
Obviously. They ended up inIndia. And I spent most of my
childhood again in India and butalso traveling my parents were

(09:07):
very interested in giving us aneducation through travel and
through experiences. And I feelvery privileged to have had
those experiences. We never hada fancy car or a house or
anything like that our currencyour love language was plane
tickets. We did a lot oftraveling and and yeah, I think

(09:33):
those experiences traveling andseeing children and connecting
with children because as achild, you're always making
friends, no matter where youwent. Connecting with children
working with children. Myparents made sure that we did a
lot of social impact work andcharity work in our travels that
it wasn't just about wasn't justabout being a tourist. It was

(09:58):
about really Seeing howcommunities worked and lived.
And, and as a child, I maybedidn't appreciate all of the
beautiful wonders. But as anadult, it's really has allowed
me to reflect on the privilegeof those experiences and those

(10:18):
connections that I made. Andalso that worldview, which was
so important to my parents that,that we had this worldview, that
it was more than just whathappened in the US or the UK, it
was really about having thatinternational perspective. And
that's, that's really helpedshape my understanding of, of

(10:42):
how children are, and how, howthe world really supports
children and how children arethe product of our cultures and
how children really are thechangemakers in our culture, as
well. And yeah, I, I started, Imean, I worked in the I worked

(11:05):
in a lot of nurseries, andhelped with in orphanages and
things. And I think this kind ofsparked my interest in working
with children. And, and now I ama Montessori guide, and I'm very
happy how Montessori has reallyintegrated into my experience in
terms of offering the childrenthe world, you know, and, and

(11:31):
that doesn't mean having totravel to all these beautiful
places, although it's great ifthey can, but it's about about
representing cultures andidentities and representing
authentic representation of theworld to to really show what
Montessori meant without being acitizen of the world.

(11:54):
Oh, that's so fascinating,because I do think we get stuck
on like Montessori being allabout independence and the
individual child. And I think,you know, for parents who are
listening, you know, we arefocused on our own child. But I
actually am a big passionatesupporter of like, we're working
on our independence. So we canactually be a better human in
society. And Dr. Montessori didwrite about the child in

(12:15):
society. But I feel like in thenext 10 years, we could get that
message out there, that we'reglobal citizens, and that we're
caring for our earth for otherpeople. That would be amazing.
And I know that that's somethingyou're really passionate about.
And you talk about cosmiceducation starting from the
early years. So maybe peopledon't know what cosmic education
is. So maybe we could explainthat. And then talk about how

(12:36):
you've, in the work that you'vedone, been able to incorporate
that idea.
So, Montessori spent some timein India, which was very
interesting to me, becauseagain, I was born and raised in
India, and during her time inIndia, and again, she was there
during World War Two, and therewas a lot of conflict in the

(12:58):
world. She was very influencedby philosophers such as Gandhi
and, and kind of seeing thesocial movements of that time.
And she started talking aboutthis idea of cosmic education.
And cosmic education is really,I think, actually the most
important parts of Montessoriphilosophy, and I don't think we

(13:19):
talked about it a lot. It's thatidea that everyone and
everything in this world isinterconnected, and that we have
a responsibility. And we have torespect others and the
environment around us. And shetalked about this, this term
being a citizen of the world. Soif you think about Montessori

(13:42):
during that time, in thatcontext, you know, the war was
happening, and there was a lotabout individual countries
identity and patriotism, and allof those things. fascism.
Montessori really believes thatchildren could be citizens of
the world, and that instead ofbeing identified with one

(14:05):
specific country, that we needto be more of a community. And
we need to, in order to createthat community, we need to bring
cultures we need to bringunderstanding, we need to bring
tolerance and love and respectand see the interconnections
between everything around us.
And I think that this isparticularly important when we
think about first of allsustainability and environmental

(14:27):
actions is that seeing thatinterconnection between us and
nature, and our effects that wehave on nature and how we can
improve that, but also ourconnections with each other, and
our connections with the widerworld and, and yeah, so I mean,

(14:48):
for me, cosmic education startswith the early years starts with
young children, even toddlersand and you know, Babies by
listening and exposing childrento something outside of their
own culture. But by instillingaspects of respect and

(15:10):
responsibility, and I thinkMontessori is very good at this,
this idea of children beingresponsible, and being
responsible citizens, and whatdoes that mean, in the
classroom? And what does thatmean at home? And what does that
mean in the wider community.
And, again, part of this is, isreally giving children agency

(15:35):
and allowing children to have avoice. And I do believe children
are the future, and childrenwill shape the way the world
reacts to things in the future,if we give them this concrete
foundation now, and that happensduring that absorbent mind
stage. So yes, I think cosmiceducation, those seeds are

(15:58):
planted in early years. And whenyou get to the second plane of
developments, or the six to nineyears, they start doing the
history of the earth and longercosmic lessons, which really
expand and explore the idea ofevolution and interdependence,
and, and all of those things,but those key principles of

(16:18):
respect and responsibility, andbeing a citizen of a community
of a larger world, but just ourfamilies and just our school
environments, our principlesthat we can start off with in
the early years, so yeah,so how would that actually look
like if a parent thought, yeah,I really like that idea. I
really want to make my childrealize that it's like, we're

(16:39):
just a family, and then we'repart of a community and how it
gets that community goes biggeras their world, you know, as
they get older, and those kindsof things. But in your
classroom, for example, whatconcrete tangible things would
you be working on? I know thatit's such a holistic education,
so maybe it's hard to pull itapart, because all of the layers
build on each other. But whatkind of things would you say,

(17:01):
Show that's cosmic educationhappening in a three to six
classroom, for example.
So for me, it really it is aboutthose connections with the
community. And if you thinkabout the three to six
classroom, it's thatintroduction to culture outside
of the family, maybe for thefirst time. And, and so it's

(17:22):
really being connected with thecommunity. So it can be just
little things like, you know,going to the markets, or, you
know, talking to the shoeshining person or you know,
haven't having those kinds ofexperiences where children start
to see the connections and theworld around them. In the
classroom, we do that to manymaterials that want to sorry,

(17:46):
you know, talked about or, orthat an area of the environments
that we call the culture area,or knowledge and understanding
of the world. And culture, Ilove this culture in Italian,
isn't culture, it's called tuta,which means to cultivate. And I
think that this is what we dowith young children is we

(18:06):
cultivate an interest. But thisis based upon their own specific
interests, or the communitywithin their in their
environment. So you know,talking to the families, the
cultures that the families comefrom, and making sure those
families are represented, butalso thinking about those wider
communities. And, you know, wedo things by introducing puzzle

(18:32):
maps and geography at a veryyoung age, in a very concrete
way, so children can startunderstanding where they come
from, and what other continentslook like. But also, I think
it's important to again, bringin community, bring in the
people from the community tospeak about, about different

(18:54):
celebrations, about festivals,about, you know that that's
those ideas again, in practicallife, we see those ideas of
responsibility and respect,which we kind of nurture through
our grace and courtesy lessons.
It's all kind of layered in allmany different layers. But for
me, some of the most effectiveways that I've brought in the
community, again, is bringingpeople into the classroom to

(19:18):
talk about specific things andthat will, that will spark an
interest in young children abouta specific country or specific
instruments or food. I thinkfood is a great way to connect
people because we all we alleat. And and Montessori really
wanted us to focus on thesimilarities all human beings

(19:39):
have and not just thedifferences. So it's not about
being tokenistic and showing,oh, you know, this is what this
is, you know what they do forChinese New Year and they're
wearing Chinese costumes, andthen children have that
impression that actually, allchildren were Chinese costumes
all the time. And that's it.

(19:59):
That's again, that's that's atokenistic impression of maybe a
stereotype or perpetuatingstereotypes and my ideas again,
bringing in those similarities.
So one thing I love to do isconnect Montessori classrooms
around the world. And I thinktechnology is a great way to do
that. So we would have Skypesessions or zoom sessions with

(20:23):
other Montessori classrooms, andit would just be in the corner
and the children could go andtalk and talk to each other. And
they'd give each other toursaround their classrooms. And
they'd be so delighted to see,oh, you have a pink tower, we
have a pink tower to and, andagain, seeing those
similarities, but then alsotalking about oh, you know, we,
we eat this for lunch, or, youknow, we like to do this, we

(20:47):
like to play this. It's hotwhere we are, you know, it's
winter, where we are, it'ssummer where we are really
exposing the children to theworld within the classroom. And
I think that that's, thoselittle things are really what
makes Montessori special thoseopportunities are really what
makes Montessori special.

(21:07):
Oh, I love how you're justplanting seeds, like it's going
in, as you said in the absorbentmind period in the zero to six
years. And so I mean, the threeto six year old child is a
conscious learner, but it'sgoing to be built on then as
they go into the second planeand go, Oh, yeah, that
experience that we had earlieris like it isn't. And then
they'll be out in the communityand actually going out and
helping the neighbors and goinginto their community to do

(21:31):
they're going out. And I justlove how it's a foundation that
they'll be building on for yearsto come. And I think it's like
you say it's overlooked, becausewe don't think of cosmic
education starting maybe untilthe six to 12 age group, when
they're having their cosmiceducation lessons, they have the
great lessons that gold. And soI love that. So many of the
areas of the Montessoriclassroom the way we interact,

(21:51):
like, relate to each other, haveto walk around someone's mat
that's being in community withsomeone. Right.
Exactly. And I think that thoseearly years, I mean, the
absorbent mind, and I know Idon't mean to preach to you
about this is they're the mostimportant years, they're laying
the foundation for the rest of achild's life. And they're laying
the foundation for learning anda love of learning. And that

(22:14):
curiosity. And that wonder thathappens with these young
children. If you were able toable to capture that moment, and
really develop that interest,the children will carry that on
to the next plane and then thenext plane. And it's, it's
really about creating confidencein children, creating a love for

(22:37):
learning, creating a socialaspect. So they're starting to
understand how they work withina bigger social society. But it
really is, again, planting thoseseeds that will grow into
flowers and trees as they growup and continue on their lives.
So and I know something else isreally important to you is

(22:57):
addressing inequities in theclassroom or in society, you
know, you talk about race orsocial status, gender, sexual
orientation, or disability. And,you know, I just love you to
speak to that, like, how can westart to address some of these
inequities? Where do we evenbegin, because sometimes it just
feels to be too huge, but whatcould we we do in our work or in

(23:19):
our homesis huge. There's, there's a lot
of big, big issues out there.
And I think that there could bea lot of fear when thinking
about how to handle these issuesin in the house or, or within
our small families or within ourschool communities. But I think

(23:40):
addressing inequalities isfundamental. And I think it's
especially fundamental in theearly years, because again,
we're planting those seeds wherewe are exposing children to not
only their own culture, but theworld around them, and in our
classrooms and our work and ourfamily experiences, you know,

(24:02):
are really those windows outinto the world, right and to see
how how the world, you know,what the different worlds the
different people in the worldare made up of. And I think in
order to do that, we need tofirst examine ourselves as

(24:23):
adults with our work, inMontessori, we call it the
spiritual preparation for theteacher. And that is really
about thinking and reflectingand preparing ourselves to be
there for children to belistening and to, to examine our
biases and our own experiencesthat have maybe shaped us as we

(24:47):
are as human beings, and toexamine our situation in the
world and our own views and howthey might be limited by our
lack of experience or lack ofunderstanding. It's really about
a lifelong learning for theadult, right. And so we're
constantly re examining ourpractice, we're constantly

(25:07):
thinking about how we can dothings better were reflecting on
specific situations thathappened in the classroom and
how we can change that. And howwe could respond better how we
can be better. Right. And Ithink that, as parents, I think
parents often are hard onourselves. I think, you know,

(25:27):
they want to do everythingright. And, and there's a lot of
pressure from the world to to dothings, right. But it's really
about, first of all thinkingabout our own childhoods and our
own experiences, and how thathas, again, shaped our
understanding. But I thinkwithin the early years,

(25:48):
addressing inequalities is key.
We need to go beyond just havinginclusive books in the
classroom, we need to again,have children be able to see and
have experiences, right, I thinka lot of hate and
misunderstanding, comes fromignorance. And not knowing or
never met someone of a certainsexual orientation are of a

(26:12):
certain race, you know, and thatthat ignorance grows as we grew
up, and unless we have thoseexperiences, we have that
exposure. So I think we talkedabout citizens of the world, and
Montessori is concept ofcitizens of the world, I think,
to be a citizen of the world,equity goes hand in hand, right?
And we need to make sure thatevery voice and every child

(26:37):
feels belonging and includedwithin the community. And in
order to do that, we need tocontinuously re examine our own
selves. But we examine, youknow, how we maybe perpetuate
stereotypes in the classroom, orhow we maybe perpetuates
intolerance, or maybe not evenyou know, really examine some of

(27:03):
the things that we do, thematerials that we use, and the
language that we use, I thinklanguage is so important. Here.
Can you give us an example?
When you say language?
I think often we say, okay, forteachers, we often say girls
line up here and boys line uphere, right? Just a simple

(27:24):
thing, we just say that the topof our head girls line up here,
boys sign up here, again, thenwe're telling children that
there's only two choices theycan have you you're either a
girl or you're either Boy, youknow, and and why are we
separating genders in that way,you know, and so it's really
thinking about how, how we can,you know, use, use inclusive

(27:46):
language, and, you know, notmaybe reflect on the language
that we use, and why we're usingit, and how we can, how we can
do better, and how we can makeand I think this this is about
educating ourselves. This isabout really understanding
current topics. And if you don'tunderstand it, you know, reading

(28:10):
more talking to people withinthe community, is key. And, and
I think, yeah, again, it goesback to that spiritual
preparation. It's preparingyourself to be accessible to be
available to be inclusive inyour environments, and at your
home.
Yeah, and you mentioned thisword belonging. And I feel like
that's such a key word. BecauseI know like, in our as a

(28:33):
Montessori educator, I'm tryingto make adults and children feel
safe in my space, because that'swhere they feel cared for, where
they feel seen and those kind ofthings. And I think that in our
homes, that idea of belonging isreally important. And I've been
in a couple of your workshopswhere you do like,
visualizations, and you send usback to childhood. And I wonder

(28:53):
if you could maybe do that withus now. Because for us to get
into our child's, you know,shoes and to feel what that we
could create for them. And forother children who were in
contact with, would you mind toindulge us?
Yeah, sure. I would love I wouldlove to do that. I do these
visualizations with adults,because I think that's the only

(29:16):
child we will ever really 100%understand is the child that we
were. Now as a parent, you willunderstand and love your
children, but you're not goingto be in their heads all the
time. It's impossible, right? Sothe only child that we really
know is ourselves and to give togive adults an opportunity to

(29:37):
reflect on childhood. It's a wayfor us to understand the
children in our care. And toreflect on those experiences and
feelings and I think a lot oftime as adults, our childhoods
bring up trauma and bring uptimes where we uncomfortable
feelings times where we felt wedidn't belong. And I think

(30:00):
That's, it's important to reallybe able to visualize that
child's that we were and, and togo back and think about those
feelings in order to really makesure we are available and able
to be there for the childrenthat we're working with today or
the children that we'reparenting. So a powerful

(30:20):
visualization I did yesterday, Iam currently working in the anti
bias anti racist course withAmerican Montessori Society, and
we did a visualization aboutwhat you would want your teacher
to know. So about yourself, soyou're really thinking about
that. But I think we can also dothat about parents. So if you

(30:41):
think if you close your eyes,wherever you are in the world,
if you close your eyes, and youthink about the child that you
were, maybe you can be age 5,age 6, or maybe your earliest
memory, wherever you canremember yourself. And if you
think about, what would youreally want to tell your

(31:02):
parents? What would you wantyour parents to know? And maybe
at that time, you didn't havethe vocabulary, you didn't have
the ways to express it. But whatwould you really want them to
know about you. But we take amoment to really think about

(31:22):
that. Just one little aspect,maybe it's a bigger theme. But
if we take the time to, toconnect with that child, and the
child is in us, we are able toopen up ourselves to think about

(31:48):
what what others may may thinkwhat other children may think,
or what other children areexperiencing and feeling. And
you know, last night when we didthis, with these students in our
in our anti bias, anti racistcourse, there was some beautiful
statements that came and we didit on a jam board. It's all a
very visual thing. And it wasall anonymous. So everyone felt

(32:10):
they could express themselves.
There was some beautifulstatements, and there was some
really heartbreaking statements.
And again, I think it's ofteneasy. We'll often as adults,
when we think about childhood,it's it's, it can be linked with
those negative, those traumaticexperiences. And often, they
were just little things that,you know, our parents did, or

(32:33):
our teachers did that made usfeel like we weren't seen, we
weren't heard, and we weren'trespected and our voices weren't
important. And I think that thisis key, this visualization
technique is something that Ilove to do, because it connects
us with that younger child. Andit makes us think about what

(32:56):
made us feel like we belonged.
What made us feel important andspecial. And what what would we
want, you know, adults to knowabout us and what we want adults
to see about us, and I thinkthose connections with us,
really helps us serve thechild's better. So yeah,

(33:17):
that's a beautiful I really,like was very easy to tap into
what you I think the bitprobably that wasn't seen. And
so you can then think, oh, whatwould my child you know, be
feeling right now, if you're aneducator, what would the
children in my classroom want meto know about them? It's such a
powerful, like, small, butsimple, like way to tap into

(33:37):
that. Thank you. And anotherthing you've talked about with
the spiritual preparation, theadult which I, I find
challenging, like it's anenormous opportunity, but a
responsibility, like we alwayssay, is like, do we actually are
we worthy of a child's trust andadmiration, those words trust
and admiration. And I thinkthey're high and lofty goals,

(34:00):
but something that we should tryand seek for right?
Definitely, again, we want asMontessori ins were taught that
actually, it's the environmentsthat teaches children that that
really is a place for learningfor children, and it is the
adults. Adult is the steward ofthe environment, right? So we're

(34:25):
supposed to take care of theenvironment, making sure that it
really caters towards thoseindividual children's needs. But
that doesn't mean that theadults is an important parts in
that and the adults, again, it'sdeveloping that trust with
children. And I think we canthink about, again, if you were
to do a visualization, you thinkabout those people that were

(34:48):
really important in your lifeare often people that you really
trusted and that really feltthat you felt that they heard
you and you were seen by them.
And I think that that's theelement Part of, of working with
children or you know, being aparent and, and all of these
aspects is is really thinkingabout, you know, do the children
trust me? And am I worthy ofadmiration and, you know, we

(35:12):
talk a lot about being a rolemodel in Montessori. So are my
actions worth childrenrepeating, right, my actions, or
my words, or my words worthy ofchildren repeating and this is
hard. I mean, I have made somany mistakes in my life. And,
you know, I, it's, it's aboutthat going back and reflecting

(35:36):
on those experiences andthinking what you could have
done and making sure that you dobetter and always trying to be
better. And I tell I am aMontessori, teacher, educator,
and trainer now, and I oftentell my students, as soon as you
stop learning, that's the timethat you need to stop teaching.
Because if you think you know itall, and you have all the

(35:59):
experience and you're notgrowing anymore, then you
shouldn't be a teacher, becausethe teacher, being a teacher,
being a montessorian, is about alifelong journey. And it's a
lifelong learning and, andyou're not going to do it
perfectly every time. But youcan improve on that, and you
need to work on on improvingyourself, because the children

(36:19):
deserve it. The children deservethe best you.
Yeah, I think it's so beautiful.
And I think that, yes, theenvironment is really important.
But without any connection withthe adults, you know, the child
is going to miss something, youknow, they might be able to do
all of the activities in theclassroom, but without purpose
or without a connection. And Ithink that if you took actually

(36:39):
away any Montessori material,you can still do Montessori
because you can connect with thechild, you can wonder about the
world around you, you can go outfor a walk and look at the tree
and notice and drop a littlewater. How does that happen? You
know,and it's really about being
present. I think as adults,we're thinking about, you know,
what happened in the past, orwhat we need to do in the
future, and really about beingpresent with children. And this

(37:02):
is something that's my mentorBarbara Isaacs talks about a lot
is really appreciating thosesmall moments with children. And
I mean, for example, yesterday,I was out with my four year old
nephew, we were walking in therain, we saw a big earthworm in
the path that we're walking, andthen it became, it became an

(37:24):
hour and a half of us rescuingthese earthworms. So we would
pick it up with the stick, we'dput it on the in the dirt to
make sure no one stepped on itand smashed and smashed it. And
there was a real sense of, firstof all I was we were talking
about that interconnectedness,right that that relationship
between humans and animals, butthere was a sense of respect,

(37:45):
responsibility, and we were ableto have a conversation about
earthworms, and talking aboutdifferent things, and and really
honing in on that child'sinterest, my nephew's interests,
which, which was such abeautiful moment, and if I would
have just continued on and justokay, we're going to the coffee
shop, and I had plans in mind,and there was just going to go

(38:07):
there, I would have missed thatmoments. And it's about stopping
and not thinking about, youknow, making sure that all of
your plans happen or that you'vedone this beautiful lesson plan
and you have it all prepared andand maybe it won't work out that
day, because it's really aboutthe children tuning in to the
children and being there forthose moments and listen to them

(38:27):
in those moments. Soyeah, I think that's so perfect.
Such a perfect example. Becausewe want to teach the children
how we will look after ourenvironment. We're not going to
give this lesson it's like thatin practice, like how do we
respect an insect or a worm, youknow, that is the work in a way
like, oh, if I just go, Oh, thisannoying fly, instead of like,
oh, what's the cosmic task ofthis? Why? So there's so much

(38:49):
learning everywhere. Andactually, I think it touches on
something that you speak to alot in your sustainability work
is like how do we start to teachchildren about how to care for
their environment? But withoutthat fear like that we're
destroying the planet because Idon't think a three to six year
old really, that's not reallythe way we want to come at it.

(39:09):
Oh, definitely. I think there'sa lot of fear when, when we talk
about, you know, climate change,and when we talk about issues of
sustainability, it's easy tofocus on the negatives. But with
with young children, we canreally talk about that
stewardship and we can reallytalk about the the connections

(39:34):
between things and I've had manychildren in my classes over the
years that you know, as soon asyou start talking about
recycling and they they see theaspects of recycling if you were
able to visit a recycling plantsor whatever. children that are
really interested in that theywill become those stewards in
the classroom and they will makesure that things are recycled or

(39:56):
the only chippings are recycledat home. I've had many parents
complained to me My child saveseverything, they want to save
everything. But children can bethe teachers to the parents,
right children go home. And, andso these lessons, oh, we need to
put this in this box and we needto, you know, we need to recycle
or we can reuse this childrenare creative children have have

(40:19):
those problem solving skills, weneed to encourage those problem
solving skills. And I think thatthat's the most valuable way we
can encourage sustainability athome or in our classrooms within
the early years is reallyhelping them see some problems
and finding small ways to fixit, right. But also manageable,

(40:44):
small things that they can do toreally make a difference. And
it's it's little things like inour pouring activities. In
Montessori, we've got lots ofdifferent water pouring
activities. At the end of theday, we never poured that water
out, we go up water plants withit. So the plants were watered
at the end of the day to makesure that water was reused. Or

(41:05):
we did a whole thing aboutcollecting rainwater. So in
England, it rains a lot. Andthis is very easy activity to
do, you just kind of put thebucket up rainwater, and we
would use that rainwater in ourpouring activities. So again,
seeing those connections, thosesmall little things, and it's
more than just planting seedsand flowers in your
environments, those are lovelyways to, to see those

(41:28):
interconnections. But it's aboutshowing that responsibility and
and acting and living and rolemodeling those those
responsibilities. And I think asmontessorian, we need to be
really focused on this. Because,you know, again, these ideas of

(41:48):
cosmic education andinterdependence, and being a
citizen of the world, and reallygiving children agency involves
listening to them, but alsohelping them make actions that
will make a difference. And evenif it's small, it makes a
difference.
Yeah, it just makes me actuallysee, like, reminds me of the

(42:08):
power of Montessori, thatthere's so much depth and
richness in this Montessoriapproach that's beyond just
playing. It's so deep inbuilding citizens of the world.
It's such a young age,definitely, definitely. And I, I
started off my career as ateacher, a traditional teacher,
and I found Montessori abouthalfway through my, my
education, career, andMontessori has changed my life.

(42:33):
And I know a lot of one saurianstalk about this. But it changed
how I view society, it changedhow I have made connections, and
I really feel it is it's such abeautiful philosophy. It's such
a beautiful way to reallyempower children to be agents of

(42:55):
change, and to really empowerthem. Because there's such
respect, and because we'reencouraging independence and
responsibility at that youngage, children feel confidence,
and they children feel able todo things. And I think, you
know, to, to introduce a fiveyear old to long division. You

(43:16):
know, when I was a traditionalteacher, I would say no, that's
not that's not possible. That'snot possible. And the way that I
learned math was, you know, Inever understood it in a
concrete way, because I wasgiven worksheets, and it was, it
was very abstract to me. And,you know, Montessori really is
taking those abstract concepts,but making them concrete and

(43:38):
making them smaller for childrento really build that confidence
and for children to reallyunderstand. And I think that
that is the beauty of what wedo. And and yeah, again, I think
it can happen just in ourphilosophy. It doesn't have to
be all about the materials. It'sjust about the philosophy, are
we giving children concreteexperiences, and to help them

(44:00):
understand and are we reallylistening to what they want and
their interests? And how are webuilding upon their knowledge
based upon what they've shown usthat they're interested in?
It's really beautiful. Andanother thing that I think goes
beyond like what you'd expect ina preschool is the idea of peace

(44:22):
and justice in our classrooms.
And if someone said to me, oh,how do you practice peace in a
Montessori classroom? I think Iwill probably just say like by
being peaceful myself, becausepeople often think of like that
you need a peace table or thatyou need these certain, like a
peace lily or a peace rose. ButI would love to hear about how
you think of peace education inyour classroom. I mean,

(44:43):
Montessori said that you can'tpeace cannot exist without
justice. And so I think itreally talks to a lot of the
work that you do.
Yeah, I think there's somebeautiful symbols and peace in
our environments, things likethe pieces of pieces. are
beautiful symbols. And as anoutsider, you're like, oh, wow,

(45:03):
that's just such a lovely,lovely thing. But again, I think
the peace comes through, likeyou said role modeling that
peaceful behavior. I think alsothe peace comes from creating a
non competitive environment, alot of the conflicts that we
have are, I am better than me orI can do this better, I can do
that better. You know, if youlisten to children, some of the

(45:25):
conflicts are, are based uponcompetitiveness, right. And in
Montessori, by not encouragingthat competitiveness and
encouraging to see that eachchild is unique, and each child
is special, and each child hastheir unique talents. It's
really placing value on how thecommunity works together, right,

(45:51):
and how the community can worktogether peacefully. And, you
know, we do things throughsimple things, such as only
having one of every materialrights, that ideas is showing
the concept of sharing andtaking turns, and that has to
happen peacefully. But also, Ithink, that idea of no rewards
and no punishments, right? We'renot punishing children who

(46:13):
misbehave, we're seeing what'swrong with the environment that
might be creating that behavior,or creating that feeling within
them that they need to react,right. And so, and we're not,
you know, rewarding children,we're not giving stickers, we're
not saying good job all thetime. Because then those rewards

(46:36):
become an external force thatchildren need to, you know,
they're, they're getting thatexternal satisfaction, where we
need to develop that internalinternal satisfaction, that
internal piece, and that comesfrom, you know, learning how to
express your feelings and givingthem tech techniques of

(46:57):
expressing their feelings in apositive way. But also, you
know, talking about, it's okayto be angry. It's okay to be
sad, right? emotions are big,and we need to let children have
those emotions. And we need togive them a safe space where
they can have those emotions.
And we need to help them realizethat their emotions or their

(47:18):
actions can affect others. Andagain, that's that
interconnectedness. And that'sthat respect and responsibility.
And it all comes down to cosmiceducation, which is why we need
to keep talking about those keyprinciples, planting those seeds
of peace in the classroom.
Another thing I reallyappreciate from your work is

(47:40):
joy. I speak about a lot aboutit on the podcast. I think
everyone's like, yeah,Montessori enjoy it, but really
like you to say like childhoodshould be joyful. Right? And so,
there are times for Yeah, joy inlearning to read and all those
other things. What kind of joydo you see in your work in
Montessori?

(48:02):
My middle name is Hannah joy. Ithink my parents were kind of
forecasting what they what theyhoped would bring, I mean, to
me, the joy comes from children,really loving what they're
doing. It's him and, you know,Montessori use the word work in

(48:26):
her in her classroom, in her inher reading and her books,
because she wanted to show thatchildren's work, it should be
respected and that children'splay should be respected because
it's how children learn. For me,that joy comes from doing
something that you love, and Ithink children often will be in

(48:51):
the classroom when they findsomething that they really love,
when you see the classroomreally working is when children
find that connection with whatthey really love doing. And that
can be you know, washing andscrubbing chairs, the whole
three hour work cycle, or, youknow, that could be just, you
know, pouring or transferringsomething or that could be
doing, you know, beginningreading or whatever, it's, it's

(49:12):
really, it's allowing children,it's not forcing children to do
something, it's allowing them tochoose something that they will
love but also seeing when thechild is ready for that next
step. And I think that that'swhere as Montessori Ian's, I
feel very privileged that we aregiven the tool of observation. I

(49:32):
think a lot of teachers I knowin my teacher training before, I
wasn't taught how to observe, Iwas taught how to just kind of,
you know, deliver something andyou deliver it to the child was
in the middle that's not toohard and not too easy. You kind
of live with the middle childand you hope the rest of the
children figure it out. Youknow, you can kind of support
them in different ways. But thatthat tool of observation and

(49:55):
really seeing how what the childneeds and what the child is
Ready for and being there atthat exact moment and offering
that to the child really bringsthat joy because the child
doesn't feel pressured, thechild has the right to say no.
And, and I think yeah, I thinkfreedom. Freedom also brings

(50:17):
joy, right? So those freedomsthat we have the freedom to
contemplate the freedom toparticipate or not, right, the
freedom of movement, all ofthose things cultivates
cultivate joy, because we're notfeeling restricted. And when the
children are not feeling limitedor forced to do something that
they're not ready for or want todo.

(50:40):
And I love that your work islike taking you all over the
world. Like I've written downthat in India, you helped turn a
traditional kindergarten forTibetan refugees into a
Montessori School in Hong Kong,you helped open a new early
years one story setting. inIstanbul, you helped open first
Montessori parent cooperative inTurkey, and all of these

(51:00):
fascinating things. And I knowyou're about to head on to
Malta. But I guess I mean, fromeverything you've already been
saying people are alreadyunderstanding that, you know,
the global citizens a big partof your work. But I would love
to hear about some of this worklike maybe with the Tibetan
refugees or the parentinitiative in Turkey.
Yeah, I've been so privilegedagain to, to have these

(51:24):
experiences of travel. And it'sthe reason I got into teaching
in the first place. I said, Howdo I how can I continue
traveling and the worldeverywhere in the world, you
need to you need to education,they need teachers. And that
I've learned that everywhere inthe world. There is Montessori
right? And and really, it'sabout connecting with these

(51:48):
Montessori communities. So yes,I had, after I'd finished my
Montessori training, I was freshout of train at teaching
college. And I went toDharamsala, India, and I
definitely didn't feel I wasready. But my mentor, Barbara
said, you're ready, come on, godo it, I'll come visit you. And
I helped transform a traditionalkindergarten into a Montessori

(52:10):
kindergarten, which involvestraining teachers involved,
again, translating some of thematerials and into Tibetan. And
it was, you know, in inDharamsala, it's really about
preserving Tibetan identity andculture, which is important
within any refugee community ispreserving culture and language

(52:31):
and identity. And so, Montessorireally complements that right,
it really kind of can help. Itcan be adapted to different
cultures and differentunderstanding. So you know,
instead of, for example, pouringwater, you know, might not have
been appropriate, but every dayon the altar, in, in a home, you

(52:55):
will have little cups of waterthat you're offering to either
the Tibetan goddesses or gods oralso His Holiness, the Dalai
Lama says always little thingsof water. So I help the children
be involved with that. And it'sabout bringing the altar down to
the children's level. So theycould be involved in pouring and
to be involved in thosetraditions of practicing their

(53:19):
religious practices, by beinginvolved within the community,
community and also theirfamilies as well. It's a lovely
experience. And, and then yes, Ihave traveled to Tibet itself
and done summer camps forchildren in nomadic communities,
which, again, was a wonderfulexperience. And yeah, that I

(53:41):
ended up in Istanbul. My dreamwas to open up my own school.
And I found the best way to doit was to develop a parent
cooperative. And so it was agroup of parents who were
interested in Montessorieducation, and Montessori wasn't
something that was available inits symbol or turkey at that

(54:02):
time. And so I came in, and Iwas able to start to this
cooperative model with theseparents. And it was lovely,
again, talking about that senseof community. Every parent wants
what's best for their child, andI found the best business
partners are parents, becausethey are going to help you find

(54:24):
all the resources, they're goingto help you in any way they can
to make school. The school isthe best experience for their
children. So it was in a stumblethat I really learned to work
alongside parents, to createcommunity. I think that was
important to communicate whatMontessori meant to parents and
I know this is something you doso well. You know, communicating

(54:48):
and talking about Montessori ina way that's almost contagious,
but also, in the same way thatwe look at individual children
and the individual talentswithin our parent cooperative.
We had individuals We'd help uswith specific things, right? So
we had a dietician that wouldhelp us with planning the menu.
And we had a architects thathelped us in designing our

(55:09):
playgrounds or outdoor area oroutdoor environments. We had
someone help us with web design,we had parents come in read, and
it was really about creating acommunity that wasn't just about
dropping the children off at thedoor and removing themselves.
They were a part of it. And theyhad to, you know, show that
dedication by being a part partof it. And it was a really

(55:31):
beautiful thing. And it's stillit still exists. It's called
Montessori club is stumble. Andit's still going on. And and
yeah, I think it's a lovelymodel to create a nursery or to
create a early childhoodsetting.
Yeah, I think that's such, it'sstill exists is like, must be
amazing, because your work wasactually to build this community

(55:54):
that didn't need you a bit likeMontessori, right? She's like,
the children are working withoutme now. And so you build that
nation.
Exactly. It's lovely, becauseevery three years, the parents
changed. Because, you know, thethree year cycles and the
parents changed, but again, it'sstill that kind of community.
And it's still about, you know,creating, it's a nonprofit

(56:15):
school, it's really aboutcreating that community and
making sure that children havethose experiences. And I think
that that's key with workingalongside parents. And I think
often as teachers and as guides,I know, I've been fearful of
parents. Because the reason whyI started working with children
is because I don't kind of scareme, I like I like communicating

(56:38):
with children. But to createwhat, what Montessori talked
about that idea of, of communityand interconnectedness, parents
really needs to be a part ofthat and, and your communication
with parents is is so important.
And it's a skill that you needto practice and a skill that you
need to work on. And again, I'vemade many mistakes. But I was

(56:59):
really happy for thatopportunity to work alongside
parents to achieve something.
And I love in both examples thatyou talked about, like
culturally responsive,Montessori because I think that
I've had people say like thatthey come from Asia, but they
expect that their classroom ismeant to look a certain way. And
actually, like you adapted toTibet, you know, to a refugee

(57:24):
camp, but you're not coming in,say we know better than you.
We're actually working with you.
Yeah, cultural responsive.
Montessori needs to be spokenmore about as well. I think
it definitely is. And I thinkthat we need to be critical
about some aspects of Montessorias well. I think there's a
colonial perspective, sometimeswhen we think about Montessori
kind of implementing our ideason another culture or making

(57:46):
sure that every Montessorisetting looks the same. I don't
think that that that isvaluable, because the setting is
actually a little microcosm ofwhat the culture looks like and
of what the environment isround. And it's that
introduction to society, almostfor, for young children. And so
it needs to be reflective ofwhat's appropriate in that

(58:09):
culture and it needs to bereflective of what is
appropriate also within thediverse diversity within the
classroom that can that comesback to that idea of inclusion.
Making sure Montessori isaccessible, making sure that,
you know, Montessori is, is usedin a way that is beneficial to

(58:31):
children and beneficial tocommunities and not something
that we we say oh, this issomething that we have to
protect, and we have to youknow, it can only be done this
way. And there's no there's noroom for improvement. So there's
no room for, you know, thinkingabout the child of today. I
think Montessori was a scientistshe was adopted, she would have

(58:53):
wanted Montessori up today toreflect the children of today.
And I think that's an importantpart is, you know, that
continuous continuously learningto, to really adapt and to make
sure that our environments areculturally responsive and
realize that environments aren'tgoing to look the same and they
shouldn't look the same. Becauseeach child is different and the

(59:15):
children in the community andthe families are different.
And so I have a big question foryou, you know, talking about
making Montessori accessible,you know, Montessori is not a
copyrighted name. And anyone cansay that they are doing
Montessori and sometimes thatcan actually damage our
reputation because you get thesechains of Montessori schools
that are just trying to makeprofit. So how do you make
access accessible but withoutlosing the quality? You know?

(59:39):
Have you got any good ideas orseen programs that are
interesting?
Yeah. Again, I think that that'sthat's always the challenge. And
it's a big discussion that wehad in the Montessori community
community. I think we need tostop working in silos. We need
to start sharing our practice,we need to start sharing Within

(01:00:00):
the wider communities, we can'tjust say, Oh, this is only for
Montessori, we have all thesetools where it's only for
Montessori. We need to starttalking to people in education,
people in early education, togovernment policies, all of
those things, we need to starttalking to each other. And this
comes with my passion of, again,creating unity within the

(01:00:21):
Montessori community comingtogether. Rather than having all
these frictions or being sodependent on where we did our
training and kind of being sofixated on on certain things, I
think we need to come togetherbecause we are only going to
better and stronger together. Ithink we need to, again, think

(01:00:44):
about reaching out into thecommunities and I think
Montessori everywhere, does thisvery well, in that idea of, you
know, thinking about who are wetraining as Montessori teachers
and are we reaching a wide groupof people? Are the children able
to see themselves in theirteachers? Are we able to, to

(01:01:08):
provide scholarship spots forchildren? Are we able to help
create Montessori communities inin areas that need it? Are we
doing it in a way that, again,is culturally responsive? We're
not coming in saying we weregoing to save you all with our
Montessori. But it making surethat it is responsible but it is

(01:01:29):
needed and that's donesensitively. And it's not just a
tokenistic thing, and I thinkit's a big work, but I think it
will only happen if we cometogether and if we collaborate.
Yeah, I love all the work thatyou do with a Montessori
Movement Unites,yes, Montessori movement Unites,
which is my facebook group. Andyeah, I've recently helped co
found a collaborativeinitiative. My dream was to make

(01:01:50):
a teacher's coop, instead ofjust a parent coop, a teacher's
coop. And this is a teachertrainers coop, where we're
working within the community tocollaborate to really listen to
the Montessori community toconsult, but to really make
change and, and that will onlyhappen if we can come together

(01:02:10):
as a community and listen, andand help out we know, we all
need to be involved in thischange. We all need to volunteer
our skills and our time and ourexpertise to make a difference.
And that's what I hope we willbe able to do with collaborative
Montessori. Soyeah, I will definitely I'm very
excited. It's really new. AndI'm going to put the links to

(01:02:31):
collaborative Montessori in theshow notes so people can find
you and also to the Facebookgroup if people want to connect
that way, as well to see how wecan connect with each other to
make these big changes. Andthere was a quote that you used
from nurturing the spirit byEileen de wolf. And I'll read it
which says, in order to loveothers, all of us must first
love ourselves. This self loveis not to be confused with

(01:02:54):
selfishness, which means overconcern with oneself without
regard to the others. A healthyself love tells the child that
she is a worthy person, uniquein the universe with special
attributes and talents tocontribute to the world. It does
not say that she is better thananyone else. And I just feel
like that's such a beautifulsummary of what we've been
speaking about today, like theunique child but contributing to

(01:03:15):
the world. It's just, yeah, itreally sums up a lot of the work
that you do as well.
Exactly I can. I thinkempowering children is the
greatest work right is is reallylistening and valuing them, will
will help them feel belongingwill help them feel part of a
bigger, bigger world. And Ithink so often, children aren't

(01:03:39):
listened to or children aren'trespected in the way that that
we would hope to. And I thinkthat that's our ultimate dream
is to kind of the kind of showthat that respects that
tolerance that love to makebigger changes in the world.
Hmm.
So is there anything that wedidn't get to speak about that

(01:03:59):
you don't get a chance to oftenspeak about or that you'd like
to leave us with a word ofwisdom,
word of wisdom, again, I am byno means and experts. I just I
love I love talking I lovetalking to the community. I love
sharing and learning from thecommunity. And I mean, just just
love the love the childrenyou're with love the children

(01:04:21):
you work with love the children,your parents with and know that
this is a continuous journey andkeep reflecting and keep keep
learning. I think that's the keything we can do as adults. Thank
you so much for for letting mebe here and share with you
today. Oh, Iam so inspired because like we
can get busy with like the smallparts of Montessori you know,

(01:04:43):
the little lessons that arereally cute and all that and
like setting up the spaces buttoday we're speaking about the
big picture. And I think that'sreally beautiful to realize that
there's so much possibility andit's really exciting. I'm
feeling hopeful from thisconversation. Great. I
mean, I think That's, that's thething is we need to feel
hopeful. And because there ispotential, there's both

(01:05:05):
possibility. But it will onlyhappen when we start working
together and we start listeningto each other. So thank you for
listening today. Thank youso much for coming.

(01:05:30):
Well, I hope you found thatfascinating to hear about all
the work Hannah has been doingaround the world, and how you
can take some of these ideasinto your homes and your
classrooms. And once again, weare reminded that Montessori is
about us adults and the workthat we can do on ourselves to
do better, because as Hannahreminds us, the children deserve
it. And now it's time for alistener question from Ruth. And

(01:05:53):
I think it's a good one tofollow on from that conversation
with Hannah as Ruth asks, I am amother of a nine month old baby
and I knew about Montessoribefore becoming a mother but
dove into learning more oncethat baby was born. I'm
passionate about the Montessoriapproach to development,
especially the principles likefollow the child, the repaired
environment and prepared parent,building peace and being in

(01:06:13):
nature. Lately, I find myselfgetting too focused on the stuff
on materials. It feels likeconsumerism, waste, and endless
activities are the visuals andMontessori that I see online all
the time, expensive wooden toysand materials, perfectly clean
spaces. And I know this isn'twhat it's about. But I still
feel some pressure to meet allmy baby's developmental needs
with the right thing at theright time. I'd love to hear a

(01:06:35):
discussion about this and how Ican reset my focus on the bigger
picture. I love following youand Aubrey from child of the
redwoods, you always help tokeep it real and dissenter the
stuff. I guess this isn't reallya question but maybe an idea for
discussion. I feel Montessorimust be accessible and
inclusive. And I don't want tolose sight of that. Thanks. So
Ruth, I hope that today'sconversation with Hannah already

(01:06:57):
shed some light on this, as wetalked about some of those
bigger concepts of Montessori,even like the inclusiveness and
how we see ourselves and natureand others as interconnected.
And to add to that, for me,Montessori is about including
our children in just our regulardaily life and making them feel

(01:07:18):
like they belong, and they arepart of our family. It's about
making time for conversation andconnection. It's about slowing
down and allowing time forexploration and movement. It's
about those hands on learningmoments rather than passively
learning from us or a screen.
It's really about respect forour children. And it's about
being someone who our childrenadmire and respect in return is

(01:07:40):
about connecting in nature. Whenwe have that connection with
nature, we want to take care ofit and be as Hannah said, like
stewards of it caring for it.
It's about keeping kids curious.
And it's about loving our childfor who they are, to help them
feel like they belong and have agift to share with the world.
It's about accepting our child'sown timeline and learning in

(01:08:01):
their unique way. It's aboutincluding others, accepting
others and making others feellike they belong. And it's about
joy. And I kind of just want toadd my middle name now to be joy
she just like had his parentsdid for her. So you can all join
me in that if you want. It'sabout the prepared environment
where the child can feel capableand part of the family

(01:08:23):
surrounded by their culture andsome beauty, but it won't be
perfect. We want our homes to belived in. We want our children
to know they can explore safelyhere. And then it's just a
little bit about the wooden toysand materials if you want to add
those. But even if you didn't,you are already doing what
sorry. And I also discussed thisin season two, episode eight,
just a couple of episodes backwith Teresa of Montessori in

(01:08:46):
Real Life. So that could be agood episode to go back to as
well where we talked aboutsharing a little of our spaces
to inspire others, yet it notbeing the only thing that we
want to share. And to rememberthat folks are generally sharing
on days when we're feeling good,and that this is not the reality
all of the time. So there'smessy stuff happening that we
don't share, sometimes to showrespect for our children because

(01:09:09):
we want to be present with ourchildren at those times. And
we're not recording everythingfor social media. So Ruth, I
hope that was a bit of a peptalk in case you ever feel
overwhelmed by the prettypictures on social media. And I
hope that helps you kind ofreset and also to any other
listeners feeling the same. Andthat's it for today everyone.
I'll be back next week with alovely conversation with

(01:09:31):
Jeanne-Marie Paynel, YourParenting Mentor, and Pilar
Bewley of Mainly Montessori anduntil then, everyone, bye.
Thanks for joining me for theMontessori notebook podcast. The
podcast was edited by LukeDavies from Filmprov media and

(01:09:51):
podcasts art by Hiyoko Imai. Tofind out more about me and my
online courses visitthemontessorinotebook.com,
follow me on Instagram@themontessorinotebook, or pick
up a copy of my book TheMontessori Toddler or its new
prequel the Montessori Baby fromyour local bookstore, Amazon, or
where books are sold. They'realso available as ebooks, audio

(01:10:12):
books and are being translatedinto over 20 languages. I'll be
back in a week with moreMontessori inspiration. And in
the meantime, perhaps you'lljoin me in spreading some more
peace and positivity around theworld.