I’ve missed Montessori Monday by a few days and here we are on Waldorf Wednesday, but it works together perfectly to fit together something that I’ve been turning over in my brain for a bit, so here we go.
Since it has been … necessary to give so much to the child, let us give him a vision of the whole universe. The universe is an imposing reality, and an answer to all questions…. All things are part of the universe, and are connected with each other to form one whole unity. The idea helps the mind of the child to become focused, to stop wandering in an aimless quest for knowledge. He is satisfied having found the universal centre of himself with all things.
– Maria Montessori, To Educate the Human Potential
Originally, the post I had planned for today was how to celebrate feasts and festivals without appropriating culture. That still may come. But I woke up this morning to the news of (yet another) mass shooting and, as a good friend of mine pointed out on Facebook, for the fifth time in my life saw headlines declaring it the deadliest mass shooting in modern history. And I wept.
As I’ve been thinking about this “sweet spot” where Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia meet, I’ve been trying to pull out where exactly those intersectionalities occur. This is, undoubtedly, a partial list, but it’s what I am able to come up with in the noisy lobby of my kids’ arts school.
I’m at an interesting point in my life right now. I am finding that there is this fascinating sweet spot where Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia all meet. I’m at the thinking stage, sorting it all out.
Last week’s internet outage means I’m playing catch up with posting the rest of last week’s apple posts today.
Apple week has been the perfect opportunity to keep apples out for a healthy snack– I meant for us to make crock pot applesauce as well, but sadly, that will have to be non-thematic and wait for another week– and also introduce the children to using the apple slicer. Daniel is in a public magnet Montessori school this year, and I am hoping that eventually the twins will be as well. I’ve always had a deep admiration for Maria Montessori and her work, and will be introducing the twins to some of her lessons when appropriate. This one was easy as pie.
