A Conversation I Never Thought I'd Have

Me: "Hi cutie, how was your first full day of school?"

Her: "Great!  I loved it!"

Me: "I'm so glad.  What did you do?"

Her: "I made a new friend!  We had lunch and played at recess together.  I love first grade.  It's so fun!"

If you'd told me that I would be having this conversation with my daughter three and half years ago, I would not have believed you.  We were in the midst of our first preschool experience and it was horrible.  At her first parent teacher conference, her teacher actually told me that she would probably be a wallflower forever.  Soon after, I went to help for a St Patty's Day party and I witnessed the three year old kids being forced to sit for five minutes in silence with hands on their lap to await their green munchkin.  One little boy was actually denied a munchkin for being unable to keep his hands on his lap.  She cried every day after coming home that year.

We switched schools the next year and moved over to a warm and nurturing Montessori program where Bella blossomed.  Her confidence grew in the quiet environment and the focused support of her teachers.  Many people argue that Montessori doesn't foster social development because there are few group activities.  We actually found that it encourages social development through paired activities which are less chaotic than group play. Montessori is not for everyone - but it was the right solution for us.

Over the years, I got pretty caught up in all the amazing learning the kids do in Montessori.  Many kids are reading at age four and doing addition and subtraction.  They also learn a lot of geography - on Parents' Night Steve and I need our kids' help to do the Africa puzzles.  It's all taught through these clever toys but it's all chosen by the kids.  If a child likes math, they'll spend most of their time doing that, within reason.  I was so proud of her academic accomplishments, but I should have been most proud of her growing self-confidence because that's what shone through today.