May your Learning become more Livable
as your Living
becomes more Learnable!
Montessori Education
We were led to Montessori Education out of a desire for more order in our daily lives and for a greater independence for our children. It all
started the year I was homeschooling two in high school, one in 2rd grade and one in Kindergarten. A few months into the school
year, all of a sudden, I had a 3-year old who was reading, a 4-year-old who was determined to keep up with his younger
sister, and a 20 month old who insisted that he could do everything and everyone else could do (and he was usually right).
After having started our homeschool year teaching four children, I instantly had to accomodate seven. Out of desperation I
asked a former Montessori teacher to help me get organized, the Montessori Way. What followed was my journey "From Creative
Chaos to Livable Learning." In the process I found myself reading every book that was ever written on Montessori education.
What I wanted was the "big picture" - something that would give me a "snapshot" of the Montessori principles,
techniques and materials. Not finding what I wanted, I had to create it for myself.
Catholic Education
One of the benefits of homeschooling your own children is that
you learn so much, right along with them. I started homeschooling out of convenience - I did not want to drive back and forth
to town three times (or more) a day to send my Kindergartener to the Catholic school where my older boys were attending. My
reasoning for homeschooling grew into a concern for morality and values as my 8th grader and then my 10th grader came home
to school. One of the reasons I homeschool now is to feed my passion to learn more about my own faith as I teach my children.
I always thought I was a "good Catholic" until I started homeschooling my children. Then I found out haw very little
I knew about Catholic Education, the Catholic Church and its teachings. I have come to call those profound and unexpected experiences in my
faith journey "Emmaus Moments." One of my highlights was when I was visiting with an old friend who had left the
Church fifteen years earlier. She stated asking questions and I actually had the answers for her, because of the Apologetics
I have acquired while teaching my children. How exciting it was to share the Truths of the Catholic Faith with her (Apologetics
is the theological discipline of defending the faith).
I have seen too many Catholic homeschoolers rely heavily
on the Baltimore Catechism and then go no further. I believe that Catholic education at all ages must include Catechism as
well as History of the Bible, History of the Church, and Apologetics. A truly Catholic education should encompass "The
Marks of Catholic Education" using the Marks of the Catholic Church: One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic. It naturally follows
that we can create a Classical Catholic model for education that will enable every homeschooler to incorporate the Catholic
Faith into any school subject.
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Hope4ME updates:
Many Montessori printable materials
are still available at no charge just as they were at our old website, however there are now many files available only through
Hope4ME membership. Hope4ME is an acronym meaning Helping Others Prepare
Environment for Montessori Education. UNTIL I
GET CAUGHT UP.... and in light of the current economy, and my obviously spastic work periods for revising and creating
new files I have decided to offer a ONE PAYMENT ONLY $25 charge for a life time membership.
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