Christian Montessori Fellowship

Putting things away

Putting things away is even more important than getting them out. Life is a different kind of three period lesson all of its own. Anticipation, Discovery, Reality. You see it in the classroom and you experience it in life. (In the classroom) First, you have the anticipation of a new lesson. Then you have the joy of discovery of what the lesson offers. Finally, you have the reality of having to put it away. Reality is always changing because it has different parts to it. One reality in the classroom is that I don’t want to put it away because I am still enjoying working with it. A second reality of the classroom is that I may be tired from the exertion – both physical and mental – and I don’t want to put it away. A third reality is that I may have wrung out every bit of flavor from the exercise (like old gum) and now I’m bored with it and would rather not finish but move on to other more exciting things.

Helping our children put things away with the same attention to care and detail is a life lesson. Many of us start projects and make progress – but it is in finishing that we often fall short. In the classroom, it is getting the last drop of water dried from practical life; it is making sure all of the golden beads are in their own special place. It is the care with which we finish the task that ultimately determines if the task has been done successfully.

The next time you give a presentation make sure the constructive triangles (or anything else) go back in the box as carefully as they were retrieved. It is a life lesson of reality that success goes to who finishes – not who starts.

The Martha, Mary, Lazarus family presents a glimpse of what a Montessori school can be. Three times in scripture we are invited to their home. Jesus must have found it a wonderful place because He often returned to it for refreshment and fellowship. Scripture lays out a picture of a family relationship where Jesus is also included. This gives us a unique model of what families, churches and Montessori schools should be like.

Our first introduction to the family (Luke 10:38) shows us Lazarus fellowshipping, Mary listening and learning and Martha busy serving. A great picture of what our relationship to the Lord should be like. But the story gives us a discordant note which surfaces when Martha goes to Jesus and complains that Mary isn’t carrying her fair share of the work load. I’ve always read this story as a rebuke to Martha and the Marthas of the world but I see it differently now. I can see Jesus with a smile on His face, shaking his head and saying “Martha, Martha.” It is not a rebuke! It is an eternal moment in time when Jesus is sharing with Martha about who her sister is (and who Martha is.) “Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her.” What seems like sibling rivalry – “It’s not fair!” – can also be understood as fulfilling the role and personality that each of us have been given. Martha wanted Mary to be just like her but Mary was impelled to follow the nature that God gave her to sit at Jesus’ feet to learn and worship. The practical question (which is always Martha’s, according to her nature) is who would have prepared the food if Martha had followed what Mary was doing?

The next time we hear about the family (John 11:1) Lazarus is at the point of death – and dies. Jesus then comes and it is Martha who goes out to meet Him. It is Martha who knows that God will give Jesus anything He asks for. It is Martha who speaks the resurrection hope. It is Martha who affirms that Jesus is the Christ. There is nothing deficient in Martha’s theology or relationship to Jesus. (It was Martha who opened her home to Him.) Yet, when Jesus commands the stone to be rolled away from the grave, it is the ever practical Martha (true to her nature) that says, “But, Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

The next time we see the family (John 12:1) a dinner is being given in Jesus’ honor. Martha is serving, Lazarus fellowshipping and Mary worshipping – each in a role that God created for them. It is a picture of what a Christian Montessori school should be where “follow the child” is really a reflection of following the God given personality of each child. Serving, fellowshipping and worshipping are part of the harmony in each of us and yet recognizing the distinct call in each other allows us to live in that harmony in the family, in church and in school.

Your membership in the fellowship is critical to help the advancement of Christian Montessori. Visit www.crossmountainpress.com to give your support to this minsitry. Your membership includes an index of all the articles in the Cobbler for the last seven years, a directory of Christian Montessori schools and discounts on conferences and seminars. Please pray about your support of this vital effort to bring Christian Montessori education to more children around the world.

It is Ok for the student to do nothing (but not forever.)

Thinking looks a lot like doing nothing! Talking and doing often preclude thinking. To think clearly (and see clearly) you often have to stop the action – and that looks like doing nothing.

“Look before you leap!” is certainly an old proverb that could be addressed to the impulsiveness of children. But giving children the ability (which is opportunity, permission and training) to look before they act is a significant Montessori operation.

Traditional education is focused on action and production. Montessori education adds a major refinement to this approach – contemplation and reflection. So much of our own educational experience has been to do what is asked without any thought about the significance (or even an understanding) of the project or product produced. Why do so many students hate history? Is it the regurgitation of facts and factoids without any meaningful application of understanding?

The absorbent mind is an ongoing phenomenon. The absorbent mind in many ways is like a camera lens recording what is present. Some things are in sharp focus, others less focused – yet recorded. The ‘depth of field” in photography changes, not what is present, but what is noticed. Dr. Montessori records numerous instances of children noting minute details in situations or pictures that escaped the adult attention. Dr. Montessori states that normalization can only begin when the child’s attention and being are captured by some object or activity.

Oft times doing “nothing” is a preparation for engagement. Is doing “nothing” worse than doing mindless activities that preclude meaningful intellectual engagement?

There are many reasons for a child doing “nothing.” And you can’t always determine the root cause. And you certainly can’t determine it if you do not observe and know the child. Some children are shy; others are insecure. Some insecurities are inborn, others have been conditioned by perfectionist or critical adults. Some children are perfectionists, not wanting to do anything until they can do it perfectly. Others aren’t sure what is wanted even when you show it to them. Some are more contemplative than others. Some want to think it through. Others are observers rather than actors. And then some are lazy.

A Montessori classroom becomes a safe and varied environment to enter the learning pool. And like the real swimming pools of life each of our children has their own style. Some enter the pool by jumping straight off the diving board. (Look before you leap? You’re kidding!) Some jump in from the side. Others get their feet wet and slowly immerse themselves while others just sit on the pools side until the allure of the water overcomes their inhibitions.

In the pool and the classroom (and in life) when the allure becomes irresistible you’ll find action. May learning become that irresistible force for our children.

November 1st begins the publication of the audio and video archives of the Christian Montessori Fellowship.
Over 25 years of conference tapes. (200+)
Two years of video seminars. (20+)
Montessori parenting tapes. (30+)
Christian Conference tapes (36+) (Montessori applied to non-Montessori settings.)
Montessori philosophy (20+)

An annual subscription to the library will allow for unlimited access for your staff.

The library will provide resource material for parent meetings, for staff meetings and for staff training.

The library will provide management help for the director and administrative staff.

What makes this library a significant resource (and investment) for your school?
No where else can you find the depth and breadth of knowledge of Montessori (with a Christian base) archived and accessible for you from seasoned Christian teachers. The continued transformation of your school is built on the continued growth, development and transformation of your staff. The library gives you the tools to continue to create excellence.

Introductory pre-release offer $79 per month or an annual fee of $790

An endorsement from someone who just bought a training package.

“I just watched “What’s Christian About Montessori” and I am inspired! It is excellent! Yes, I already knew these things but you have helped to order and focus these principles in my mind. I feel so privileged and called to have a role to play in the furthering of
God’s Kingdom. What a gift Montessori is to the world. I have the tools to transform the world for the Kingdom! Wow! Thank you. That lecture alone was worth the $200. Every Montessori teacher should hear this at the start of every year of school. If they’re not Christian yet, they will want to be.” Myra Arnold

Attached is an inventory of lessons to be available.
The library will begin with 20 to 30 tapes. Each month 10 to 15 tapes will be added. Each year additional materials will be added to the library from conferences and seminars.

To order go to www.crossmountainpress.com

Dennis the Menace says to Joey, “It’s almost Halloween.” “How do you know?” “Because they have the Christmas stuff out.” So Christmas invades the calendar and stakes a claim on our attention (and pocketbooks). The Holy Day has become a Holiday. Yet, that shouldn’t surprise us because anything that becomes a ritual has the power to lose its meaning.

Our challenge is not to lose the meaning or if lost to regain it. Many of us spend our lives chasing goals that in the end are not the prize we thought they were. The classic Charles Dickens story “A Christmas Carol” relates one such account. The character of Ebenezer Scrooge has given rise to a prototype that has become shorthand for greed, avarice – and unhappiness. But it is through the lens of Christmas that his life is transformed and renewed. This same lens can help us focus on what is dynamic and important in life.

Most of us will never have as dramatic a “Christmas conversion” as old Ebenezer but the outcome of his conversion can belong to each of us. The singular thought from the end of the story was that it was said that Ebenezer Scrooge “knew how to keep Christmas well”. And that is our challenge to keep Christmas well – not to lose it, not to ritualize it, not to commercialize it – but to keep it well.

I love Christmas. It is a time of year that evokes memories, hopes and dreams. It is a feast for the senses. The colors, the sounds, the smells create a world that is different (and more hopeful) than the other eleven months. Christmas holds the possibility of “peace on earth and good will to men”. Christmas changes things. The real gift of Christmas is the possibility that it might change us.

I’ve missed a number of Christmases. Oh, I was there but the cares of life and the busyness of the season made it difficult to “keep Christmas”. The season passed me by without touching my heart. So what is keeping Christmas about? Focusing on Emmanuel – God with us. It’s not just the Babe in the manger. It is not just the mystery of God taking on human form but the mystery that God allows that Babe to be born into the manger of our hearts. To keep that Christmas is to keep the mystery of God’s love for all eternity.

I really love Christmas. It is a magical time of year. The decorations, the lights, the sounds transform the world with feelings that bless the soul, the senses and the mind. Acts of random kindness, a lessening of the edginess of life, the outpouring of good will and real charity makes you wonder about how to keep it. The anticipation of the season heightens the very essence of being alive. And eventually some Christmas season will mark a milestone – the milestone of the anticipation of giving rather than receiving – when you can’t wait to experience someone else’s joy.

God had great joy in giving us the gift of the Babe in the manger. And it is a similar joy that becomes ours when “keeping Christmas” means giving. We begin to become like Him when we joyously enter into giving – not just our gifts but our time, our dreams, our very lives. We model not only the wise men and their gifts but our very Heavenly Father.

It is our challenge (in being good fathers) to help our children to not only enjoy the magical time that is Christmas but to model for them how to enter the mystical time as well. Our challenge is to go from the magical to the mystical.

Economics may change this Christmas season – maybe for the better. In addition to (or maybe instead of) the gifts you are going to give consider what might be the most meaningful present you can offer. What you write on a piece of paper – not your usual Christmas card or Christmas letter – but a note or personal letter that shares with someone what their life has meant to you. Detail for them the character qualities that you admire. Detail their acts of love and compassion and their care for you and for others. Bless them with the same blessing you have received from your heavenly Father.

This one simple gift (which will be treasured for years) has the power to turn Christmas into Thanksgiving. You will not only touch the recipients heart but the very heart of God when we say to each other “I love you” with deeds and words just like our heavenly Father did millennia ago in a stable in Bethlehem.

“Keeping Christmas” is to enter the mystical part of Christmas – Emmanuel – God with us – God within us.

You don’t have to treat them all alike.

One of the first whole sentences children utter is, “It’s not fair!” Justice and equality seem to be a dominating factor starting in childhood. How many of us as children, swore that when we had children we would not treat them like this. (Whatever “this” was.) So we seem to be born with a developed sense that life isn’t fair – and it should be.

And now that we are in a situation as teachers we come face to face with a stubborn reality – life isn’t fair. Our Utopian ideals make us struggle with our sense of fairness and justice and in trying to make fairness and justice our goal we often only make the situation worse. Ironically, we often try to be more just than God.

Scripture counsels us about justice and respect and so we scratch our heads and wonder if that means we should treat everyone the same. In reality, we don’t treat everyone alike. Our relationships with out mother and father are different than with other adults. We treat our siblings, family and friends differently than we do strangers. And when we are married our spouse and children receive love and consideration that is not given to others. Is this unfair?

In childhood everything is easy, simple, black and white. And now you are an adult faced with a classroom of different personalities, different needs and different abilities. What do you do? You meet the child’s needs. And his greatest need is not that of fairness but of focus. It’s been said that the real opposite of love is not hate but indifference. And the opposite of indifference is focus and concern. Ironically, in our own quest for fairness we do want everyone else treated equally but we want to be treated specially. If you say to your class, “You did a good job.” It’s nice but bland (equality for everyone). However, if you look Johnny in the eyes and say, “Johnny, you did a good job!” it makes all the difference in the world.

At conferences I ask teachers, “How many of you have a favorite student in the classroom?” Everybody nervously looks around unsure if the truthful answer will bring them a rebuke because they are “supposed” to treat everybody the same. Yes, we all have favorites – often a student who is just like us (and occasionally one who is totally different.) Our challenge is not to deny the reality of our favoritism but to acknowledge that we need to make sure that that favoritism does not negatively impact the other children – like Joseph and his coat of many colors. (A mother was asked if she had a favorite among her four children. “Yes, I do – but it changes from day to day.)

In our quest for fairness and equality it is shocking to realize that God isn’t fair. Oh yes, He’s just and good and compassionate and tender and loving – but fairness is not a primary concern to God. If God were fair everyone would be smart and beautiful, rich and talented, good and wise (and blond.) But look at your classroom – a veritable panorama of hair and eyes and teeth, talents, gifts, abilities, hopes and fears, with family histories to make you proud or cry. What is not present is equality. What is not called for is treating them all alike.

God puts you there to look into their eyes, into their hearts and to focus on what God has called each of them to be so that you might exercise your gifts to help them realize their gifts. I used to tell my school parents that in order to treat them all alike I had to treat them all differently. And that is how our Heavenly Father treats us – differently. We are called according to the gifts He has given us. We will not all be singers but we can learn to appreciate singing. We will not all be writers but we can learn to appreciate language. And there is math and science and history and so much more to explore with the passion that God has placed in each of us. Each of us is given a different measure – like the servant in the parable who was given five talents and another two and the last servant one. The parable is not about what you were given but what you did with what you were given.

You have some bright kids in school and it’s not “fair” to let them give you less than they are capable of. The bright kids need to be challenged to go higher and farther. You have others that will struggle who need your encouragement to succeed as much as the bright kids need the challenge. Have you ever been bored in school or frustrated? That’s because everyone needed to be treated the same. No, they don’t. What they need is the same respect, the same appropriate challenges, the same appropriate focus and the same opportunity to become what God has called each of them to be without the burden of having to be like everybody else because they are being treated like everybody else. You have the opportunity to free them to soar and to celebrate the unique creation and personality that God has created specifically in each child. They are all different and they need to be treated differently – if you want to be fair!

Freedom has to be earned – respect doesn’t!

At a recent conference we asked the question, “What did you wish you knew before you started teaching?” Interestingly, the answers are a reflection, not only of experience, but of maturity. It is not only knowing what to do – but why – and significantly when.

Freedom has to be earned – respect doesn’t.
What attracts many of us to Montessori is the freedom the child experiences in his learning. It is a wonder to behold as a child actively searches and discovers. As beginning teachers we are sure there must be a magic formula (or magic dust) to make the learning happen. It surely must be the “magic” of the freedom in the classroom – the lack of restraints and compulsion. But when I, as a new teacher, tried to spread that “freedom dust” around all I got was chaos and confusion. I was sure that it was the freedom of the classroom that gave rise to the great learning (and contentment and happiness) that was happening there.

Experience taught me (like many other beginners) that freedom isn’t magical. It has to be earned and trained and practiced. Freedom is a long term process and you cannot rush it until the child is ready to handle it. Earning freedom is like preparing for a marathon. It starts with a step, a walk, a run and longer runs until you have trained yourself for the race.

Freedom’s real value is when you know how to use it wisely. Our society confuses freedom with independence. To many freedom means no constraints. However, independence means the ability to be self-governing. Real freedom has to be built on a base of independence. And that is what you are doing in Montessori, creating an environment where the child is learning to govern and guide himself. Traditional education provides few opportunities for gaining independence and exercising freedom.

The challenge of freedom (and exercising it) is that it is messy. It is not the “ordered” existence of everyone doing the same thing at the same time and coming out with similar results. It is the messy process of making mistakes, correcting those mistakes, hopefully, not making the same mistakes again but invariably doing so and failing our way to success. Our challenge is not to disrespect the process or the learner in the process. We have to be careful in life (in and out of the classroom) that we don’t look down on people who are struggling to overcome, to master and to achieve. Obviously, we can do everything better and quicker than our students but unless we give them the time they need they will never come to independence and real freedom.

We live in a world that hasn’t changed much since Jesus’ day. The disciples didn’t think that Jesus should be bothered by “mere” children. Children are weak, noisy, distractible etc and they should just do what they are told. Jesus saw them differently because He looked with eyes that saw where they came from and with eyes that saw where they were going. He gave great respect to the child and “unless you become like the child” you can’t even enter the Kingdom of heaven.

Respect does not have to be earned. It is the hallmark of our relationship with the child (and each other.) And even the childish abuse of freedom is not a reason to stop the progress of learning how to use the freedom wisely. Just as God forgives us of our sins and starts our slate over so He requires us to “re-present” to our children, with patience and respect, the opportunities of learning freedom.

Strange words that God uses to give us hope.
2 Corinthians 4:8 “We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

2 Corinthians 6:9-10 “Dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, yet possessing everything.”

It seems now that we are all faced with difficult times – finances and enrollments are of particular concern. Needed personnel and enhancing our programs always remain at the forefront of our concerns and challenges. And often the prayer that escapes our lips is “God can’t you make it any easier?” We know what we need as we look around our schools – more students, materials, help. And if we listen carefully when we pray God sends us words of Hope.

On the surface that doesn’t seem like much of an answer to prayer. And yet it may be worth more to us in the long run than our pleas for relief. Most of our everyday dealings with the word hope are amorphous wishes. “I hope it rains.” “I hope you have a good day.” There, our hope is nothing more than a passive thought. Yet, that is not how God looks at hope. In 1 Corinthians 13:13 Paul writes, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” While we hold love to be the greatest – yet none of us would dismiss faith but we don’t seem to know what to do with hope.

Faith, hope and love. Faith is the beginning of our journey (He who comes to God must first believe that He exists) and love (God is love) is the destination of our journey. That leaves Hope to be the bridge between faith and love. What exactly constitutes Hope? Hope is an active persevering and following after God. While faith is a gift from God, hope is the engine of our transformation.

Hope is an active holding on, an active following hard after God. Hope is built on faith. If you lose hope – you give up. As long as you hold onto hope – you hold onto faith and you continue to put one foot in front of another.

Many of us are facing extremely challenging situations this year. And now of all times we need those words of hope. Paul writes, “We are hard pressed on every side”. And that certainly reflects the daily happenings of our lives but he goes on to write “we are not crushed.” Yet we feel like we are being crushed. We feel we can’t take anymore. He writes “We are perplexed.” And that certainly enters into our thoughts and lives. “God, why don’t you make it easier for us to minister to your children?” And then he adds, “We are not in despair.” That is our challenge – to not let the circumstances put us into despair. By and large we have been spared persecution but his word of hope that we have not been abandoned is one we need to hold onto. We feel abandoned at times (and yet He never leaves us). And occasionally we get struck down – loss, illness, people leaving us etc – and Paul writes that, “We are not destroyed.” We sometimes feel mighty close to being destroyed. And yet it remains the Hope God gives us that allows us to continue. There are no easy answers to our present circumstances but if our hope is in Him then we continue. Sometimes it is through lions den’s, or fiery furnaces but He always goes with us. Hold on to Hope!