The Montessori Notebook podcast :: a Montessori parenting podcast with Simone Davies

S2 E2 Montessori through the eyes of Cara, 6 years old, in the Philippines & her mother Mars

• Simone Davies, Montessori teacher and parent • Season 2 • Episode 2

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Mars (Instagram/website) was a Montessori educator and owned her own school and now homeschools her daughter Cara. I asked Mars if I could interview her daughter Cara about their Montessori homeschooling and we spoke for over an hour! I'm sure you'll enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

At the end Mars also talks about how she supports Cara's learning and what "successful" homeschooling looks like to them.

Links from the episode

Listener question

My question for you is do you have any recommendations regarding resources or training for educators who do not intend on working in a Montessori school but would still like to approach teaching in a Montessori way? I work as a teacher in a public elementary school in Canada and would love to have a better understanding of the Montessori approach to early numeracy and literacy learning. I am specifically looking for resources for students in the 3-6 range. Thanks!

Hi, everyone, Simone Davies here and welcome back to the podcast. So with the podcast, I hope that you get really inspired that there are so many ways that you can bring Montessori into your homes by speaking with people all over the world from different backgrounds, different places on the Montessori journey. And what we'll see is like the principles are universal, and how we apply them can actually be really culturally responsive when we adapt them to what we call in Montessori, our time and our place and our culture. So this is season two, Episode Two, and I think I always say it but I am definitely super excited to share today's interview with you because I got to speak with Cara who is six years old, and a mother Mars in the Philippines, all about what Montessori looks like in their home. Mas was Montessori educator and school owner and is now homeschooling carer. And so we get to talk about what that looks like some projects that they've been working on how mas supports carers learning and definitely you want to wait till the end where Cara had prepared some questions to ask me. It was such a fun surprise to get interviewed by a six year old. But before we get to the interview, I wanted to say Happy Earth Day for yesterday. Although I guess every day should be Earth Day. Right, really. So I've been telling everyone about this amazing podcast I've been listening to it's called How to save a planet. And the hosts Alex Bloomberg, he runs gimlet media, which is now an empire of sorts of very intelligent NPR style podcasts. And his co host is Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson. And she is super smart, black woman who just happens to be like a marine biologist, a self confessed policy nerd and author of the book or we can save and their banter is super entertaining. And each episode they look at a different climate solutions like with a positive outlook on what we can actually do. And I think it's in the first episode, they say that the problem to solving climate change is not so difficult. We basically need to reduce carbon emissions. And yet the solution to the problem however, is the more difficult part. And well that's where I think Montessori children come in because for one Montessori children are very connected to the earth. Like we talked about the interconnectedness of life on the planet with with them like that everything has its cosmic tasks, like even that creepy looking spider or like if there's a wasp, the bots bugging us, I love to ask like what's the cosmic task of wasps again, and, you know, Montessori children are great at solving problems as well. But Dr. Montessori, she understood the importance of nature. She wrote a lot about how we should have lots of opportunities to be in nature, to understand to appreciate its harmony, its order and its beauty. And I love in a book discovery of the child she wrote that the children refree encourage them, let them run outside when it's raining, let them remove their shoes when they find a puddle of water. And when the grass of the meadows is damp with do let them run on it and trample it with their bare feet. Let them rest peacefully when a tree invites them to sleep beneath its shade. Let them shout and laugh when the sun wakes them in the morning as it wakes every living creature that divides its day between waking and sleeping. I love that. So definitely being outdoors with Georgia is one of my favorite ways to be with children. Like whether we're walking or hiking or collecting sticks and rocks on our walks or just lying under a tree and looking up at the clouds. That's great with babies as well. Like that's I always say the most beautiful natural mobile is watching the leaves move if a tree or taking photographs of things we find beautiful but that we can't take with us. I love watching my kids have built so many huts, paddled in creeks and all those kind of things. And, you know, then Montessori children are also learning how to look after the earth, from composting to growing their own homes and vegetables in a school garden to see where their food actually comes from. Not just that it magically turns up in our stores. They learn to save electricity and water, how to care for animals. And even not just recycling and reusing, but actually like looking at ways that we can regenerate the earth. Not using the earth as a resource as such, but like feeding the earth. So it's something I'm just starting to learn about is this regenerative sustainability. So if you had like a scale, at one end, you could have consumption. And that's where we don't really care about what the impact is of what we're consuming. And then we come up with a greener alternative. So we're moving up the scale a little bit and we're still consuming but it has less impact on the planet. So then we'll come up with sustainable solutions where we aren't taking out more than we're putting back in. And then it comes to the regenerative part of the other end of the scale like beyond neutral where we're actually actively working to feed the earth. So the best example I can think of is when I saw the documentary biggest little farm, you watch this couple who've completely dried out area of farmland which they want to bring back to Life. They're actually city folks. So they get someone on board to help them. And they're not. They're planning to plant a few varieties of trees, you know, to make it bit biodiverse. But actually, they end up planting 10,000, orchard trees, over 200 different crops, and they bring in all these different animals of every different kind, and you see the land actually start to come back into balance and harmony. I won't spoil it for you, but you need to see it. And I think we'd all agree that there's like never been more urgency to save the planet, and Montessori children are good at solving problems. So I'm really excited that there's now a plan to connect Montessori schools and families around the world to work on it together. So if you want to get inspired about things that you could be doing, or to take part in the project, I'll put a link in the show notes. It's called the earth project that I've been working on with Montessori everywhere, and it's going to be completely free for everyone to join. You just need to sign up and it will take place from September to November this year. So I hope you're now feeling inspired to get out into nature maybe today. And remember, they say there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing, and let's start regenerating the earth. And with that now, let's get on to my interview with Cara and Mars. And I'll be back after the interview to answer another listener question. Very excited to welcome today. Cara and Mars all the way from the Philippines. Some of us might know Mars from Instagram, what story on Mars, definitely recommend following your mom. And we get to speak with Karen today's so Cara, how old are you? And what does your schooling look like? Your six one? And do you go to a school or do you do school at home? No. I only do Montessori. Yeah, that's so interesting. I'm also a Montessori educator. But maybe some of our listeners don't really know what Montessori is. How do you explain it to people who don't know what Montessori is that gave? It's not like traditional schools that the teacher says, you do this, you that you do this? It's like, you're Yeah, no teacher is not going to be a teacher, called a teacher. We call it a guide. So the guide, let the kids choose what they want. But there's also some elements. There are also some moments Yeah, but there's more. There's a lack of free games, more games, more freedoms, the limits. That sounds like my kind of school where you actually get to decide what you'd like to work on. And then it's more engaging isn't it's more interesting when you discover for yourself that you find my carry you guarantee me like I am actually working on that. You will working on the bass, you can't stop yourself. Would you like to show us something that you that it's one of your favorites. Even though this is an audio podcast, we can describe it to people who are listening. Cars picking it up my favorite. This is like, they'll be carrying it. I could go assigned a big cabinet. It's like square numbers. One you can make in square, four. And 916. This is changing cars rolling up a little blue grid. That's a five by five and our six Yes, that was pink that was clearly this is 49.9. It's a white one that's your diskeeper that you need. This is 64. Again, eight to one. When you build a pyramid from them with the 100 at the bottom all the way up to the one and then you held up a piece of paper a little way through. And that was something you could check on that would be quite interesting for people who have never worked on this before. What do you use the paper for is the control of error. I can't I think you got to get a screen. But there's actually really numbers. So if you forget, you can look it up and check your answer to make sure that you remember correctly. Right? Like Hi, you got like wooden squares that have the number two. That's really helpful, isn't it? It's a mum doesn't have to tell you. If you got it right or wrong, you can just check yourself and if you get it wrong, you can correct it. And know that you need to keep practicing that one. And at the moment, you can't really go out and explore so much but you've been doing some presentations for family and friends via the internet. I hear you would you like to tell us about some of those projects and how you've gone about them again. So, but there is no podcast and the engineer that I gave me Yes, it is a presentation. It's about in ganic way you might not yet know. So endemic means like, this one thing like a bird animal lives in one country. Yep, one place to end all traffic dare admission. I agree. They don't go to any place, they don't live anywhere else. They just stay there. So there are 700 100 species in my country, you know, you know, away I used to want to see countries like 700 701. So, and how many 41 by the end and about the Philippine Eagle. So the Philippine Eagle is three feet taller. Oh, I stir the table, but if the tool shelf behind you, yes, as tall as that, okay, the wingspan is longer than the table that we are using. Wow, this is the largest. He gets, be he in fact, we know for now. That's always what I that's the word that I always say that we know for now. Yeah. Because we don't know that we might discover more. That's a really wise thing to say. Because it's always evolving and changing the things we discover. Wow. Right. One time I we heard about a new specie of like frog or toad. I think God. Awesome. Yeah. And you hear about scientists finding new species of mushrooms and other things as they forage. And yeah, there's all these things that are still to be discovered. I don't know if I'm missing any big birds as big as that but you never never know. They may find that it's a different species or something like that. And how did you actually get interested in birds in the first place? Why did you decide you wanted to decide to study endemic birds? Guess they look so interesting. their colleagues were so bright, and I wanted to learn why did some bridge had great colors, and some had darker colors. So I heard like some braid tag bright colors to me. That That means like, they will like pair and then so so I was really cut out for that. So so like the the as a bridge that had darker college, which I wondered why they had that college to protect the masses or hide from predators. I really inspiring in those springs. That's so beautiful. And so then how did you actually find out the information? Did you look it up in books? Or did you use the internet? Or what other ways are there to find out all the information about these birds? You know, things that you said it was also what I did, but I also went outside to to look how how did did this? How, how did they do this? Yes, this. I also look out in the in outside in my village. That's important, right to do research and to look and observe. Do you have an observation journal? Or is there any way that you record your notes? Oh, yeah, I also have that, but I can get it. Or if you want to keep this going, then whatever you'd like, would you like to show us? Okay. Okay, how about a good? Okay, so mom's gonna get it for us. While you can tell us some more things about your birds. What else did you discover? What was one of the most interesting things about the birds that you weren't expecting? Yes, I think I know what I will say. So. So I, I really wonder how did they fly? Yeah. How do they fly? That's such an interesting question. Were you able to find anything out and kind of remember so? So I wondered, why can't I fly because I tried waving my arms in the air and I couldn't. So I wondered, Was it because of the air that that blew them off out in the air and just steer theirselves with with their way is I wonder so so I I think that's okay too, because you'll always be able to look it up again. But now Cara has got her journal in front of her. And it's a book that's very colorful and she's holding it up and I can see many colors. I see a leaf stuck in there. And then there's a watercolor I think, is that done with watercolors? Yes. This is the ash blanks, Rajesh. Okay. So you've actually drawn the picture of the bird and I also made a paper. Hey, bird. Oh, yes. So you've made a paper bird as well. Yeah. It's quite small. It's only about a couple of inches big. And you draw on the pattern of the markings on the I also went to Japan. And I saw that it might be like, a Lego from the screen. I can see some pink and some golden is there as well. No, it's it's more like brown. It's just a gold. This is the light colored Kingfisher. It's blue. Oh, I see it. Yes. The Kingfisher? Yeah, yeah. Hi there. Isn't it amazing that outside your house, you have such beautiful birds that you can draw and observe? Do you ever use binoculars to look closer? I nearish. Many other interesting rage in Amsterdam. There are there are and sometimes some parakeets, if any of you like why did the Greek parents end up in Amsterdam? How did that happen? So that's something I need to look up. I think they've migrated here. So I have a squash before outside our house in our garden. It's hard to see maybe in screen, would you like to show us one last one and then we'll talk about some of the projects and things that you've worked on. I've been banging about flowers. I didn't. I used to look at it in the internet because the venom batteries outside our house. And our our seedling bonobo doesn't have any flowers here. So we just look at it a bit in the infant. So sometimes when the flowers aren't available, we can look online as well. And then you can make pictures from those. And also, I understand that you've been studying about your culture, you know about the Philippines and special people and the puzzle maps of the Philippines and things like that. And how do you learn more about the Philippines in your homeschooling? Oh, okay, so I all law have. I have the puzzle map. Here's I have a globe I can Nisha, what are the different islands and yeah, in Philippines, smaller places in Philippines. And, and before the quarantine I had when I went to bankier, one of the places in Philippines so you got to visit. And I also learned then with books and I had been learning about people from different places. Like this one NIDA. She's a marine biologist. Yeah. I thought I saw someone underwater. Yes. Does it make it to the field inspiring? Do you get interested about all the types of work that these people have been doing? Yeah, I had an injury that she had been making. I said to my dad that please get me an underwater camera to capture all these animals that I had. It must be amazing, all the things that a marine biologist can see under the water. And it's amazing that maybe Yeah, there's a way to even just put a waterproof sleeve over a camera and you could take it on in the pool or out into the ocean to beach in our place called batang gas. And I had seen many other things I had seen like sea anemone and water call that we don't know what it's called, but it was pink and it I saw it in the water with the goggles. I hold my breath. Oh, wow. That's one way to have a look at everything that's around you, isn't it? You're always discovering No matter if you're just going to the beach or if you're at home. Do you actually even do school all day or do you just have a few hours in the morning where you do your Montessori work? How does it work? So I do like afternoon work time. And I guess I do morning work time. I will usually do my chores like watering the plants feeding the packs and you help take care of the house and other pets Do you have 14 years You've got 14 pets? Can you tell us what we like? What made them all? I hear a dog? Is that a dog? I have two dogs. Hello dog, one cat. And we have nine fishes. That means 14. That's a lot of animals to look after. And so what are your responsibilities? Do you need to walk the dogs? Do you feed them? Okay, so the afternoon, we walk the dogs and the fishes is just there in the kitchen. Yeah, and we have to also make sure that the fishes don't eat too much because they get bloated. Do you help when you have to clean the fish tank? Or is that something that your parents help with? My mom also helps me do that. How do you feel about doing chores? Is it boring? Or do you like helping around? It's fine, guys. I like dirty when I get outside. Yeah, getting dirty can be fun. Definitely. And so you're talking about something called practical life and practical life means you know, daily jobs around the house, doesn't it? And do you actually help sometimes with the cooking in your house? Do you like doing baby food? Yeah, I cook soup. And, and Mama said that. I said that. I want to cook soup every time. So mom said I will will prepare the cooking area to be ready for cooking. And so what kind of vegetables? Do you put in the soup? Or is there any other ingredients you use? I like carrots that are queued. And I also put some corn and I'll support the mushrooms and cream. And we didn't use water for the soup. Instead we use this kind of thing that that's made of vegetable. vegetable stock. Hmm, that makes extra tasty. So do you have to prepare all the vegetables as well by peeling them and cutting them into small pieces? Yeah, mom first cut them in, in strips. Then I cut it in in little cubes. And then cauliflower. It's Tuesday creamy. So mondesi I think I can do it. You do a lot by yourself, then. That's very helpful. And have you been learning any sewing? I think I saw that you had done some sewing? Do you just practice sewing? Are you sewing anything? not selling but but I do. Actually I do sewing. But I saw what. So like this kind of thread that's very, that's thicker. And I saw it with red in together and it's like a like something that has been that like URIs but it's not. And I'll be doing embroidery. embroidery. Yeah, it's fun to be able to make patterns and things out of the sewing. We call it still practical life even though I guess you're actually not sewing something in particular that you're selling a craft or something to appreciate your own designs. Do you actually do a lot of art and craft? Do you like those kinds of things? Yeah, I can show you some. Sure and show it holding up a bird right now. It looks like you've drawn the bird and you've cut it out and folded the head over. There's a whole series of birds and they're all different sizes. That's a little black on white one. Want to tell Simone inspire you to make these birds you seem available as a true person. And I knew he did cut out here who did come out here. And look at all those and so I know Matisse he was an artist that did a lot of cutouts and he's inspired you to make your own birth series. Look at that. And there's lots of colors, doesn't he? So I think something really interesting about Montessori, which we've kind of touched on is that you get to decide what you want to work on. But you also get to make the discoveries for yourself. So I guess I've heard that you are interested in things like maths, maths, then how do you do maths in Montessori, do you want to teach us about some of those things? Maybe some double additions or how you find things so I I, I hate I like doing this like this is adding 555 510 times. So first 510 I could do it by 1015 2025 3035 40 Finding 50. So that's one way you've learned how to do 510s. And then you can find different ways that they use in your house as well. Yeah, and you just keep, you can just keep keep keep going until you reach 100. You keep going till you get 100. That's super fun. And any other things that you'd like discovering about your Montessori things you were showing us before the little beads, the bead cabinets? Do you use division boards or anything like that in your home? Okay, she's off to get it. You don't need to go either want to get it? So mas? Would you like to tell us how she uses the division boards at the moment? Oh, she's back. Aha, you're holding it up. And on the top is some little holes at the top, which has got this 10 of them. And down the side is one 210 1291 210 129. So right now these are just out on the shelf. And if she feels like she wants to do a little bit, it's like a, we don't really have usually in Montessori, you have like the number of cards and you have number of problems. But you don't really have that. But it's more like very practical like, Okay, what if we have 27 of something? And we have four friends to divide it with? How are we going to do that. And so the division board is there for her to to solve the problem. But of course it's there. But it's there available for her. But she can think of other ways right now she actually is not using the division where this much because she likes making notations and paper. So I see like a transition to the coin from the concrete materials to towards the abstract. She's using the paper to greenbox box with little beads inside. Yeah, I love the long division when they get big pieces of paper and they start adding numbers and keep wanting to divide. And so it looks like she's like right on the edge. Because being six, I guess she's moving from the first plane to the second plane. And moving to the single abstract. I think it's really interesting because the materials are always there if you want to go back to them, or you can work straight on the paper as well. And you want us to talk about ballet, can you tell us a little bit about it, we'd love to learn what you're learning. So I had been very concentrated in it so well, when I teacher noticed that she moved me in the next level because I was so concerned trade, and I was I do steps. And some of the steps are different and difficult. But I still have push them harder and harder. And then I get better. And sometimes I also make mistakes. But that's okay, because it helps me learn what not to do and what to do. Exactly. We learned from my mistakes. In fact, I heard your mom when she says something like you can always come to me with your mistakes. Is that right? Mas? Right? That's right. It's a very intentional response I give all the time, right. So you know, you can come to your mom, she can help you and she'll help you figure it out. I like that phrase like we're figuring it out. And with ballet, do you do performances? Or is it mostly online lessons at the moment? How does it work? Right now? We do we do online since 19. I don't go yet to introduce to do it has to be online for now. And maybe there'll be some performances. Maybe it'll be up to perform online as well. I did. I did. I did my recycle leggy. And it had been this video. My mom did it. And then my teacher, let's just put it cubes, cubes, give of air three by the end, and then it should get people dancing. And then I was able to work. So you all able to dance together even though you couldn't be together. Yeah. And I also I'm quite envious of your book collection. Is there something that you're enjoying right now? Or do you want to tell us about some of your books? I have had to clean hippopotamus and look at unusual animal type ships. So is that a fictional book or is that a nonfiction book? It's a nonfiction book it talks about fiction means it's about things that are real. And fiction books are more from imagination. So I guess why is you want to do this. So clover go going to a cracker Gauss now. So so that crocodile opens his mouth and Clover. Clover goes in, but the crocodile won't eat the clover. It's very interesting because the the clover or you get feed dead because the meat that that gets taxed stocks that silvery eats the and the crocodile gets clean. So there are animal protection. That is amazing. So Cara was pointing to the teeth of the crocodile and the food that stuck around the crocodiles teeth, the birds eating and the crocodile won't eat the bird. So the bird gets fed and the crocodile has its teeth clean. So yeah, this interconnectedness is very Montessori. It's like what we like to call cosmic education that everyone has a task. Mas, do you want to speak to cosmic education? Because I think that's something that you enjoy. Yeah, I was gonna say, we haven't. We haven't really done great. I haven't really continued doing the Montessori grade lessons with Kira, because except for that one time, remember when she saw me researching, because I wanted to write my own version of the first grade lesson. So she saw me doing that. And she wanted me to read the story, but I haven't done it with her because I said I wanted to use the pinprick of light, you remember? Yeah. Yeah. So. So anyway, that to her, it was very special for us. But they said I wanted to prepare more. But to prepare myself more for the Greek lessons, but we have been talking about these themes, some themes of the great lessons, like our favorite is cosmic task, right? Yeah. That, in essence, Simone said, Every creature has, has a cosmic pass has a unique role. And we have been using a lot of books. But I was going to talk about Charlotte Mason as well. But everything Charlotte Mason has a lot of as a readily accessible source of living books, right. So that's what I plan to do is to check the living books and see if which are in line with the Montessori grade lesson. And one of the books that we are using now is how nature stories for young readers by Florence bats. It's well recommended Charlotte Mason book with ties very well with Montessori Greek lessons, because it talks about different marvels of nature, right? Even the littlest insects, even the worms, and it talks about what good they do to the world. And in the end, it talks about the human child, right? The human child and how there are so many things that the human child a humans cannot do and other creatures cannot do. But there are also things that we can do that they cannot and one of the things that people can do is being kind right. So I think it pays very nice. No, we can we can do logic games, then. Yeah. Other animals. Yeah. Because the book also mentioned like, we cannot fly, but we have invented things that can help us fight. Yeah, yeah. Thank you for being very patient. You want to show us a book card shows? It's called shell big task. And what's this one about? That all right, right close. Close. The shell shall share the same like the porcupine and a Kenya. They both have these spikes to protect ourselves. But they aren't linked. close relatives. Wow. The blood spikes. Yeah, I love that they share the same thing like shells. So the turtle and the snail they are not really close relatives, but a US shells. It's called Pacific at that can shine. No offense, but they rely on the same thing. Like Like, like shell. It protects them. Shell is for hiding. So there's some of your favorite books. And you also I believe, like playing board games. Okay, let me tell you what I had been doing. What have you been doing? get addicted to games. Stop playing. I think we'd enjoy each other's company. I love games do. Which one are you enjoying the most right now? I play? I play? Yeah. Yeah. Every night. Like when my He says it's time to sleep. I say even been here for years. I know that one sleeping queens that was one of our favorites. Rainbow. Rainbow nights. Okay, I don't know that one and cute bird. How you play Cuba? Okay. The collecting of block. Can you bring over the box of trellis? Oh, that looks like a pretty game too. It's got a very decorative. What you put how do you how do you play you connect lines, I want to show her what we have for each card. It's very, very rare. So here on a pitch time. Oh, look at those it's a hexagon has a pretty good access into the cards are black with vines of different colors. And they need to connect. So maybe the red one will connect with the red. There's the yellow connector with the yellow one. And that's the starting code. I think I would do that even not as a game. But just to make the patterns. Yes, what you did yesterday, right? Yeah, yeah. But it's thinner and taller. It's called byte code bytes. And I like how all your games arranged almost like books standing on their edge so that you know, often we pile out board games on top of each other and then they all fall out. But this is a way that makes it easy to see what you have. I have gymnastics Jurassic snack. Would you like to show us one more? Magic labyrinth. Look at that, which is cool. Tell her about opening up a box. A blog. Different different items. And there's a nice right under the board. And your pieces have. It's like it's the lizard. Oh, they have little manga balls. So you put that under the board? Yeah, right. And the wizard goes on top of the board. When magnet hits a wall means you lose and you have to go back. Ah yeah, can I get through the walls and so you have to start over again. That looks like a lot of fun once I love magnets as well so that it got an extra point of interest that I would think would be beautiful. And would you like to tell us when you're finished putting them away? About the Wizard of Oz that you've been reading lately? Are you enjoying that book? What's it all about? Oh girl who was carried to deliver the lander by cyclo house let's pick up flew to the lander Wizard of Oz because that there was like this, this Cyclone that brought it to the land. And at the end of each chapter, you've been drawing a little like summary of the chapter one in me Okay, it's another story in what in that book? So we have finished The Wonderful Wizard of Oz actually. And we were thinking about what books to read next right Cara? She's getting the she's getting her drawings. There was no pictures in the book. So I made my own so here we can see yes, we can see the outlines so inventive idea to make your own pictures if there aren't any years and that's Dorothy is just killed her dog and I just made my own thing as a cat is like so nice to see about you making your own drawings. You can add whatever you like. I'm here because toto fell in door in the like, what do I get opens to like an underground cave. Is that what you found my key skill. So he said he felt he fell down but no, look at that. I can see a tin man in the drawing set the tin man. Is that a witch as well? Yeah. No way. This one is the this was the part you want to tell her or not do which this is the test that you scare Crow and Dorothy and Toto and this is the currently lion pulling the raft. Yeah, to get through debt. I see that's all of them working together. Thank you so much for showing us all the pictures you've been drawing and Mars. How did you know that car was ready. For something that was more fantastical, that you know, because sometimes the ideas can scare younger children, because we start with reality. And then we move on to you know more fantastical books when they're you may be moving into the second plane. What did you notice? Hollywood Wizard of Oz, she kept on noticing a little wicked magnet that I have on the left. So she kept on asking and asking about the story about why it was the way it was the character green. And what was the story about so I started telling her about the story of wicked actually the musical. And so she was so interested with the idea. So I told her that it was actually from L Frank once we could lizard device. Yeah, that's beautiful. Because it's so fun to see them changing. You know, and I guess we've talked a lot about the second plane child and the child who's you know, making these discoveries and the bigger world. But yeah, it wasn't very long ago, that car was doing, you know, things that were more based in reality. Actually, it's still trial and error, because after the marvelous Wizard of Oz, I mean, sorry, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. We were thinking about what to read next. So I was thinking maybe Alice in Wonderland, I asked my friends what he could recommend. So they said, okay, Alice in Wonderland, and we tried it, I kind of told her what the story was about. So she was interested. But then when I was reading the story just wasn't clicking for us, I guess. Yeah. It wasn't a fit for us. Yeah. And then fit me. I felt like I'm missing me. You. Okay, so we said, Okay, that's it. We're going to put that aside for now. And we'll look for something else. Right? Yeah. And then that's the marvelous magnifiers. But I can't like it, also. So we're still looking. But one of my favorite books with my children around your age was the famous five, they go off and some pretty cool adventures. So maybe that's the series you might want to look into. There's the secret seven, and then the famous five is when I feel like, okay, you're interested with that? Famous Five. Okay, you can have a look, I wish that you live closer, because then you could borrow one of our books, and you could see if you liked it, but I'm sure you'll be able to find a library or something like that. And what I love is that we've discussed so many different things from birds to master drawing and books. And what about poetry? I believe that sometimes you study some poetry and make poetry puzzles, I'd never heard of poetry puzzles until I was doing some research for this podcast. So we just have, I just printed these out. It's just strips of the lines of the poem. When we start, it's usually four lines, usually bigger four lines per strip. But these ones a cut the cut them already. So it's just two lines for strip. And it's like you said a while ago, because it's a game that you play, too. So she likes putting together the strips to meet the poem she can. There's also a control card, this one that mas is holding up is like the whole poem. You know what? And then yeah, so she likes putting the puzzle pieces together, she looks at the control part, which is the whole poem, if she wants to check that. And she also likes drawing the poem. I love it. There's so many different ways to read poetry. There's already two poems, we collect that so we know which one you're using just a little wooden pig to hold them together. That keeps it organized. Thank you. Good thing, we did the this zoom here downstairs exterior thinking of doing it upstairs with the thing we did here. So you can just get from the shelves. Right? Exactly. And we can describe for the people who are listening exactly what you wanted to show us is really beautiful. And I also love that you know, at the moment we can't get out and explore the greater world and you like finding out about islands and inlets and lakes and things like that. So how are you making these discoveries now that you're at home a bit more? Okay, so I learned about from books, sometimes in the internet, and I go outside, sometimes I also had to go to trips. And guys you already have one trip, right? Yeah. I also made the island rig and waterful trees. You made them. How did you like betrays you? We had a lady get trees didn't have water. Yeah, just the cover of a tin can protect the water. For the one, the island, we planted one rock, and then it became an island. The other with the lake, I put the many, many rocks around water, we put in water. Then next to the river, you put that many, many rocks on two sides, and then click Add water. Next, the waterfall we like had pegs set with different sizes, protected roles was and then put a trace on it. Then click Add water. And then the water spilled all the way down. So even though you can't get out, you can you know, work these out at home and have concrete ways of making discoveries about all of the different types of land and water forms. Thank you. That sounds really beautiful. I'm really very envious of your homeschooling. I wish my school had been so interactive and yeah, so fun. And that you got to be with your mom. And I had a question now for your mom, is it okay, if I asked her a question or two? Yeah. Okay. Thank you for your break. Your break? Yeah, it's been a lot of talking. Thank you so much. And I guess I was wondering, how do you find that balance between helping her and stepping back and letting her make the discoveries for herself? You know, because we don't want to constantly correct them? What do you find the right balance for you? Yeah, I think that's one of the biggest help that I can give is really to resist the urge to help all the time. Because as adults resisting the urge to interfere, even when you think that you're helping or even when there's a faster you think there's a faster way to do something. Or even when you see that they're struggling and making mistakes, I think you really have to sit on your bite your lip a little. So that you give really give that space and grace for struggles and mistakes as she or the child explores her own process. And I think making room for the trial and error to really enter really celebrated Actually, it's really about the mindset of the adult. Right? It's a lot of it is mindset shift. And I think making room for the trial. And error helps us help the child to have that having a snack helps us help the child cultivate what Maria Montessori was seeing to help them cultivate that friendly, feeling towards error to have that compassionate relationship. And I think that's one of my biggest goals. And so when you look at that goal, everything else is on the sidelines, and you just look at the goal, how can I help her have that fulfill that kind of relationship with error is growing up? I was it wasn't like that. For me. I was always scared of making mistakes. So when she comes to me with a mistake, I asked, Is it a mistake? Or is it a problem that can be fixed? And if it is, do you want to fix it yourself? Or do you want my help? Because there's value in both. I think there's value in letting the child fix his own mistakes, her own mistakes, and also value in communicating to the child that, you know, you can come to me with your mistakes. and here we can figure it out together, I tell her there's joy in both. There's joy in fixing your own problems. And there's also joy in having someone help someone there to help you, right. And when I'm asked for help, I am not going to judge if the help she's asking of me is something she can actually do for herself. I'm not going to say, Oh, that's easy, you can do that for yourself doesn't matter. That doesn't matter to me, what matters to me is that I am able to communicate that at any time. She decides, or she realizes and she decides that she needs help. She can ask it from me now and always. So that's what's important for me and I don't really sweep in and say, Okay, this is the help that I'm going to give you because this is the help that I think you need. I asked her. Okay, you need help, what kind of help do you need? And because I also think there's value there that letting the child if she can figure out and communicate what what it Where is she having the difficulty? Where is the challenge and from there, see how can I support her? And also, when I do offer help, it usually comes as a suggestion. So this is my suggestion. Do you want to try my suggestion? Or do you have another idea? Did my suggestion remind you of something else that you think might work because my suggestions my ideas will not always work? And so that's that's what I tell her Do you want? This is my suggestion? Do you want to try it? Do you want to try and find out if it will work? And so the choices are still up to her. Right? Yeah. And I think it takes a lot of trust as a parent to think even though I'm not, you know, controlling what she's working on today that they're going to cover all the areas. Do you have any advice for parents? How? How do you get over the trust? Is that just witnessing and observing that she's making progress regardless? Or Yeah, how does it work for you, it's really figuring out what kind of message you want to communicate, because the message and the my goal, my ultimate goal in doing what we do, or co learning is really communicating certain things to her like, communicating that Yeah, errors, error. So if those are your goals, it doesn't really matter if you cover certain areas, at this time of your homeschooling at this age, because those are on the side, there are means to your goal, which is what having a friendly feeling towards error having what else, all of those essential skills that you hope your child will develop, I suppose to thinking of hitting an academic. So I think that's what you really have to think about. So there was this one time, I think I posted it that for an hour, she made, she was doing embroidery, she was doing sewing, and for a whole hour, she did like, what 20 stitches, and that was like, an hour and a half stitches. And that was an hour and a half of our afternoon work. So if you think about it, we didn't really do anything concrete for the day. But she was able to learn how to manage her frustrations, how to communicate her frustration. And so my goal of essential skills were answered were addressed were met by that, by that hour and a half. So for me, that was an hour and a half well spent, even if we really didn't spend it doing maps and reading and other things, right. Because it's learning in all the moments. It's not just the academics, and I love the process over the product. And so many things that we've got to enjoy learning from Cara and you today, you wanted to show us a very long bead chain here. It's a B chain 100 get. So if you just want to make a square, then you need a perfect square. But if you pull it up and try to make a square it's going to make it's going to look like this 100 Square, right. And the last thing I wanted to ask you mas was about the prepared adults because it's often the work that we need to do on ourselves so that we can create this space for them to have space to time to explore, to go on their own timeline, all those kinds of things. Is there any thing that you've worked on the most to prepare yourself as the adult one of the things that I found out during the quarantine was I actually needed a space for myself as well. Because as adults, we try to as Montessori ends, we try to prepare the environment for the child. But sometimes you forget that we also need that space to to separate ourselves and to, to study to reflect. So that was important for me finding that out this current theme because during the quarantine, we also we had certain things that we move things around so I had to make space for myself. So it's so important to take care of ourselves and not be overwhelmed by all the pictures on Instagram and things like that of what everyone else is doing and to really follow your own child Right. Right. It has I have been working on also curating my time the way I spend my time the way I spend my time in social shows social media. So those things are so beautiful. Is there any last things that you would both like to tell us before we end our conversation there last thing that you want to share with your small Okay, none for Kyra. Thank you so much, Cara, for all of the wisdom that you've shared with us today. I've really enjoyed hearing about your Montessori journey. And Mars for yourself. Yeah, for myself. I think I really always just echo Maria Montessori is follow the child. I think a lot of our we're adults we're always so scared about following following the child without knowing what path They will lead us. But there's adventure there. And I invite everyone to take it, to celebrate it. And to not be too afraid. That's beautiful. Thank you. I have so enjoyed getting to meet you actually, finally, after all these years, and yeah, we can't wait to see all the other things that Cara continues to get interested in and seeing you grow alongside of us as well. Oh, my God did you want? Because I was telling her that you wrote the book, I showed her the book. So she was thinking she can she ask you some questions? Of course, you've got some questions for me, of course, I would love to answer your question. Okay. She listed down some a few questions that she has. Now. How big is it? Oh, that's a really good question. It took six months to make that book sorry, not even a whole year, we worked very, very hard 12 hours a day. And we did it by Kickstarter. So when you have a, you sell a book, and you have a total of they grew up very fast. So I was very anxious. But it actually wrote itself very easily. Because I've worked in the classroom for many, many years. And I wrote down all the questions that parents asked me, and I just answered them as if they was standing next to me. And I write it as I speak. So it's very easy to read. And yeah, it's very logically organized. So hopefully, it's very helpful for people as well. What inspired you to meet him? Ah, so I wrote this book, because parents kept asking me what books should I read about Montessori and I'd say, okay, read this bit about this part and read this part about this. And I had to keep referring them to things. And then there was some books that I liked about parenting, but don't read this chapter because I don't agree with this bit. And then I decided, what if I just put everything I know in one book, and I couldn't believe myself that it was really an encyclopedia for the Montessori toddler by the time I finished? Why was crying in making your book. The most challenging part is reading the editing, you have to read the book again and again, and again to make sure that you don't make any mistakes. And once you read it a few times, you don't even notice if you've spelled something wrong, or sometimes they slip in when you're placing illustrations and things. So the first time we send it out, there were a couple of typos in there. And the editing part is my least favorite is reading it back and back and back many times. But other than that, it was actually a joy to write and collaborating with Yoko on the illustrations on the design layer was super fun, because I would send her my ideas, and she had been to my classes with her son. So she really knew a lot about the Montessori approach and how I worked with Montessori. And when I sent her an idea should send it back. And it was even more beautiful than I could have even imagined. When you do it to Facebook, um, I guess I just had a lot of responsibility to everyone who wanted to purchase the book. So I was just thinking about them. And when you think about the goal that you want to achieve, then everything else just flows into place and trusting that it will all will all be in the way it will be. And now the book is reach many people including all the way over to the Philippines. So I'm very excited about that. Yes, it's been translated in different languages. Feel when? How did I feel when I was finished? Oh, yeah, that was amazing. The day that we opened it up, and it was a real book, it was a very special because when the very first edition was published here in the Netherlands, by a local printer who uses sustainable printing, so we'd hand picked all the papers so that it was sustainable as well. And to hold that book in our hands. It was amazing. It was a very beautiful feeling to be able to hold it up and say we made this and we're really proud of what we put together. It's a real achievement. writing a book is no joke. You're writing some books of your own. Oh, not quite finished. That's okay. I can't wait to hear what car is coming back with now. Oh, okay. Did you want to read it to her? Hold it up. It's hard to say the picture isn't a book that you wrote. Yeah. It's kind of sad. Sad ego maybe Yeah, you can just tell her the story because you see the pictures on a forest once upon a flourish on the floor. Okay. And go flew. Eagle flew and she can't see the picture so well. Maybe we can get a picture. Oh, just you could send me the pictures. I'd love to do that. I can put the pictures along with the show notes. Mr. Eagle was shot Mr. Eagle was shot because eagles are being coached in the Philippines. And actually ego a man check that Mr. Ego ranking him go off to a place. He was carryall angrily Oh, the end, Cara's book so everyone keep your eye out for Cara's book may be coming out somewhere soon in your part of the world. And Cara, thank you so much for taking the time to show us all your Montessori work. Oh, you wanted to tell her about your teaching the dog? Yeah, before the king doll No. We went to Singapore to meet in girdle and then we went to a talk of gang going down. And as they said I couldn't come in really it's only eight and up. So I was crying softly because I thought that I wanted c gang gang. But then then said he will just give up his ticket. And eventually they said, okay, he can go in and I said for over longer than three hours. I've heard drink Jane Goodall speak and I'm not surprised you sat still for three hours actually is a power house is in a mid 80s and traveling all around the world. And we can't wait till she's on the road again. I want this year in Cupertino. Yeah, because she was seeing mom It was so impersonal. Because she was just speaking from the stage. And she wants to DVT doctor her more person in a year. That would be very special. I hope that one day you get to interview Jane Goodall and have a personal conversation with Okay, are you ready to say goodbye? Yes. Well, thank you again. Everyone. Love manga. Sorry. They will I'm sure they will continue to love button one. Sorry. Bye. I love that conversation so much. Well, I guess I love every conversation with Montessori children. And I'll drop the links to my other Instagram and blog in the show notes. And you can continue to follow along on their Montessori journey. And now it's time for our listener question. And today's question is from Jenna. My question for you is do you have any recommendations regarding resources or training for educators who do not intend on working in a Montessori school, but would still like to approach teaching in a Montessori way. I work as a teacher in a public elementary school in Canada. And we'd love to have a better understanding of the Montessori approach to early numeracy and literacy learning. I'm specifically looking for resources for students in the three to 60 range. So thanks very much, Jenna, for your question. And yes, I'm sure that there are many books that you can buy to give you all the monstery lessons for early numeracy and literacy. Or you could probably find them online. But I'd say that while the Montessori method does have like amazing ways to teach maths and reading, like it will blow your mind. It's actually just for me such a holistic system, that it's hard to just take a few of these skills and present them in a non monetary class. I just kind of can't imagine how that would work so easily because but when I say it's holistic, it works on the child's freedom to choose. It works on scaffolding each step on the next, each child working on their own timeline, having children working at their own pace and younger children learning from older children. And like things building on each other, like practical life activities have skills that have indirect preparation for later activities in maths and reading. So that is, to me a little bit more difficult. But that said, what I do think would be totally possible is to begin to incorporate the Montessori principles in a non Montessori classroom. So say you need to teach a particular topic one day, you could ask yourself, How can I get the children to participate in this learning rather than me standing at the front of the classroom and teaching it to them? So how could they make this discovery for themselves? And I think that even without Montessori materials, this is a huge part of the Montessori approach. And another thing would be to build a culture that if you don't know something, how can we find it out? And not just like googling the answer, but actually asking someone in the community or looking it up in a book or going to the library or setting up an experiment. So I think that would be really lovely as well. And other parts of one story that you could incorporate would be things like how you're actually speaking with the children as the educator, like seeing each child is unique, how you can meet children's needs children who learned faster and the children are going Slower, slower, and how can you try and find ways to actually make sure that they're all learning. And I think a big part of that would be just building mutual respect in the classroom. Like I respect the children, and they admire and respect you. So you might already be doing all of this. But another thing would be to build this like supportive culture in your class where children are learning to help each other like even in my toddler class. I've seen children who are two and a half years old, and they help another child to pick up all the pieces that have something that's fallen down. Or maybe they go and get the tissue for someone's crying. And this comes a lot from, you know, modeling the things, we're teaching compassion, where it's showing each other that, you know, feelings are important, and we all help each other. And so in a regular classroom, we could think about how you can also build that type of community aspect, because that's such a huge part of being in school, not just learning the facts. And if you do have to give tests in your school, I even always wonder if you could use these tests in a way where the children aren't just rote learning to pass them, but asking questions that really help them demonstrate what they have learned. And most importantly, I think like using the test, not to see like just how the children are doing, but have we actually taught them well enough, and to go back and review the lessons with them, maybe in a different way until they've mastered those skills. So it's basically the test is showing you what they haven't learned yet what we need to go back and keep learning, as opposed to when my children were no longer in Montessori, and they were in regular high school, they had a test. And often the teacher didn't even go through the test. So they knew why they got something wrong and how they'd get it. Right, you know, another time. So there's definitely a way I think you could even approach testing in a more monetary way. Another thing would be like trying to incorporate real life skills in the classroom, where the children could be making their own snack or wiping the tables. Or maybe like having plants in the classroom that the children could be in charge of taking care of, or building like a community garden together. That would be really super fun. But in the end, I do recommend taking a Montessori training, if you have the possibility at all. I mean, there are so many trainings. So I'll include a link that I have on my blog, with some links to different training centers. And if you just wanted to get a taste, I can personally recommend the assistance training with ami. That's the association Montessori internationality. Because I've actually done that one myself. And it's a super comprehensive introduction to the principles more so than the lessons, but I think it would be really helpful if you wanted to apply some of those ideas that I've just mentioned. So this might not have actually been the answer you were looking for. But I hope that it's given you some ideas that you can already begin with. And if any of you would like to submit a listener question, you can go to my website, the Montessori notebook comm and click on the podcast tab, and perhaps your question will be selected for a future episode. So that's it for today. And don't forget that you can now pre order our new book The Montessori baby, which I co wrote with Jennifer, who's a deca. I love that people who don't have babies, buying it as gifts for friends who are expecting a baby. And it makes me super excited that more and more people are going to have the information to be able to apply the Montessori principles from birth. And I'm so happy with how it turned out. And just like the Montessori title, it's written in a way that's easy to read. It's beautifully designed. It's got gorgeous illustrations by Sandy fund loan. And yeah, it's super comprehensive. I think it's over 270 pages. With that. I'm also super handy checklists, like the few things that you'll actually need monitoring activities for the first 12 months and a month a month guide which you can also use as a reference as well. I'll be back next Friday with the conversation with Gabrielle from LA Montessori. He's based in Brazil and he has the largest online platform there. And I learned something every time I talked to him so you are not going to want to miss it. Everyone. I hope you have a lovely week until next Friday. Thanks for joining me for the Montessori notebook podcast. The podcast was edited by Luke Davis from film Bravo media and podcasts are by here going to find out more about me and my online courses visit the Montessori notebook comm follow me on Instagram at the Montessori notebook for pick up a copy of my book The Montessori toddler for its new pre call the Montessori baby from your local bookstore, Amazon or where books are sold. They're also available as ebooks, audio books, and have been translated into over 20 languages. I'll be back in a week with more Montessori inspiration. And in the meantime, perhaps you'll join me in spreading some more peace and positivity around the world.