How Montessori Found Me!

Whenever I meet Montessori teachers my first question for them is “how did you find Montessori?” I love hearing these stories because everyone has such a unique story. I also feel like mine is a unique and miraculous story. I honestly feel like the God guided me directly to it, in a weird and painful kind of way. I personally love my “how I found Montessori” story. It reminds me of my spiritual side and makes me excited that I am exactly where I’m supposed to be (not very many people my age can say that)!!

The first time I ever heard about Montessori was through a phone conversation with a lady I have never met. I was going to babysit her kids (she found my name through people who I babysat for at the time) but never ended up babysitting for her. However, we did have a long phone conversation talking about education. I explained to her I had a passion for young children because I felt like they are the ones that could really be taught. I also felt like people never gave young children enough credit and that they could actually do more than people ever allowed them. This is when she told me about Montessori and how she felt it would be such a great fit for me. She had two young girls at the time who were both in a Montessori school. She was also an education major and felt that if she could do it all over again she would get her Montessori certification and teach in a Montessori classroom. I remember being very curious but I was never able to find out any more about this school, after all I never ended up babysitting for her. For the next couple of months that was it, that was all I had every heard about Montessori (which wasn’t very much) and was probably all I was ever going to really hear about it.

That was until I got in a really bad car wreck. The car wreck didn’t make me all the sudden want to go out and find Montessori but it was more about the events after the car wreck that guided me to Montessori. It’s important to note that this all happened about a month after I first heard about Montessori. I find this significant because these two event were to close together to be mere coincidence.

When I normally tell people about this car wreck they do not get the significance of it until I show a picture or two. The wreck happened because someone, in a jeep, hydroplaned over a median on a 4-lane highway (278 for those in GA) and hit me head on. It was my friend Leslie, my sister’s dog, and I, in my sister kia Sophia. When the impact happened I was knocked unconscious and do not remember anything about the wreck to this day. I had a laceration on my knee, lots of cuts and glass in my arm, and they weren’t sure if was really stable at the scene. Because of all this craziness I was life flighted to Atlanta Medical Center, where I spent 3 nights and 4 days. Just so you can truly get the significance of the wreck, I will now share a few pictures with you.

Before the wreck happened I was planning on moving to Athens, GA after the summer but was not able to do so when planned. I moved late and had a difficult job trying to find jobs at traditional days cares, they already hired for the school year and were not looking for any more teachers. They also probably didn’t want to hire someone who couldn’t bend down because of a knee surgery and had an arm full of scabs, and looking diseased. However, whenever I was doing job searches online this one Montessori school kept popping up. Other than that lady I had never heard of Montessori before and I didn’t know anything about it. The lady that I talked with made it sound like I wouldn’t be able to get a job at a Montessori school if I wasn’t certified so it took me a while to get the courage to look at this school. Finally, out of desperation for a job I went to look at this school. I was curious to see what Montessori was all about and it didn’t hurt to take my resume along with me. So, in the middle of august in Georgia I wear pants and a ¾ length shirt, to cover any disease looking scars.

When I got to this school I heard little chatters of children but it was not like walking into any daycare I have ever been to! It seemed peaceful and enjoyable. I walked into the office and began talking with Sharon, the owner of the school. We began talking and she told me that there was a position that just opened up in afterschool. She told me I would first need to go talk with Leslie at “the farm” as a part of my interview process. I went over to “the farm” which was a beautiful 150 year old house! There was plenty of natural light in all of the classrooms. There were happy children that weren’t acting crazy, yelling, or throwing anything. What was even more amazing was that there were children of different ages in this classroom all working together. Leslie took me around the school and began showing me around explaining everything and how Montessori works. I was amazed with everything. I couldn’t believe what was happening and it was only my first visit!

I began working in afterschool for a couple of weeks and immediately loved working with these children! There was something different about them but I couldn’t figure it out exactly. They just seemed so normal! I was able to talk with them and enjoy them and they enjoyed me. I also began substituting in my first week there. I first substituted for the infant classroom. This is where I had my first true montessorian experience. I remember there was a baby who began crying because she got herself “stuck” behind a rocking chair. I went to go pick her up and get her out but the teacher stopped me. She said “no, don’t pick her up she’s not in distress she got herself in there she can get herself out”. Sure enough when she realized I wasn’t going to pick her up she stopped and figured it out all by herself and seemed so happy! I was amazed and I believe I fell in love from that moment on.

My next substituting job was shortly after and I had only been working at this school for a week now. This time I was in the primary classroom (ages 2.5-6). I worked with Leslie, the teacher I met the first day seeing the school. Leslie and I seemed to get along almost instentaionously. I subbed for her assistant for 2 days then on labor day I get a call from Sharon asking me if I would be Leslie’s assistant. She told me that her assistant quit and she asked if she could have me as her assistant! I felt so honored that Leslie would ask for me to be her assistant! Leslie later told me she just felt that I was a natural and that I would be a good fit. I gracisouly took the job and fell even more in love! This is my one true love that found me! I really truly believe that I am where I’m supposed to be! 

Take a look at the first Montessori school I worked at, Waseca, and the wonderful biomes curriculum the founders have created!