Modern Montessori

My good friend Pat is part of a local group called the Bay Area Montessori Association (BAMA). This is a group dedicated to joining together Montessorians across the bay area, regardless of their affiliations (AMI, AMS, etc). As someone who was trained through AMI, I myself am guilty of being an AMI snob-- often that seems like the easiest way to distinguish true montessori from those who call themselves montessori just because they happen to own a pink tower. But while it is always frustrating to hear people speak badly of montessori due to a negative experience with a school that did a poor job of upholding the montessori standards (no, montessori does not mean just letting kids run around rampant, doing whatever they want), it is also true that one does not need to hold a particular diploma in order to understand the philosophy, and the spreading of the montessori method is almost always a good thing.

BAMA has recently started a blog titled Modern Montessori. My friend Pat asked me several months ago to be a contributing writer to the blog. Do I have time to write to yet another blog? Um, probably not. But I was flattered and honored to be asked, and welcome this as a challenge and inspiration. I want to apply the montessori method and philosophy into our daily lives and into my parenting, and I think writing on a blog about it will be a way to encourage me to do so. I don't know how often I will post there, it might only be a few times a month. But I hope some of you will pop on over and check it out. =)