Have you ever felt alone in your passion for Catholic Montessori? When I first discovered Maria Montessori, I felt amazed and humbled . . . and very alone. I didn’t know anyone else who knew about Maria Montessori, much less any other Catholics. I knew that what I was learning was going to be life-changing for our family, and that is not an exaggeration. But I didn’t know anyone else who was traveling the same path.
God bless my husband – he very patiently would listen when he came home from work and I would bombard him with excerpts from what I was reading. “Hey, Hon, listen to this . . .” and “And then she said this . . .” He eventually got to the point where he became interested enough that he started doing some Montessori reading on his own. You can read My Story to find out how life unfolded after that.
To spread Catholic Montessori in wider circles, my desire is to create an online community, which I am calling The Hamlet.
hamlet (noun) – a small human settlement in a rural area without its own church
I hope to shape this community into a place online to which interested parents can retreat and learn with other Catholic Montessori parents. The Hamlet does not need its own church, since we already belong to the Catholic Church.
The Hamlet is for parents who would like to
* Gain knowledge about general Catholic Montessori principles
* Focus on the formation of themselves in light of Catholic Montessori principles
* Learn how to interact with their children in very specific and purposeful ways
* Develop skills to help develop virtue, positive characteristics, and good habits in their children
* Prepare the environment of their home according to Catholic Montessori principles
The Hamlet is not for parents who are looking for
* A “one-size-fits-all-children” perfect parenting plan
* Information on how to recreate a Montessori school in their home
* Catholic Montessori Three-Period lesson plans
In The Hamlet, there is a featured conversation, focusing a particular Catholic Montessori topic. For each topic, we will discuss
* The definition, importance, and end goal of the virtue, characteristic, or habit
* How to recognize to what degree that virtue, characteristic, or habit currently exists in our children
* What it looks like when that virtue, characteristic, or habit has truly been formed in our children
* Clear-cut steps to take to help our children grow in that area
* How to troubleshoot when our children don’t seem to be making progress in that area