Who am I?
My name is Jennifer, and I am a mom to my 4 year old daughter. I am a wife to my amazing hard working husband. I am my daughters at home educator. I am a life long learner.
My background:
I have my BS degree in Early Child Development from CSUDH. For as long as I could remember I wanted to be a teacher. I specifically wanted to work at Head Start to work with low income families.
I got my first teaching job at a Child Development Center, there they practiced a mix of different philosophies (Montessori inspired, Waldorf inspired and Reggio inspired). I LOVED it ! I worked with toddlers, and preschoolers ages (18months - 5 years old).
I later graduated from CSUDH and was immediately hired with Head Start what I thought then was my dream job.... I quickly realized it was NOT for me. Although I loved working with the children the learning was scripted it was 100% follow the curriculum page by page lesson by lesson. We did not follow the childs natural way of learning and I did not like that. I stayed there for a year and completed my contract.
After giving birth my life changed I knew I couldn't go back to Head Start and stayed on maternity leave for as long as possible. I made It known to my husband that I didn't want to go back to work. Thankfully he was on board and supported my decision. I am forever grateful for how hard he works for our family to make it work with 1 income.
Knowing I wouldn't go back was a huge weight lifted from me. My husband always made it known that he wanted our daughter to be independent and capable. So I began researching how can I make this possible? and that's when I stumbled on Montessori our daughter was about 6 months.
Although my degree is in Child Development Maria Montessori was hardly ever discussed why? im not sure its a question ive asked myself and others many times. Why is this amazing philosophy unheard of.
I shared Montessori with him and he liked it, I then began to change our home I viewed life and my daughter so differently. I was able to see how capable she was if I allowed her.
When my daughter was about 2.5 I began my Montessori guide training with Prepared Montessorian. Not because I want to go back into the classroom but because I wanted to either start a learning pod/a co-op or open a Montessori school in my area, Id honestly like to do both. My husband once again 100% supports this and believes in me even though sometimes I don't feel like I can do it.
I hope you found this quick introduction inspiring and know that its never too late to learn about Montessori and incorporate it in your household.
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