WHY WE DECIDED TO MONTESSORI AT HOME.

I have always been a huge believer that children are gifted from day one. They have a natural passion for life, no one has influenced their beliefs and personalities yet, they carry no judgement and list goes on. Back in January we decided to place Riley in Daycare and found what we believed to be the right fit until I was sent a video from the Daycare provider while I was at work. The video showed Riley crying at one end of the room while the rest of the kids were dancing and watching TV. The message said "He hasn't stopped crying since this morning." I responded " Does he have a fever ? Is he teething ?"

The question was not answered. Instead I received A long paragraph explaining that it's been two weeks and Riley had not picked up the Daycare's routine. If he did not follow the Daycare's routine in another week, she would have to end the contract.

I immediately broke down in tears out of frustration and worry for our son. It was noon. I did not answer the text. I stopped what I was doing. Told my boss I had to go and went to pick up Riley. He was napping when I got there and she was in another room on the phone unable to have a conversation. I went home and as the day went on I was more livid. SO MANY thoughts were going through my mind.

First of all, I felt like our son was being singled out ( I wish I could show you the video but I am going to respect the privacy of the Daycare) and I also felt that someone was not giving our son a chance. As a first time mom, it was the first time I felt that feeling. I can not even explain it, but all I wanted to do was to protect Riley.

He was only 17 months old at the time, never has been with anyone except family. The fact that she did not understand separation anxiety and believed that he was going to follow a routine after two weeks when a high functioning adult needs about 30 days, made me believe that she was not capable of running a DayCare and our son was not going to be attending anymore.

I started looking into other DayCares and came across the Montessori method. It def was something that aligned with our beliefs in how children should be educated and treated but $28,000 a year did not align with our pockets.

I started doing my research on how we can apply Montessori at home until he starts school. What I noticed was that it requires a lot of space to make the home Montessori friendly. Something that a lot of New Yorkers Lack. This led me to start figuring out ways to still make it happen regardless of space and budget.

I would like to share this part of our journey with you all. Please stay tuned for my next blog explaining what Montessori is .