In these family themed posts coming up, I will be sharing more about myself, my family and my parenting experience so far with the Montessori philosophy. It's really important to me to keep it simple, fun and affordable for applying the Montessori principles at home. To start with, in today's post I am sharing a little bit about me and also how I discovered Montessori.
My son making his own orange juice (around 22 months) with a mini juicer!
I live in the UK with my husband and our 4 year old son. I have a huge passion for simple, intentional living in order to have a calm and happy mind, and to lead a fulfilling life.
I also love entrepreneurship and started my first business when I was age 14, while I was at secondary school. I have spent the last 19 years since then, building and growing different creative businesses, the first 7 years of those being whilst also studying. I decided whilst at university that I wanted to decide what work I do, how I do it and to be my own boss. I worked very hard to turn my creative business into my full time job from the day that I graduated, which I was so excited about! 10 years after starting my second business, I sold it and have now started a new one which I absolutely love.
It has been an adventure and I am very grateful for everything that I have learnt during this time, and for all of the people that have helped, taught and inspired me along the way. I have also enjoyed helping others who are growing their creative business and sharing my story, and have talked at universities, schools and colleges to their students on the topic of entrepreneurship. I love to be able to give back where I can.
Our DIY Pikler triangle, made from second hand cot bars and some MDF
All during this time, my husband and I have always loved discussing and questioning everything in our lives - from the concept of work and entrepreneurship, to how we manage our finances, what we value in life (both material and non material things), what our priorities and goals are, and how we live our life. We enjoy challenging the ‘status quo’ and considering various ways of living our life, even if most of society seems to be doing things a different way. Hence when we discovered Montessori, it was life changing!
I absolutely love the philosophy and the more I learn about it, the more it just makes sense for our family. I have enjoyed learning about it and it immediately felt right from day one when my son arrived. Giving him the respect, trusting him and offering him the freedom that I think he so needs, has been brilliant.
A lot has happened between my son arriving and how he is now at age 4 and I am delighted to share more of my experience in the blog posts to follow. But throughout this whole time, we have adapted the Montessori philosophy to suit his age and where he is at, and so far it has been brilliant. I often re-read things and they have a whole new meaning to them, at his current age. I look forward to exploring it all even more as he grows.
When our son was on the way, a very well timed book came into our lives! My Dad loves charity shops and picked up a book about the Montessori philosophy called 'Montessori Madness' by Trevor Eissler and gave it to us (I’m so grateful for this!). We were curious about it and started reading the book, and I quickly searched Montessori online. I came across this simple 3 minute video and my jaw dropped. I fell in love with Montessori there and then. We knew we had to find out more, and so we have been learning all about the philosophy ever since.
Montessori Madness by Trevor Eissler
I absolutely love the philosophy and the more I learn about it, the more it just makes sense for our family. I have enjoyed learning about it and it immediately felt right from day one when my son arrived. Giving him the respect, trusting him and offering him the freedom that I think he so needs, has been brilliant.
A lot has happened and changed between my son arriving and how he is now at age 4. I am delighted to be sharing more of my experience in the blog posts to follow. But throughout this whole time, we have adapted the Montessori philosophy to suit his age and where he is at, and it has been brilliant. I often re-read things and they have a whole new meaning to them, at whichever age he is currently at. I look forward to exploring it all even more as he grows.
