A Montessori Child comes back home

Eight years of my childhood I spent in a Montessori school. I wasn't aware of it back then, for me it was just fun, but little did I know that all those days i spent working with those Montessori materials and doing practical life exercises (buttoning, sweeping, pouring water, etc.)- those days would shape me into who I am today.


That's me, leftmost, at age 4.


It's been 27 years since I left my Montessori elementary school. But today I've come back. I've come home to what's familiar, what's comforting, what I believe in. I am starting real "work" again today after 8 years. I didn't have to- my husband (though he probably hated it) was supporting me and all my needs and wants. I really didn't want to either- for all those 8 years all I knew with certainty that I wanted to do as a a career was to teach. I was a preschool teacher once 9 years ago and I have never stopped believing (until now) that those were the best years of my working life.

That's how it happened. My daughter, Gabby, is a student at the same Montessori school that I went to many years ago. She's been there a year now and for a year I've been pestering Gabby's teacher as to whether they would take me in as a CASA (preschool) teacher if I applied for the job. She would say yes, but also "is that what you really want to do?" And I wouldn't know the answer... until I was formally asked one day by the School Director, "I heard you want to be a part of the school? Let's talk." And that's how it began. That's how I ended up being the Admissions and Alumni Coordinator of my Montessori school.