Category Archive:
Understanding Montessori

Join Me In Portland, OR

join me in Portland Or

Join me in Portland, Oregon on Friday, January 13, and Saturday, January 14 for an evening talk and all-day workshop. It’s hard to get me to leave Hawaii but the Oregon Montessori Association convinced me to share some workshop aloha in Portland. Would love for you to be there! Ain’t Misbehavin’ Friday, January 13 from […]


Relight the Candle

relight the candle

Five-year-old Tommy walked over to his mother, Judy. ”Write my name for me, Mommy.” ”Tommy, you know how to write your name.” ”But I don’t ‘member,” he said. Tommy’s mother, Judy, phoned me, near tears, about this conversation. Judy’s concern was that Tommy had forgotten something as seemingly simple as the three letters in Tom. […]


Understanding Self-Discipline

understanding self-discipline

It has been said that the only true discipline is self-discipline. With self-discipline we take ownership of our own behavior. We take responsibility for our lives. As we discipline our children we might consider that our goals should include these objectives of helping our children take ownership of their behavior and responsibility for their lives. […]


FREE WEBINAR | Preparing Your Home The Montessori Way

preparing your home the montessori way

In this 40-minute session I’ll show you how to organize your home…the Montessori Way. It’s easier than you might think! Watch the introduction below. Remember: your email is safe with me. I’ll never share or sell or information.


The Deep Well Of Time

deep well of time

It’s here!  To help you with storytelling, Montessori style. Michael Dorer’s new book, The Deep Well Of Time: The Transformative Power of Storytelling in the Classroom. This summer I was lucky enough to preview an advanced copy and I loved Michael’s stories. How I wish this resource had been available when I was in the classroom. […]


To Lead A Child To Learn

steps to reading

Helen Keller wrote, ”Anybody can lead a child to a classroom. It takes a teacher to lead a child to learn.” Keller is perhaps the most famous of students of the 20th century. Her teacher, Annie Sullivan, taught Helen, who became blind and deaf at the age of 19 months, how to communicate and connect […]


Fears of the Young Child

Fear, sadness and anger are three of the most difficult emotions for children, and adults for that matter, to learn to manage. These emotions are interrelated in that fear can be the core emotion behind anger and sadness. Children need to be able to modulate their emotions in order to focus their attention, to concentrate, […]


Addressing Key Frustrations With Your Children

cherries

”If life is a bowl of cherries, why am I in the pits?” Erma Bombeck knew how to see the humor in day-to-day reality. Maintaining a positive and forward-moving life is a challenge to say the least. Life has a way of helping us misplace our senses of humor in a hurry. Some days the […]


Teaching Values

teaching values

”Do you teach values?” a telephone caller asked. Back in the early 90’s parents were upset that values were being taught in school. Controversy brewed and bubbled. Do you teach values? The question caught me off guard. How can you not teach values, I thought, because of the very nature of values? Whether we are […]


Asking For Assistance

asking assistance

Can you help me, please? These five words seem to be hard for many people to say. In airport check-in lines, at fast food restaurants, or in grocery stores, we may react negatively when someone neglects to ask, “May I help you, please?” But at those times when we feel that no one is trying […]