Trillium Montessori Homeschool Summit

trillium montessori homeschool summit

Trillium Montessori HOMESCHOOL SUMMIT 2017 is a one-of-a-kind Montessori conference! This 4-day event, January 9 -12, 2017, is packed with workshops, community, and resources… and it is 100% online! This summit has been designed to make the ‘conference experience’ accessible to all. No matter where you live in the world or what your budget is, as long […]


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 […]


The Gifts That Keep On Giving

gifts that keep on giving

Do you ever worry about selecting the right gift for the special people in your life? Let’s take a few minutes to consider gifts that are free, yet continue to give. Here are some gifts we can give our children, and anyone we care about, that can only come from the heart. The Present of […]


Do You Teach Values?

Do you teach 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 […]


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. […]


Discovering Constellations

discovering constellations

Let us give the child a vision of the universe…for all things are part of the universe and are connected to form one whole unity. ~Maria Montessori A vision of the universe begins with looking up at the stars. ”The sky is the ultimate art gallery just above us,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. All we […]


Stuck With a Problem? SOAR

stuck with a problem soar

At times we seem to be ensconced in recalcitrant situations. We try to move forward, and our strategy doesn’t work. We resolve to get our two-year-old to stop biting. Our ten-year old forgets to clean his room–every Saturday. Our fourteen-year-old refuses to go to church. Whatever we do to encourage or cajole our children into […]


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. […]


Making Halloween Meaningful for Children

making halloween meaningful

Halloween used to be my favorite holiday. My sister’s birthday is November 1, and mine is in mid-October. Mom would always have a combination neighborhood open house and birthday celebration for us. We had so much fun preparing the food and decorations—handmade popcorn balls, homemade fudge, spooky punch with dry ice, string cobwebs, paper bag […]


Current Ideas on Teaching Reading

current ideas on teaching reading

Over one-third of the fourth graders in America can’t read. This number hasn’t changed in the past 10 years. You might ask, ”What is the problem?” Reading instruction for the most part hasn’t been based on science, but instead has been based on ideas such as whole language or phonics, without systematic testing of hypotheses […]