Oak Meadow Montessori School

Word

“What I want to know is, why the novel resistance to a set of parenting practices that are not just older than our culture, but older than our species? A set of conditions under which our fundamental evolved and which remain prevalent everywhere outside of the developed world?”

“I’m talking about the individual practices laid out in those books — , skin-to-skin contact, vaginal birth, avoidance of coercive discipline strategies — which have established science supporting them. What, exactly, is the problem with these things?”

“I struggle perpetually, as a skeptic and as a person of logic and science, with the way that Attachment Parenting is treated in our culture — as if it is anti-science. Often such commentaries come from people who have not, in fact, read the Sears books, which originally gave attachment-style parenting a name and popularised it. Because it is popular with parents who identify as “ ” or prefer a style of discipline that they call “ ” and psychologists call “ ,” and because it is counterculture, it tends to be viewed as a permissive, deviant parenting style. People refuse to admit that their ideas about parenting (Attachment Parenting included) are culturally-constructed. Yes, Attachment Parenting is based on a well-tested theory of social development, and on widely-accepted theories such as behavioural ecology and life history theory.”

“In my view, and in the author’s view it seems, popular criticism of Attachment Parenting isn’t based on science so much as on cultural constructions about what the “goals” of parenting should be, and scientific illiteracy in terms of how those goals can be achieved…That is to say, the general population is poorly educated in the psychological and evolutionary sciences that form the foundation of Attachment Parenting ideas.”

“—the principles of Attachment Parenting have less risk associated with them than conventional Western parenting approaches such as spanking, cry-it-out, unnecessarily interventionist childbirth models, and forced early weaning. Within the scientific community, there is no debate over the role that breastfeeding plays in optimal infant development. There is no debate over the benefits of a positive, democratic approach to the discipline of older children. There is no debate over the need to reduce c-section rates in the United States. There is a debate over bed-sharing within the medical community, but not really in the community. But even the medical community agrees that same-room is preferable to separate-room sleep in early infancy, and that is still not consistent with the cultural norm.”

“—we are in serious need of a cultural come-to-Jesus moment about precisely what sort of humans we want to raise in an increasingly unstable and unsettlingly -starved world. What sort of person do we want to have the nuclear launch codes forty years from now? What sort of leaders do we want advising that person? What sort of doctors do we want treating patients? What sort of CEOs do we want to be working for? If you want those people to be people with high levels of empathy, a history of behaviour, and the ability to behave compassionately towards people who live on the other side of the planet from them, then I have great news for the American public: There are well-supported, scientific ways to go about that.” –Bridget McGann

Reference: https://evolutionaryparenting.com/guest-post-attachment-intellectual-parenting/?fbclid=IwAR2WD8AmuaMhj8DRZNUaBIp1zGHqQL0hU6dUiHz74u5pG5tReUO_zcbImQE

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Happy Mother's Day!

We're in Gwinnett Magazine!

Embracing Growth, One Child at a Time: The Story of Oak Meadow Montessori School - Gwinnett Magazine Tucked away in the heart of Lawrenceville, a unique educational experience is thriving. The Oak Meadow Montessori School, with its peaceful, natural surroundings, stands as a testament to the vision of two families who dared to redefine the educational landscape for their children and their communit...

Montessori is the most popular alternative education philosophy in GA and the US!

The Most Popular Alternative Education Philosophies Every child is different, and often a mainstream education philosophy isn’t always suited as a ‘one size fits all’. There are many different alternative education philosophies, with varying degrees of popularity and uptake in different cultures across the world.To understand the demand for som...

Friends helping Friends

Edited: Phones are back in service! Thank you!

We are having some work done on our phone system and it will be down for about 30 minutes. If you need to reach us, please use email, [email protected]. All should be back up by 10:30 AM today! Thank you for your understanding!

At a loss as to what to have for lunch OR dinner tonight? Look no further! Order pizza from Marcos Pizza on Old Peachtree (info below) any time today to support OMMS. 20% of all the proceeds will go to the school. All you have to do is mention Oak Meadow Montessori Schoolwhen you order. Unlike other spirit nights, this offer is valid ALL DAY! Thank you again for your continued support.

Just some of the ways Montessori “Guides” differ from “Teachers”. I’ll also add that the Montessori Guide knows when to leave the student alone to do it themselves.

This , show your thanks by helping us to grow! OMMS is trying to purchase our building and our land so we can add an adolescent program and expand our offerings.

Giving Tuesday Join me and make a gift to Giving Tuesday to OMMS

No surprise that the most innovative companies are led by Montessori-educated people.

https://fortune.com/2023/11/14/the-geek-way-book-excerpt-larry-page-sergey-brin-jeff-bezos-montessori/amp/?fbclid=IwAR1FdDSIC6hIQr-Wm085vu36S-C9fWoGy6lwLWnvKBpT1XF1E6tnyETYWl4_aem_AVP6neBWAWZUh76bYduXhkO4-NXSyAKMOpMW71AmpU5mgyKerFlS25qYJ3AUbXNnod0

What Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Jeff Bezos all have in common, MIT professor says: They were all Montessori school students The companies that are changing the world owe a lot to the century-old insights of an education pioneer, says MIT professor Andrew McAfee.

As I begin to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for my family, I am thinking about all the things for which I am grateful. I wanted to share just a few of them with you:
• Instead of going to “work” each day, I get to go to “school” and learn new things every day.
• I work with a team of professionals that care intensely about meeting every child’s individual physical, emotional, and cognitive needs every single day.
• Our school has a strong community of families that show up, participate, and support the mission of our school – to awaken every child’s natural desire to learn by cultivating a nurturing, inclusive, and vibrant Montessori experience.
• Our students are growing into empowered and compassionate people with the ability to create a positive impact on global issues.
• Every single day, I observe kindness, respect, and care for others throughout our building and campus.
• Outside of school, I have a wonderful, supportive family that loves me and enables me to follow my passion.
I am grateful for every member of our diverse, inclusive OMMS Community! I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving! May you be surrounded by those whom you love and who love you. May your year be filled with abundance and joy! Thank you for your support of our school!

How we speak to our children is how they will speak to us and to others.

Montessori classrooms offer students one of each activity. It is called "work" because the children are working to build and create themselves and they do this through the carefully curated activities in their classroom.

So called "educational" electronic games are a good example of "closed" toys; they serve one purpose. The dopamine rush they receive from these games interferes with their ability to develop focus and concentration on activities that don't provide instant gratification.

The Fewer Toys Children Have, The More They Play - Raised Good We're lead to be believe that if a little is good, then more is better. But, the irony is when it comes to toys, the fewer kids have the more they play.

Our toddlers love picking flowers from the garden to arrange in their classroom.

This got me hard. Mother- and Parent- hood is hard. It rarely looks like an Instagram-perfect photo. It is messy, it is hard. In fact, it’s messiest and hardest when you’re doing it right. It gets easier as your children get older, but if you’re doing it right, you probably don’t have a lot of Insta-moments. Enjoy the mess. Appreciate the difficulty. It won’t last long.
Hang in there, Mamas. You’ve got this. Don’t look to Instagram for your inspiration. It’s not reality!

This story can easily substitute dad, grandma , grandpa, aunts , uncles, friends, co workers… people are on their phones to much. If you are triggered leave. This is a good message.

“A few days ago while I was at the pool I saw a young mom and her little daughter walk into the pool area dressed in very pretty coordinated swimsuits.

The mom, with her perfect loose curls tied in a coordinated tape, spent the first few minutes talking aloud on her phone to a friend while her daughter stood waiting to get into the pool.

Mom ended the phone call and proceeded to scatter pool toys and sunscreen on a matching towel.

Then, after finding the right angle and the right light, mom took out her tripod and took a few selfies with her daughter.

Little girl asked to get in the pool
Mom said to wait and then posed her daughter in front of the pool, then entering the pool and then back out of the pool.

Little girl smiled big and said cheese like she had done it a million times. So Mama told her she could play now.

The little one swam for a couple of minutes.

Mom called a friend from her phone and started another conversation while her little girl asked politely and repeatedly:

“Mom, can you come to the water with me please?”

She was ignored.

"Mommy, will you come to play with me?" She asked 4 more times.

Mom looked at her, but never hung up the phone. After 10 minutes mom finished her call, picked up the sunscreen that never applied, the water toys that never touched the water, and then her daughter and left the pool.

I sat there thinking about what I had witnessed for a while later. I imagined the photos she took being perfectly edited and posted on social media with a caption like "Pool time with my girl!

Somewhere another mom will be at home with her kids, the house a mess because of her game, her hair rebellious for Mother's Day and her dirty laundry with saliva or peanut butter.

She's going to be tired because she spent the day cooking, caring, cleaning and playing with her kids.

She's going to look at that picture and compare herself to the perfect mom in the pool.

Guilt will whisper in your ear:
"You're not good enough... "
"You don't look like that mom in the pool... "
“You don’t have money to buy expensive swimsuits like that and you don’t have time to make memories like her”... and that young mom is going to believe it. She's going to feel like a failure. She'll never know that how she spent her time that day, was far better in the eyes of her children than that "perfect mom" in the pool.

What we see on social media is not always real.

Sometimes and often it's a complete set up.

It's staged and filtered, it's fake.

Sometimes we see absolutely wonderful vacation photos and beautiful homes and freshly-styled hair, but it's just ONE moment.

It's the best moment of a whole day spent like ours.

Working, cleaning and putting up the mess...

Mama don't compare yourself.
You are enough!
You're amazing and the best part is, you're REAL!
Your dirty beach, your messy house and your happy children are real and are proof that you are doing it right!”

- ✍🏼 Jen Flint

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads, the Father Figures, and Moms who do double duty. We are grateful for all of you! 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

https://www.givecampus.com/schools/OakMeadowMontessoriSchool/oak-meadow-montessori-school-building
The OMMS Board of Trustees is excited to make Lawrenceville, GA our forever home and to continue to fulfill our mission and commitment to Gwinnett County to develop joyful, life-long learners. Join our capital campaign and help us build for the future!
Your tax-deductible donation will have a huge impact on our ability to expand our programs to include an adolescent (middle school) program and a nido (infant program).

We thank you for your continued support!

Oak Meadow Montessori School Building Join me and make a gift to Oak Meadow Montessori School Building

Happy Mothers’ Day to all the Mothers, Grandmothers, and other woman who support our children. We are honored to partner with you on your parenting journey! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Wishing all the Mothers, Grandmothers, and woman who support our children a very happy Mothers’ Day! Thank you for sharing your amazing children with us! ❤️❤️❤️

Wow! What a wonderful "Teacher Appreciation Week" we all had! Thank you for the flowers, gifts, cards, breakfast, and the fabulous car washes! What a nice way to show your appreciation for our hardworking staff!

Continuing Dr. Montessori’s legacy by nurturing our students’ and families’ natural desire to learn!

Today we remember the day that Maria Montessori died: 6 May 1952. The seeds she had sown have grown into a vibrant legacy, so touchingly worded by her son Mario only a few weeks after her death.

“The great consolation to me has been the (…) unanimous feeling of responsibility all her pupils have expressed in the wish to further her work. …. For now, all the scattered energies of those who followed her are united in the determination to develop and spread the science she created. To fight for the soul of the child has been Maria Montessori’s lifework, and that is what she left us. She left us a glorious vision and the means to realise it.”

Now more than seventy years on –, we can clearly see the fruits of that vision, an ever-expanding movement of a dedicated community across the globe.

The picture chosen for this post comes from AMI’s archives and was one of the last ones taken of Maria Montessori.

Thank you to our awesome team for celebrating us on Administrative Professionals Day! I took the picture too late, but there was a wonderful lunch and very special cupcakes for each of us! And the sweetest of all, was coverage of the front desk, so we could enjoy our lunch together! Thank you!

Teaching them the skills to manage next time takes time and patience, but so worth it for both you and your child. ❤️

The only person we can really control is ourselves. We can influence the situation, we can hold boundaries but we can't really control our children's behaviour.

Ultimately parents are trying to do their best to help their children grow and develop into "good" people. Unfortunately we have been brought up in a world where punishment has always been the main way to control behaviour. The problem is that if we really want our kids to develop a moral conscience and take responsibility for their actions, punishment simply doesn't work. We need to discipline our kids in the true sense of the word; teach direct and guide them. We need to work with them and not be an authority to cause fear, but someone that will help them develop to the same moral standard we have.

More information on my blog

https://www.thetherapistparent.com/post/why-punishment-doesn-t-work-and-what-does

Join us on Friday, May 12 beginning at 11:00 for our Student Talent Show and Family Picnic. More details to come soon!

Schools must aid in the development of the whole child, not just their academic skills.

Character counts! 🙌

Amie participated in the conference from home. One of her highlights from the conference was a speaker from the living legacies, Tunisha Hairston-Brown. She so beautifully stated that bringing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion into the classrooms doesn't take away from others but in turn brings everyone together to highlight each other’s gifts and talents to exemplify, innovate, and build a better future for generations to come.

Our staff enjoyed inspiring and uplifting workshops and keynote speakers at the AMS conference, both at home and in Boston! Thank you for another fabulous Event!!