Baan Dek · Episode 130 - Montessori Rewards Montessori is known for encouraging intrinsic motivation, rather than external rewards. Studies have shown that external rewards decrease motivation -- if I can get a sticker or →

 Baan Dek · Episode 129 - Setting Children Up For Success There’s a scene from the show Schitt’s Creek that, if you’re familiar with the show, you’ll know from the following four words: fold →

Baan Dek · Episode 128 - Magic Words Words are magic. Toddlers learn that when you combine sounds or gestures in a particular order, adults love it and you get what you want. We’re actually →

 Baan Dek · Episode 127 - "What Did You Do Today?" “What did you do today?” This question has been asked by generations of adults at the end of their child’s day, and the →

Baan Dek · Episode 126 - Speaking For Children As I’m writing this, there’s a baby fussing and I asked his mom, “does he know what he wants?” to which she replied, “no he has →

Baan Dek · Episode 124 - Challenge is Essential If you’ve ever peeked into a Montessori classroom, you’ll see children working at various levels of intensity individually and in small groups. You’ll see children concentrating, →

 Baan Dek · Episode 123 - Reactive to Responsive to Proactive Maybe you’ve heard the phrase, “respond rather than react.” There’s a lot of work being done in childcare, parenting, education, and other child-advocacy →

Baan Dek · Episode 122 - Montessori & The Olympics The Olympics are coming up, which is one of the few sporting events I watch. I look forward to them, have them set to record, →

For a podcast of this post, listen here or subscribe on iTunes. Baan Dek · Episode 120 - Approaching Challenges Isn’t it wonderful that we’ll experience challenges? Birth is a challenge. Whether you got here →

For a podcast of this post, listen here or subscribe on iTunes. Baan Dek · Episode 119 - Asking Children for Consent, Permission, Their Opinion If you’ve known about Montessori for more than about three →

For a podcast of this post, listen here or subscribe on iTunes.  Baan Dek · Episode 118 - This Year Is Different The start of the school year is always a bit bittersweet. Every →

These days, life looks different, doesn’t it? Many of us are working and learning from home, and even those of us who are essential workers are coming to a very different workspace each day. It’s →

Every spring, families in Primary Montessori programs are making a really big decision: what to do about Kindergarten? Whether this decision is tumultuous with easily identified pros and cons, or whether this decision has been →

We’re hard-wired to help children. We wouldn’t have survived long as a species if we weren’t. We recognize That Cry in the midst of all other noise. A whispered, “Mom?” will wake one from the →

Montessori is known for individualized education. This can be misleading, since we hear this and, of course, make our own assumptions about what this means. Maybe I hated math in school, and the idea that →