A Sense of Accomplishment
We're often asked, how do Montessori students feel a sense of accomplishment, if they're not rewarded with stickers or praise. Which is to say, in Montessori, students initiate activities out of their own volition. They →
Spotlight Aidan McCauley
We have the great pleasure of introducing you to a wonderful human being, Aidan McCauley. He's also becoming an undeniable force in the Montessori world. As a founding member of the Montessori Madmen, Aidan has →
Hygiene and Montessori
One of our astute parents started a conversation about hygeine, discussing the relevance and necessity of teaching our children the importance of not only washing their hands but also sanitizing their environment. We thought we →
Movements in Education
The American Academy of Pediatrics' Council on School Health issued a policy statement in which they expressed the "academic, social and physical benefits for children of all ages", of attending recess. The LA Times wrote →
Happy Holidays
Happy Holidays from our friends at Baan Dek! We managed to capture a rehearsal of our Winter Celebration on video. Hope everyone enjoys! It's been a wonderful year, and we can't wait for next year! →
Positive Feedback
No matter how many times we observe a new student engaging with the cylinder blocks for the very first time, we are absolutely overwhelmed. Watch as this student attempts to find the correct hole for →
Montessori Blueprints
Bringing together the worlds of Montessori & Architecture, Bobby George and Hugh Weber teamed up to create a series of high quality and aesthetically beautiful Montessori blueprints. As many of you know, they successfully funded →
Spotlight Michelle Lane
When we firsted started Baan Dek, we contacted Michelle Lane for advice. We had followed her pioneering work, and knew she was the type of advocate for education that we wanted to chat with. She →
Finding Montessori
One of our newest families, who just moved here from Philadelphia, sent us an incredible note. With their permission, we couldn't help but share it here. For us, the letter says so much. We feel →
Helping Each Other
Our goals aren't always academic in nature. As a matter of fact, and as many of you know, we have a phrase that we use at Baan Dek: social success leads to academic success. Basically, →
The Aesthetics of Montessori
As many of you know, the aesthetics of the Montessori classroom is vital. We thought we would take this opportunity to explain the reason we display the materials so carefully, in such a neat and →
Individualized Education
What is individualized education? We want to take this opportunity to explain. In this post, we'll highlight a few principles that will better articulate what exactly it means to offer personal, individualized, one-on-one education. We'll →
A few thoughts on Competition
Competition is a tricky concept in Montessori. We thought we would take this opportunity to try to elucidate the conditions of competition and offer a few thoughts on competition and why Montessori employs collaboration instead →
The Tedium of Blossoming
© The Great Discontent The good folks at The Great Discontent, who you should definitely follow, published a wonderfully candid interview with Maria Popova, of whom we are a great admirer. You can read the →
Barnes and Noble Book Signing
On Saturday, December 1, at 2:00 p.m. we'll be participating in a book signing at Barnes and Noble, here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. While we're a little embarassed to be signing books (exclamation point!), →
