Spotlight Midwest Montessori

Spotlights

We were spellbound when we stumbled across Midwest Montessori, a blog by Amy Dorsch, a fellow Midwesterner and Montessorian. Her blog and photos on Instagram are enchanting, and a wonderful resource for anyone interested in incorporating Montessori into their home life. Enjoy her story!

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Your background, your interests, your dreams?

I am a wife to a dedicated husband and engineer, a mom to two amazing little humans, Charlotte (2.5) and Simon (3 months), and I have a career as a college student. Only joking. I have changed my area of study countless times but finally found (and refined) my passion – child development and parent education – through becoming a parent myself. I am working my way through a bachelor’s degree in early childhood and elementary education as I stay at home with my children.

I am blessed with the opportunity to share our experience with Montessori through my blog as well as in my roles as an administrator and member of the Facebook group, “Montessori 101” which was started by Aubrey Hargis of Montessori Mischief.

I dream of inspiring people to treat children with respect. Many people are activists for the environment, for women, for racial minorities, for animals, for the financially disadvantaged, for the generally oppressed. While I definitely consider myself an advocate for those, my passion in life is to be an advocate for children. My dream is to spread knowledge of human development and to educate adults about how to support children adequately and appropriately.

Q: When you close your eyes late at night, and imagine waking up and starting a new adventure: what is that adventure?

I’d love to just pack up and move to a different city. My husband and I have both lived in the same area for mostly our entire lives and I really would love to live somewhere completely different – ideally a place with lots of natural beauty: rivers, trees, mountains, and maybe oceans. I have never considered myself an outdoorsy person but since becoming a Montessorian I have gained a whole new appreciation for the earth and I just want to live in a place where I am surrounded by outdoor adventures.

Q: What first appealed to you about Montessori?

The simplicity. I was (and am) a person who is easily overstimulated myself, and the thought of having a house full of modern “kid” things just really freaked me out. When I stumbled upon Montessori, I was immediately drawn to the sense of order and the simplicity of the environments. I truly believe that we are able to be more creative with less “fluff” in our way.

This isn’t really a part of the question but what is appealing to me more and more about Montessori, later in my journey is the idea of peace as one of the goals of education. As a pacifist myself, I absolutely LOVE how Dr. Montessori advocated for peace and designed this amazing cosmic education that focuses on unity as a human race, equality, ethics, grace, courtesy, and peace.

Q: What advice do you have for new Montessori adults?

Read! You really won’t know what you are doing until you undergo a sort of transformation of yourself, which in my mind only happens through understanding the Method. The best way to do this, I think, is by reading. Read books inspired by Dr. Montessori and read books by Maria herself. Get inspired, but read until you live and breathe the Method and you won’t have nearly as many questions, because your newly transformed inner mind will guide you.

Q: What continues to inspire you about Montessori?

Following my children. I am continually inspired by observing my children through a Montessori lens. Montessori has empowered me to drop my expectations and simply observe and follow my children and now, THEY are what inspires me.