As a parent, fostering creativity in my three children has always been high on my list of priorities. Growing up, it wasn’t until high school that I really considered myself an artist of any sort, and after taking a few art classes, I went on to study art history in university. Despite some experience in the arts as a teenager and college student, I never really had a consistent art practice outside of that. Now, as a mother, I dabble in watercolor painting and drawing and do my best to let my children see me making art (in fact, that’s one of the tips I have!) After studying Montessori and im ..read more

I’m a little late writing this, but before May ends I wanted to share (for my own sake and anyone else’s) how Mirai and Taishi are doing as two year olds! I haven’t done an update since they were 1 year old so a lot will have changed since then! In the last year, I’ve seen huge changes in both of them. Their personalities are coming out and the language boom as definitely begun. They started going to international preschool around 18 months old and now stay every day from 9AM-4PM. I also work at the school and Asahi goes as well so it’s quite fun to see each other throughout the day! Personal ..read more

Montessori schools exist in Japan and this list is here to help you (hopefully) find one near you. It is worth saying that there is often a wide range when it comes to “authenticity” in Montessori education, as in how much the school follows the method illustrated by Maria Montessori herself. When searching for an authentic Montessori school, the top three things I would consider are: Does the school have an uninterrupted work cycle? (Usually 2-3 hours) This means no whole class transitions such as a park outing, or special classes, etc. Do students have free access to some sort of outdoor sp ..read more

This is an academic essay I wrote on the absorbent mind in Montessori education. I hope it is helpful in gaining a clearer understanding of the incredible abilities of the first plane (0-6 years) child. ABSORBENT MIND The absorbent mind, a creative and yet unconscious mental state of the first plane child, is the essential tool utilized by the child in order to adapt to their environment. From birth to around six years of age, the child absorbs everything around them, from the language to the relationships between people, in order to understand their culture and become a part of it. The mind o ..read more

Montessori is often associated with a classroom or home environment that is all work and no play, and to some extent this is true (depending on what you consider work and what you consider play). In the Montessori classroom, the materials and activities provided are there to encourage the child to concentrate. When a child concentrates, they do not feel tired from this action as we do as adults. They feel energized and refreshed. Have you seen a child who is “in the zone” while playing, almost as if they are in a trance. When they finally come out of that concentration, they probably look at y ..read more

Acne is something most people struggle with at some point in their life and I was no different. As soon as puberty hit I began getting pimples that soon developed into cystic acne as a teenager. Many people also experience hormonal acne when they get pregnant and hormones are fluctuating. I began taking birth control pills to help with acne when I was about 15, since my acne didn’t respond to topical drugs such as benzoyl peroxide. I was able to manage it somewhat using this method but I still would get breakouts frequently. When I was about 22, I added in an additional medication called Spiro ..read more

It’s easy to look at all the fancy Instagram photos and “shelfies” and think Montessori is all about expensive materials. While the Montessori classroom tends to have a certain standard and quality for their materials that tends to come with a price tag, your Montessori home doesn’t need all of that. In fact, it’s better if you don’t have it, especially if your child attends Montessori school, because you don’t want them using all the same materials in both places. I often have people asking me how to get started with Montessori at home, particularly if they have babies and toddlers, so here a ..read more

As a new parent, maybe you think you have it all figured out in the first six months or so, and maybe some do. But for me, it’s taken years to really feel like I have found my “why” when it comes to parenting. What do I mean by parenting “why”? I mean the reason that you parent the way you do. Maybe you haven’t given much thought to why you parent the way you do, or maybe you have. For me, it’s something I have reflected a lot on over the past four years and I have come to the point where I feel confident in my parenting decisions and although I am not perfect, I hope I am giving my childr ..read more

As I study Montessori more, I am realizing some areas I haven’t focused on as much at home with my kids. One of them is sewing! I don’t personally sew, so its easy to forget about. We have done some basic threading at home (like with this threading cheese) but no actual sewing. One of the basic sewing activities in the practical life section of a Montessori classroom is sewing cardboard, so it is the perfect activity to start with. Why do we teach sewing? Sewing is an excellent way to train fine motor skills in the hand, which is preparation for writing. Small tasks such as threading the needl ..read more

Sometimes it can be difficult as an apartment-dwelling family to look at all these spacious Montessori homes online and wonder how you will ever be able to fit that shelf, learning tower, weaning table, and bookcase into your 70 square meter abode. Guess what? It’s not gonna happen! Since I am finally coming out of the twin baby fog at 13 months postpartum, I thought I would start sharing some of the changes we are making to our living space to better accommodate the humans who live here. When you are thinking about redoing a space, it can also be easy to start adding a million things to your ..read more