Local Level 3 Blues

Just some random musings as I work through my own continued preparation as a level 3 catechist.

Recently, there was an announcement of continued openings at the level 3 formation leaders course offered by the National Association. I had previously not considered it, because I am not quite ready to be a level 3 formation leader - I had hoped they would offer the level 2 version of this course this year as they did level 1 last year, but they are alternating the alternate years I think is the plan?

The announcement got me thinking and praying. One session of that course would be in on special needs in the level 3 atrium and another on applying to the level 3 atrium Montessori principles from the academic Montessori environment. I have AMI Montessori training and would *love* to collaborate on the Montessori principles at the elementary level - which practices to bring in, which am I perhaps going over-board on. It would be so great to collaborate with others.

And I do have a group of children I have not yet ever had to address in an upper level atrium; thus a collaboration with others with Montessori background and/or CGS formation at all levels would be ideal.

Collaboration.

I did inquire if I could attend based on not intending to be a level 3 formation leader in the near future (by the time the next one is offered I will likely be looking to do level 3 already, so the current timing is actually quite ideal). I was not told, "No," but I was given a list of reasons not to attend; the following morning I received a message asking me for my contributions to the above two topics.

It is not that I don't want to contribute... It is that I want to *collaborate.* I love working with level 3 children, I love applying my Montessori background to fully enrich the atrium - but in many ways I am working in a void - and I am sensing there is some missing point of balance. I sense that the point of balance missing is another adult in my local area with whom to collaborate. Perhaps I have been spoiled in recent years though:

• I was alone when I started level 1, but my formation was such that it was fully balanced and I had the support I needed for the first 2 years. 
• After that I have only been in atriums with pretty much full support from the priest, other catechists, parents and other parishioners. 
• When I started the local level 2 atriums, there was already a catechist who, when I met her upon my move to this area (and she was in the level 1 formation already) said, "I am here to learn this so that I can take it back to my sacramental preparation children." Thus, there was already a catechist for that level, ready, willing and intending! Along with another catechist who intended to see it all the way through, we were able to set up a partial level 2 in our first year of having level 1. 
• From there, mostly without my involvement, the local program took a small step back, then moved forward again. I spent those years inviting homeschool families to my home for very small atrium sessions. 
• Finally, the local program was ready for level 3 - and they paid for half of my level 3 formation. I am the only level 3 catechist in the local area. This is not to puff myself up - I am lonely. 
• Last year, I worked with a partially trained catechist in our newly established level 3. I was able to discuss things with her - modifications of the work expectations, the materials, how to create the materials. I knew I appreciated her presence and her assistance and sometimes her guidance - and now I miss her dearly. 
• I love the other adults I have in there now: a mom who was in level 3 with me last year, but has no official CGS formation - she is a middle school teacher so her interactions with the children are great; another mom who has level 1 formation and has been in all three levels as a catechist or assistant - she has so much exuberance for the atrium that the children feed off that positivity; another mom on occasion who is just great for stepping in and exploring the work with the children - she is great at keeping them on track - no official formation, but has been in all 3 levels at one time or another; a dad who was in a mix of all levels last year with his children - this year is with me for 1 level 3 atrium and 1 multi-level atrium - there is a bit more collaboration there ---- but all of them take my word on almost everything and question very little, if anything at all. I appreciate their confidence in me! Really! I need collaboration too. 
• The CRE is wonderful but only has formation through level 2. I can collaborate a bit with her but there are limitations. 

I have all of these benefits - and have been so blessed.

So why am I so lonely? Because it's not about me - it's about the relationship of the Child with the Holy Spirit.


I just need someone to off-set my strong ideals! Or maybe make them better. Fine-tune them. Or throw some of them out altogether.


Yes, I work in another atrium setting which is shared with other catechists trained all the way through - but I work after-school when the other adults are not there. Also, it is a Montessori school so the dynamics in a 120-150 minute atrium session with Montessori school children already at school are very different from public school children coming for a 90 minute atrium once a week. Even at level 1 within a Montessori-school-atrium, the practical life area can be stripped down, the atrium does not need to include walking on the line. At level 2, God with No Hands is done in the classroom; the timeline work will correlate with their work in the classroom. The children come in prepared and they have a longer session. It is wonderful - I receive such inspiration for all my atrium spaces by moving between them all throughout the week. But it doesn't cover the need for a local level 3 person for collaboration in our particular level 3 (public school children) atrium.

Would the formation leaders course have fully assisted me? No. But it would have provided some of the needed balance, some collaboration on the special needs concerns, and definitely helped me pinpoint the balance of academic Montessori and level 3 CGS.


So those of you reading this, please pray for me - that God will provide. That it will work out according to His plan, not mine.

(the course is going on right now as this post is scheduled to go up - and 2 particular struggles just came to a sharp point - please pray for me!)

Nearing the end of the week...

As I near the end of my time at this formation leaders course, I have to admit: I am FULL. In a good way, but definitely FULL. The nice thing about doing all day things like this at home, is that that I can spend my lunch break or my evenings applying some of the principles learned throughout the day -- particularly if it means re-organizing an album page or an area of the environment, whether atrium or Montessori (home or co-op). 

But I am not at home, so I organize my notes, send off e-mails and write these posts here. 

And when I get home, I have some orders to get out right away and my son has already planned our whole day (90% of which consists of nothing but snuggling - I can't wait!).

Right now, I feel like this moth - I am getting what I need but I also know there is MORE to do, but I can't yet get out to get to it!

;)

Mysteries of our Faith

As we worked through the Paschal Mystery and the Mystery of the Kingdom of God, one essentiality kept standing out:

the wonder of just *exploring* with the children.

Can you or I truly plumb the depths of these mysteries? There is a *reason* they are called mysteries! We can look at the clues, and we can learn, and we can learn grow. But until we are face to face with God, we can never fully KNOW.

Just explore. Don't have all the right answers. I tell this to catechists time and time again - do not GIVE to the children! The children have far more to give to us, than we ever could give to them! ESPECIALLY within the richness of our faith!

If you give them an answer, you destroy the joy of discovery and the developing process of discovery.

Wonder with them. Explore with them. Enjoy with them.

And they will reveal to you a deep wealth of riches!

Silence of the Adult

The adult should use the fewest words possible. It is ok to stop talking and just be silent to force yourself to re-center, re-focus, for your previous words to sink in - and now you can re-direct your next words. Or choose to not say any at all. Just do some actions or just read from Scripture.

The silence of the adult is necessary if the sound of God is to be heard. 

Interesting Tidbits

(this post is more for the catechists in my home town :) )


Some interesting differences or little bits of information for those back home :)

Good use for the blue water jug and the green bucket -
a water source IN the level 1 atrium without leaving for the bathroom
or the catechist constantly refilling.
Gets the children involved and doing real work. 

The set up of the cruets (see the wine in the back).
Then these cruets (in the middle) are used for the
preparation of the chalice.  

I've not seen the liturgical calendar arcs and arrows painted white....
Godly Play leaves theirs plain (see below)

(not from the formation course where I am right now)
I made this calendar for a Godly Play customer
Notice that Easter and Pentecost are fixed into place
(I could cut these the same as the CGS calendar - with the grooves)
And Christmas is "movable" with no groove.

This allows for the changing date of Easter each year..... 

Tracing packets are ALL in the art area!
If we use artwork to match the boxes, keep the tracing in the art area and the children will be inspired to more appropriate atrium art work.... perhaps even in level 2 !?
It's a thought.... !

I have more, but those are the highlights for the evening ;)

Fundamental Needs and Tendencies of the Human Being

Consider how each of the needs and tendencies is fulfilled in the prepared environment of the atrium - more particularly the tendencies over the "needs". Or consider how to assure each being fulfilled:


From Montessori Nuggets:

The five (5) physical needs of human beings include 

• sufficient food
• appropriate clothing
• shelter
• defense
• transportation. 

The four (4) spiritual needs human beings include 

• love
• arts/music
• vanitas (to improve and embellish one’s environment)
• religion:  “To deny, a priori, the religious sentiment in man, and to deprive humanity of the education of this sentiment, is to commit a pedagogical error similar to that of denying, a priori, to the child, the love of learning for learning’s sake. This ignorant assumption led us to dominate the scholar, to subject him to a species of slavery, in order to render him apparently disciplined.”[1] 

Tendencies

• exploration
• orientation 
• order
• communication
• to know/to reason
• abstraction
• imagination
• the mathematical mind
• work
• repetition
• exactness
• activity
• manipulation 
• self-perfection

Each human need and tendency has historical implications, as well as cultural, modern, practical, educational, spiritual and physical implications. 

---

[1] Maria Montessori. The Montessori Method. 1964: Schocken. 371.

Life of Dr. Maria Montessori: Essentials

One of today's talks was on the essentials of Dr. Montessori's life - who was she, how she discovered, and what she discovered.

What is essential to share in a formation course, getting to the point without dwelling for just too long. 

The whole talk left me holding back tears - tears that most people in the room would not have understood. The second reason was one that could be announced publicly and was an essential point to the mention. The first reason is something that I myself see, is very personal for me, and is perhaps not as deeply understood by most. 

The second half of the talk, it was discussed for a bit that academic Montessori has lost its inherent spirituality; that Montessori's books that have been re-printed are *substantially* shorter than the originals because editors have removed religious and spiritual references and "modernized" something that never should need modernizing!  

All I could think of was the painful experience that was AMI elementary training. Persecution for being not only involved in Catechesis of the Good Sheperd, but specifically a Catholic to boot (and boot they did!) -- but also a homeschooler. I do not think that just one of these facts alone would have caused the treatment I received, but the combination of the three and the fact that I was quietly holding my faith without angst against anyone else made the trainers LIVID. 

Yes, I cried today. It is time to admit the truth. I am not pressing a discrimination lawsuit against AMI or the elementary training center I attended, although I could have - and perhaps still could. I am not going to. But the discrimination against CGS, Catholicism, spirituality of Dr. Montessori, and the Christian faith in general has GOT. TO. STOP. 

Dr. Maria Montessori was Catholic. Plain and simple. My elementary Montessori trainers *apologized* for that! Repeatedly! Why not just respect her beliefs and move on? Same as we are supposed to be respecting everyone's beliefs in this world of "tolerance"? So, when they have all sorts of suggestions for adapting the Story of God With No Hands, I turned in the original version with only two modifications: I created an aura around not even the sun could see the changes taking place on the earth so a veil of clouds was drawn over the earth (rather than it being a "shame" thing, which leaving the shame part could have actually related back to original sin... now I think about it more... but I'll keep my "mysterious changes"); and I did change references to "millions of years" and references to immense passages of time to "in obeying God's laws." My reasons are mine alone and I expected they would be respected on equal footing of those whose modifications included references to "powers" instead of "angels" and others. 

Nope. I was ripped apart in my elementary Montessori training for mostly keeping the original story - because it was too Christian. Too Catholic. And that was only the beginning. 

But the first reason I cried in the formation leaders course today? Was it sadness? Joy? Deep appreciation? Or just the intense feelings that come from facing a reality much bigger than I? 

100 years ago, a young physician gave up her child as an infant so that she could embark on this great discovery that would change the world --- she sacrificed her motherhood to bring something precious to mothers everywhere. 

TODAY, I embrace her discoveries and see them in the development of my own precious child, that I KEPT - that I had a choice to raise myself or place for adoption. The same choice SHE faced. And I can choose a different path - a choice she never had. 

*I* get the best of both worlds. 

And she did not have her son by her side until he was 15 years old. I do not need to face the pain of that separation. My son is with me every day, from birth until today. 

My 8 year old son told me this past Friday that he is happy he homeschools. Why? Is it because he gets to play with his Legos longer than most boys? Read as many books as he can cram into a day? Study The Hobbit in an online course with my favorite college literature professor? Adjust our sleeping schedule later so we can watch the night sky every - single - night!? Is it because of the great Montessori method we follow that allows lots and lots of exploration time while covering all the necessaries and that totally respects him as a person and his ongoing development !? 

NO. He is happy he homeschools --- because he gets to snuggle with Mama all day, every day. 

Maria Montessori sacrificed. I don't have to. She was made a stronger person, with her strong passion for her discoveries because of what she gave up to make it happen. She KNEW something wonderful was there, and she made a sacrifice - one I could never have made. She spent every moment separated from her son making it worth it - and then he joined her in her work only when he was 15 years old. 

She didn't get to snuggle with her son every day for those 15 years.

And I get to keep my son with me. All day. Every day. 

Thank you, Maria Montessori!

UPDATED 2/7/2014
My first reason for tears is for HER - for the pain she endured during those years without her son. And for me, because I cannot imagine how I could have borne that pain, knowing I never have to. I feel for her - I feel for me. I understand her on a level very few can.

The second reason for my tears is the loss of spirituality - so much so that while my academic elementary Montessori trainers apologized for Montessori's Catholicism, yet Catholics think she was a humanist and not even remotely Catholic. (see comments below and in the post on "Montessori and Original Sin" on this confusion)

Such pain - such division - over a woman who simply presented us with the child as God sees him. 

Essentiality

We had a wonderful talk today by Rebekah Rojcewicz.
(I will be adding to this post later in the week when I have more time, but wanted to post this bit)

She challenged each of us to walk around the atrium; look at each material; and state the ONE main teaching. This is the *most essential* teaching and is the one thing you want the children to know, if you teach them nothing else (and we probably do NOT want to teach anything else because the message could be lost in the multiplicity of words and ideas!).

This is what we call one HUMONGOUS map of Israel.
Perhaps too big? Yikes! 

She used the story of a man coming to visit your atrium. He knows nothing about the faith, but this is your ONE HOUR with him. What is the deepest, most essential message that you will give him about each material as you tour the atrium with him.

Suggestion: Land and Water Globe
Of all the many places on this vast earth, God chose one tiny place to come to us as a man, to be born, to live, to die, to return to life and ascend into heaven: Israel.


This exercise can be done in every atrium. I look forward to doing this in all three levels as soon as I get back home :)