Parent Tips by Email
Listen to free audio parent tips by Susan Tracy sent via email approximately every month! Please sign up by emailing us here at parenttips@LTPEC.org and put "subscribe" in the subject line.
What is Montessori?
Montessori is a method of education started by Dr. Maria Montessori in Rome approximately one century ago. Some of the basics of Montessori education are:
- Respect
- Freedom
- Children learn using all five senses
- Adult as the preparer of the environment
- Adult as observer
- Classroom and school as community
Learning Together carries this wonderful, highly effective approach into homes, by teaching parents that they can have high expectations for children, and that children will amaze us if we take the time to notice. It is a parent's job to notice, understand, and meet a child's true need for connection, limits, learning, nutrition, sleep, and environment. Families can function in respect and love.
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About Us
Learning Together Parent Education Center was founded in 1999 by Susan Tracy. She is assisted by interns and volunteers. Susan gives some history:
Susan Tracy
Dear Parents,
After graduating from Northwestern University with a degree in psychology, I was a social worker in a facility for mentally challenged and mentally ill adults. When I was expecting our first child, I was given the task of writing a history of each client’s life. I was struck (think bolt of lightening) by the realization that, in case after case, life after life, adult functioning is largely the result of our childhood experiences.
It was also at this time that I visited a Montessori Parent-Infant program. We enrolled our newborn, and I never left! I was mentored by the retiring teacher, took my first Montessori certification course, and have been leading Parent-Infant programs and parent discussion groups since 1989. (see, What is Montessori? - right margin)
Meanwhile, my husband and I were having babies, and I was applying all I learned from great Montessori teachers. The techniques of observation, preparation, and prevention of problems worked as well at home as they did in the classroom. I took more Montessori courses, and finished a Master’s Degree in Education at Loyola College in Maryland.
I recite these qualifications so that you will believe I am qualified to teach parenting. Actually, all the books I’ve read and courses I’ve taken are nothing compared to what I’ve learned by observing children, day in and day out.
I have enjoyed training and mentoring Montessori teachers since 1993, but educating parents is my true passion. I am grateful for all I’ve learned, and I am compelled to pass it on.
There is no more important work than parenting, and most do it with no training. It is my vision that parent education will become as widespread as childbirth education, and available to all parents.
Blessings,
Susan Tracy
P.S. Really, it wasn’t all quite as neat and tidy as I’ve described here, but I have learned a lot, and I continue to learn. That’s why this organization is called “Learning Together”. I wish I could call it, “Listen To Me Because I’m the Perfect Parent with Four Perfect Children and I Have It All Figured Out”. Nope. Too long. And my kids would laugh.