Photographic Updates

Hope you are all having a great holiday.

Wanted to include some photos of the ROM trip here:

Also, check out our holiday party:

10 006555 PR

10 006555 PR is the id given by the city of Guelph for the now the APPROVED building permit. Hooray! Completion of the work associated with this permit will allow Echo to accept additional children into the program.

ROM Romp

On Friday we ventured out for our first ever field trip. We loaded our small group of children into cars with as many adults as children joining the trip. Our destination was driven by the interests of the children in the class:
Our oldest two have been spending many hours conversing over dinosaurs and early mammals. The discussions ranged from their names to how they became extinct (generally pronounced by the 3 year old as ‘instinct’). Not a day went by that it wasn’t discussed and the topic eventually came to family trip one of the children made to the ROM to see the bones last spring. This fascinated even our youngest members of the class. “You can see the dinosaurs?” they all asked. Our 3 year old expert was happy to fill everyone in on the details. And thus an idea was born. Let’s take the children to the ROM to see the dinosaur bones. Plans were made, permission forms signed and car seats installed.

The drive there was relatively uneventful but it is interesting to listen to a couple of ‘almost’ three old discuss what they see out the window of the car. The giant inflatable gorilla, a school bus on the roof of a building; things you and I have seen a thousand times driving down the 401 yet to them they were new finds and something to share with their buddy.

Working with children for several years does not dull the amazement of seeing children experiencing and observing the world. As we approached the geometric architecture of the main entrance the 2 youngest were mystified. They kept pointing the different shaped windows and talked about the “unusualness” of the building: They aren’t even three and prompting they were admiring architecture! We gathered in the front entrance, arranged name tags and jokingly made sure that each child was responsible for an adult so that the adults didn’t wander off.

And with that we entered a different world.

Taking the stairs to the first exhibit we made sure that the children all entered the room as the same time. The moment they saw the size of the skeletons there was a spreading look of wonder that was something to behold. The two youngest were stunned into motionlessness staring at the Albertasaurus. And then it bubbled over. The sudden inability to make a coherent sentence and stay in one spot for longer than 2 seconds hit them. The children spontaneously explored the room looking at the different dinosaurs, the big the little and those in between. Interestingly, the children were drawn to the teeth: were they scary like the T-Rex or small like the brachiosaurus. Each child was able tell you if the dinosaur was an herbivore or carnivore by looking at their teeth and that became a bit of a game; although the omnivore really threw them for a loop.

When it was time to enter the second display (the one we knew housed the T- Rex) we again made sure we entered as a group; and again stunned silence. The size and ferocious pose overwhelming our little charges but moments later they all took turns being “fed” to the T-Rex for ( ‘epoch’ologically impossible) photographs. We spent a long time examining the beast and its body parts. The children had previously tried to make dino tracks in the snow and were studying the feet now so that they could be more realistic.

The dinosaur exhibit, while being the main draw, was not the only exhibit we visited. We enjoyed seeing all the fossils with the fossilized sea shells being another favourite. However, we also entered the forest of the biodiversity exhibit and looked for the hidden animals amongst the display. The children were able to name many of the species in the forest in both English and French. This area was a great ‘hands on’ area with puzzles, a fox den to crawl through and skulls you could actually touch. The excitement meant that this area was explored particularly haphazardly but our group was able to deal with this fun way of learning that was at the heart of the experience.

The grown-ups at this point realized that they were getting a little hungry and checking watches realized that we were a good 15 minutes past our usual lunch time. Not wanting a meltdown in the middle of the ROM we quickly moved on to the young children’s play area with an eye to getting to lunch.

And what a great time! There was sand with dinosaur bones to dig for and goggles and brushes to look like a real paleontologist. Again finding the T-Rex teeth was the highlight of the “dig”. Knowing we needed to quickly find the school lunch room area we went quickly through the rest of the play area with only a brief stop at the castle and dragon toys.

Sitting in a lunch room with our packed lunch we enjoyed listening to everyone tell their versions of the experience. Each had different things they liked and remembered.

At 1:30 we walked very tired children back to the cars, buckled them in and headed for school. It was only moments before all were sound asleep.

This trip was particularly successful even compared to other trips I have been on as a parent or teacher or organizer and in reflecting on it I think in part it is explained by the circumstances where we were able to follow the interest of the children both in the planning and in the logistics at the ROM. Definitely an approach we will be trying again.

Finding Patterns, Patriotism and Humour

Our children have been learning about different bird species that inhabit the woods behind the school. One of the things they have become interested in is the differences in the bird calls. One of our youngest members of the class was being asked by Jen "What is the call of the chickadee?" His response was immediate: "chickadee dee dee". "What is the call of the blue jay?", Jen continued. And once again he responded correctly by saying, "jay jay jay". Jen then asked, "What is the call of the Canada Goose?" He stood to sing his response at the top of his lungs, “Oh Canada our home and native land”.

We of course shared the real bird call with him, but really loved his zest.

Another forest school note: The children were very excited last week when they had a chance to see a porcupine in a tree in the woods. One group of children also had a chance to see a deer!

Rolling Downhill

You would expect this blog to be a posting about Forest school, but in fact, it is a quick classroom observation from October.

We have really reached kind of a dynamic equilibrium: Normally September starts out with a little bit of chaos as everyone (parents, children and teachers) adapt to the new environment. This is somewhat highlighted in our new school where everyone is experiencing firsts, but, it is also somewhat moderated by our small size. After this adaptation period you start to get glimmers of an equilibrium where everyone is active and a lot of learning and growing is taking place and less of the adjument activities are occuring.

We settled into this early in October and one of the big indicators of that was activities of one of our little guys. He has really internalized the idea of the sequence of materials in a specific area. In particular he has identified an activity in the math area involving what is called the "Thousands Cube" (10x10x10 units arranged as a cube). He understands that this activity is a few steps further along than his current activity.

He has had converstations in the class about what he needs to accomplish to get to that activity and has now really engaged in the math area and is entirely rolling towards that goal on his own momentum, actively choosing this area and requesting lessons. This rolling analogy is not to suggest the activity is passive he is very much engaged, and indeed, even the teachers are helping and instructing to avoid snags. The satisfying observation for us is that this momentum is a great indicator of a class running well.

Aside: It reminds me of a really attractive element of child centered learning programs: He can spend a few weeks working hard in one area as his interest and focus are inspired and it does not disrupt the process by which all of the material is covered. But less obvious and perhaps even more profound he has experienced learning and understanding and even goal setting as a positive experience and that will carry him much further, and much more contentedly, than any math activity.

Forest School Adventures

We have had an enormous amount of fun in our first two weeks of Forest School getting into the natural world—learning, exploring, and adventuring. During the first week, we explored the backyard of the school and developed our daily routines and safety protocols. The children particularly enjoyed playing a hide-and-seek game called Hawks and Mice—getting ever more adventurous (and muddy) with their hiding places as the week went on.

In our second week, we ventured through the back gate and into the natural area behind the school. We used magnifying glasses to look at milkweed and goldenrod plants and watched Monarch butterflies pass by on their journey south; we played a Monarch migration game in which the children ran from a northerly starting point to a warm, southerly wintering site stopping along the way to rest and drink goldenrod nectar; and we explored several new areas including the edge of the marsh and a grassy wooded area filled with ash and maple trees.

Already, after just two weeks, the children are demonstrating greater comfort in the outdoors as they climb up and down a steep hill, encounter living things (like birds, toads, earthworms and dragonflies), navigate off-trail through tall plants and grasses, walk on uneven terrain, and spend time outside in a variety of weather conditions.

On the topic of weather: A particular highlight of the week was a very happy morning spent outside in the pouring rain. We set up the tarp and sat beneath it listening to the loud sound of the rain. Under the tarp, we completed our daily weather report and read stories using a flashlight. Then, with arms outstretched and palms up to feel the water, singing songs about the rain, we made our way through the tall, wet grasses, down the big hill to the fabulous puddles below. The children loved jumping in the puddles! They jumped. They splashed. They giggled. They put their hands in the cold water. They got extremely dirty. What fun!

Check back for more updates about our woodsy adventures.

Discipline and Expectations in a Child Centered Classroom

"Discipline must come through liberty" - Maria Montessori

Introduction

A significant hurdle that most parents or caregivers encounter when trying to understand how a child centered classroom, such as a Montessori classroom, operates is the issue of how to cause a child to undertake the tasks expected of them. This is often termed classroom discipline in mainstream schools. Often in information nights at a school there are a series of good questions that essentially ask how do you cause the children to behave in a particular way. There are a few elements to explore in relation to discipline in a classroom around ranging from the premise of the term to the adjustment process to the distinctions around outcome. Also key to any discussion around discipline is the process by which discipline begins to come from within.

Origin and Premise

While the origin of the word discipline relates to "following" it has come to imply "punishment intended to correct". At this core definition is often really the first place where an educator in a child centered program will begin to pause, clarify the question about discipline and answer the questioner carefully. As parents our experience is typically of wanting an outcome that is apparently in conflict with what your children want. Child centered programs start from the premise that fighting natural responses is going to be an uphill battle and attempt to utilize those responses. Is this a valid position to take or does it lead inevitably to chaos? Our experience in classrooms is that it is surprisingly effective and it appears to be related to the application of a number of processes . The first process is actually careful consideration of the separation of goals versus mechanics. At a basic level it avoids artificial rules and focuses on real priorities. If we use language as an example topic, Montessori teachers are not at all ambivalent about language - they are quite passionate about language development and typically have a strong sense of the stages children usually go through in developing language. (As an aside: Montessori begins with writing along with or before reading similar to the way babies babble and listen for reinforcement to develop spoken language rather than expecting to understand language entirely before expressing). As such Montessori programs end up with very specific goals for children such as understanding the sound produced by various letter combinations. I note this because the "child centered" phrase can evoke the sense that "children do whatever they want" and as a result "they aren't doing important things". The important goals for children really are present in the classroom and are specific. So a teacher in a child centered classroom will ensure that language is developed over time, but, will not insist on attention to language at a specific time.

However, discipline implies the premise that there are negative things to correct: Once we have assured ourselves that we understand the goals for the children how can we minimize being derailed from those goals. A good teacher will understand that it is not minimizing the negative but maximizing the positive that is the best recipe for successful students and a successful classroom. Researchers call this area of study Operant Conditioning and one outcome of the difference between "applying reward on positive behaviour" versus "applying punishment on negative behaviour" is that applying punishment on negative behaviour tends to reduce experimentation. At this point most child centered programs have already taken a different tack to the discipline premise and they advocate to encouraging an appropriate natural response rather than seeking conformance. For Montessori, this connects back to specific goals through the concept of "Prepared Environment". Prepared Environment essentially means that taking the goals for the student in one hand and the natural responses in the other the teacher brings those into alignment by creating a physical and social environment that makes the goals a natural outcome. As parents though, this is really abstract, but most parents experience this in some form, often a good example is when success is achieved in toilet training children. No matter the method or various approaches success usually arrives when it becomes easier or more comfortable or more satisfying or more rewarding for the child to use the toilet than to use a diaper. This can happen without ever criticizing or rushing a child, but just by creating that environment where it is better to be independent. This connects back to our reading example, the teacher can begin create stimulating activities (such as tracing letters or layout basic words with materials in the classroom) and give children the natural excitement and an opportunity to feel the sense of accomplishment of communicating. In this environment you "get to use the letters" rather than "have to memorize the 'e'". The result is that in very many situations the whole premise of disciplining to ensure a desired outcome is entirely avoided.

Adjustment and Feedback rather than "By the Book"

So if we have goals and a typical response to the environment and a well researched method for preparing an environment where the goals are a "natural consequence" could we just respond to the students from a script? Not entirely, beyond the judgement needed to understand when a particular student is ready for the next step in a series of activities we all recognize there is a lot of variation in the social approach and personalities of individuals. My own children have very different responses to noise and at Birthday parties one will tend to find a quiet space and withdraw and the other will engage and get very silly. Again the art here for a successful teacher is to have an adjustment process or feedback loop where they have an opportunity to try try things that draw children out or calm them down and time to observe the consequences so that they can continually adjust their feedback and the whole environment to help children come into their own skin and be able to engage in the classroom positively. This feedback loop also extends to the materials themselves. If you read writings originally from Maria Montessori or from later researchers with an eye towards this "action, observation, adjustment" process you will find it played an important part in identifying principles and it is expected that Montessori teachers will apply the same process. Initially many people in Montessori consider it very inflexible (and in fact some people administer a classroom inflexibly). The most extreme and exciting example I am aware of for a feedback loop that adjusted the program in a Montessori class involved a young child that was entirely disinterested in the natural blocks and textures of materials in the classroom. He was proceeding through the materials, but, the teacher in the classroom felt the environment was not truly taking sparking his natural inquisition because it was often a struggle to help him find work that he was interested in and would complete without support. However, he loved Motorcycles. He would jump to the window at every throaty Harley or whine of a racing bike. The solution of course was to bring a motorcycle into the classroom where he and all the children could accomplish the ultimate learning goals but themed around the bike itself with language and other lessons using parts of the bike as part of the lesson. In this way we further add to the situations which can be addressed without the traditional "discipline" approach.

Its also interesting to contrast the observation and feedback mechanism that is effective in keeping children engaged and acting appropriately with the nominal zero tolerance style rigid rule sets. This rigidity is facing a research backlash. Without responding in an individualized manner teachers create a distorted environment and incentives.

Outcome

At this point in a conversation between someone new to Montessori and an old hand there will be a pause. Both individuals will be mulling over the fact that while the above approaches are surely very successful most times, what happens when they aren't? This is where common sense needs to prevail. I mentioned earlier that "application of punishment" has a side effect that is undesirable in preparing for a future in our modern complicated world and that side effect is that in discouraged experimentation. In some situations experimentation is unsafe. Montessori classes are typically very flexible in terms of motion, children are moving around and selecting work independent of the actions of other children. However, children clearly can't leave the school or climb on chairs or hurt other children or engage in other unsafe actions. Once we have done all we can to discourage that outcome, it is pragmatic to ensure that dangerous behaviours don't continue by physically guiding children away or reprimanding by strongly expressing that it is not acceptable. In order to be respectful to the children and to ensure that the behaviour is not just repeated when an authority figure is not present this should be coupled with an explanation of the danger. As proud as practitioners of child centered approaches are of the ability to inspire children to accomplish great things and to show respect it is important to acknowledge that safety and respect for other children are not optional.

Self Discipline

The development of "discipline from within" is another key outcome of a child centered classroom. In this I can not speak better than the words of Maria Montessori, from "The Montessori Method":

Discipline must come through liberty. Here is a great principle which is difficult for followers of common-school methods to understand. How shall one obtain discipline in a class of free children? Certainly in our system, we have a concept of discipline very different from that commonly accepted.

If discipline is founded upon liberty, consider an individual disciplined only when he has been rendered as artificially silent as a mute and as immovable as a paralytic. He is an individual annihilated, not disciplined.

We call an individual disciplined when he is master of himself, and can, therefore, regulated his own conduct when it shall be necessary to follow some rule of life. Such a concept of active discipline is not easy either to comprehend or to apply. But certainly it contains a great educational principle, very different from the old-time absolute and undiscussed coercion to immobility.

While there has been a change in the concept of "undiscussed and absolute" deference to authority in the time since Maria wrote this the concept of discipline as liberty continues to be enigmatic and profound. And of course distinct from chaos and anarchy.


Conclusion

Implicit in this discussion is what range of behaviours should we even be targeting? There are some easy answers like respect and there are some easy things to avoid like personal danger. But, fifty years ago the world was a very different place and fifty years from now, in our children's lifetime, it will be different again. Encouraging children who all think the same and are all capable of the same specific skills does not seem like a good way to prepare them for a changing world without a crystal ball to predict what they will need. Instead, educators need to continue to focus on universal skills, creativity and a love of learning. In light of this we should never lose sight of inspiring self discipline and independence while considering classroom discipline.

Launch and Licensing Process

Echo is launching with a small group of children in September. Our basic classrooms are setup and our staff will be in the school beginning September 7th so we'd love you to come and visit. Check it out at Echo Montessori

After our inaugural month we will be expanding for October. When final construction is complete at the end of September Echo will finalize licensing for 15 children age 2.5 years to 6 years and 5 children age 18 months to 36 months (some spots are still available). This phased start is going to be an effective way to launch the school, but, was in fact not the original plan. Much of the adjustment from the original plan is attributable the relationship between the licensing process and the preparing the space (including municipal approval).

While the most complicated elements are related to the building itself, the licensing process is a detailed and thorough process administered (currently) by the Ministry of Youth and Children Services. This process is scheduled to move to the Ministry of Education. To get a sense of the depth of detail associated with licensing, I have attached the ~50 page licensing process. If you are starting a daycare or curious as to the process Echo has been working through check out this checklist.

Forest School at Echo Montessori

The following is a guest post from Jen Mason.

---

The Forest School of Guelph

My name is Jen Mason and I am delighted to be offering Forest Schools to your child this year. Please read the following document to get a sense of what Forest School is, what your child will be doing in the Forest School program, and how you and your child can be best prepared for this experience.

What is Forest School?

Forest School is an outdoor education experience in which students visit the same local woodland on a regular basis. Through forest play, young people learn about the natural world and how to use their own initiative to communicate, solve problems and co-operate with others. (Adapted from Archimedes Training: www.forestschools.com).

The Forest Schools concept was developed in the Scandinavian countries in the 1950s and brought to the United Kingdom in the early 1990s. Since then, it has gained tremendous popularity in the UK and is widely available there. The Forest School of Guelph is the second Forest School in Canada. The Forest School of Guelph and Echo Montessori School
Echo Montessori School is perfectly located to offer a Forest School program as it backs onto the Hanlon Creek Park and Sanctuary Woods. Children’s House students at Echo Montessori School will benefit from one hour of Forest School in this natural environment each day except in extreme weather conditions.

With their teachers and Jen Mason (the Forest School Program Leader), students will begin in the back yard of the school and move further afield to explore and experience the forest and natural area through the back gate. We will not cross any roads.

While many adventures are student-led, there are guided activities as well. These may include
shelter/fort-building, environmental art, make-believe activities, exploration adventures, game-playing, drama, music-making, sensory awareness activities, and naturalist training.

The Benefits of Forest School

Several studies conducted in the UK indicate that Forest Schools have numerous benefits for students including:

1. Improved physical skills (increased stamina, and improved fine and gross motor skills),
2. Increased understanding of the outdoors and respect for nature,
3. Heightened motivation and concentration,
4. Improved ability to work with others including an increased awareness of the consequences of their actions on peers,
5. Increased self esteem and self confidence, and
6. Language development.

(From: http://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/website/forestresearch.nsf/ByUnique/INFD-5Z3JVZ)

Forest School Program Leader and Founder of the Forest School of Guelph: Jen Mason

I am a certified teacher, and outdoor, environmental educator. Since 1989, I have worked with young people in a variety of settings in Canada, the United States, and Australia leading wilderness trips and teaching about the environment and how we can live sustainably.
I have a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education degree (with a focus in Outdoor and Experiential Education) from Queen’s University and a Master’s degree in Ecology-Based Education from Prescott College in Arizona. In addition, I have taken numerous wilderness skills courses. I have current first aid and CPR certification.

I am passionate about getting kids of all ages outside into the natural world.

Clothing List

Children’s House students will be outside in the woods behind the school for one hour each day (except in extreme weather conditions). At The Forest School of Guelph, we subscribe to the maxim that “there is no such thing as bad weather; only bad clothing.” Dressed properly, children can enjoy their experience in the outdoors regardless of the weather. Students will be required to wear long-sleeved shirts, long pants, socks and closed-toed shoes every day
(even in warm weather). This will protect them from scratches and insect bites. Additionally, each child will need the following items for the early fall:

1. Waterproof rain gear—pants and jacket. To keep your child warm and dry, rain gear must be waterproof and not ‘water resistant’. (If you have trouble finding waterproof raingear at a reasonable price, please contact me).
2. Sun hat/baseball hat
3. Warm layer (thick fleece is ideal) that fits under the rain jacket
4. Warm pants that fit under the rain pants
5. Sunscreen
6. Insect repellent (if you would like us to apply it)

I will send a list of clothing necessary for the late fall and winter later in the term.
I am very excited to be offering this wonderful opportunity to your child. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Delay is over

We have had a significant delay between blob posts through the summer months. However, in this case it was not due to holiday time, but, instead it has been because we have been hard at work preparing the new school.

Expect a number of posts over the next few days as we update you on what has been going on.

Website Goes Live

A significant day for us as we have made the website available at www.echomontessori.com

We elected to unveil before we had completed putting all our information up because we think there is enough there for you to get a sense of our program. Expect additions to the material that is there and changes to the appearance of the site over the next weeks.

There are lots of ways to contact us on the site so let us know what you think.

Our Future Program

While we are all busy working on our first year program we wanted to take a quick breather to outline our future program direction:

Our plan is to expand to offer a full range from Toddler to Middle School programs over the next several years. We will expand our preschool program incrementally to facilities nearby as well as work on the logistics and zoning of operating a school in this "campus" format. Donna Booth will be leading the development of our Elementary Program. Donna's 24 years of Montessori experience ranges from her training at the International Center for Montessori Studies Foundation in Bergamo Italy to teaching and administration at the International Montessori School of Beijing (MSB), as well as teaching and directing elementary programs at the Montessori House of Children in London and the Guelph Montessori School. While we are very excited about our long term plans and will begin laying the ground work this year, our primary activities will be focused on our Toddler and Children's House programs. Our current facility and program is a seed and we expect to nuture it in this our inaugural year. We are looking forward to developing a dynamic creative school environment that is serves the children parents and staff. We invite you to join us on our journey to create a successful educational experience for all. Please stay tuned on this blog to learn of our endeavours for the future.

Beyond our own school growth plans we see an opportunity for our region to be a leader in personalization in education ranging from Montessori Programs to home school groups to Waldorf and faith based schools. If you are involved in education in our region or internationally please get in touch with us at info@echomontessori.com

Let the race begin!

The offer is now final and accepted for 798 Scottsdale Drive, in Guelph. Echo Montessori's new home. Now the heavy lifting of getting Echo ready for children and their families in time for September begins.

Check it out:


View Larger Map

Location, Location, Location

While location quality is always a key factor for a business, a business providing services to parents and children is even more location dependant. For us, the "school location" encompasses both geographical position, nearby attributes, and internal attributes.

Realistically, we have been searching and talking to people for almost two years about an appropriate location and along the way we have come to internalize a set of factors related to what we have been looking for. We are currently on the cusp of finalizing space at the edge of a residential area near parkland at the South end of Guelph so I though I would take this opportunity to share with you what we have been thinking about in looking for a facility:

Professionalism - We need to have space that allows parents to feel comfortable and confident. This relates primarily to the space itself, but, also to the immediate neighbourhood.

South End Location - Our target is to serve the needs of parents at the south end of Guelph, so otherwise appropriate space in other parts of the city or outside the city were not attractive.

Regulation - Aside from the general high standards of the space we were seeking we had to ensure that we understood how much effort was required to meet regulation or licensing requirements ranging from fence heights, floor space, window areas and most difficult zoning. Institutional zoned space appropriate for our long term goals is difficult to find, but, feedback we received suggests there are some planning zones with little flexibility (industrial zoning is an "employment zone") and that boundary properties near institutional zones are better targets for zoning ammendments in the future. By now we probably know our way around the Guelph Zoning bylaws almost as much as local builders!

Size and Growth Strategy Consistency - Our plan calls for beginning with a young age group and expanding the age ranges served by the school. Since avoiding the cost of excess space is a key success factor, we need space that we can grow with. Some space we had identified suited launching all age groups and an intense program to fill that space rather than the incremental launch of our current plan. Ultimately, it is difficult to make the required predictions and corresponding commitments to leases or purchase space.

Logistics - We need our location to be able to handle people and our daily operations ranging from parking to entrance area logistics (imagine lots of children with snowsuits and the importantance of getting that right), indor activity space for cold weather and meal prep or delivery. This area is a bit of a design activity between the capabilities of the space and elements of the program. For example, our current location has relatively few parking areas and we have partially addressed that with an extended drop off and pick up time as well as cooperation with our neighbours (Thanks Wellington Hospice!).

Program Support - The location for the school us support our current and planned program elements. Specifically we are focused on internal space for the prepared
environment of Montessori as well as access to outdoor and naturalized space (creeks, treed areas) to ensure outdoor program opportunities.


We ended up looking space ranging from shared space in in schools, churches or other institutional zoned areas, acquiring instituional space, use of industrial office space near parkland, cpmmercial space, and residential space.

Ultimately with all the factors above we have identified 798 Scottsdale Dr. nestled between an excellent park, near a zoning boundary to instituional space and in the target area in Guelph. If all goes well over the next few weeks we should be able to move forward with this space and can welcome you all to our school come September.

The Straightest Path

We have been putting together a number of materials related to the program we want to offer at Echo Montessori and building the plan to accomplish it. One of the early steps is to begin the licensing process for ontario(Check out the first steps at the child care learning site. But note, the Ministry of Education is soon going to be responsible, so things may change).

The first step of the licensing process is attendence to an introductory course where some basic child care facility and program information is covered and a great deal of logistical information is covered. Not always a positive discussion as you hear about how operators have got tripped up, in one case on zoning, for three years. Yikes. And zoning or location is indeed one of the first licensing hurdles as all the licensing process is so tightly bound to location. Additionally the rules come in from the municipality, the day nursuries act, insurance companies and others. All of which you have to be pretty confident you can clear before entering a lease agreement. One of the best hiccups was between the licensing body who can not license before liability insurance is in place and insurance company who would not insure an unlicensed facilty resulting in a deadlock eventually resolved by a provisional license, followed by insurance, followed by a complete license.

However, our attendence did have an interesting diversion. In the course of the discussion with the program lead we discovered there was a passionate group of parents from a formerly operating Montessori school in Orangeville. The school had closed suddenly mid year for reasons unrelated to the parents interest and they were seeking an operator. Now, we at Echo are currently "pre location" so the prospect of a built in group of parents in a slightly different region was worth spending a bit of a hectic week to share our vision for a school and our plan to achieve it before September. Keep in mind this is a complete program from Toddler through to Middle School.

It certainly pulled us off the "organic growth" program that we had been considering and brought location and startup issues into even greater focus. It also had us driving to Orangeville to get a feel for the region. We were pleasantly surprised at the depth and breadth of services in what is a relatively small town as measured by population. While we did get greater appreciation for Orangeville and met a great group of parents and teachers the ultimate result is we are not going to be operating in that area.

So our whirlwind adaptation of our program and business proposals was fun and intense but ultimately has returned us, and not by the straightest path, to a small program with big asperations. And we have come back to the path a little wiser for having travelled that way.

Welcome

This post is the inaugural post of Echo Montessori. It is a first step of a journey: Initially this blog will document our experiences bringing Echo Montessori into existence and then later as we grow it will be an opportunity to share stories and perspectives about learning and about the activities of the Echo community.

So "Welcome" and stay tuned for more posts about the genesis of Echo Montessori, essays on child centered learning and information about a community that we hope you and your children will want to become part of.