First, an apology - It’s been a while. During the last year, I
moved, got married, got a new job, became briefly nomadic, etc etc etc… My new
home parish unfortunately doesn’t have the space for a preschool catechism
classroom (Sunday School for older children currently happens in the Church or
the Narthex – I can’t very well clutter up those spaces with all of my
bookcases and whatnot), so I’ve been away from the actual practice of catechism
since I left Florida. But in God’s time, perhaps that will change soon enough.
All the same, I’ve still been working at a Montessori school and interacting
with the children, silently wondering what’s going on in their little minds and
hearts.
Right now, I’m back sitting in a classroom at Hellenic
College/Holy Cross with my husband Paul, my friend and teacher Catherine, and a
few others who have come from near and far to learn about Montessori education
and what it has to do with our Faith. Every time I come here, I learn something
I thought I knew. The people who come bring their experiences and their
knowledge, and they continue even now to shape our work – and rightly so, as
our Faith is an organic experience for each of us. My husband, drawing upon his
recent education at St. Tikhon’s Seminary, has given us beautiful insights in
the theology behind what we do with the children, and two women have come from
Orthodox preschools, bringing with them their experience with and love of
children and our Faith. With the inspiration they have given me, I hope I’ll be
able to create an environment again soon, but in the meantime, I’ll wax poetic a little
and share some pictures. Enjoy.
So glad you are back posting. Your entries we a main inspiration for me in signing up for Catherine's class. I thought I would get some insight and maybe lesson plans for teaching but I have gotten so very much more. I feel like a catechumen all over again. Somehow that is just right, always learning, seeking, integrating,reaching. That is what we are ment to do with our lives. Thank you for sharing so beautifully.
ReplyDeleteAlicia in New Zealand
Alicia,
DeleteAs you can see, I've done it again. This time I moved (again) and got pregnant and have become generally unproductive in life (all I want to do is sleep!) I felt the same way when I took the class, like I was a catechumen learning everything anew. I'm so glad you had that experience as well. I would love to hear about how things are going for you, if you've been able to do anything with what you learned. I've found that even in my "down time" away from the classroom, I still draw on and benefit from what I learned.