Beal's School

Today was Johnny's first day of school. I was completely unprepared because we decided the night before that he could go, so Johnny boy, I'm sorry there are no pictures of you with a lunch box standing at your bus stop with a side ponytail. Wait a minute, that was me, not you. And wait another second, you don't go long enough to eat lunch at school and I drove you, not the bus driver.

Since Johnny is 18 months old now (we start nursery next week and will report) Camille said that Nonny (Nigel's name for Johnny) could come to Beal's school. What is Beal's school? you might ask. When we were little kids, mom sent us to Montessori school with Mr. Veenop and he taught me how to pass scissors politely and how to carve a turkey and he had a little tiny toilet for kids. It is a fond memory of mine.

So fast forward from the time warp to a few years ago when Millie (aka Camille or uncle beal) was teaching at a Montessori school and she certified to be a Montessori teacher. Camille has just the right personality for how Maria Montessori believes adults should act in the lives of children - with love and empowering them to be their best selves. Listen to what Maria has to say...

Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.

The greatest sign of success for a teacher...is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist."

Now for a pretty deep one...
If we have neither sufficient experience nor love to enable us to distinguish the fine and delicate expressions of the child's life, if we do not know how to respect them, then we perceive them only when they are manifested violently.

Camille has sufficient experience and oversufficient love which is one of the reasons she started Beal's school. It is based on Montessori principles and has stations where the children can choose their work and feel loved. It is a great thing.

And now Johnny can be a part of it this fall. Thank goodness beal is full of love and has a digital camera so we could record this momentous occasion.









Thanks to the men for mother's day meals. I didn't lift a finger except to hold this cute girl.