HOMESCHOOLING: DISCOVERY & SELF-AWARENESS

EP 144: HOMESCHOOLING: DISCOVERY & SELF-AWARENESS WITH CAITLYN MCLELLAND

In this episode I sit down with Montessori teacher Caitlyn McLelland; we talk about self-awareness, observation and experience-based learning and how it impacts homeschooling and/or having our kids home at this time.

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WE TALK ABOUT:

• The magic of the Montessori method and how we can create experience-based learning at home
• The difference between allowing a child to discover vs. imparting education
• How making a snack, folding clothes, watering plants or washing the car are just as important as the workbook from school and why that’s true
• Being aware that our children are constantly modeling our behavior
• How fostering a natural state of calm focus in children may be as simple/profound as being aware of how we place a cup on the table
• How natural learning environments for children are often multi-aged and full of movement
• Learning to observe ourselves, our children and everything around us -- how it’s a continual practice to master over our entire lives
• Recognizing a child’s strengths, tendencies, qualities by observing them
• Spending time outdoors as a way to slow down and focus on discovery
• Questions to ask your children to elicit their discovery and self-arising nature
• Being ok with being ‘wrong’; understanding that we’re all learning - there is no perfection
• How to foster a healthy environment of self-expression
• How teaching always comes back to our lifelong devotion to self-awareness

If you are home with your kids and have specific questions about homeschooling, teaching or parenting, feel free to email us or contact us on social media and we can invite Caitlyn to do an IGTV or ig/fb live with us! 

She also shared these Montessori resources for parenting and schooling at home right now. 

MORE ABOUT CAITLYN:

Caitlyn McLelland has been teaching and working with children and families for more than 10 years. She enjoys nurturing a clear and loving environment for self-exploration and discovery.

She completed her Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) Primary Diploma in May of 2019 and her AMI Elementary Assistants Training in May of 2018. She speaks Mandarin and spent two years teaching children in Taipei, Taiwan. She also taught in a bilingual Mandarin/English environment at the Sino Montessori School for three years. She is currently working toward a MA in Montessori Education at Loyola University researching the role of observation of the natural world and neurological development.

She believes:A classroom is not defined within walls and that it is in every and any space people are. We learn from each other and from our environment. We learn from observing our children and ourselves.

Happy listening,