Montessori Public: a treasure
"I believe that many people are unaware of the treasure that Puerto Rico has by having free Montessori education."
By Andrea Santiago Vicente
After the experience with her older children in the traditional school, Raquel Gómez starts searching for another educational alternative for her younger child. In that process, she found Montessori education.
One of his older children ended up being a 'homeschooler' because he felt that traditional school did not help him discover himself, did not help him academically and was not satisfied. With this in mind, as a mother she decided to prevent it with her minor children and began homeschooling.
"Montessori has always been attractive, but it's inaccessible, it's impossible for me to put my children in a Montessori school," said Raquel after how distant they were from their home and above all, expensive.
One day Raquel was working to cover the medical expenses of her youngest daughter, and a mother approaches her and tells her about Montessori at home as an experience that could help her daughter. Raquel decides to try it. She begins studying Montessori philosophy, how to introduce children to subjects, topics, what materials to use, how to prepare, and the deeper she went, the more she fell in love.
INE serves 52 public schools with the Montessori philosophy.
So Raquel joined a group of mothers who practiced Montessori at home. These mothers, in search to continue learning and offer the best to their children, sought to have a dialogue with the Instituto Nueva Escuela (INE), a non-profit organization that certifies teachers in Montessori philosophy, about some doubts that arose.
''I asked three questions, and the three questions Jeniffer answered, and said: all your questions will be answered if you have a community. Because they need the community to be completely Montessori,'' said Raquel about one of the points that touched her heart the most in that dialogue.
In an attempt to meet the community requirement that had been mentioned, the mothers who practiced Montessori at home started meeting once a week, but it wasn't enough.
One day, in conversation with one of her friends, she found out that the Juana Sánchez public school in the La Placita neighborhood in Juncos would start with the Montessori philosophy, so as soon as she could, she ran to enroll her 7-year-old son Uriel.
Her desire as a mother to continue with the philosophy was due to the fact that it gave importance to the child, to its stage of development and above all because she trusted that this education would make her child kind, caring and thoughtful of others.
Montessori public schools seek to achieve Peace.
"My oldest son would have been happy in a Montessori environment," said his mother, recalling the experience that led her to educate her children at home.
Raquel admitted how sacrificed it was to study at home and try to have all the necessary Montesori materials to work with her children from home '' and then you realize that there is a public school that offers all that. And one says: wow, there are many people who do not accept the treasure we have, but I do accept it. ''
A twist in Raquel's life
Raquel enrolled her son Uriel in the Juana Sánchez school, she started as a volunteer mother, then she became an assistant and today she is finally an Elementary ll teacher in the same school.
When she started as a volunteer, the school was taking its first steps in the Montessori methodology, and in the transformation process. Over the years, more teachers who wanted to be Montessori teachers were needed, " everyone knew that I was dying for that opportunity," so the principal and INE gave her that much desired opportunity.
Although she admitted that it was a challenge at first, she decided to jump in and take the first step, which was to study pedagogy, since she was not a teacher. Then start training at INE to be an Elementary II teacher today.
Elementary II in Montessori education is 4th, 5th, and 6th grade in the traditional school.
A treasure
''My children speak to me of their teachers with great love and remember them with great love. And I know that they have tried to work with their particular needs. I know that for Uriel an elementary school would have never been the same, if it weren't that one, where he was allowed to pose the questions he did and explore.''
As a mother, she recognizes that families have a voice that is heard and that children are also heard through shared governance, one of the pillars of this education.
For her, something very important about Montessori is that she worked with her children, both physically, emotionally, academically, and spiritually, instilling in them the duty to contribute something to better the world.
"I believe that many people are unaware of the treasure that Puerto Rico has by having free Montessori education."
Raquel has been an Elementary II teacher for 2 and a half years.