I love to learn.
Education did not come innately.
When our first son, Oscar, was born, in 2002, my aunt gave me a book called L’éveil de votre enfant (the awakening of your child.)
Yes, I know, the title doesn’t sound like much, but that books enough to lay the foundation of our education, with a lot of autonomy for the child, a lot of trust between us and him. The word seems ambitious for a little one, but I do not see how to better say it: trust he’d learn the appropriate movements at the appropriate times, and that if he ventured somewhere, he felt able to do so.
This wasn’t always easy. We were swimming a bit against the current, and our parents did not always understand…

And then, just before his 3 years old, we went to live in South Africa.
There, I discovered the Montessori education.

Not only Oscar was in a Montessori school, but I studied and passed a diploma for 3-6 year old Montessori educator. The idea was to set up a school. (In the absence of a work permit, I was developing other ideas!)
The project was finally not finally, but it taught me a lot as a mum.

A few years later, we were back in Paris, with Oscar and Alice, his little sister born in Johannesburg.
2 years in Paris at 100 miles an hour, where I went back to a « serious » job, (I’m an engineer), and had little time to ask myself questions.
In 2011, we left again, this time for Mexico, while I was pregnant with our 3rd child. Leon was born in Guadalajara, 2 months after our arrival.
Settling in Mexico has been very exciting for our entire family!
We got to learn a new language, meet new friends… It was a very happy period.
Our last year there (2014) was marked by the birth of our 4th (and last) child: Anatole.

Over that last year, I attended a parents club, hosted by the school psychologist. Each month, she gave us an book on education to read, and we met to discuss. I learned a lot of things that year! Too much. One book a month is too much to really integrate the principles.

Then, we moved again… This time, we went to live in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is once again a nice destination, perfect for both English and Spanish, but we were sad to leave Mexico, and it’s been a real challenge for us all.
A really difficult change. A temporary apartment for 3 months. The atmosphere at home deteriorated.
Then, in January 2015, a few months after our installation, while I finally had time for myself, the little one starting part-time daycare, I picked up a book I had brought back from Mexico with me: How to talk so kids will listen and listens kids will talk.
This time, I took my time to read it. 5 months. I was talking about it to my husband. I was putting the advice into practice at home. The atmosphere transformed.

So I kept my momentum going, I’ve read other books by the same authors, then others. In August 2015, I created a blog for myself, for us. Because I didn’t want to forget what I had read, because I wanted to organize it. Because I wanted to be able to easily share it with my husband. I wanted to note what had worked.
Less than 2 years later, I realize that we have come a tremendous way, and I want to share it with others.
This isn’t a new desire, this sharing has already taken place with relatives: my brother and my sister-in-law, our best friends… But I now realize that I have things to bring to a lot more people than that.
So, two projects were born:
To lead parents workshops, which I started to do in September 2016, and I’m so happy about it!
And to create a « real » blog, to share it.
That’s what you’re seeing today. A blog that opened in October 2016, while I actually started to write it more than a year before…
I summarize what I read, write what I observe, what I put in practice, record my thoughts on the subject…

I hope it will help, it will inspire you, it will participate to a great atmosphere at home.

Do not hesitate to give me your feedback, I will always be glad to know what you think, what has served you, what has worked or not at home…