Musical Montessori Life with Debora
Meet Debora, a Montessori mom of two, living in California, USA! She’s an alumna of Homeschool: Primary and a member of Constellation.
Would you introduce yourself, your family, and your lifestyle?
Hi, everyone! I’m Debora! I’m originally from Brazil and, after 17 years in TX, recently moved to California with my husband and two sons.
I’m a board certified music therapist, and I’m passionate about impacting people’s lives through the power of music. I’m also fascinated by early childhood musical development, and I taught for Music Together Dallas until our second son was born.
Our family loves to spend time in nature, and we are often taking hikes in the redwoods and going to the beach with our sons as well as creatively engaging them in music, reading and the arts.
My husband and I are passionate about education, traveling, community work, and growing in our Christian faith. We got involved with the Montessori philosophy while our oldest attended a Montessori preschool for about 2 years, and it’s been an enriching and life changing journey thus far!
What is a typical day for you with your children?
What I love about Montessori living is that you can have freedom within structure after you spend time observing your family’s rhythm. I consider myself someone who thrives in structure; however, living with little people (especially during Covid times) has required a lot more flexibility and patience from me and my husband who’s been working from home.
Because of that, learning about rhythms and routines in Montessori has helped us accept and embrace our boys’ natural rhythms as well as our own. With that said, a typical day for our family has been flowing in four major periods of about 3 hours, similar to the Montessori 3-hour work cycle.
Our morning cycle includes snuggles, breakfast, dressing up, packing, dropping off our oldest at preschool, a short hike or walk for my youngest and I, or errands, quick chores at the house while including the little guy into some practical life whenever possible, bike rides twice a week, free play, and reading time for our youngest before his morning nap.
Our second cycle includes work for me, house chores, free play for the little guy if he’s up, lunch, and picking up our oldest from school.
Our third cycle involves playing outside or doing something sensorial with both boys on the porch, snack, afternoon nap and quiet time, one-on-one time with our oldest to work on specific areas such as language, practical life, art, a special topic he’s interested in or playing tennis with dad on some evenings.
Our last cycle is the one that we are still working on and trying to improve our rhythm. But our night routine usually starts with dinner prep, cleaning afterwards, and then we transition to our bedtime routine, which includes showers, music, books, rhymes and some storytelling.
What experiences do you love to share with your children?
I love to share the gift of music making with my boys because I believe that nothing quite like music can connect us all on a deeper level with our own humanity. Besides music, I also love to cultivate in our boys an appreciation for nature, books, and the arts.
What do your children like to do?
Both our boys love making music at home! They like playing percussive instruments, moving to music, singing, chanting, and listening to their favorite playlists! Spending time in nature is also a favorite, so they love gathering nature items whenever we go on hikes to the creek or on walks in our neighborhood. They also enjoy playing outside in the yard and going to the beach!
We’ve been taking a minimalistic approach to toys and, truthfully, our sons haven’t really shown a ton of interest in them lately because we’ve been doing so much outdoors. However, our 4-year-old loves his animal toys, and he’s constantly drawing his favorites. Our 1-year-old has a couple of favorite stacking toys and puzzles, but his favorite thing right now is to play in the kitchen cabinets.
If it wasn’t for my new gained Montessori understanding, my love for keeping things in order would be an obstacle to his exploration. Instead of fussing about it these days, I make sure he has things he can play with, and I have to say it’s been much easier on all of us!
Tell us something one of your children did recently that you're proud of.
Our 4-year-old noticed how special the moon was the other night while we were eating dinner on the porch and it made me so happy to see that he’s stopping to observe the beauty around us!
What is your favorite Montessori material or activity?
Our favorite Montessori activity lately has been going on nature walks and placing our findings in our nature bin by the window. Because we have been engaging quite a bit on nature play these days, our focus has shifted from toys/materials to activities outdoors involving natural materials.
However, my personal favorite Montessori materials are the geometric solids and the pink tower! They are not only aesthetically pleasing to me, but they offer such a concrete and fun sensorial experience to children. My 4-year-old, on the other hand, would definitely pick the metal insets, if asked. His love for drawing has placed this one on the top of the list too!
What advice would you give to someone just starting out with Montessori?
Don’t worry too much about getting the “right stuff” and trying to get everything ready and perfect in your home for your children. Preparing the environment and learning about the method and age appropriate activities are important parts of the process.
However, I have found that observing and following my children along with doing some deep internal work in regards to how I parent them have been the most life changing aspects of my journey. It hasn’t been easy but it has been a work worth pursuing every day!
If you could time travel and meet Maria Montessori herself, what would you say to her?
Thank you for explaining to us the wonderful mystery of childhood and for teaching us to embrace our children as they are.
What do you tell yourself when you feel like you're failing?
I often tell myself that this is all about progress, not perfection!
What’s been your experience with Child of the Redwoods?
I enjoy having access to the resources, connecting with the community, and our monthly calls.
