Ooooooohhh, back to school...back to school...

I've been thinking about going to the local community college and taking a few classes on early childhood development. I already have all my basic courses out of the way, so if I wanted to get another degree it would be really easy. I'd only have to take the core courses for the degree.

Well, I was reading a Montessori book trying to find new ideas for activities to do with the kids when it dawned on me....why don't I take some Montessori-specific classes. I did an internet search and discovered that most of the certification programs cost at least $8,000 per semester, which I'm not about to pay. The search continued until I found a place in Canada called the North American Montessori Center that offers online courses. It's an accelerated 6-month program that covers the 3-6 year range. The cost is $2,000 for the entire program, which includes all my books and postage as well as internet classes on video, online. I would have to e-mail in my assignments.

I was a bit skeptical at first. An out-of-country school online. The website was really nice, and the books that come with the program looked cool, but was it legit? I called my sister Melanie, who most of you know has been a Montessori teacher for years. She teaches at Keystone Montessori and works with Jr. High kids. She just returned from a class trip to Costa Rica. Anyhoo, I had her check it out, and she agreed with me that the program seems legit, and beside that would be way more useful to me than the generic early childhood classes.

I decided to wait until Pete gets his bonus (which should be in the next few weeks), and then I'm going to sign up for the courses. Once I've got my credentials, I'm going to focus my at-home daycare on Montessori teaching methods. I worked as a teacher's assistant at a Montessori school in Phoenix for two years during high school, so I pretty much know what I'm getting myself into. I'm really excited about starting as soon as possible! C'mon bonus check!



Do you have any more gum, more gum, more gum, more gum? Do You Have Any More Gum?!