On June 11th, 2021, our time at Montessori Family School (MFS) came to a close. Both Amara and Havana graduated from their respective classes. Havana completed her 6th year, thus marking the end of elementary while Amara completed her 8th year, making her a high school student. Wow doesn't even begin to express how we feel at how the time flew by. We started MFS when Amara was in 1st grade with Havana following two years later, staring in K. Both girls have benefited greatly from their time in a Montessori school.
As I process the close of this chapter I can't help but look back at our history at MFS. From Amara's initial school tour (given by another Amara!) to her last day, she has grown and thrived. She learned, she led and she came into her own. There were challenges along the way. She came to appreciate her small school but realized that a larger pool of students in high school will give more opportunity to develop friendships with like minded peers. She is excited about doing sports, finding hiking pals and peers who may be interested in design as much as she is. Having been in a very challenging middle school program (bordering on unhealthy), Amara met all the deadlines and goals. But she left knowing that while she still desires to feed her deep curiosity and quest for knowledge, she wants to have fun as well. She does not want to push herself to the degree she had to in middle school but at the same time, she is proud of her accomplishments. Like being the pizza business CEO, which pushed her in many important ways. Good life lessons for one so young. She is both excited and nervous about high school but I know Amara will continue to do her very best. She is an outstanding student, a thoughtful and loyal friend and has a deep desire to learn. We can't wait to see what's next.
Havana also finished the year off in a great place. Both girls returned to school the last six weeks of the school year which, made a world of difference. With Havana, we saw her enthusiasm return. She turned out some impressive papers including a research paper on diseases. Havana's creativity is not just with painting, drawing and designing. We discovered she has some great writing skills and is a wonderful story teller. Havana continued to devour books throughout the year. We saw improvements in math and spelling. We also realized over the course of stay at home learning that Havana too needed a bigger social pool. Havana is one who flourishes with her friends and she would do better in a middle school that would not only allow her the opportunity to make new friends but also one that was much less rigid and offered lessons and support. These things led us to make the decision to leave MFS and try something new.
The reality of leaving MFS has sad for the whole family, even if we are excited for what lies ahead. Our family has been one of those 'very involved' families. Every event, fundraiser, need to help out, sitting on the head of school search, being a room parent, driving kids and more, I was there with the other involved parents. I felt like I was part of the school too. Don felt that way as well. Almost every event for years, you'd see him washing dishes and cleaning up. With the pandemic causing 1 1/2 year of no active involvement, we were able to start our separation early. I think that made it easier but the idea of never sitting in on another Friday community meeting makes me a little teary. The silver lining was that the MS kids and their families were allowed to be inside the community room for the graduation speeches. This allowed for us to step back in the the school for the first time in a 1 1/2 years and say goodbye, as we supported the 4 graduating 8 years.
We have loved MFS deeply and we leave with deep gratitude for all that it gave our two small gems. They are have a solid foundation of how to navigate school in an organized way (ah, those executive functioning skills!), they know how to find answers, explore their passions and they know what they need. They are now able to identify what they did not get in school and the importance of finding those things for themselves. Their Montessori education taught them to move through their lives with independence, thoughtfulness, care and kindness. But now onto new academic adventures. So goodbye, farewell MFS. We bid you well.
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| Of course, Luvey & Ellie attended as well. |
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| Some school pals getting Baskin Robins after school. Going there on the first day & the last day of school has been a tradition for 8 years. |
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