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In late March, the Islands Teens hosted a "Great Exhibition" of projects created during a six month period. ​Learners presented results from five group projects. The first group presented their process and data from the launch of a weather balloon on March 14th which visited a height of approximately 31,863 meters on its flight. The second group “cut the ribbon” on a teen designed and constructed outdoor learning pergola on the school’s property. The third group showcased collaborative quilt displaying their progress with mastering sewing and textiles. A fourth group performed a theatrical presentation planned, created, and performed by the teens. Last but not least, the fifth group premiered a learner created short film. A perspective of this fantastic event was covered by the News and Tribune in a story on March 23rd linked here. Shared here is is the short science fiction film, "Citizens of the Universe", that was written, directed, and performed through a collaborative effort of learners ages 12-14 a.k.a. "The Islands Film Group", and viewed during this Exhibition. #ProjectBasedLearning #Montessori

If all the difficulties during the turbulent metamorphosis of adolescence could be reduced down to one essential question, I think it would be, “Who am I?” Related to this essential question are others, such as, “What do I value the most in life?” and, “Why am I here?” The curriculum of any adolescent program, then, ought to serve the superseding purpose of helping teens formulate answers to this question and all of its relatives. Of course, in many important ways, answers to these questions are deeply personal and therefore subjective. There is not one right and factual answer. Furthermore, the answers are fluid, ideally, because while some aspects of personality persist throughout time, others evolve as we learn more and have more experiences. In another way, though, there is a scientific and objective answer to the question that applies to all ages, cultures, nationalities, ethnicities and races - an answer that applies to anyone from anywhere at any time history: a member of the human race. Sure, this may seem obvious at first, but we are inclined to forget or ignore it all too easily. For most of our species’ existence, we operated as isolated tribes competing with other tribes for resources and, ultimately, survival. As a result, natural selection hardwired our brains for tribalism, leaving us hampered by what E.O. Wilson calls the “Paleolithic Curse: genetic adaptations that worked very well for millions of years of hunter-gatherer existence but are increasingly a hindrance in a globally urban and technoscientific society” (The Meaning of Human Existence 176). This is why, even though most educated people today accept the fact that we all belong to one human family on one shared planet, we don’t act like it. It is why we are susceptible to xenophobia, racism, nationalism, and even religious tribalism, despite the fact that we are an extraordinarily intelligent species with an abundance of facts at our disposal that overwhelmingly demonstrate the myopic and self-destructive reality of such Paleolithic mentalities. Montessori often marvels at the incongruity of humanity’s brilliance and ignorance. In one speech, she observes that, “[Man] is more intelligent now, but the feelings that should accompany this increase in intelligence are still missing, and they cannot stir within him because his way of life is wrong. He is overcome with hatred and does not obey the laws of nature. Nobler feelings - awareness of the unity of all living beings, for instance - are very slowly appearing in him (Education and Peace 97). This observation begs the question: how do we accelerate the actualization of these “nobler feelings,” particularly for those young people metamorphosing physically but also emotionally and psychologically in their final plane of development before adulthood? There is no simple fix, but one accelerant is a comprehensive curriculum that can help them answer the question, “Who am I?” We need a methodology rooted in scientific facts yet spreading out to all other fields of study in order to help us reach up to our highest potential as a species that possesses “enough intelligence, goodwill, generosity, and enterprise to turn Earth into a paradise both for ourselves and for the biosphere that gave us birth” (Wilson 176). A fragmented approach to learning that emphasizes content at the expense of context results in a disorienting learning experience at best, and one devoid of meaning at worst. This traditional approach, prominent since the 19th century, leaves adolescents on their own, by and large, in their quest for answers to their biggest questions. Montessori’s cosmic theory, which informs the pedagogy and curriculum of Cosmic Education in elementary, ameliorates this problem by connecting “all the items of culture...as different aspects of the knowledge of the world and the cosmos. Astronomy, geography, geology, biology, physics, chemistry are but details of one whole. It is their relation to one another that urges interest from a centre towards its ramifications. There is besides this the other part which concerns directing the consciousness towards humanity” (Basic Ideas of Montessori’s Educational Theory 131). Presenting the whole universe story stokes the flames of imagination and piques curiosity about all subjects, as everything the child learns adds more detail to the story. Furthermore, humanity emerges from this cosmic narrative “as a sacred being of creation and as the greatest marvel of nature” (Ibid. 131). Thus, from a very young age, the Montessori learner becomes sensitized to the “unity of all living beings.” Pictured: Kyle is given an elementary level Cosmic lesson by a learner, and then shares teen version. The elementary years in Montessori lay the groundwork for profound revelations in adolescence, but the problem is that the Cosmic Curriculum does not extend into the third plane. Compounding the problem is that our content-heavy educational paradigm dumps information on teenagers without helping them assemble it into any kind of meaningful story, and if we’re not careful, that information dump can quickly suffocate the flames of imagination that once illuminated the world for the child. Fortunately, a history professor named David Christian recognized this problem and developed a course called Big History. The details of the course are less important than the fact that the overarching objective, at least from a pedagogical standpoint, aligns closely with that of Cosmic Education. According to Christian, Big History is, “the attempt to understand, in a unified, interdisciplinary way, the history of Cosmos, Earth, Life, and Humanity” (International Big History Association). Rather than five Great Lessons, Big History demarcates the universe story with eight Threshold Moments of increasing complexity, the last three of which concentrate on the human story. Just as Montessori intended, this approach nests humanity within the larger context of the planet and the universe, and it sets up a magnificent stage upon which the story of humanity finds its proper setting. For the past five years, our Teens Program has been using the Big History conceptual toolkit to link up all the content required by the state of Indiana into one cohesive narrative that aims, above all else, to help our teens answer their most burning question: “Who am I?” Our highest aim is that our graduates “feel the pride and privilege of belonging to humanity” because this is the only way to break the Paleolithic Curse and move our species forward into a more fulfilling, safe, and prosperous future. Sure, aiming for good test scores would be much easier, but Montessori emboldens us with her mission, which is nothing short of “...the true salvation of humanity and civilization” (Education and Peace 28). And sure, it would be easy to surrender to cynicism and say humanity is a hopeless cause, but Montessori teaches us to see ourselves anew, as marvels of creation united as one organism on a very special planet teeming with life in an otherwise unremarkable solar system in an average galaxy among billions in a universe of infinite mystery and wonder. For the adolescent, and for all of us, that should give more than enough room to respond to the question, “Who am I?” with an answer that includes all of us: “I am a proud and privileged member of the human race." #ParentEducation #Montessori

In this post, watch an edited version of the flight recording from the "CMS Obscura" a weather balloon launched on March 14th, 2018 by teen learners ages 12-14 in the Islands at Community Montessori School in New Albany, IN. Visit this link to read a related blog post on the "Great Exhibition" of this and other projects. #ProjectBasedLearning #Montessori

ASSIST Teens led a discussion and viewing of "More than Sad" a documentary produced by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The Foundation has graciously allowed us to post the link to the documentary here. The Foundation also recommended this page as a resource for families that would like more information or support around this topic. When you visit the link, click the section "For parents having conversations with young adults." You can also view the Community Montessori discussion about the video by viewing our YouTube playlist of the night's discussion - both introduction and conclusion. #ParentEducation #Montessori

Please find here the recording of this year's 2018 State of the School Address held on Tuesday, February 6th. #PIPWorkshop #ParentEducation

Here is an update from Diamond Studio (learners ages 9-12) on their reef tank project! #ProjectBasedLearning #ReefTank

Natalie Schelling gave an informative presentation on Montessori theory - and the role of the adult or parent in Montessori Education. View the entire playlist on YouTube here. Download the slides from the presentation here. #ParentEducation #Montessori

On Tuesday, December 5th, Teens from A.S.S.I.S.T. led a workshop with Hannegan Roseberry about mental health and how to best support your teen. There was an informative discussion of societal stigma and how it can get in the way of getting help when it's needed. View the full playlist on YouTube here. Download a copy of the PowerPoint presentation to accompany the video here. Resources: Counseling and Therapy Services in Southern Indiana and Louisville Article: Why It's Tough To Be a Youth in Indiana

(Image: Mark Manson, 2017) I woke up one grey Saturday morning with a brain full of disappointment and a general annoyance about everything. I knew that I had a ton of work to catch up on, bills to pay that I knew were late and about 4 more days until payday, all of the dirty laundry, about 34 emails waiting for a response, and to top it all off the sound of one of my beloved and mischievous cats knocking over all of the objects on the kitchen table to signal me that his food bowl was empty. I rolled over and like most of us, picked up my phone and began chipping away at a mountain of Facebook, Instagram, and email notifications. As I laid there scrolling through my news feed, a message notification popped up from one of my dearest companions. It was a slam poem titled “Complainers” by Rudy Francisco. I had just told this person a few nights ago two very important facts about myself, facts you the reader should also know moving forward: I can’t stand it when people complain. I really love poetry. Curious and excited, I started watching the video and got slapped in the heart with a serious dose of perspective with the following excerpt: Read the rest of the article in a PDF by clicking here.

Order your Fall Spiritwear before November 29th. Visit our webstore link to place your order. OUR FIRST "SNOW" HAS FALLEN - WINTER GIFTING NEEDS ARE POSTED New this year, you can make your gift online (via Paypal) by clicking this link. Please remember to include your studio(s) name(s) when prompted, and it is also helpful if you include your learner(s) name(s). Thank you! Many years ago, our staff decided that in lieu of personal gifts from families, they would prefer to receive materials for their studios. So, every year each studio creates a wishlist of items they would love to add to the materials in their studios. PIP Council uses these lists to create Winter Gifting snowflakes which are hung near the entrance of each studio. To participate, simply choose an item from the display, attach your payment and drop it off to the collection bin at the Curved Desk or make your gift online. (Blue snowflakes are “most wanted” items.) After the gifting is complete, volunteers will organize and place all the orders and gifts will be delivered as they arrive in the new year. This is the perfect way to acknowledge your child’s teacher/advisor and Winter Gifting has become a tradition here at CM. The learners love opening up the boxes and seeing what’s new in the room each January!

Montessori Family Life: A Series of Weekly Talks For Parents Tuesdays via WEBINAR from 1-1:30 PM EDT These webinars are designed for parents and teachers. Guests are invited to present and to share their ideas, insights, expertise, and stories with our audience. Parents and teachers love to interact with guests by asking questions of our guests and adding comments to the presentations. Click Here to Register for Live Webinars Lorna McGrath, Program Director of the Montessori Family Alliance and your weekly webinar hosts are excited to offer parents and caregivers insights, ideas, and support from weekly guests. Coming Up in November and December: Living Life Unplugged Tuesday, November 14, 2017 Maren Schmidt, MEd, Mont cert, author of Understanding Montessori: A Guide for Parents - https://marenschmidt.com/ What Makes a "Good" Toy and Other Holiday Dilemnas Tuesday, November 28, 2017 Lorna McGrath, MEd, Montessori Certified, Program Director for the Montessori Family Alliance -www.montessori.org Stress Free Holidays Tuesday, December 5, 2017 Kathryn Kvols, BS-psychology, founder of the International Network for Children and Families, author of Redirecting Children's Behavior -www.INCAF.com Understanding Your Adolescent- Part 4 Tuesday, December 12, 2017 Jeff Allen, MA, Head of NewGate Secondary School, Montessori certified Secondary Level - www.newgate.edu Understanding Your Elementary Child - Part 3 Tuesday, December 19, 2017 Christine Lowry, MEd, author, Montessori certified teacher, consultant, and founder of Montessori NOW - http://montessori-now.com

Ashley Giles is the Health Services Consultant at Community Montessori. She is a family nurse practitioner and has been a parent at Community Montessori since 2016. She also currently provides primary care to Humana employees. She has presented the information below to share with you based on her experiences as a healthcare professional and parent. We hope you find this information helpful to your family! In the next 18 minutes four Americans will die as a result of their food choices. We are the first generation to have gifted our children with a projected TEN year shorter lifespan. Seven out of ten of the leading causes of death in America have obesity as a main contributor. As parents we are constantly consumed with how to set our children up for success. Which school is appropriate, what sport will develop this specific quality, what peer group is healthy for their emotional development? While these things are important, there is another way position our children for success that may be more effective than any of the previous topics combined. That opportunity comes in the way we teach our children about food. Teaching our children how to properly fuel their bodies may be one of the most important values we pass on to them. As a primary care provider, I see the connection of a healthy brain and body to its effect on a person’s mental, emotional, and social success daily. As a parent of three children, the challenge of this task is not lost to me. As our children grow and become more independent, the challenge grows as they begin to make more of their own choices. Educating our children properly can help this process, as well as setting them up for success in the home by bringing in good food choices. Ultimately, as long parents are shopping and paying for the food in our house, we have an opportunity to positively influence what fuels our children’s bodies and what perceptions are associated with these foods. A lot of parents aren’t sure how to start this conversation. With a lot of trial and error, we finally began educating our children just as we educated ourselves. I would eat a salad and think about the benefits of having glowing skin and lots of energy. When they ask us if a food is healthy often we talk about where it came from. Did we make the food in a factory or did it come from the earth or an animal? Is it ALIVE, as in will it root or last for years? We talk about food in the sense that some foods help us grow strong and healthy and some foods are a special treat that taste good, but that will make us sick and weak if we eat them too often. Our 6 year old will ask us, "Mom, does this food make me strong, or should I just eat a little?". Food is not considered ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but described in the way it acts on the body and how it should be consumed. We have our children eat healthy food first to fill up and explain to them that we want to make sure they have enough energy to play and feel good because that is a way we can care for our bodies. What would Batman do if suddenly the Batmobile was out of gas? These analogies can be applied to princesses or sports stars - vegetables are good for everyone and help us be successful in brain and body power! We talk about only having one body and the importance of taking care of it just like a favorite toy. We also encourage fruit and vegetable intake by allowing these choices any time of the day. While this doesn’t work for some families, it helps us understand if they are really hungry for a snack or just wanting a distraction. It also goes a long way to increase their consumption and variety of vegetables and fruits. Just like commercials are ‘selling’ our kids on the cereals and cookies, we tell our kids stories about tasting a pineapple for the first time, we take them to the orchard to pick apples, we have a tomato and pepper plant in our backyard, we let them help us in the kitchen when preparing meals and we talk to them about the amazing abilities and ‘super powers’ of fruits and vegetables in their own bodies. When we talk about super heroes we talk about how super heroes need to take care of their bodies and how they love fruits and vegetables, too. Our kids are constantly asking us why, so we give them the why in a way that is exciting to them. On the occasion that we do overindulge, it’s not uncommon that our kids come to us with stomach aches. Sometimes it’s helpful to ask them why they think they have a belly ache, and often they will come to the conclusion on their own. High sugar food is not off limits in our house but we try to teach them to respect it for what it is. Just as vegetables can give us ‘superpower brains’, indulging too much or too often in sugary foods can cause our bodies to perform like superman hanging out near 'kryptonite'. Enforcing these concepts on a daily basis can be a challenge. We know from personal experience the time and planning (and conversations) it takes to keep everyone eating nutritious food. When we think about ways we want to support them, this continually comes back as worth the effort and a high priority. We want them to have a healthy relationship with food, to feel good in their bodies, to be able to run as fast as they want to run, to learn and remember the things they want to remember. Having a family meal each night (and letting them help us make it) is a way to be together as a family and it provides structure to their day. It lets them know that spending time with them is important to us. It teaches them that taking care of our bodies and is important and this is a lesson I am still trying to teach most middle-aged patients I have in my practice. Let’s make this lesson be natural and enjoyable for the next generation. While the list of resources in this area continues to grow, (which as a parent I am so thankful for) I will share some things that have worked well for us: Meal planning: These resources provide you with a shopping list and daily recipes for dinners that week. Often times I will double each dinner recipe for lunches the next day. Some examples are Cooksmarts, Kitchn, and Emeals. Meal prepping on Saturday or Sunday to have snacks and lunches ready for the week: Bag frozen vegetables and fruit for smoothies, precook vegetables for lunches, make a healthy ‘dessert’ like energy balls to have a homemade option for food cravings. Using a grocery delivery service: Shop at night on your couch and have your groceries delivered the next day. Setting out carrot sticks or sliced tomato as a snack to take the hunger off: So cooking can be done leisurely and with everyone’s participation. Getting the younger kids stools for the kitchen so it’s easy for them to be involved. Taking our kids to the store and making it a game to find the needed product. Making go to snacks for the week: Energy balls, premixed trail mix, whole apples/tomatoes or carrots and making them easy for the kids (and parents) to see and access. Microwaveable bags of frozen edamame or air-popped popcorn (topped with cinnamon and raisins with coconut oil) are also family favorites. Putting treats away and out of sight and harder to find. Not keeping any premade desserts. If we want pie, we roll up our sleeves and make one- and then store the rest in a container away from site. This also makes for great memories in the kitchen! Joining a CSA or a co-op and letting our kids come with us to fill our bag each week. Buying frozen vegetables: Buy in bulk, lay them out on a sheet pan, spray of olive oil and some sea salt; roast for 30-40 minutes and put into containers for the week. What is prepped will be eaten! Make your vegetables taste good! Add coconut milk, red pepper, soy sauce and peanut butter for a Thai vegetable soup. Pinterest will have a fun idea for almost any vegetable. We love zucchini fritters, cucumber noodles, eggs in a pepper, zucchini boat pizzas, stuffed acorn squash, cauliflower rice, and spaghetti squash with meatballs… the list goes on. Keep it simple. Think JUST. EAT. REAL. FOOD. Food that is alive and will rot if you don’t eat it! Foods that don’t need an ingredient list and are typically found on the perimeter of the grocery store. In writing this article, I had a stunning realization. I worked on a local farm as teen and I remember wanting to eat a healthier lunch than the peanut butter or bologna choice that was offered to us each day. I couldn’t figure out how to do it. I worked on a farm; I picked tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers all day long! I didn’t realize I could just eat what was around me, because I had never seen anyone eat them that way. Now I wouldn’t think twice about eating a variety of vegetables in their raw form and while my kids join me in eating some and not others, they know that it’s possible. It’s considered normal in our house. While our children will grow up and make their own decisions, they have the information they need to be well informed about just what kind of choice they’re making; to thrive or not to thrive. That is the start to generational change and something as parents that we can be excited about. Let’s equip our children with ten lifesaving healthy meals that they can shop for, prepare and enjoy while in school, college or when starting their own family. As our bodies affect our moods, self-esteem, abilities, concentration and confidence along with MUCH MORE this can truly be life changing. Let’s give our kids an excuse to cook at home and LOVE it.