Happy New Year from Wildflower Schools! This season of renewal and recommitment is bringing some changes and improvements to our network’s website, too, including this blog, which we are calling “Field Notes.” The name is a nod to both how one might study wildflowers and to the importance in Montessori education–and at Wildflower Schools–of observation and reflection.
With Field Notes, we are providing our network and anyone who is interested in Wildflower Schools with a place to learn from each other. We will connect here through shared experiences and challenges as we support children, teachers, and parents on the unfolding journey toward fulfilling their potential.
Above all, Field Notes is a place where you can hear from the diverse group of individuals who passionately believe in the powerful idea of Wildflower Schools: intentionally small, beautiful schools nested in communities, led independently by teachers who are devoted to bringing Montessori to a full range of families.
These are the people who make Wildflower Schools such a remarkable community: teachers who lead the schools, parents who have chosen Montessori for their children, people like me who work for the foundation that’s growing Wildflower Schools, researchers learning from Wildflower and other Montessori classrooms, as well as partners and other supporters who believe in what we’re doing to bring Montessori education to a broader array of families and communities. You will see and hear from the children who attend Wildflower schools, too, through photos and videos from their classrooms, students’ artwork and writing, and what their teachers hear and observe.
To kick things off, we will explore over the next few months the 9 Principles that guide the design, operation, and philosophy of Wildflower Schools. These are the principles that unite our decentralized ecosystem, and it will be interesting to hear through these upcoming essays how individual members of the network think about these principles and various ways that we apply them.
Along the way, we’ll share announcements from Wildflower Schools as we grow to more communities, bring on more partners and learn more. The last three years, since the first Wildflower school opened, have been an incredible journey, and we’re only just getting started.
Thanks for coming on this journey with us, and for spending time with Field Notes.