Hi! Thank you so much for checking out this page to learn about my journey to motherhood, respectful parenting and montessori and waldorf philosophies. I’m so happy to have you be part of our community
My name is Monica Neira and I am the proud mother to one beautiful 3 year old girl (at the time of writing this). My journey to motherhood was NOT easy by any means as it took my husband and I 12 years to get pregnant! To be honest I had completely given up on the thought of having a baby when surprise, surprise, our baby daughter came along. After we had her, it was not an easy time. I suffered from postpartum depression while my daughter suffered from colic. As a result I had a hard time bonding with her for a while. Once the colic went away, a happy, beautiful and curious baby girl emerged. I suddenly began to develop a very strong bond with her and felt extremely protective over her.
When I thought about what I wanted my parenting style to be (once I finally had a chance to breathe a bit!), I realized that I didn’t really like the common parenting styles out there right now where children are punished with time outs or grounding. I felt that there had to be a better way and I went searching for a parenting style and philosophy that resonated with me. That’s when I stumbled upon the Montessori teaching philosophy. I loved how in Montessori the focus was on parenting the child as a whole by developing a child’s confidence and independence through play and practical life activities. I also loved how the philosophies stressed freedom of movement. Although I have yet to convert to a floor bed – the idea of having one really made sense to me. I immediately got rid of things like sit up seats, bumbos, jolly jumpers, bouncers and exersaucers and set our living room up with a “Yes Space” where she was free to play and explore safely.
Through Montessori I also discovered Respectful Parenting (or Gentle Parenting) and the philosophies behind this parenting style really made sense to me and went hand-in-hand with the Montessori teaching philosophies. Basically it meant treating the child as a whole human being and not just a baby – treating the baby with respect and setting respectful but firm limits.
Shortly after my daughter turned one, I started exploring the idea of homeschooling her. Then the pandemic hit which helped to solidify my decision to go with homeschool. There are so many reasons why I came to the decision but in the end I just want to create a lifelong love of learning in her and to continue to develop a very strong bond with her. I have become very passionate about researching and creating homeschool content and curriculum and plan to document the whole process on my blog,
I hope to provide lots of tips, activities, curriculum reviews and amazing resources to help any mommas out there on their own homeschooling journeys! Check out my FREEBIE above to get started!
