Thrive Parenting Series

Montessori Parenting Series

We’re excited to offer a series of Parent Education online events, featuring guest speakers who are experts in applying Montessori principles to parenting. We know that children thrive when home and school work in partnership. We hope you will join us, ask questions, learn, and gain support for your journey as a Montessori parent.

Offered every Wednesday Evening on Zoom

April 6th through April 27th, 2022

Eastern: 8:00 PM
Central: 7:00 PM
Mountain: 6:00 PM
Pacific: 5:00 PM

Registration is free for parents associated with Montessori Thrive member schools.

April 6, 2022

How To Thrive At Parenting

Lorena Seidel

Want to stop having power struggles with your child? Want a balanced and emotionally helpful home? This is the perfect session for you! Lorena Seidel will be sharing her wisdom on positive parenting and parenting with emotional intelligence.

Lorena Seidel M.Ed. is a Social Emotional Learning {SEL} Consultant, a certified Montessori teacher, a trained Positive Discipline Educator, a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction MBSR}teacher, and a mother of three. She helps adults create a more positive relationship with young children and a more peaceful home and classroom environments.

Lorena has helped thousands of parents and teachers stay strong, calm, and remain effective even under the most stressful moments. She has guided them to develop their children’s social, emotional, and life skills. Lorena has transformed the home-life and the parent-child relationships of hundreds of families- for life!

A sought after speaker who has delivered keynote addresses and lectures at local, national and international conferences such as the American Montessori Association and British Columbia Montessori Association. Lorena speaks at libraries, organizations, and mom groups such as MOPS and Holistic Moms Network. Lorena gives talks at a variety of Montessori and independent schools, including Sacred Heart University. She has been interviewed for several online summits, including being featured alongside Simon Sinek for the Early Childhood Leadership Conference. Lorena’s articles have been featured at NYMetroParents, Motherly, Welcome Parenthood, and more.

Lorena is also the author of The Purposeful Child: A Quick and Practical Parenting Guide to Creating the Optimal Home Environment for Young Children. Lorena lives in Connecticut with her husband and three daughters.

This session will be geared towards parents of any age group!

April 13, 2022

The Case For Peaceful Parenting

Kiva Schuler

We will discuss the leading edge of research that supports what we've known for a long time... that peaceful parenting gives children their best chance for self-confidence, intrinsic motivation and cooperation. You'll discover: That the way you long to show up as a parent (loving, calm, direct and connected) isn’t just possible… It's preferable. How to parent effectively without yelling, punishments, threatening negative consequences, and repeating yourself over and over... to radically improve your child's development, sense of self-worth and overall mental health. The Shift to the Transformational Model of parenting that doesn't simply eliminate inappropriate, unsafe (or just annoying) child behaviors, but actually teaches positive behavior & healthy habits. How to LOVE your role as a parent, and raise confident, empowered kids who are self-disciplined, emotionally intelligent and successful in their relationships, careers and ability to be the future leaders we need them to be!

Kiva Schuler is the founder of The Jai Institute for Parenting, which certifies parenting coaches in The Transformational Parenting Method. Transformational Parenting emboldens parents to create a new path forward to creating more peace, connection and cooperation in their homes. Giving parents a foundational knowledge of nervous system regulation, emotional intelligence, conscious communication and parenting from values (instead of threats, yelling, punishments, inconsistent expectations, and even rewards) our work has transformed families all over the globe. Our hope is that peaceful parenting becomes the norm, as children thrive when they experience a home rooted in this methodology.

This session is geared for all Montessori families and will contain information appropriate for every developmental stage!

April 20, 2022

Freedom Within Limits: Setting Effective Boundaries For Your Child Following Montessori's Principles

Katie Padiak

Dr. Maria Montessori encouraged adults to allow free choice for the child: “Let us leave the life free to develop within the limits of the good.” But she also stressed the importance of setting limits to allow the child to feel safe. As parents we must provide our children with freedom while also enforcing limits. But we all know this is more easily said than done. Join Katie Padiak to learn how to set effective boundaries for your child while still supporting their freedom to choose.

Katie Padiak is a trained Montessori Early Childhood teacher with 10 years’ experience in the classroom. She is also the owner of Ontogenesis Montessori Consulting and works as a Montessori parenting consultant who helps families add elements of the philosophy to their homes. One-on-one, Katie helps families meet the needs of their child, build family relationships that promote connection, and support the child on their path to independence. She is also mom to a 4-year-old Montessori kid.

This session will be geared towards parents with children in the first plane, but all parents are welcome to join!

April 27, 2022

Growing Your Home To Include More Nature

Sarah Sallade

Maria Montessori described the sensorial experience of the 1st plane as essential to the child’s development, and where better to learn about the world, than to experience it directly. As it turns out the natural environment isn’t only beneficial for children of the 1st plane, but children of all ages including adolescents and adults. It is where we gain balance, learn self-regulation, practice patience, develop our creativity, connect with others, and find peace. It is essential to human well-being, yet it is often difficult to navigate bringing children into nature. In this interactive workshop we will cover some more about the essential benefits nature provides, discuss challenges caregivers encounter when taking children outside, relieve fears about being out in nature, and of course provide many suggestions for how to incorporate nature into your homes and everyday lives as Montessori caregivers.

Sarah Sallade (B.S. University of Vermont, M.S. & M.Ed. University of New Hampshire) is the founder and primary guide for Growing Home, LLC an organization designed to support caregivers on their journey through their child’s development. Focusing on the idea that capturing the joy of childhood through a whole-child education leads to family harmony and a more peaceful world. From camp counselor and Girl Scout leader to international citizen science curriculum developer and teacher trainer for GLOBE and then a public school educator she had always looked to nature as a grounding force to teach skills and concepts such as observation, communication, self-confidence, emotional regulation, internal rhythm, service, connectedness, and empathy. When she joined the teaching team in the adolescent program at Hollis Montessori School she was captivated by the scientific approach used by Maria Montessori and quickly felt this was the type of education philosophy and community she had been seeking to join throughout earlier parts of her career. Since leaving Hollis she has continued to deepen her Montessori practice. Now that Sarah is homeschooling her children using Montessori’s theories and the ideal of education for peace she also aims to provide those experiences for other families in her community across northern New Hampshire and beyond; working with both children and their caregivers to spark their joy, tune into their internal sense of rhythm, and connect with each other as well as the natural environment.

This session will be appropriate for all Montessori parents!