So friends, this week I had the pleasure of visiting the AMI Montessori Headquarters in Amsterdam! I can not say enough how special this experience for me. I have spent my entire professional career in Montessori Education (even obtaining my Masters with emphasis in Montessori Education), so getting to visit place that holds such importance to the Montessori world felt surreal.
Why I visited…
One of the closest people to me is currently living in Hamburg, Germany. I miss her always, so when the opportunity presented itself to visit her, I (of course) jumped on it! I had visited Amsterdam once before but was unable to make it to the AMI Montessori Headquarters and I told myself I would be back one day to do just that. So I did.
How to visit…
For those of you with hopes of visiting the Montessori Headquarters, it is by appointment only. I definitely suggest sending an email to one of their representatives to coordinate! They booking experience was simple and their representatives were very kind.
I will forever remember that my appointment to visit where Maria Montessori spent so much of her time was on Monday, February 10th at 3pm. I was staying at the Stayokay Amsterdam- Vondelpark Hostel, just on the other side of that beautiful famous Amsterdam park.
Observations of the Area…
It was a simple tram ride and short walk to reach the Montessori headquarters from my hostel. As I exited the tram and stepped to (what seemed like) a more residential part of town, I noticed (and had not put together previously) that local schools were just getting out for the day. Ah! My appointment was at 3pm… made perfect sense!
Reflective Observations…
And all of a sudden, I saw how Dr. Montessori could have fallen in love with the area. What I observed of the families and children was so beautiful that my descriptions could never do it justice… but I’ll try.
What I saw was a teacher riding a bike that pushed a buggy with six small children in it. All of the children were bundled up (as it was in the mid-30’s) but we’re so joyful. They were all singing songs and happily interacting with each other.
I saw an Elementary age child riding his bike home, park his bike, lock it up, and head inside to greet his mother.
I saw groups of children of all ages waiting for the tram to take them to their respective parts of town.
I saw three young children walking with their parents, jumping in every puddle on the sidewalk.
And all of this was so Montessori. The children were so independent. So joyful. So interested in the elements. So at peace.
It was such a beautiful few moments of observation of Dr. Montessori’s part of town and was an amazing lead up to my visit of her office… which I will tell you all about next week. 🙂
Stay tuned…
