Hi, I'm Iza, I live in Poznań, Poland. Together with several families, I create a small Montessori school and preschool community, and I lead the school itself. Regarding the moment of awakening, I think the birth of my children forced me to reflect more deeply on how I was shaped as a child. And to discover the rather shocking truth about always trying to do something for someone, always because someone else wanted it this way and not another. I think this made me realize that the traditional education system that shaped me is like the Ford Model T factory ;) Everyone is supposed to be identical, no one in harmony with themselves or others. After the birth of my first son, I heard, completely by accident, about a Montessori preschool in my city. I started researching what it was all about, and what I discovered seemed very sensible and in line with what I wanted for my child. Unfortunately, there are no free public Montessori schools in Poland, so for almost three and a half years I cared for my son alone, using the method and reading every Montessori book I could find. Around that time, my grandmother sold her house and decided to give a portion of the proceeds to each of her grandchildren. This led us to the decision to choose a Montessori preschool for our son and daughter. This was the beginning of a fascinating adventure with Montessori, but also, above all, with rediscovering the child. I was so moved and engaged by the changes taking place in my children and me that shortly after my younger daughter arrived, I began working at these schools as a bit of a "hands-on person." Sometimes I spent time with the children in the classroom, handled administration, created and updated course materials for the training center, both graphically and linguistically, and there were times when I filled in for a preschool teacher on extended leave. I learned a great deal, but I also made many sacrifices, which ultimately resulted in the end of our collaboration. As I now clearly see, the management imposed on us a very unhealthy ethos of sacrificing our own well-being for the children. Since we were all people with a deep mission, this was a form of emotional blackmail. Many children were also expelled from the school by the principal because they didn't fit in or were disrupting the work of others, and the practices used against them bordered on abuse. After these events, a group of parents from these schools and one teacher decided to create our own Montessori micro-school, where I am now the lead teacher for children aged 6-12.