My first experience in the field of education was as a high school Latin tutor and counselor. After discovering Montessori in 1968 I earned AMI Montessori diplomas for birth to twelve and worked as a Montessori teacher and head of school. I, along with colleagues in NAMTA (North American Montessori Teachers Association), carried out research to create the first Montessori farm school for adolescents in the USA. To share this process I was editor of “The Erdkinder Newsletter.”
The above picture was taken in 2019 at Gimnasio Moderno, a school in Bogota, Colombia that was connected with Dr. Montessori and her son Mario. To read more about this school and trip CLICK: Montessori I Bogota
I have traveled in over 70 countries and shared Montessori ideas in more than half of them, lecturing in universities, for government agencies, Suzuki music, education, and homeschooling conferences, and on Montessori teacher training courses. I have consulted in Montessori schools, orphanages, schools for refugees and the poor, and schools with no Montessori materials. Presently I am an international examiner for AMI Montessori diploma courses, a musician and artist—my paintings hanging in homes and institution on six continents, and are found on the covers of most of my books. I have degrees in philosophy, education, world religions, and studied multiple intelligences with Dr. Howard Gardner at The Harvard Graduate School of Education.
This year I was fortunate to attend a work shop MDDA (Montessori Dementia, Disabilities, and Aging) presented by Anne Kelly, with whom I wrote the book A Glimpse of Aging Through a Montessori Lens. I was struck by how the needs of humans, two years old, school-age children, adolescents, and the elderly are of similar, just presented and met in different ways. For more information on this program and the book CLICK: Montessori for Aging
I am full of gratitude for my Montessori teacher trainers, mentors, teaching and consulting experiences, and for my book collaborators and translators. I am a mother and grandmother living with my husband on the north coast of California, constantly inspired by the silence and beauty of the redwood trees, and the Pacific Ocean.
Website: www.susanart.net
Prints and cards of Susan’s art: ART