The Best Classrooms Don't Feel Like One
How Mrs. Miranti found a school where Kazu learns without feeling like he's 'being schooled'
“He doesn't feel like this is school.”
Mrs. Miranti, mother of Kazu (4.5 years old)
Mrs. Miranti wasn't new to Montessori. Long before Kazu started school, whenever he got restless at home, Mrs. Miranti took him outside. Touching rough and smooth tree bark, talking about clouds and the moon. Since Kazu was one year old, Mrs. Miranti had been talking with him about everything they saw outdoors.
When Kazu's younger sibling was born and Mrs. Miranti was busy nursing, the decision was made: big brother goes to school. Her first pick was a Montessori school in Gading Serpong, 13 kilometers from home. But what she found there felt wrong. "They were giving him worksheets. And from what I knew, Montessori isn't supposed to be worksheets." Kazu cried at that school: the rooms were cramped, with barely any sunlight.
“He doesn't feel like this is school.”
Mrs. Miranti, on Kazu's first impression of Joyful Montessori
One day, an ad for Joyful Montessori popped up in her search. Mrs. Miranti came for a trial, and from the moment she walked in, the difference was obvious. The sunlight comes in, Kazu can see outside. Kazu, who had cried at the old school, felt at ease here.
Ironically, the change started with something Mrs. Miranti herself admitted was hard: order. "Because honestly, I'm not an organized person," she said. But it was Kazu who found order first.
At Joyful, Kazu started enjoying washing dishes, and that habit carried home. "He's playing with the water too, obviously, but hey. It's a process." From a mother who admits she's not organized, a child emerged who began building his own routines.
And the way they communicate shifted too. No longer "I'm the mother, listen to me." Now, when there's a problem, Mrs. Miranti asks: "What do you think, abang?" And Kazu can have a real two-way conversation, without anyone losing their temper.
“I'm the kind of person who needs knowledge to build my patience. If I don't understand what he's going through, my tolerance runs out faster.”
Mrs. Miranti, on how Joyful's parenting classes changed her
For Mrs. Miranti, Joyful feels like a small community, not a very formal school. The parenting classes gave her something she needed: understanding. With new knowledge, Mrs. Miranti learned to see the world from Kazu's perspective: "Even though as adults we might think 'oh come on, that's easy' -- it turns out it really is hard for them."
Mrs. Miranti's fear isn't that Kazu can't learn, but that he'll stop wanting to learn. She worries that if Kazu were placed in a conventional school full of targets, the child who used to talk about clouds and the moon since age one might gradually lose his curiosity.
“I just want him to never lose his joyful of learning. His love for learning.”
Mrs. Miranti, on her core hope for Kazu
That's why Mrs. Miranti wants Kazu to continue to Joyful Elementary. Kazu still loves volcanoes, earthquakes, and everything about the earth. And the cost? "Don't make it too expensive so both of them can get in" -- because she wants Kazu's younger sibling to experience the same thing.
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