All this time we have been immersed in the course of philosophy from Maria Roth.
How to tell about this course in a nutshell? I don’t know, so I’ll tell you the best I can!
Negotiations were going on for several months, but we received the consent 5 days before the start of the course. There was no time for doubts and nerves.
None of us had ever done anything like this, but we exhaled and announced the philosophy.
By the weekend more than six hundred people had registered! It was a shock and a challenge for us. How to organize such a huge number of people?
We did not know what we were getting into, but we did it without any hesitation because we understood how important the impact would be for Ukraine. And we were right.
Even now, at the end of the course, we can say that it was a real miracle – the team was incredible, like pieces of one puzzle, and without each and every one of them this course would not have turned out the way it is.
So who are they, the people who made the fairy tale come true?
Maryna Losytska is a student of Maria Roth, the owner of the “Svit u kyshenci” school network, the ideological inspirer of the course. It was Maryna who offered Maria Roth to give Ukrainians access to her course. Maria gladly agreed and then there was a long way of negotiations with AMI. When we were granted permission, Marina started translating the handouts!
Anna Volokhova – the founder of Montessori Ukraine, and a teacher with international experience, negotiated with AMI, and later administered the course and at the same time led the work of the organization.
Ksenia Ryzhak, a student of Maria Roth, who graduated from the course this year, kept in touch with Frau. Roth as she lives in Munich. She read 85 pages of handouts, administered the course, and systematized the information!
Olena Naumenko – trainer in the training center in China gladly agreed to translate lectures and be the Ukrainian voice of Frau Roth. Olena translated the videos and recorded them herself, spending almost 100 hours on this process!
Olesia Vasylenko, the owner of the kindergarten “Dim Malechi”, joined immediately and was engaged in online communication.
Instagram stories, posts and reels are her handiwork.
Iryna Kurilyak – co-founder of the Montedino kindergarten, joined to help organize the course and check the handouts. And there were thousands of them! Checking the handouts is one of the most energy-consuming tasks, but Iryna together with Violetta steadily carried it.
Violetta Kaleda, the director of the World of the Child Montessori kindergarten, also joined to help with the administration and verification of handouts. In total, there were more than 7 thousand of them! Together with Iryna, she was engaged in checking homework every day!
And one more very important person helped with the administration, throwing homework in the classroom, editing the video, and uploading it into the chat.
So, eight of us, for a whole month were in touch with +400 students, answering questions, meeting in the zoom, and solving problems. We cried and laughed all together.
Boundless gratitude cannot be expressed in words.
According to our estimates, the course directly affected at least 6000 people. And I believe this is only the beginning of the Montessori wave in Ukraine. Together with Frau Roth, we have breathed hope into teachers, but there are many trainings for parents and teachers, meetings, and discussions ahead. We believe that teachers will be able to convey the philosophy to colleagues in their schools, friends, and parents. Let these words and faith spread everywhere. Follow the child. Observe and follow. And the child will lead us to a better world!
