Michael Deakin

Slow steady nurturing with lots of loving participation is the approach Maria applied to the education of her children. For the book's publication all their names have been changed. Maria, having taken a course in Montessori teaching, decided to bring her children up in a controlled environment she called The Process, where she had total control of their development until they were able to function in the outside world. To this end she devoted herself completely to their educational requirements, doing all her household chores at night so she was absolutely free of outside distractions during the day. Their days were not structured, the learning processs ebbed and flowed from whatever subject or idea caught the children's attention. Christian the eldest, by the age of 12 was a mathematical whiz, having passed all levels of elementary exams to O levels and but for his young age could have attended university. Adam was playing Mozart at the age of 5, hardly able to spread his fingers across the keys of a secondhand piano his parents purchased at, for them, considerable cost. The two young siblings, Ruth and Paul, quite young at the time of writing, were already showing signs of musical and mathematical prowess. This is not a way of life for everyone, not sure I could commit to the long hours of dedication that Maria lovingly sacrificed for the first 15 years of their childhood. I just wish I could find out where and what these children are doing now and what happened to Maria and her husband Martin.....whoever they were!… (mere)