AGAPE

Mrs. Smith

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I am Edna Smith, Directress of Agape Garden Montessori School.  I was born and raised in Parkersburg, West Virginia.  My early years were filled with family activities including attending church, going camping and visiting relatives. My favorite pastime was playing school with my dolls and stuffed animals while my older siblings were off to school.  Even then I dreamed of being a “teacher.”  When I finally got to go to school, I was thrilled to learn to read and to learn of far away places.  Math was so much fun, too! 

     In 1967, fresh out of high school, I married Ronald Smith and our life together began.  It wasn’t long before our three children was born.  Caring for and teaching Michelle, R-Jay (Ronald II), and Heather was a very important work for me and I loved it, but still I longed to be in a classroom with more children.  When the youngest, (Heather,) was just 6 months old, I went to college to pursue my dream.  It took me 4 years to finish and Associate Degree, but I was able to secure a job at Joyful Sound at a local church and was blessed to be able to bring my children with me and to work with many children. 

     Eventually, Ron was transferred to southern California for his career and my plan was to be a stay-at-home mom and perhaps go back to college, but at Montessori in Redlands, I discovered such a marvelous way of providing children with an education suited to each one and their purpose.  While there, I continued my education and was working toward a Bachelor Degree in Early Childhood Education at Valley Collage and Cal State University/San Bernardino.  Then I was blessed to be awarded a scholarship to the Montessori Institute of Los Angeles. With an AMI diploma in hand from MILA I began my first experience as a Directress at Arborland Montessori Academy in Fullerton, California.  It seemed my dream of being a ‘teacher’ was finally fulfilled there.  It was a marvelous experience.

     Then, our family received news that my mother-in-law was in failing health in West Virginia and my own mother was also aging and we decided it would be best to move closer to them.  I found a position in Kokomo, IN with the Montessori Children’s House of Kokomo in 1991.

     Eventually, through the Grace of God I was blessed to open Agape Garden Montessori School under the Ministry of Agape Gardens Ministries, Inc. in 2005 and remain as the Directress at present.  Agape Garden proudly includes all of the elements that Dr. Montessori developed including Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Mathematics and Spiritual Formation.  She discovered that: “Education is more than ‘learning to read or attain specific skills,’ but should be Preparation for life.”  Her method is based on “helping the child to help himself’” and to build the adult to come through exploration and ‘hands on’ experience that sparks a lifetime of learning and growing.  It continues to be a joy to see those ‘aha’ moments when children discover truths as if they are the first to do so.

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