When parents take honest pleasure in the company of their children they become the best teachers their children will ever have.
— my reading of Glenn Doman
Behind? I don't think so.
In 2010 Zuri was born, my first daughter, at 35 weeks. The doctor told me we'd have to adjust her age for her milestones, that she'd be a few months behind the rest. I didn't believe it, and I started digging.
I'm a systems engineer. My mind solves problems, looks for answers, builds tools — that's how it's wired. Faced with a new job, you professionalize. You research, you test, you adjust. I read everything I could about neurodevelopment. When Zuri was eight or nine months old I found Glenn Doman's work, and then Montessori and self-directed learning, on a foundation of neuroscience. And I began, at home, with her.
Before Zuri could speak, I taught her sign language. That's how we communicated, and being able to understand her was wonderful. One day, with those same signs, she “read” the cards to me, signing what each one said. I couldn't believe it. That was the spark to open a space and share what we were living.
That's when I understood that learning is fun, and that teaching is a gift. A gift asks for nothing in return, so at the end of the day I don't ask for proof back. My only responsibility is to give her a rich environment to learn in and a full opportunity. The learning comes on its own.
“I create them with my own kids in mind, they get refined through use —here, at home, with everyone's feedback— and only then do they go on sale.”
I kept documenting that path with Zuri for a year, with so many milestones. Pregnant with Ian, I took the intensive IAHP course. And with Ian, Maya, and Rōki I began from day one, with everything I'd already learned.
That's how Papás PRO's materials are born. I create them with my own kids in mind, they get refined through use —here, at home, with everyone's feedback— and only then do they go on sale. Tested with my kids. And they've grown with them. That's why today there are materials from the first months all the way to the most advanced, because that's exactly what I have at home, from a months-old baby to a sixteen-year-old. I design each one knowing that a mom's most valuable resource is her time. Every material is made so that time gets spent in the session with your child, not in producing material.
How we started at home
Two pieces from the vlogs where I documented the journey (2011-2015), with the physical cards we used back then. Today's materials are the digital version of that same path.
To walk alongside your child's learning you don't need to know everything or be an expert. Just enjoy it with them. And along the way, you rediscover the wonder of learning —the one we have to spare as children and tend to forget as adults.
Today I homeschool my children. I've taught them at home through the challenges life brought me, even through the hardest moments. When my first husband died —the father of my first three children— many people told me to just send them to school. But homeschooling had been a decision we made together, and I found a way to hold on to it. Today, with the support of my husband, Rōki's father, we stay committed to this path. More than a decade later, I keep choosing it.
The materials I publish here are the ones I would have wanted when I started. I share them with you so you can walk alongside your child at your own pace, with closeness —without having to become an expert.
— Yendi
If you're looking for my coaching work and accompaniment for moms —including the book Whole Woman, Happy Mom— you'll find me as Yendi Love at yendi.love.
I share with you the materials I would have wanted to have.
Walk alongside your child at your own pace, without having to become an expert.