Clementine Early Childhood Community

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Libertyville, IL
Clementine Early Childhood Community

Clementine is a classroom in downtown Libertyville offering Montessori parent-child classes to children ages 0-3+.

Clementine is a space in downtown Libertyville offering Montessori parent-child classes for children ages 0-3. Parent (or other caregiver--grandparent, nanny) and child attend together. The children work & play in a prepared Montessori environment, and the adults observe, chat with each other, learn and talk about various parenting topics, and join their kids with the materials.

11/18/2025

It was chilly but the kids didn’t care!: babies snug in hats and bassinets, toddlers & preschoolers on push trikes with mittens and hats on and off again and again. I met a grandma who is also my neighbor. The sun was bright and the sky was clear, and everyone talked and walked on this beautiful preserve path.

It can be challenging to stay together as a group, but I’ve got a few strategies up my sleeve and the most important part is that everyone prioritizes patience and being together over speed and covering ground.

Beautiful Monday!

(We pause our walks until March…in December we hit the [open!] gym !)

11/15/2025

I loved welcoming session families to our Open Classroom event today!

Besides moms & dads, we had brothers and sisters, an aunt & uncle, and even a great grandma join us.

Wonderful morning…can’t wait to do it again next session!

11/12/2025

You may have noticed that I highlight each class once each session, and today’s the day for Tuesday Toddler 1!

I usually share an individual photo of each social-media-👍child in these posts, and I did that here, but I also included a few bonus shots at the end to really highlight how cohesive this group has become by week 9.

You might be hard pressed to correctly identify which adults belong to which kids, and that’s because the children have become so comfortable in the space and with the other adults, and the adults have genuinely gotten to know each other.

Kids move around the classroom to work, check in with their adults, and then go on to the next important task: trail mix prep, book with a group, do some gluing, take a walk around with the push popper.

The adults are having great conversations about too many things to list.

Montessori talked about a classroom humming along as if the teacher didn’t exist, and that’s honestly how this group rolls!

I ran downstairs to grab the edamame from the fridge, and I’m not sure anyone noticed I was gone.

(The good news is that each of our classes experiences its own unique version of this dynamic, and this is why I love keeping a consistent group together all session, and as closely as possible, all year long!)

11/09/2025

Bring together…

🍊 full-session families
🍊 returning families
🍊 and a brand-new family

…and you’ve got a fantastic fall pop-in!

I love spending my Saturday mornings here.

Full class, full heart. 🧡🧡🧡

11/05/2025

If you’re wondering if a group of six toddlers can wait patiently for the seventh to take his turn blending the cheese dip, the answer is yes.

10/31/2025

These crawlers are just an absolute delight.

I wake up every Thursday looking forward to the babies’ expressive personalities (all of them!), fantastic conversations with their moms and dads, and an hour of enjoying the classroom together.

After just these few weeks, they’re already such a cohesive group: we all bring our questions, ideas, suggestions, and opinions to every class.

It feels like someone is doing something new all the time!…today: first classroom steps, her longest stretch yet.

We all cheered!

10/27/2025

Four years ago yesterday was our first class, and boy was I nervous!

It was good, maybe not great—yet!—and the adventure was underway.

Past years’ anniversary posts have been sappier, but I’m just feeling kind of steady this year.

I had the thought the other day that this work doesn’t feel like my new job anymore!—it’s just my life, one where I’m at Trader Joe’s on a Saturday night picking out the best gourds to check all the boxes (bumpy/smooth, different shapes, different colors), the systems are in place, and I have time to breathe and work on tweaking things to create the best experience possible for families and dreaming up the next big step. And while all of that is happening, Clementine is really everything I dreamed it would be and more.

I’m still so grateful for my own family and friends for continuing to share, post, ask, and visit me at the farmer’s market.

I’m grateful that families keep coming, open to learning about what might feel like a different way to raise kids, and that some of them are still around since that first session.

I’m grateful that I can use every part of my brain and heart every day.

Here’s to the next four years!

PS: I celebrated by ordering myself a new pair of slippers!

10/22/2025

Our Tuesday-Toddler- 2 crew is truly a delight!

This session, we have:

> seasoned veterans (ready for leadership + taking the classroom on with confidence)

> just-youngers (building independence + joining them for all kinds of adventures: food prep, handwashing trips, walks around the room)

> brand-new toddlers (absorbing everything + slowly settling in for longer stretches of work)

I’ve lost count of the number of little groups forming for all kinds of tasks.

This class just goes to show that there’s room for everyone at the table!

10/13/2025

Montessori activities frequently offer ready-made connections (matching objects to pictures, for example) as a control of error to build a child’s understanding of a concept.

Even more delightful: when they make their own connections–sometimes when I don’t intend them or even realize they’re here to be found!

🥝 He noticed and asked about this new-to-him fruit from a book, then we happened to have it for snack that same day!

🦓 I rotated in a zoo animals puzzle before I rotated out a zoo animals matching activity.

🐶 Dogs on the shelf, a dog to color--I wondered whether anyone would notice this one, and she did!

This is just one thing I love about Montessori–we prepare the environment, and then the environment calls to the children!

Address

526 N Milwaukee
Libertyville, IL
60048

Website

http://clementinecommunity.com/

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