THE PEACE PROGRAM
community & education, that’s PEACE!
As an educator, Mariana Bissonnette knew how critically important the early years were, but it wasn’t until she became a parent, that she realized that the key to supporting children was to support the adults around them. Mariana founded The PEACE Program in 2016 as a drop-in play group for local families that provided both community and developmental education.
Mariana’s weekly playgroup supported over 1200 families in just the first three years alone! It turns out—not surprisingly—that parents with babies are often lonely, craving community, and seeking developmental information about their children. Mariana’s non-judgmental and developmentally-focused approach brought many families into Montessori education and even saw one parent go on to become a Montessori educator herself!
The PEACE Program (Parent Education and Child Empowerment) evolved over the COVID-19 pandemic into virtual programming and now serves families and educators globally with community and education geared toward the adults supporting children from birth to six. In addition, Mariana now works with a team of Montessori educators in her facilitation and mentorship programs.
The PEACE Program provides critically needed access to developmental information and a community during the most critical years of the child’s development.
“What I love about Montessori education is that it both centers the child’s development and has a deep commitment to ending oppressive parenting and teaching styles. This method is as effective as it is revolutionary and I am here to show you how to do it in your home, your classroom, and everywhere in-between.”
— Mariana
BUY THE BOOK
Babies Build Toddlers
Babies Build Toddlers is an illustrated guide to parenting through a child’s first 18 months. With its casual and accessible tone, this book gives readers clear developmental timelines, practical suggestions for how to support the child’s development, and the basics of Montessori Education from birth.
Montessori is an approach to education as an aid to life; a life whose critical foundation is built in the first three years. Author, Mariana Bissonnette brings her experience as a classroom Montessori teacher, her two AMI Montessori trainings, as well as her experience parenting her own children to the design and content of this powerful book.
Wow. This was so. good. This is just a really thoughtful, well-done book with so much knowledge and goodness packed in. It’s something I return to again and again as my child grows. - Lauren
THE PEACE PROGRAM
mission & vision
-
WHAT WE DO
Our mission is to support adults supporting children during life’s most critical period of human development.We offer coaching for parents, families, teachers, assistants, and school leaders to provide this support.
-
WHERE WE ARE GOING
Our vision is for children to reach their developmental potential and thereby find peace within themselves that they can bring to the world.We enhance the Montessori Method by adding a layer of support around the adults on either side of the classroom door to access community, education, and expert guidance.
-
WHY WE EXIST
We exist because the time is now for peace and peace is only possible through the liberation of the child from the oppressive systems that constrain their ability to develop as they are trying to. Our programs are essential to the well-being of children. Too often, the adults around children rely on punitive, oppressive methods of correction - even when trying to implement the Montessori Method. Having a guide creates less stressed, more proactive, developmentally-aligned adults in the lives of children.
-
HOW WE SHOW UP
We value self-reflection, self-care, responsiveness to being/becoming Anti-Bias / Anti-Racist, and a deep commitment to the whole child within the whole family. We keep our values front and center in all of our programming. We invite every community member and stakeholder into our spaces with these values in mind.
-
WHERE WE STAND
We stand in solidarity with Black, Indigenous and People of the Global Majority against racism and the systematic oppression of People of the Global Majority. We use our programming to uplift the work of Black, Indigenous, and practitioners/ families of the Global Majority so that we may live into the values of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. Learn more about my Anti-Bias / Anti-Racist work here.
-
The PEACE Program operates on the unceded territory of Huchiun, part of the ancestral land of the Lisjan Ohlone people who traditionally speak the language Chochenyo (currently occupied by the City of Oakland, CA).
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, I hope you join us in contributing to the Shuumi Land Tax, a voluntary financial contribution that non-indigenous residents can make to support the acquisition and preservation of local land for Indigenous people. If you live outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, I encourage you to find, honor and acknowledge the Native Land you live on. Read my full Land Acknowledgement here
Our Story
2016, Mariana opens her first playgroup for local families
2016, the Montessori elementary children would often bake banana bread and deliver it to the moms during our baby group - everyone loved this
2017, the playgroup moved to a bigger space next door where it could be set up as a Montessori Nido for infants and their parents
2017, during our playgroup, we let the babies play and talked about child development, Montessori, and parenting
2017, the Montessori Nido space was outfitting with Montessori toys and materials that families who didn't have access to a drop-off Nico program could access
2017, the playgroup became so popular in the community that we regularly filled the space out with 10-12 babies and their parents each week
2017, Mariana's children who attended the Montessori Primary program would often help Mariana set up the space for the babies - they loved this!
2018, families at our playgroup! We talked a lot about sleep, play, and development of infants.
2018, Mariana with a logo and a sign! Mariana hung her first banner for "The PEACE Program" - Parent Education And Child Empowerment
2018, on weekends, Mariana would transform the playgroup space into a mock Montessori nursery and run workshops for expecting families
2018, expecting family workshop in Mariana's mock Montessori nursery "Parenting the Newborn"
2018, Mariana began to offer community parenting workshops that were open to the public and hosted by a local Montessori school - The PEACE Program was expanding!
2019, Mariana started to run workshops at Montessori organizations locally, including this one that has record-breaking attendance
2019, While running The PEACE Program, Mariana was still a classroom teacher! Mariana taught Montessori Primary for 5 years and Montessori toddler for 3 years
2019, every Tuesday at 10am, Mariana would step out of the classroom to run the Montessori playgroup for 1 hour and then over her lunch hour, returning at 12pm for nap and the afternoon work cycle.
2020, our first session in January 2020, we had a record-breaking number of families joining our playgroup! We had 22 babies and their 22 adults that day! There were babies everywhere!
2020, in March, Mariana transitioned The PEACE Program online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She transformed her living room into a Montessori homeschool space for her 3 and 5 year old children.
2020, Mariana decided to keep The PEACE Program online to increase access and flexibility for families to access community support and education
PODCAST & CONFERENCE
The PEACE Team
EACH YEAR, MARIANA COLLABORATES WITH MONTESSORI TRAINED EDUCATORS FROM AROUND THE WORLD TO PUT ON OUR PODCAST AND ANNUAL CONFERENCE.
Mariana started The PEACE Program in 2016 with a free, drop-in play group for families in her local area to be with their babies and learn a thing or two about the child's development. The success of the program led Mariana to serve over 1200 families in the first three years of the program alone! However, Mariana was the only facilitator available to families.
In response to listening to and learning from Black and Brown activists in 2020, Mariana recognized that she would not always be the right parent-educator for all familie. To address this, Mariana created a Scholarship Program (now called PEACE Mentorship) where she supported four aspiring Montessori teachers during their training with mentorship and financial assistance. 100% of the PEACE Scholars were Black and/or Indigenous. From that program and in pursuit of supporting more teachers, Mariana began building a team of Facilitators to help her deliver parenting education in addition to supporting the mentorship of upcoming Montessori teachers.
About the 24/25 PEACE Facilitation Team:
67% of 24/25 PEACE Facilitators are Black, Indigenous, or of the Global Majority.
100% are multilingual
89% are experienced classroom teachers and are parents themselves
44% are experienced parent-educators and are cross trained in 0-3 and 3-6
54% live outside the United States (including Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America)
PEACE Facilitators work closely with Mariana and share responsibility for contributing to a culture based on our communal values of self-reflection, self-care, responsiveness to being/becoming Anti-Bias / Anti-Racist and a deep commitment to the whole child within the whole family.