Hi!

I’m Sylvia.

I’m a passionate Montessori educator, entrepreneur, speaker and advocate for helping children thrive through effective communication in early childhood.

Based in the Australian city of Sydney, my journey to launch Guide & Grow started with an interest in early childhood education.

After completing my studies, I was most drawn to the Montessori education philosophy and the way it takes a child-centred approach that supports children’s instinctive desires to learn.

Montessori is a 100-year old education method and I have found that applying its principles and pedagogy to children’s physical, emotional, social and cognitive development is a highly relevant way to foster happy, capable and compassionate little beings.

Why I Started Guide & Grow

A few years after opening my own Montessori education centre, I was looking for a way to empower parents to start applying this positive and enriching methodology at home, specifically in the way they communicate and guide children’s behaviour. I also found a huge gap on this topic throughout my Masters degree, which led me to create the Guide & Grow methodology.

I was then handed a little Facebook Group which had been created to support parents at home. At the time, the group had 1,000 members but it didn’t stay that way for long!

Within months, the Guide & Grow Montessori at Home Facebook group expanded to include thousands upon thousands of members. After just 18 months, we had a membership of 180,000+ in our community! We now have over 214k members and growing. We run monthly events freely available with international experts in the early childhood field to support educators, caregiver and parents in the first 6 years of life.

We are now that largest group of our type in the world; a thriving community that is a place to share ideas, questions, materials and Montessori education experiences in the home. With an amazing team of dedicated volunteer moderators, we pride ourselves on creating a supportive and safe online community so we can help raise our future generations together. It takes a village to raise a child!

Educating The World

Through Guide & Grow, I am now helping parents and educators around the world to feel more empowered as they lead their children through the most important years of childhood. I have also been privileged to receive invitations to work with other child care centres and to speak at major international events.

We have always wanted to make Montessori accessible and inclusive for all and while anybody can join Guide & Grow on Facebook for free, I have also created online courses and added the option of personal consultations, which can give you an even greater understanding of the benefits of applying the Guide & Grow methodology at home.

I have also been privileged to receive invitations to work globally for early childhood organizations, centres, government bodies and to speak at major international events to makes significant changes in the early childhood sector.