My favorite famous woman has been Maria Montessori for over three decades now. Her fame arises from her research into infants, and how they could blossom given simple freedom to choose. She understood if children are allowed—given respect—to play, or work—at their own pace on whatever material, toy or tool, they choose with free will; then concentration will form, attention to detail will be sparked; confidence blossom, and the unique self of the human being is born. Dr. Montessori developed environments for young children, ages 2-6, to draw from. She developed and provided materials that the children would be drawn to; beautiful, durable manipulations that the child would play with, work with, experiment with. Each child develops at their own pace—in their own time—so the environment or classroom was designed to be a self-directed learning environment—depending on each child’s sensitive period. They may pour water, testing weight and capacity, they may draw, trace, paste, cut with pencil paint and scissors. They may build with blocks, they may sit quietly and watch—observe the other children—wait for just the right time to choose to begin. Maria Montessori discovered the human soul that is innate in every child born—she not only discovered it, she found the soil, the water, the nutrients to enable the psyche to grow, to flourish.