The Institute for Educational Studies

The Institute for Educational Studies TIES (http://www.ties-edu.org/) offers the M.Ed. In Montessori Integrative Learning. Integrative Learning
- M.Ed. Montessori Integrative Learning

Founded in 1996, TIES has been an innovator in the field of experiential online graduate programs. The Institute:
- Emphasizes the teacher’s role in advocating for a secure and sustainable world.
- Recognizes that diversity, interdependence, ecological awareness, and a realization of the body-brain-spirit connection are integral to the teaching-learning context
- Fosters the development of compass

ionate and collaborative learning communities
- Promotes integration informed by experiential learning

In conjunction with Union Institute and University, we offer two-degree options:
- M.Ed.

Unseen RelationshipsYesterday I uncorked a bottle of tea I’d been quietly fermenting this summer.There is always a small...
08/05/2026

Unseen Relationships

Yesterday I uncorked a bottle of tea I’d been quietly fermenting this summer.

There is always a small moment of anticipation. The tea has been alive for months, shaped by thousands upon thousands of unseen relationships, each responding to one another in ways impossible to choreograph. I can influence the conditions. I can never completely dictate the outcome.

Every batch surprises me.

As I poured the first shimmering glass, I found myself thinking about our newest TIES seminar.

This month our learning community has been immersed in David Bohm’s On Dialogue and John Briggs’ Seven Life Lessons of Chaos. As I read through the unfolding conversation, I was struck by something both subtle and beautiful. Questions opened new pathways. Ideas intertwined. Meaning accumulated patiently.

One student wrote:

“True creativity emerges not in isolation, but in the dynamic, participatory spaces between us.”

John Briggs reminds us that what first appears to be randomness often conceals relationships we have not yet learned to see.

Perhaps chaos isn’t the opposite of order.

Perhaps it is the way deeper patterns first become visible.

I smiled, took another sip, and returned to the seminar.

Our January 2027 TIES cohort is now beginning to gather. If these reflections resonate with you, perhaps there is a place waiting for your voice in the conversation.

We become through what we learn to see.Sometimes growth begins with new information.Sometimes it begins with new percept...
04/26/2026

We become through what we learn to see.
Sometimes growth begins with new information.
Sometimes it begins with new perception.
The way we attend, the way we relate, the way we notice what was always there, these can change a life.

Attention is never neutral. How we observe, listen, and accompany another life quietly shapes what becomes possible. In ...
04/15/2026

Attention is never neutral. How we observe, listen, and accompany another life quietly shapes what becomes possible. In education, the smallest moments often carry the deepest consequences. Sometimes transformative experience begins not with a new method, but with a different quality of presence.

Montessori understood something both simple and profound:There is no neutral moment in education.Every interaction with ...
04/08/2026

Montessori understood something both simple and profound:
There is no neutral moment in education.
Every interaction with a child:
every gesture, every tone, every act of attention participates in shaping who they are becoming.
Not just intellectually.
But morally. Relationally. Humanly.
This is not a future concern.
It is happening now, in real time.
The way we accompany children becomes part of the world they will one day create.
To teach, then, is not only to guide learning.
It is to participate in the formation of humanity itself.
A quiet responsibility.
A profound invitation.













Not every era asks the same thing of us.Thomas Berry called ours the Great Work—a shift in how we live, relate, and part...
04/07/2026

Not every era asks the same thing of us.

Thomas Berry called ours the Great Work—
a shift in how we live, relate, and participate in the living Earth.

It can feel vast. Abstract. Somewhere “out there.”

But it isn’t.

It takes shape in quiet, daily places.
In classrooms. In conversations. In moments of attention.

Briggs and Peat remind us that transformation doesn’t arrive in straight lines.
It emerges through uncertainty, through disruption, through what we cannot fully predict.

And Montessori saw what this means in practice:
that how we accompany a child is never neutral.
It is always shaping what comes next.

The work is not waiting.

It is already here—
in the space where learning becomes becoming.

Our July cohort is forming.

If this resonates, we’d be glad to connect.












There is a quiet shift that happenswhen we begin to see ourselves differently.Small, in the scale of the universe—yet no...
03/31/2026

There is a quiet shift that happens
when we begin to see ourselves differently.

Small, in the scale of the universe—
yet not insignificant.

Part of something unfolding.
Participating in something larger than our own story.

In a learning community, this recognition deepens—
not as an idea, but as an experience lived together.

To be humbled…
and at the same time, to feel the dignity of being an expression of life’s ongoing creativity.

Our July learning community is building.








Not a framework.Not a curriculum.A way of seeingthat begins to changehow we live with one another.Learning, here, is not...
03/29/2026

Not a framework.
Not a curriculum.

A way of seeing
that begins to change
how we live with one another.

Learning, here, is not separate from life.
It is life—
becoming more aware of itself
in relationship.

And slowly, quietly,
something shifts.
The July Cohort is that new life.










There comes a moment when the questions won’t leave you alone.Not because they need answers—but because they are asking ...
03/26/2026

There comes a moment when the questions won’t leave you alone.

Not because they need answers—
but because they are asking something of you.

To follow them.
To trust them.
To let them reshape how you see, learn, and live.

This is the work.

A community of learners, educators, and explorers gathering not just to understand the world—
but to participate in its unfolding.

If you feel that pull, you’re not alone.

The July cohort is forming.

Cosmic Cocktail Hours are back ☄️Join us this Thursday to explore what “Montessori for adults” actually means, how async...
03/23/2026

Cosmic Cocktail Hours are back ☄️
Join us this Thursday to explore what “Montessori for adults” actually means, how asynchronous learning honors your real life, and why transformative education matters now more than ever.
Not a webinar. Not a sales call. Just space to wonder together.
Mar 26 | 7pm EST
See link in bio for registration
Tag someone who asks big questions about education. Let’s keep the conversation alive. 🌟
Questions? [email protected]

Cosmic Cocktail Hours are back ☄️Two chances to explore what “Montessori for adults” actually means, how asynchronous le...
03/17/2026

Cosmic Cocktail Hours are back ☄️
Two chances to explore what “Montessori for adults” actually means, how asynchronous learning honors your real life, and why transformative education matters now more than ever.
Not a webinar. Not a sales call. Just space to wonder together.
Mar 26 • Apr 21 | 7pm EST
See link in bio for registration
Tag someone who asks big questions about education. Let’s keep the conversation alive. 🌟
Questions? [email protected]

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Portland, OR

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