Znamenka - Yale

I’ve always felt like I was missing some real action in life. My soul craved genuine drive, moments of impulse and breakthroughs. I guess the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to this feeling was when I used to ride my bike. When you push yourself to the limit, around the 10th or 20th kilometer, you feel as though wings are spreading wide behind you, and you’re soaring through endless open space. That sense of freedom… But honestly, I didn’t always have that kind of space in my life.

Since childhood, I’ve been the “good girl” for my parents. I weeded the garden beds, looked after our chickens, and cleaned the house. I knew what it meant to be a “good girl,” and later, a “good woman.” And you know—it’s wonderful. But, if I’m being honest, something was missing.

I married Sergey when I was twenty. At first, he used to come to the shop where I worked for groceries. Then, he’d start asking detailed questions about how to use them. Like, “What’s shaving foam for? I know construction foam, but this one—I don’t get it.” I’d explain, then demonstrate, and before I knew it, we were married and building our own little house.

We bought a plot of land at the end of the street, about 700 meters from my parents’ house. Building a house isn’t like getting an apartment in the city—it takes a lot of effort. I’ll be honest, it was exhausting. Especially after our baby was born, I found myself wanting more.

And then, our local women inspired me. They were actively pooling money on platforms to collectively purchase educational courses. These platforms brought together people from different cities and even countries, people who didn’t know each other at all. When there were enough contributors, you could buy fantastic materials for just a couple of dollars. Our women were really into this, and they started sharing lectures about children’s neuropsychology with me.

At first, I just listened to Valentina Paevskaya’s lectures*. And my world turned upside down. From then on, I couldn’t stop. I started buying courses on Montessori, TRIZ, speech development, and logorhythmics. While I weeded the garden, cleaned, or washed, I’d play them in the background, like I used to with TV shows.

My first hands-on experience was with my friend’s daughter. I showed her how to use Montessori methods to improve her child’s focus and patience. My key message to moms was this: there are so many developmental techniques you can organize at home completely free of charge. All those activities like pouring, transferring, playing with grains, sorting… Kids absolutely love it! They can sit for hours playing these games, developing their fine motor skills, coordination, and concentration—all without parents spending a penny.

Of course, after an hour of play, you’re almost guaranteed to have a mess. But you can clean it up together with your child, which not only develops their skills but also teaches them tidying up habits.

At first, I explained to moms how to organize games to aid development. For example, if a child needed help with speech development, the educator needed to find something that truly excited the child. I had one little patient who loved being thrown into the air. So we “flew” on “One, two, three!” And guess what? He started saying those words. Before, his vocabulary was just four words, and in one session, he learned three numbers.

After such active sessions, children often got excited. Sometimes parents saw this as a problem—for instance, if the child had trouble falling asleep afterward. But that’s normal! After intense activities that engage both mind and emotions, a child’s excitement is natural. I now advise all parents to let their kids burn off energy for at least an hour after a session.

Initially, I didn’t charge for working with kids—I worked on a kind of barter system. One family brought me 20 eggs for three sessions; another brought homemade preserves. But unfortunately, my father didn’t take this work seriously. It hurt, to be honest. I vented to the women in our group about how people called me for advice, how I shared my experience, but my work wasn’t appreciated, especially by the men in my family.

That’s when Svetlana, the woman who’d first introduced me to shared courses, suggested I check out an online platform where you could take real university courses for free. It sounded too good to be true. I would never have believed it on my own. But Svetlana sat me down, opened Coursera, and showed me a list of universities and courses. I’ll never forget the moment I saw names like “Oxford,” “Harvard,” and “Stanford” next to the word “Free.” I was stunned.
She even Googled what a course completion certificate looked like. Something clicked inside me. I looked up everything about children and found a free course at Yale University: “Managing Emotions During Uncertainty and Stress.” I thought, “This is exactly my topic!”

For two and a half months, I studied online. It wasn’t as easy as Russian-language courses, but it was doable. I copied text from lectures, pasted it into a translator, and worked through the content. I passed the midterms and final exam. Then one day, a certificate from Yale appeared in my Coursera profile, with my name and certification number. I screamed with joy! Sergey ran in, worried: “What’s wrong?” I said, “Don’t worry; everything’s great. Mommy’s just very happy!”
I printed the certificate and framed it. When my husband came home, I handed it to him and said, “Look, my love!” He was skeptical at first, as I had been. But after Googling it, he realized it was real. Since then, his attitude has changed. Now he helps and supports me.

I’m currently looking for professional courses that would allow me to practice officially after completing them. My father, however, is still unimpressed. He says that as long as I’m not earning real money from this, it’s just a hobby. But at home, everything has changed. I know we’ll prove it to him one day. Dad, just you wait—you’ll see!