Why Montessori?

Montessori meets children where they are, without judgment

Conventional methods of education were developed specifically to prepare large numbers of children to enter the workforce. Traditionally, little thought has been given to differentiating instruction or catering to the needs of individual children. That has been changing in recent years, but many schools are still in the early years of personalizing education.

Montessori schools are specifically designed to allow each child to move at their own pace. We know that learning is not linear, and that children are not ready to learn specific skills according to an adult-prepared timeline, or in perfect harmony with their peers. Kids who need more support with certain skills get that support, and those who are ready to move ahead are able to find the challenges they crave. We do not teach a whole class of children the same skill at the same time; that may seem more efficient from the perspective of an adult tasked with teaching, but it’s not necessarily what serves the children the best. No two people should be expected to grow at the same rate, and it’s our job as educators to meet children where they are and give them the support they need to get where they want to be.

A Montessori school is more than just a school-it is a learning community. First and foremost we are there for our students, but we believe schools have the capacity to be so much more. We aim to make meaningful connections between everyone involved. Some of the ways we do this include:

• Forming bonds between children at different levels
• Making sure parents and guides have ample time to discuss the child’s growth and needs
• Providing opportunities for parents to form relationships with one another
• Supporting families via parent education offerings
• Gathering as a whole school periodically
• Reaching out to make connections with the local community

We also believe that it is our job to take the guesswork out of making these types of connections. We aim to build in structures that make it simple for everyone to find commonalities and open streams of communication seamlessly.

Montessori emphasizes more than just academics...

Our greatest task is, we believe, for children to know their Creator and to grow in who they are uniquely created to be. We want them to understand the interconnectedness of all things so that they may come to understand how their gifts and talents can be fully integrated into the greater global community as they grow and mature.

...but the academics are a huge strength

The above mentioned being said, Montessori academics are often hailed as some of the highest standards there are. It is not uncommon to see four-year-olds in our schools reading, six-year-olds completing long division problems, and nine-year-olds classifying botanical specimens. These tasks are completed joyfully, in part because we present information in such a way that children discover it for themselves rather than passively taking in facts given by an adult.

Another reason Montessori students seem to work at an advanced academic level is because of what we call sensitive periods. Through years of observation, Dr. Maria Montessori noticed that young children seemed primed and particularly interested and ready to develop certain skills during very specific time periods. While, of course, there is variation between individual children, she noticed some general patterns that have helped us develop our curriculum. One interesting example is that of the study of geometry. Many of us were first exposed to the subject during our high school years, when it turns out that primary- and elementary-aged children are not only interested in geometry, but have a great capacity to learn far more than we typically give them credit for. This is why you may hear your five-year-old talking about rectangular prisms, or your seven-year-old discussing the differences between isosceles, right, and scalene triangles.

Montessori aims to lift up humanity

We know. This is quite the lofty goal. From the very beginning, Dr. Montessori saw it as her mission to improve the world through education. She believed that by giving children the honor and respect they deserved, the benefits would trickle through to families, the community, and society in general. She believed in equality of all people, and saw that education has the potential to be a great leveler.

In our perspective a Christ-centered Montessori school aims for love and joy. This starts between individuals, and teaching our youngest students how to be kind and gracious toward one another because they are each made in the image of God.  This also means providing opportunities for students to grow in love by reaching out in service to their local and global community,  we also emphasize the joy that is found in God's creation, that leads to great respect for the environment and the wide diversity of cultures around the globe.