What is Montessori?
Montessori is a method of education named after Dr. Maria
Montessori. It is both a philosophy of child growth and development
and a rationale for guiding such development.
Maria Montessori was born in 1870. In 1895, she became the first
woman in Italy to obtain the degree of Doctor of Medicine. This
background led Dr. Montessori to approach education more from the
scientific level than the accepted academic standard. She observed
children and was constantly testing and retesting the validity of
her concepts-concepts that would contribute to a more natural
growth of learning in students. She designed materials and
techniques that advanced the method of educating all
children-learning disabled through gifted-far beyond previous
practice. To Dr. Montessori, education was a preparation for life,
not merely a search for intellectual skills.
Dr. Montessori died in 1952. Today, after almost 75 years of international application, the Montessori method thrives in the United States, with more than 3,000 schools established since 1957.
Learning Objectives
Our objective is to provide carefully planned stimulating
environments which help children develop essential habits,
attitudes, skills and ideas for a lifetime of creative thinking and
learning.
Montessori's philosophy of following the growing needs of each individual child, gives children the freedom to experiment and learn in a "prepared environment" at their own pace in a non-competitive atmosphere. This allows the physical, intellectual, emotional and social potential of each child to unfold.
The core of Dr. Montessori's philosophy states that as children acquire an "inner discipline" from their exposure to both physical and mental order, they become free to learn - the natural impulse to learn is self-motivation of the child.