“The goal of early childhood education should be to activate the child's own natural desire to learn.”
Dr. Maria Montessori
Montessori education achieves its unique benefits through a thoughtfully designed approach.
- Mixed-age classrooms encourage peer learning, where older students mentor younger ones, creating a cooperative and inclusive atmosphere.
- The uninterrupted work cycle allows children to delve deeply into their tasks, honing focus and concentration.
- Teachers serve as guides, offering individualized lessons and empowering students to explore their interests. This method fosters self-discipline, decision-making skills, and respect for others.
- Hands-on materials engage the senses, making abstract concepts tangible.
- Grace and courtesy lessons help children navigate social interactions gracefully, enhancing empathy and cooperation.
- Montessori's emphasis on independence, freedom within boundaries, and intrinsic motivation cultivates a love for learning and lays the foundation for academic excellence and lifelong personal development.
"THE GREATEST SIGN OF SUCCESS FOR A TEACHER IS TO BE ABLE TO SAY, "THE CHILDREN ARE NOW WORKING AS IF I DID NOT EXIST."
Maria Montessori
Famous Montessori Students
“Montessori the surest route to joining the creative elite, which are so overrepresented by the schools’ alumni that one might begin to suspect a Montessori mafia”
Joshua Bell
A world-renowned violinist, Joshua Bell is thoughtful about the role his music plays in society. In a cultural experiment turned Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post story, it is Bell’s humility, not his virtuosity, that most inspires. In suspending his fame to explore the true meaning of his work, Bell exhibits Montessori thinking at its best.
Jeff Bezos
Amazon’s founder, who proudly cites his Montessori roots, is a study in contradictions: analytical and intuitive, careful and audacious, playful and determined. Critics note his extraordinary ability to learn from others, one hallmark of Montessori education.
David Blaine
David Blaine was a four-year old Montessori student when he fell in love with magic. Today he’s called “the modern day Houdini” by The New York Times, which says, “He’s taken a craft that’s been around for hundreds of years and done something unique and fresh with it… [His magic] “operates on an uncommonly personal level.”
T Berry Brazelton
Dr. Brazelton’s positive, child-oriented philosophy of parenting has influenced countless families to raise children who are “confident, caring, and hungry to learn”. Brazelton attended a Montessori school as a child and now supports Montessori philosophy through his lectures and publications.
Sean “P Diddy” Combs
The multi-talented hip hop artist Sean “P Diddy” Combs says he feels fortunate to have attended Mount Vernon Montessori School during his childhood, recalling that, “I feel like I was nurtured into wanting to be somebody special”.
Sergey Brin
American billionaire business magnate best known for co-founding Google with Larry Page. Brin was the president of Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., until stepping down from the role on December 3, 2019.[1] He and Page remain at Alphabet as co-founders, controlling shareholders and board members. As of June 2023, Brin is the 9th-richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $107 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.[2]
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift, country music’s youngest-ever Entertainer of the Year, attended Alvernia Montessori School in Berks County Pa. The singer is widely described as “the product of homegrown values”; New York Times calls her “one of pop’s finest songwriters, country music’s foremost pragmatist, and more in touch with her inner life than most adults”.
