A Child's Choice Montessori School

Purpose and Philosophy: A Child's Choice Montessori School exists to create an environment that supports the development of children's true nature as Dr. Montessori originally discovered it, including the following qualities: Eagerness to learn, social harmony, self-confidence, a profound ability to concentrate, orderliness, self-discipline, obedience, independence, and joy.
These qualities emerge as a result of following basic principles of preparation of the environment, freedom, and objective observation.
Preparation of the Environment: Great care is taken in preparation of the environment at A Child's Choice Montessori School because, as Montessori recognized, children unconsciously absorb what is in their environment and adapt to it.

Equipment: Children are naturally eager to learn through work with real objects in their environment so; A Child's Choice Montessori School has a wide variety of attractive, hands-on learning equipment in many different subjects for the children to freely choose based on their interest. This is a partial list of things children learn at the school: Reading, writing, math, science, geography, computer, art, music (piano).

Adults in the Classroom: The adult influence on the environment is even more important than the physical aspects of the school. The staff at A Child's Choice Montessori School is chosen for their love of children, patience, and reliability. Staff members are given extensive on-the-job training about Montessori principles and techniques to make sure they act in a way that respects and promotes the emergence of the children's true nature.

Schedule: A Child's Choice Montessori School is open 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and offers a variety of flexible scheduling options from which to choose. The school implements a Montessori all-day program that includes long class periods when children can freely choose their work and concentrate on it. The school continues its commitment to Montessori principles and allows children to use Montessori equipment beyond the 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. schedule to facilitate continuity in the environment that is sometimes lacking in other Montessori programs. The following is the daily schedule: morning class time 7:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. , outside time 11:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon, lunch 12:00 noon - 12:30 p.m. , rest 12:30 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. , afternoon class time 1:15 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. , outside time 4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. late afternoon class 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Independence: In cooperation with the child's true nature, A Child's Choice Montessori School aims to enhance children's independence, as much as possible, through the physical preparation of the environment and in the way the teachers work with the children.

Mixed Age: Montessori had a mixed-age group of children at her school which was a big reason for her great success. A Child's Choice Montessori School also has a mixed-age providing a cooperative, socially harmonious, community atmosphere, which is an advantage to both younger and older children.

Discipline: Our discipline policy is centered on creating an environment that allows the child's natural self-discipline to emerge. Children concentrating on purposeful work don't misbehave; so, the staff is trained to help children back to work when they are losing their focus.

Primary Program: The primary program includes children ages 2 through kindergarten. Children at this stage have absorbent minds that learn and adapt quickly and effortlessly to their environment. They are given brief, objective, concrete lessons with hands-on, self-teaching materials based on their present-moment interest.

Elementary Program: This includes children grades first through sixth. Children in this level are on a different plane of development from the primary aged children. They are more abstract in their thinking and it is necessary to support them in their development of reasoning and planning. They are given more abstract, advanced work with an emphasis on reading, writing, and math. One of the tools that is used at this stage is a daily log where children write a plan for the work they are interested in doing.

Director: Wendy is the director of A Child's Choice Montessori School. She has been working in Montessori education since 1998 and has extensive training in Montessori Teaching through International Montessori Society and Montessori Teacher Preparation of Washington.

Location: A Child's Choice Montessori School is conveniently located in Meridian, near the corner of Eagle Road and Overland.