Cedars Montessori School of Oak Hill

“My vision of the future is no longer people taking exams and proceeding then on that certification . . . but of individuals passing from one stage of independence to a higher [one] by means of their own activity through their own effort of will which constitutes the inner evolution of the individual.”

Maria Montessori

One basic idea of the Montessori philosophy is that carried unseen within each child is the person that child can become. To develop his physical intellectual and spiritual power to the fullest the child must have freedom – a freedom achieved through order and self-discipline. The childs world is full of sights and sounds which at first appear chaotic. From the chaos the child gradually creates order and learns to distinguish among the impressions that assail his senses slowly gaining mastery of self and of her environment.

Gardening at Cedars Montessori SchoolOur goal is to provide a place where children can do the work they are so highly motivated to do- constructing themselves as competent independent people with the skills necessary to achieve their own goals. To do this we must respect and accommodate the way they learn their inherent optimism their love of peace and their need for community. The individualized method of presenting educational materials and learning experiences is based on the idea that each child is different with different interests rates of growth and development physically intellectually socially and emotionally. We feel the child is part of nature and contact with the living world of plants and animals centers and stimulates their emotional and spiritual capacity. We expect our children to graduate with the ability to make a positive contribution to society and with an awareness of the wonder of the natural world.

To achieve this goal we base our educational approach on the developmental philosophy and educational methods of Dr. Maria Montessori.

Dr. Montessori developed what she called the prepared environment. Among its features is an ordered arrangement of learning materials in a non-competitive atmosphere which helps each child develop at his own rate. The human child like any new plant or animal has specific needs in order to fulfill its potential and grow into a healthy organism. There are specific times in the developmental timetable when certain needs if met at this optimum time will help the child fulfill her potential and it is easier for the child to learn a particular skill during the corresponding sensitive period than at any other time in their life. The Montessori classroom takes advantage of this fact by allowing the child the freedom to select individual activities which correspond to his own periods of interest. The teaching materials are on low shelves where the child may choose any material they have had a lesson in. The materials are largely self-correcting allowing the child to perceive their own errors. Their design frees the child from constant adult direction and offers them the opportunity for independent discovery and achievement.

Never let the child risk failure until he has a reasonable chance of success said Dr. Montessori understanding the need to acquire basic skills before participating in a competitive learning situation. The years between three and six are those when a child learns the ground rules of human behavior most easily. These years can be devoted constructively to preparing the child to take his place in society through the acquisition of good manners and habits.

Dr. Montessori recognized that self-motivation is the only valid impulse to learning. Children move themselves toward learning. The teacher prepares the environment programs the activities functions as the reference person and exemplar and offers the child stimulation. But it is the child who learns motivated through the work itself to persist in his chosen task. The Montessori child is free to learn because he has acquired an inner discipline from exposure to both physical and mental order. This is the core of Montessoris educational philosophy. Habits of concentration stick-to-itiveness and thoroughness established in early childhood produce a confident and competent learner in later years. Historically schools have taught children to observe to think to judge. Montessori introduces children to the joy of learning at an early age and provides a frame-work in which intellectual and social discipline go hand in hand.