Welcome

At Follow the Child Montessori, we provide a quality, Montessori experience for children ages three to six. Dr. Montessori referred to this type of environment as a “Children’s House” for the tables and chairs are sized perfectly for the child and inviting materials are placed neatly on low shelves, inviting children to “work” with them. We refer to their use of the materials as their work, not in the adult sense of the word, which is synonymous to drudgery, but in the child’s sense of important discoveries of the world. Often this work is completed with a total sense of accomplishment and joy.

Children begin at the age of three and remain in the same class, with the same Directress (teacher) and the same peers for three years. A sense of family emerges as the youngest children learn by example from the older ones, and the older children have the opportunity to give lessons to their newfound friends. Their last year, their kindergarten year, becomes a culmination of all they have learned. During their third year, children are able to internalize the concrete experiences from their first two years at school.

Every window of the school offers beautiful views of the New Meadows River. Our classroom is spacious, yet warm and inviting. The children can read by the fire (actually painted by a parent), fill a glass pitcher in the child-size sink, count the number rods in the glass atrium, or play outside in the fenced-in playground. We welcome visitors to come and observe the class at work or tour the facility after class is done for the day.

Any child who is self-sufficient, who can tie his shoes, dress or undress himself, reflects in his joy and sense of achievement the image of human dignity, which is derived from a sense of independence.

Maria Montessori