Maria Montessori Center
About Us
What is Montessori?
Maria Montessori described the role of education as “preparation for life.” She believed that if properly guided, each child could become a mature, responsible adult concerned with promoting a peaceful society. At the Maria Montessori Center (MMC), children, parents, and staff work together toward these goals.
The first Montessori school was established in Rome by an Italian physician, Dr. Maria Montessori, in 1907. She studied children to discover what their actual interests and abilities were, and, from her careful observations, found that the first few years of life are the formative and transitory years – a time to educate the human potential. She felt that children could follow the command of nature at birth – “construct yourself” – if they had gentle guidance and exposure to new experiences.
Although her method was always geared to the individual, Montessori identified traits common to all children – their love of work and capacities for self-discipline, concentration, and vast personal and intellectual skills. Children pass through “sensitive periods,” she believed; they pass through times when learning a particular skill or behavior is exciting and effortless because the child is most receptive. Her interest was in the total child – physical, emotional, social and intellectual development. In the Montessori setting, children learn to care for themselves, their environment, and their friends, and they also learn to learn, becoming, in essence, their own teachers.
MMC Policy and Admission
The Maria Montessori Center serves children from ages 2 1/2 to 12 years (preschool through sixth grade). Internationally approved by the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI and AMI/USA), we are also approved by the State of Michigan Department of Education, and the Department of Social Services Child Care Licensing Division. 'We are a privately owned school that does not discriminate against any child.
Established in 1980, the Maria Montessori Center admits children without regard to race, religious creed, sex or national origin. It reserves the right to refuse admission for any other reason. It is an equal opportunity employer and will follow racially non-discriminatory policies in the practice of hiring its qualified faculty and staff. All of the programs and facilities will be operating in a non-discriminatory manner.
Acceptance for the preschool program begins when the child is precisely 2 1/2 years and fully toilet-trained. The preschool program is a three-year cycle, which includes an extended day kindergarten year. The second and third cycles take place in the elementary years and include children ages 6-9 and 9-12 respectively.
Directress/Director
A Montessori teacher is called a directress/director because this more aptly describes the role. Her/his job is to encourage, preserve, and advance each child's innate curiosity about the world. A keen observer of individual needs, she/he knows when to step in and when to step back from a child's exploration.
In Montessori, the child stays with the same directress/director for three years, so there is a depth of personal involvement over time. This involves intimate knowledge of a child's strengths, weaknesses, and learning style.
AMI Montessori
The Maria Montessori Center should not be confused with the proliferation of other 'Montessori' schools in the metropolitan Detroit area and throughout Michigan. Often times these schools use the name "Montessori" without benefiting the children with the pedagogy, philosophy and research made famous by Dr. Maria Montessori and carried on today by the AMI (Association Montessori Internationale). Therefore, it behooves a parent to know the differences between Montessori schools.
All our teachers have been trained at AMI teacher-training centers both in the United States and worldwide and are State certified. AMI training centers thoroughly and rigorously train teachers according to the authentic, original and creative ideas of Dr. Montessori, who initiated and founded the AMI with the sole intent of protecting her philosophy from imitators. AMI certified schools offer the assurance that the true Montessori philosophy is being implemented.
The unique characteristics of an AMI. Montessori education lie within the child, the Montessori philosophy and the teaching approach. The child is the foundation; the child creates herself/himself in the family and in society. The child's needs and interests form the basic starting point when observed by the teacher. Using the Montessori philosophy, the teacher then gives the child the necessary keys to assist in the discovery of new worlds, aids in guiding the driving interests and presents the real world to the child through research. The teachers are directors of the child's self-construction. Added guidance from these directors comes via presentations, research, conferences and experiences learned within the school and cultural environment. All teachers work, eat and play with the students during the entire day.
In Montessori terms, discipline is a point of arrival. The end goal is total responsibility for one's work, actions and growth in the academic, emotional and social spheres of the school. Discipline is a constructive tool used to urge the child onward to more freedom to learn and risk growth -- a growth towards freedom that is always married to responsibility. Metaphorically speaking, while yet a seed, the child is a root to the plant. As a child she/he is the constructor of the adult (The child is father to the man). Cultural and family traditions (or a lack of them) mold each member, especially the preschooler and the elementary age child. Nature instinctively commands these youngsters to fully internalize all that occurs within the family/culture/society.
Via personal experiences and small group work, a child will then integrate and ‘invent,' from its own interpretations, that which adults may already know about play, justice, responsibility, leadership, commitment to the group, fidelity, morality and, most importantly, honesty to oneself. Within this background setting, the elementary age child's intense imagination can be stoked to ponder and explore the wider expanses of other groups, such as civilization and cultures of the ancient and modern world.
As parents and as educators, it is an awesome responsibility to pass on our heritage, plus our current culture and traditions, so that our children will not only benefit themselves, but also commit themselves to others in future generations. The Maria Montessori Center stands up to be counted as educators and as guides for today and for tomorrow.
This website is only in words and images, but ACTION will help you to see better the fruits of these words. Please telephone the school. We will be delighted to show you around and answer all your questions about Montessori education for your children. We look forward to seeing you soon.
Maria Montessori Center
32450 W. Thirteen Mile Road
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
248-851-9695
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