“Montessori” is a method and philosophy of learning developed by Dr. Maria Montessori, an Italian medical doctor, at the turn of the 20th century. An educator and humanitarian, she devoted her life to the study and observation of children. She developed a method of self-education for young children within a planned environment using carefully designed materials and equipment.

The methods are based on the idea that children “learn best by doing,” by using all of their senses. The method focuses on social skills, emotional growth, physical coordination, and cognitive preparation. The results of her method led to the establishment of literally thousands of Montessori schools throughout the world.

In most schools the children are taught educational concepts in a group by a teacher. In a Montessori school, the children learn concepts spontaneously as they work independently with the many materials in the environment. Rather than "teaching" the child concepts, an enriched environment is designed to stimulate the child's interest and facilitate his understanding and learning capacities spontaneously with little or no adult intervention.

How do Montessori children adjust to public schools?

Children who have been in a Montessori environment are generally very flexible and adjust easy to the public school situation. They may be better students and spend their time in a more productive way because of their self directions and positive attitude toward learning.

The Montessori School of the Finger Lakes is a private, nonreligious school and was, until recently, known as the Montessori Children’s House. Gilda Brower, Director/Teacher, certified by the American Montessori Society since 1971, founded the school in 1981 as a preschool/kindergarten. The school expanded to include elementary grades 1 through 3 in 1995 and again in 1996 to include grades 4 through 8. This Montessori school’s alumni number more than 800 children.

The ratio in the preschool classroom is 8:1, and in the elementary room, the ratio is maintained at no more than 10:1. The ratio in the toddler room is only 4:1. Factoring in the volunteers further lowers the ratio of students to adults.

For five-day, half-day preschool, tuition is $420.00-$635.00/month. For five-day, full-day preschool, tuition is $580.00-$875.00/month . For kindergarten and elementary grades 1-8, tuition is $580.00-875.00/month. Toddler’s tuition for five mornings per week is $500.00-$700.00/month. The full-day toddler tuition is $600.00-$975.00/month.

A sibling discount of 10 percent is offered to families with more than one child in the school. We also offer a 5 percent discount to those families who elect to pay the tuition in full prior to September 15th of the given school year.

The school offers both before- and after-school care. Before-school care begins at 7:00 am and costs $105 per month. After-school care is available from 3:30 until 5:30 and costs $140 per month. Both before-school and after-school care are available on an as-needed, occasional basis as well, at a cost of $6.00 per hour.

Generally, field trips, such as apple-picking for the preschoolers, science museums and planetariums for the elementary students, and fossil hunting for all, are scheduled at a minimum of one per month. Each spring, the older elementary students travel for a weekend to a major city (such as Washington, D.C., New York City, Philadelphia, or Boston) with teachers and chaperones.

Parents are encouraged to attend Orientation, Open House events, Director/Parent Teas, Field Trips, and Parent/Teacher Conferences. Two conferences per year are held and parents are strongly encouraged to attend conferences to discuss the progress of their child, curriculum, tools, etc. A monthly newsletter updates children and parents on field trips, fundraising events, and curriculum. A Parent Education Library lends reading materials and videotapes to parents interested in learning more about the Montessori philosophy and methods. Parents are always welcome to visit the classrooms.

New York State Department of Education standardized tests are used as a tool of assessment for both students and the school. The results are used by the school, not only to assess student performance, but also to evaluate certain aspects of curriculum emphasis.