
The Montessori educational method is based on theories of child development originated by Dr. Maria Montessori in the late 19th and early 20th century. Dr. Montessori was a medical doctor, anthropologist and educator who viewed education as the process of discovery.
Her research revealed that children effortlessly absorb knowledge from their surroundings, leading her to develop a series of learning materials in a carefully “prepared environment” to nurture the child’s natural curiosity to learn.Children learn by doing.
Dr. Montessori reasoned that a child is enriched where he/she can manipulate materials – that the hand is the teacher of the child. The learning materials are thoughtfully sequenced to allow each child concrete experiences that continually build a foundation of learning throughout the stages of a child’s physical and mental growth.
MSMS employs Montessori principles by providing classrooms, materials and teachers who guide children through hands-on materials designed to foster each child’s independence and initiative.

WHY MONTESSORI?
WHY BEGIN AN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION?
Maria Montessori believed “The most important period of life is not the age of university studies but the first one: the period from birth to the age of six. For that is the time when man’s intelligence itself is being formed.”
-The Absorbent Mind, Maria Montessori
CONTINUING THE MONTESSORI METHOD BEYOND PRESCHOOL
Parents who wish to pursue a Montessori based education for their children beyond the MSMS preschool have a unique opportunity in the Ross Montessori public charter school founded in 2005 for K-8 in Carbondale. 1n 1999, what began as an experimental Montessori program at Crystal River Elementary School, developed by MSMS’s founder Mark Ross, and requested by MSMS parents who wanted their children to continue with the Montessori Method, Ross Montessori is now a thriving example of how a community has truly embraced the importance of successfully applying the Montessori philosophy to modern education.