6 | Wealth & Finance - Private Education Awards 2024 Best Early Childhood Montessori Primary House 2024 - Pennsylvania Based in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Maria’s House Montessori is one of several North American practices that exhibits the exceptional standards of care promoted by the American Montessori Society (AMS, New York) and the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI, Amsterdam). At Maria’s House, the team understands the significance of children’s education journeys and strives to support children and caregivers through this critical time. The search for lively, impactful early education has led many families to discover Maria’s House and the wonderful work of Maria Montessori. In the industrial age, Maria was a champion for the working classes and a reformer who challenged governments when they were not providing children with the care they deserved. When Maria first entered the new and controversial field of psychiatric medicine in 1900, the practice of compulsory, age-segregated schooling for boys between 6-12 had been unsuccessful across Europe. These schools were designed to prepare children for factory life or military service and were environments where boys were often abused and systemically dissocialised. Those who refused to attend and follow their fathers into exhausting physical labour were arrested and often placed in asylums after being judged as mentally ill. In response to these horrendous conditions, Maria asked, “Explain to me please how we humans raised our children to become artisans, scholars, literate thinkers, citizens, and problem solvers for thousands of years prior to them being snatched from their families, divided by age, and forced into compliance?” Maria spent five years working with ‘lost boys’ in the tenements of Rome where she concluded that “they are simply children and were meant to be raised in the safety of their families, not brutalised for the purposes of industrialism.” Thus began Maria’s journey from her first practice as a public health physician in Rome’s San Lorenzo tenement to establishing a series of sanctuaries for children. These educational sanctuaries were steered by compassionate adults who offered children the dignity they deserved and the freedom to exercise their curious minds. Serving as an orphanage in 1907, The Fretz Mansion is an exquisite Victorian building that provides the perfect setting for Maria’s House. Based on the observations and discoveries of Maria Montessori, Maria’s House has developed a fully immersive Montessori environment. The practice offers a five-day Montessori Primary program, inviting children ages three to six to explore the world in a safe and engaging Montessori way. Every guide at the practice follows the same three-year training cycle, serving time as a House Intern and a House Scholar before completing a year of supervised residency and research. As a House Intern, individuals engage in readings, in-service sessions, and mastery of hundreds of works and their related lessons. This is followed by a year enrolled in a rigorous AMS accredited course of study at either the Princeton Center for Teacher Education or Chestnut Hill College. Maria’s House Montessori is passionate about the development of its guides and covers all the costs of their education. Under the guidance of Laine Walker, a fully accredited Montessori Master Teacher, and a board of internationally known Montessorians, staff strive to channel the spirit and vision of Maria Montessori throughout their work. As the Director and Principal Guide of Maria’s House, Laine maintains high program standards that meet or exceed those established by the American Montessori Society. At Maria’s House, every child is respected as an individual and gently encouraged to explore the beauty and wonder of the world around them. Maria Montessori primarily focused on early child development between the ages of three and six, and it is this research that the practice strives to build upon. Between these ages, children are driven by natural curiosity and possess the ability to acquire knowledge of language, mathematics, science, music, and art while constructing the motor movements necessary to learn coordination and gain confidence. Maria’s House is dedicated to fostering self-reliance, nurturing collaboration and cooperation, and feeding the natural curiosity within every child. Each year, Maria’s House welcomes no more than 54 preschoolers into its Montessori Primary program to ensure that children consistently receive high-quality care and support. In addition to the traditional curriculum subjects, Maria’s House offers a Cultural Anthropology pilot program informed by Dr Montessori’s search for a natural way to help children explore the heritage of native cultures. Over the course of the academic year, junior explorers receive weekly visits from experienced Cultural Attaches, seasoned international guides who stop by at lunchtime as characters from various times and places. These visits involve sharing foods, crafts, stories, customs, and languages from all over the world to provide children with an enriching global education. Throughout the summer, the Montessori Bridge program offers fifty children, between ages three and eight, the chance to experience endless fun and educational games alongside its usual range of advanced developmental opportunities. Activities encompass everything from golf, fencing, chess, and team sports to organic gardening, animal studies and culinary art, creating a truly unforgettable summer experience for children and their families. Based on Maria Montessori’s early-childhood work, Maria’s House is an educational haven dedicated to fostering children’s growth and paving their way to further learning. Under the watchful eye of dedicated staff, young learners are encouraged to constantly learn and grow, guided by their own inner muse to explore the richness of childhood. Maria’s House Montessori strives to enrich children’s development in ways that will last a lifetime and for its transformative work, the practice has won this year’s Apr24547 Inspired by the early-childhood work of Maria Montessori, a prominent Italian physician and educator, Maria’s House Montessori is an AMS primary practice and intern training side dedicated to ongoing research and education development. Since its inception, its mission was remained the same: to develop and maintain an early childhood practice that Dr Montessori herself would be proud of. In the wake of its success, we endeavour to find out more about how Maria’s House Montessori fosters the potential in every child.
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