by Kyle Garrett

Despite knowing little about the Montessori method, Marietta-resident Christine Bulthuis and her husband decided to enroll their son in First Montessori School of Atlanta’s preschool when he was 3 years old. “We learned as we went about the method; we were just looking for a good pre-school program,” says Bulthuis.

As Matthew and younger brother Alex both began at age 3 and continued at First Montessori, Bulthuis began to fully appreciate the nurturing and developing aspects of the program. “The education method addressed the whole child, not just academically, but there were so many layers to it – spiritually, emotionally, really paying attention to things like good manners and being respectful to others.” With Matthew, 15, now in his first year at a traditional high school, and Alex,13, still attending First Montessori, Bulthuis testifies to the effectiveness of the Montessori method not just for preschoolers, but for kids all the way through middle school.

Nikki Torres, educational director at Montessori School at Emory, believes that the core principles of a Montessori education ring true for children at any level. “Central tenants such as freedom and responsibility, the three-period lesson [a technique to help children master new lessons] and independence look quite different in a 12-year-old versus a 2-year-old, but the core principles remain the same,” says Torres. For upper-elementary school kids, this entails keeping journals so they can keep track of their work on a daily basis. Work journals are then used in teacher-student conferences to track progress, restate learning objectives if necessary, plan future lessons and involve the child as an active participant in his education.

“When children come out of an elementary [Montessori] program, they’re independent,” says Cara Friedline, Association Montessori Internationale coordinator at Village Montessori School in Roswell. “Montessori is not a cookie-cutter education; it’s about following the students’ interests and their individual development.” Instead of guiding an entire class of students with diverse interests in only one particular direction, the Montessori method allows kids the freedom to pursue what intrigues them. “Typically, students will be given a lesson on something in the classroom and it’s up to them to do the follow-up work,” says Friedline. “Our ‘Going Out’ program is driven by their interests. We have a girl right now who is interested in becoming a marine vet, so she contacted the aquarium and veterinarians around town.”

When her Matthew was about to enter middle school, Bulthuis wondered if she should enroll him at a traditional middle school. She thought that attending a traditional middle school would ease Matthew’s shock of a traditional high school as compared to the small classroom settings he was used to. But as Bulthuis found out, the application process for enrollment to a traditional middle school can be very different from that of a Montessori middle school. “All the (traditional school) applications asked questions about my son’s test scores and his student rating, but they weren’t asking any personal questions about my child’s interests,” explains Bulthuis. “When I went to fill out the middle school application for First Montessori, the wanted to know what our parenting style was like, how we handled misbehavior, what were my son’s interests, what were his personal goals. It wasn’t so much about what I could offer the school, they wanted to see what they could offer us.”

As children matriculate into the middle school Montessori program, Leslie Logan, the education administrator for Arbor Montessori School in Decatur, notices a shift in the work habits of the students. “In lower elementary, the kids start to work in threes or fours. In upper elementary and middle school, as the work begins to become more project based and more abstract, they start to work in pairs. And with each level, the kids go more and more to the teacher instead of vice versa.” Logan adds that the mentoring aspect among students is an important part of the Montessori education. Students are just as likely to learn from their peers as they are from the teacher, who is known as a guide.

Like Montessori programs for younger children, Montessori middle schools generally keep textbooks to a minimum. While they do have texts for foreign languages and math, most of the curriculum is project based. “In history, for example, we look at the gifts of humans throughout time, and we do this in a mostly project-based way rather than picking dates out of a text,” explains Jan Deason, program director at Arbor Montessori. “One project is a living timeline – students take on the persona of someone in history. Then each group will show the rest of the class what they’ve learned.”

“Adolescents seem to be very egocentric,” adds Korinne Akridge, director of education at Riverstone Montessori Academy in Marietta. “With history, we center it around the students. We use place-based learning, where they’ll learn about the history of Georgia and what this place was formerly like. That way everything relates to them, which creates interest and participation.”

In addition to academic lessons, middle schoolers enrolled in Montessori programs undertake many projects that have real-life applications. Growing organic gardens and harvesting honey through beekeeping are two ways local Montessori students gain understanding on a more visceral level than what they might absorb from a textbook. The process not only helps establish a connection between the adolescent and the land, which was an important aspect of Maria Montessori’s original plan, but the students also learn valuable business lessons. By selling to local markets and making their own spreadsheets, students see microeconomic theory in action.

Despite the abundance of Montessori schools in and around Atlanta, Counterpane School in Fayetteville is one of the few to offer a Montessori education through 12th grade. In a high school setting, the Montessori principles of independence and accountability are amplified. “Students are responded to as individuals and curriculum is designed around their unique talents and interests,” says Brenda Erickson, director of Counterpane School. “The environment is more contractual, each person working on his individual academic responsibilities – much like an office environment,” she adds.

Because the environment is more personal, Erickson believes Counterpane’s curriculum offers much more of a challenge than a traditional high school. “Students are not able to hide in groups or get lost in the numbers,” she says. “We know them well and they get to know themselves well, which makes them more ready for a successful transition into college.” Of the students who have graduated from Counterpane, over 45 percent went on to pursue graduate-level degrees. “This is probably the most powerful confirmation of our efforts at Counterpane,” Erickson adds. The statistic also seemingly dispels any doubts about the Montessori method’s practicality and effectiveness for students in upper-elementary, middle and high schools.

While Matthew could not attend a Montessori high school, his transition to a traditional high school could not have been smoother. “He’s in a much bigger environment, much bigger than he’s ever been in before,” says Bulthuis. “But I have to say, all of his friends that graduated from First Montessori with him, they’re very comfortable in their own skin. They’re more leaders than followers, and I think that’s the way that you want your child to be heading into high school – very comfortable with their own opinions, they’re own ideas.”