Chestnut Montessori School

Our first daughter, now in third grade, has been at Chestnut Montessori since she was 2 and 1/2 (when the school opened). Our second daughter is now there as well. Very rare is the day when both girls aren't excited to go to school. The school has amazing community events, especially at the elementary level. The elementary students have a camp-out at the school just before the school-year begins, a zoo overnight toward the end of the year, and a field-trip per month during the year. The preschoolers have activities that come to them, such as the parent/child pumpkin carving before Halloween. There are numerous of opportunities to perform for their parents at school events. The director has been in Montessori education for decades. The assistant director has been with the school since it opened, went through Montessori training while serving as the school's office manager, and has provided the school with an amazing continuity. Regarding the quality of education, we took our girls to Korea after the US school-year ended last year, and our elder daughter attended public school there for four weeks. Korea is known for being an amazingly tough academic environment. Our daughter had no problem keeping up in a public school coming from her Montessori background. The few parents we''ve known who weren't extremely happy were had an expectation that their children would be coddled in the way that day cares do. While the teachers are very caring, it is a school, and not a daycare. Kids are expected to be fully potty trained. To learn classroom behavior, the younger kids are expected to watch the older kids and learn by example. It's amazing to observe the difference between the order of a Montessori classroom and a daycare or conventional preschool classroom.