Admissions
Those wishing to enroll must complete the following steps:
1. Click on the "Schedule a Tour" button at the bottom of this page to see our tour availability. All tours must be scheduled through the link below so that we may spend adequate time answering your questions and show you a class in session if it is during the school year.
At the conclusion of your tour, you will be given tuition information and a Peaceful Pathways Student Application.
2. Complete a Peaceful Pathways Student Application.
3. Return the application and your non-refundable $25 application fee.
4. Peaceful Pathways Montessori will contact you as soon as there is an opening for your child in our program. P.P.M.A. makes every attempt to fill our classrooms keeping an even ratio of boys and girls as well as ages. If a space becomes available you will be notified by mail and given a contract to begin the enrollment process which includes a $250 enrollment fee.
Please note: All deposits, tuition payments, and fees become non-refundable if the application is withdrawn by the family once placement has been granted.
We enroll children throughout the year on a space available basis. Please contact the school if you would like to place your child's application in our waiting pool. You are encouraged to start your child in our program by the age of three years old.
Programs
Parent - Child Class (ages newborn - 2.5 years)
The Parent-Child Program is a unique, in-depth educational experience for parents and their infant or toddler. Parents attend a morning session with their child. They also attend several parent discussions during each session.
The Parent-Child classroom is an appealing, comfortable Montessori environment designed to meet the changing needs of infants and toddlers. Little ones are learning all the time, learning to move and control their bodies, exploring and experimenting, observing and making sense of the world around them.
Parent education is the most important job an adult can do - it is the creation of a human being. We typically enter this work with no training or education for it, having little experience with children, and often with no one to support and guide us. We become so busy that there is little opportunity to contemplate our role or long-term implications of our methods. The Parent-Child program was designed to meet these needs.
Toddler Class (ages 15 months - 3 years)
The Toddler Program is designed to be a gentle transition from home to school. Through close cooperation between parents and the teacher, the children are gradually able to separate from their parents without anxiety.
In a respectful and gentle way, Peaceful Pathways' teachers support the child's natural development, with focus always on the encouragement of independence. Toddlers begin building the foundation for who they are to become. They are beginning to form their character, self esteem, purpose of life, social skills, and learning processes.
Activities are positioned around the room for toddlers to choose independently. The materials and activities help the toddlers begin to experience the concept of sequence, form, shape, movement, and sound. The activities change and evolve as the child grows physically, emotionally, and intellectually.
Three Half Days
This class meets Monday - Wednesday (starting fall 2017) 8:30-11:15 a.m.
Four Half Days
This class meets Monday - Thursday 8:30 - 11:15 a.m.
Primary Class (ages 3-6 years)
Prior to age six, the child learns more easily and efficiently than at any other period in life. Research has established the critical importance of the first six years of life for a child’s physical, cognitive, emotional and social development. Montessori education is both a philosophy of child development and a method for guiding such development.
The Montessori environment is a prepared one. It affords the child stimulation and exercises his senses in a controlled and orderly manner. The classroom is designed so that the materials available to the children are appropriate for their varying ages, interests, and levels of development. The materials lead children through the process of learning, while giving them specific information. This involvement with the learning materials lays the foundation for future cognitive growth.
As the child works independently in the classroom, he/she is “building the person he or she will become.” As the child becomes more confident and self-controlled, self-discipline is gradually developed. Because the Montessori environment s designed to encourage freedom of movement, there is ample opportunity for a child’s social development.
A good Montessori classroom is the world in a capsule. A single teacher or directress can bring her “world” into the environment. Therefore, parents are encouraged to participate in the life of the school.
The Montessori method is designed to promote the understanding of children and their needs. Children discover in their own way and in their own time. The most important contribution that Montessori makes is in the development of our children’s attitudes and approaches to learning.
Four Half Days- Ages 3 and 4 year olds
This program meets Monday - Thursday during the morning for three hours.
Five Half Days- Ages 3 and early 4 year olds
This program meets Monday - Friday during the morning for three hours each day.
Five Full Days- Ages 3 through 6 year olds
This program meets Monday - Friday for a regular school day. Students bring a lunch to school each day.
Elementary Class (ages 6-12 years)
A Montessori classroom is an exciting place to be. There are many interesting and beautiful resources with which the children can work. There are many interesting books on a wide assortment of topics such as on insects, plants, animals, different countries, history, etc.. However, textbooks, workbooks, and ditto sheets are not used. Instead, children work with many different concrete materials which help them to learn through an active process. In using these materials the children may make their own books, draw their own maps or time lines, and develop their own projects. As a result, the classroom is a busy, happy place to be. Since the classroom is well organized, with the intention of making all the materials visible and accessible for the children, the children can find what they want and work without having to wait for the teacher.
Some children may be reading while others are doing math. Some people may be studying about ants while others are listening to classical music on headphones. The children are all engaged in purposeful activity which leads and develops the intelligence. The materials set out in the room have been carefully designed with an educational purpose in mind. Because of this, the children are free to move from activity to activity. They don't need to wait for assignments from the teacher. Meanwhile, the teacher is free to help individuals or small groups. The teacher is not tied to a routine of having to present a series of large group lessons to the whole class. The classroom is activity-centered rather than teacher-centered. The teacher's job is to prepare the classroom, set out the materials, and then observe the children and determine how to help. The teacher does not need to test the children because it is easy to see how the children are doing by observing their activities. In this way, the teacher can have immediate, up-to-date information about any child without time being taken way from learning and without threat of failure being imposed upon the child. Without the threat of failure, and with so many intriguing things to do, discipline problems disappear and a friendly, cooperative social community forms. Cooperation rather than competition becomes the tone of the room and adversarial relationships disappear, becoming friendships.
Elementary students move beyond the classroom by planning regular going-outs when research needs merit the gathering of further information. While given freedom in the classroom environment, our elementary students exhibit responsibility. To facilitate this, our teacher holds weekly, one to one (or small group) meetings with each student to monitor projects and set goals. The freedom to pursue desired work in the classroom is dependent on the child's responsibility to these meetings. The approach encourages self-discipline while preserving each child's natural excitement about the process of learning.
Adolescent Class (ages 12-13 years)
The description below is from http://www.mariamontessori.com/
A Montessori Adolescent Program, for the 12-18 year old, is built on the foundations of the elementary.
Students are expected to bring a high level of independence and self direction, a comfort with collaborative work, and a love of learning for learning’s sake. They treat each other with respect and are comfortable with the knowledge that each person has different strengths and challenges. The manipulative materials of the elementary level are rarely present, as adolescents have moved beyond their applications and are now solidly comfortable with the more adult learning techniques of reading, discussion, and application to a task.
It is designed to respond to the sensitivities of this age: personal dignity, social justice, and belonging.
The positive sense of belonging is nurtured through weekly council meetings run by the students, responsibilities that adequately match the capabilities of the adolescent, and through work that has a clear purpose. The adolescents work side-by-side with an increased number of adults, to engage in the immediate needs of the community: chores of dishwashing and sweeping, weeding the garden, feeding the animals, doing volunteer work at the neighborhood shelter, writing letters to representatives, etc. In response to their stronger need for belonging and a growing ability to collaborate within a large group, the adolescents have a schedule to the day and work within the same curriculum area at the same time. Each person is expected to contribute his best efforts to the topic or task at hand. Some adolescent programs utilize a boarding component to thoroughly immerse the students in this type of environment.
Students continue to be agents of their own learning.
Montessori adolescents continue to learn without letter grades or gold stars. Conversations with the teachers and written remarks on papers compliment the most important barometer of success: the student’s own knowledge that he has put forth his best effort. The mixed-age class supports each student in applying himself in a unique way to a group experience. Longer blocks of time each day for subject areas such as Humanities, Occupations/Sciences, and Creative Expression allow enough time for each student to follow personal threads of interest without interruption.
The adolescent curriculum is “society” and relates to the needs of the particular community.
While traditional education often teaches facts that are isolated from life outside the classroom, the Montessori adolescent program offers lessons with practical applications that allow students to make improvements in that community. “What will I use this for?” is an often-asked question of the adolescent, as he is determined to use knowledge to DO something in the world. Projects such as monitoring the neighborhood watershed, building and maintaining a large garden, or baking bread, are real world opportunities for many lessons in science, language arts, and practical life skills. Students work as a group to find ways of making money, their first direct experiences of the economic connections in a society. The success of earning money for a job well-done is a strong source of validation for the adolescent’s skills and contributions.