Montessori Research
Parents naturally want to set their children up for success, so they ask tough questions in order to make an informed choice when deciding amongst educational programs. For a Montessori school, people often want to know…
5 Montessori Areas to Have at Home
Montessori schools encourage, scaffold, and celebrate children’s independence and believe it is an integral part of preparing the child for success in life. Dr. Montessori believed that education should be an aid to life. She believed that the child’s early functional independence in caring for oneself and one’s school and familial environment builds the foundation for psychological independence as the child enters adulthood…
Nurturing the Spirit of Our Children
Montessori education is often characterized by what is readily visible to us. This may be happy children using beautiful didactic materials such as the pink tower of cubes or the golden beads used in math curriculum. Or perhaps it’s the aesthetically pleasing child-sized classrooms housing mixed age groups working busily…
The Montessori Philosophy: Cultivating Peaceful Independence
More than a century ago, Dr. Maria Montessori pioneered a method of education rooted in the observation that each child is a unique person who is naturally curious and has a desire to learn experientially. When a beautiful educational environment is intentionally created, children find their passion for learning and are able to fully develop intellectually, socially, and emotionally…
Mountain Sun Works with Ellie Elzerman to Develop Curriculum
Over the past school year, Mountain Sun Community School worked in partnership with Ellie Elzerman, Educational Consultant and Montessori expert, to develop and improve the school’s academic curriculum…
Another Camping Trip?
When I looked at my calendar as February turned to March, this question popped in my mind as I saw our next camping trip approaching. You see, camping trips are a lot of work for us teachers. So when it’s about a month (or more!) out from a trip, it’s time to start preparing…
January 2019 Classroom Updates
The Owls and Otters are moving into their studies of Asia. The teachers have decided that both classes will first study China and then move on to Thailand. This week they will have a guest speaker, Kert Peterson, who will speak to the classes about Taekwondo…
The Process of Creating
Sitting on the shelf behind my desk in the art room is a box of crayons. This is not just any box of crayons. It is a very, very old box of 64 Crayola crayons with the sharpener built in the back. I keep this box of crayons out where I can see it every day as a reminder of my childhood, where my love of art began…
April 2018 Class Updates
The Otters are exploring the colors of nature on campus, such as the butter colored daffodils and the purple sprouting violets. Annie and Morgan are teaching the kids to play wiffle ball and soccer. They are making dirt tracks with cars, and pretending to be superheroes wearing colored scarves for capes…
Water Water Everywhere
Living in a temperate rainforest comes with the good, the bad, and the sloppy. Grab some rain boots, a good book, or settle in for good times inside and out. Snuggling up at home, in your pajamas, with your family and pets is certainly one of the most enjoyable things that come with rainy weather…
February 2018 Classroom Updates
The Otters have had several parent guests come to share books and other talents this month. They enjoyed a trip to the local library for story time and a chance to practice their grace and courtesy out in the community. They also painted and decorated shoe boxes to hold their Valentines made for each other by classmates…
Follow the Child
Dr. Montessori did not believe that she invented a method of education. She simply studied children. And what she found was that every human being develops through a unique process of self-construction…
Planting Seeds
After winter break, the children and teachers are all excited to be back at school, in our space, and re-connecting. The children are wearing smiles, greeting one another, and offering hugs. There are exciting stories about what happened during the break as well as remembering shared activities. The teachers are treasuring these moments and share in the joy of the children reuniting…
Cider and Conversation
I just love homemade apple cider. I mean, what’s not to love? It’s warm and sweet, it has all the spices that make you think of the holidays, and if you make it in a crockpot, the entire house smells like one enormous pie…
Ask the Girl
My son is four. He’s known for a lot of things—his boundless energy, his enthusiasm for life and the people he loves, his adventurous spirit and the way he wakes up ready to attack the day with gusto. But self-control? Yeah, he’s not known for that. Impulse-control? Not his strong suit. A gentle, tentative, approach to life? Not my kid…
Transylvania Vocational Services and Mountain Sun Students Team Up with Books
Transylvania Vocational Services (TVS) and Mountain Sun Community School have teamed up to create a Reading Buddy program that allows first through third graders (Acorns) to connect with TVS clients through reading and storytelling…
December 2017 Classroom Updates
The Otter class is enjoying new homemade play dough and dyed pasta, seashells, and caterpillars for metamorphosis viewing. They are working diligently on their grace and courtesy and respect for self and others. They have been working with tracing paper that they use to create pictures of images from books…
Lucky Us
I had the joy of taking the Acorn Class to the WNC Nature Center on a field trip. It was wonderful!! Breaking the day down into pieces sheds light on so many gifts we have here at Mountain Sun and the region we live in. The order of this list does not indicate anything other than how the day unraveled in my mind…I am so grateful for the Nature Center…
Why So Many Bake Sales?
I love baking. Since I can remember, I've always wanted to be a baker. As a child, I spent summers in Iowa with my grandmother on the farm my father grew up on. And we baked. She was your quintessential farm wife and grandma. Everywhere we went, we brought baked goods with us to share…