Frequently Asked Questions

It’s tricky to know exactly what constitutes an authentic Montessori program. There is no copyright on the term “Montessori.”  That means anyone can open a school and call it “Montessori” without implementing an authentic program.

Why is this important?

As a parent you want the best for your child. It is very important to verify that the Montessori teacher training is from an accredited school. The teachers and head teacher should have acronyms after their name and qualifications stating their level of certification. (AMI, AMS, MACTE).

Online Montessori training is rarely accredited and the teacher does not get the experience of observations of other Montessori programs The authentic Montessori teacher training program requires the teachers to do practicum hours at various accredited Montessori Schools in the USA, Canada or UK.

A good Montessori classroom is calm and peaceful. You will see many children deep in concentration as they choose an activity and work with it for a good long time. Other children are moving in the classroom as they choose an activity and sit down to work, but the movement in the classroom is slow and purposeful.

Authentic Montessori classrooms group children together by three-year age spans. This means a third of the children in a class will be three years old, a third will be four and a third will be five, turning six. A bona fide Montessori school will ALWAYS have kindergarten included in this age grouping, with three and four-year-old children and will never separate kindergarten children into a different class.The reason? Older kindergarten-age children model respectful behaviors and advanced work that the younger children will eventually one day experience.  Younger children certainly benefit from this mentoring—but also the older children, irrespective of personality, are afforded an opportunity of leadership.