Childrens House of Old Town, Fredericksburg, Virginia

The Montessori approach
to educate emphasizes
the development of the
individual child within the
social setting of the group.
With gentle guidance from
the teacher, the child is
allowed to develop at his
or her own pace and to
cultivate a natural love
of learning in a
non-competitive
environment.

Our Program

The Children's House of Old Town program provides a hands-on learning experience using specially formulated Montessori materials.

Pre-School

Ages 3 - 5

Schedule: Five days a week / Monday -Friday 9:00 - Noon

Kindergarten

Ages 5 - 6

Schedule: Five days a week / Monday - Friday 9:00 - 2:30

Montessori Education Compared to a Traditional Education

The goal of both Montessori and traditional schools is the same: to provide learning experiences for the child. The biggest differences lie in the kind of learning experiences each school provides and the methods they use to accomplish this goal.
Montessori educators believe these differences are important because they help shape how a child learns, his work habits and his future attitudes toward himself and the world around him.

Montessori Education Emphasis on cognitive and social development	Traditional Education Emphasis on social development
Teacher has unobtrusive role in classroom	Teacher is center of classroom as "controller"
Environment and method encourage self-discipline	Teacher acts as primary enforcer of discipline
Mainly individual instruction Mixed age grouping	Group and individual instruction
Grouping encourages children to teach and help each other	Same age grouping
Child chooses own work	Most teaching done by teacher
Child discovers own concepts from self-teaching materials	Curriculum structured for child Child is guided to concepts by teacher
Child sets own learning pace	Instruction pace usually set by group norm
Child spots own errors from feedback material	If work is corrected, errors usually pointed out by teacher
Child reinforces own learning by repetition of work and internal feelings of success	Learning is reinforced externally by repetition and rewards
Organized program for learning care of self and environmental (polishing shoes, cleaning sink, etc.)	Less emphasis on self-care instruction
Child can work where he chooses, move around and talk at will (yet not disturb work of others); group work is voluntary	Child is usually assigned his own chair; encouraged to participate, sit still and listen during group lessons