Finding a Montessori School
A common question I hear frequently is “How can I find a Montessori school near me?”. I thought I’d put together all the resources I know about in one helpful post.
Searching for Montessori
First I would recommend doing a Google search for “montessori school ________” with the blank being the city, town, state, or province that you live in. When schools list their addresses at their websites, which most do, Google can return good results that show you the websites for any schools in your area.
Many Montessori schools have Google “Place Pages”, which are pages that are separate from the school’s actual website, but have helpful information like the location and hours of operation.
Place Pages often have reviews left by other people (along with star ratings), so you can read those for the school you’re interested in. Online reviews can be helpful if taken in context with other information, so take the reviews with a grain of salt. You can also ask people in your neighborhood or community if they have any experience with the school in question or if they can provide any helpful info.
AMS and AMI
You can also search at the American Montessori Society (AMS) website, by state or country, to find schools that are affiliated with AMS: AMS: Find a School. Keep in mind that “affiliation” simply means that the school has joined AMS by paying the yearly fee. This designation is not an assurance of school quality. However, if a school is accredited by AMS, then the school has undergone a long process of evaluation and should be a high-quality school.
The AMS website typically tells you the location, hours of operation, and some info about the school, like the ages it serves and programs it offers. They also have the school’s phone number and email address so that you can contact them with questions.
You can do the same kind of search at the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) website, for schools that are approved by AMI. Currently only schools in the US can obtain a “Certificate of Recognition”; you can search for them here: AMI/USA School Locator.
Montessori School Finder App
There is also a Montessori app for smartphones (like iPhones) that you can download that will enable you to search for Montessori schools. You can find it here: Welcome to Montessori App. I haven’t used it, so I can’t speak to its helpfulness, but if any of you have, please share your thoughts!
What to Look For
Finding a school is only a first step. The next step is to make sure the school is high quality and is truly practicing the Montessori method. There is only one way to determine that: by observing the school yourself. All good Montessori schools have an “open door” policy so that prospective parents can come to the school, meet the administrators and staff, and observe a classroom.
If you’re not sure what to look for, here’s a helpful post: Top Ten Things to Look for in a Montessori School.
As much as I’d like to be able, I cannot give any suggestions or recommendations as to the quality of Montessori schools around the US or the rest of the world. So this is something you’ll have to investigate for yourself. Luckily the internet provides lots of resources for finding and evaluating Montessori schools.
We are pulling our hair out with a granddaughter that is STRUGGLING with learning math facts. I have a learning disability in math but did not know it until I was 50 years old and was tested for ADHD. I have a degree (in 1966!) in speech pathology and know a little bit about learning styles and I wonder about all these “sheets” that come home. We have just found out that she has something called convergent insufficiency and is nearsighted. Glasses have corrected the nearsightedness. The other problems cause the numbers and letters to “jump up off the page”.
Are your math addition and subtraction materials manipulative and do you think they might help us? I did not mention that Camille is in the 2nd grade and we are in a very rural area in Mississippi. HELP!! I also taught 4 yr old kindergarten for 10 years and 5 yr. old for 5 years. I am willing to go for training to help her. (might even be fun!)
Hi, Carolyn! Thank you so much for your comment. You are in a very difficult situation! It’s so commendable that you want to help your granddaughter. If you were somehow able to enroll her in a Montessori school, that would be an amazing experience for her, but if you cannot do that you can certainly add some Montessori materials to her life.
Yes, the Montessori math materials are all hands-on manipulatives that are very wonderful. I do sell many printable ones (you print, laminate, cut out, and then show the child how to use them) that you can find at our store in these categories: Math Activities, Operations, and Word Problems & Equations.
Besides those, there are hands-on manipulatives that we do not sell that include beads and other things. I recommend Alison’s Montessori for things like that: Alison’s Montessori.
For instructions on how to use the Montessori materials, there are albums (manuals) that you can buy, as well as free ones online. This post gives you a review of every Montessori album available, as well as links to all the free online ones: Ultimate Post About Montessori Albums.
That said, to answer your original question, yes! I do believe your granddaughter could be greatly helped by the Montessori math materials. Each operation is dealt with in a concrete, hands-on way that makes sense to kids. You sound very qualified to work with her and if you could add some hands-on materials to her life (maybe work with her once or twice a week) she would benefit greatly.
The first things I recommend is addition and subtraction with the math boards and charts (you can find those here), as well as with beads, which you can find here. Again, consult a math album for 6-9 either printed or online as mentioned above for instructions on how to use and present the Montessori math materials. Start small and add to them as your time and budget allows.
Truthfully, you can Google any Montessori material you can think of (montessori addition board, etc) and find instructions at someone’s website or blog without even having to visit one of the online albums. They’re everywhere!
While taking the Montessori training would of course be fantastic, courses are quite pricey and can be a lot of work. Many people are able to bring some Montessori materials into their child’s learning experience simply by doing reading and research online. If at some point, after using some Montessori materials, you wanted to take the training you certainly could. If there is no training center by you (just Google your city/state and “montessori training”), there are several good online Montessori courses available too.
Thank you so much for the in-depth reply. We’ll be ordering and printing soon.
Great, glad to hear it!