If your family is interested in exploring a scholarship (a.k.a. financial aid) at The Montessori House for the school year starting September, 2020 (2020-21 school year), now is the time to start the process.

(Note, scholarships are no longer available for the current school year that startede September, 2019.)

First, you apply to The Montessori House: please have a look at our Admissions section.  If you haven’t visited the school, we suggest you call us to arrange a tour for yourself (we recommend you come for a tour during the school day without your child, if possible).  Please call or text us at 201-816-8343 to arrange a time.

Starting now you can prepare your scholarship application to Friends of Montessori Foundation.  Your application needs to be completed before March 15, 2020 (for scholarships for the school year starting September, 2020).

Scholarships are provided by The Friends of Montessori Foundation, and they consider your financial need as well as the depth of their own resources when making scholarship decisions.

Note, if you receive an award, it will be be subject to verification of information you submitted; for example receipt and evaluation of 2019 tax returns that you may not have sent to FoM in March.

If Friends of Montessori Foundation cannot meet your calculated need, then you may choose to withdraw and receive a refund of any tuition deposits you may have provided The Montessori House (but no refund of your application fee).  However, if the Foundation meets your need (or determines that you have not demonstrated a financial need), then you would not be eligible for a tuition refund if you decide to withdraw.

Of course, before deciding to reserve a place for your child with a deposit, you can wait to hear from the Foundation regarding your scholarship.  But, without a reservation in place, by we may have filled up your preferred sessions for 2020-21.

Feel free to contact us by e-mail (admissions@themontessorihouse.com) with questions.

Before enjoying today’s Thanksgiving Feast at The Montessori House, our families responded with great generosity last week to our Fall Food Drive.

We collected a record amount of in-kind food donations for the Center for Food Action(CFA)  in Englewood.

With the help of many parents, we had a caravan of parent cars, full of our Kindergarten/First Grade children and donations, make their way down Knickebocker Ave. to the CFA.  Once there, the children helped unload and also received a tour of the facility and some explanation of how their donations will help neighbors in need.

Thanks to all our Montesori House families for their generosity.

First, thanks to the more than 30 parents who volunteered to help with Fall Celebration this year.  Everyone had a great time!

On Tuesday October 27th all the students at The Montessori House had a chance to join in our Fall Celebration.  Parents helped us set up and operate all kinds of activities, such as Pumpkin Bowling), Tractor Driving, and Planting Spring Bulbs, plus yummy snacks.

Mother Nature graced us with a beautiful fall day (and dry weather for Monday’s set-up and Tuesday’s Celebration).

Elizabeth (mother of Lilly and Charlotte and a terrific leader for our Snack Committee) sent us a few photos, which you can see in the Parents section of the website (if you have a Parent ID/Passwordk, log on and then click on Photo Galleries, 2015 Fall Celebration is at the top of the list).

The next volunteer opportunity:  Thanksgiving Feast.  Parents will receive and e-mail with details and sign-up instructions.

Many of our teachers attended a presentation in Tenafly last week by Dr. Denise Pope (Stanford) titled “The Well-Balanced Student”.  Both the Tenafly and Cresskill public schools  sponsored the talk along with RHOWR (Rational HOmeWork Review), a group of Tenafly parents connected about the role of homework among the stressors impacting their children.

Dr. Pope is particularly interested in student voices and the students’ perspectives of school. She focuses on academic stress and its consequences for students’ mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. She authored “Doing School”: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students (Yale University Press, 2001) and directed the SOS: Stressed Out Student (2003-2008) which has become Challenge Success: which focuses on strategies for healthy, engaged kids and recently published Overworked and Underprepared.

Ms. Maria thought the following points were of particular interest:

• Unstructured play time is the most important factor in developing children’s creativity, enjoyment of learning, and lifetime mental health.  Tis is true for children from pre-school through high-school.  (Play time and social time — time with no instructional purpose, not music lessons, art lessons, organized sports, tutoring, etc.)  Dr. Pope described it as part of Playtime, Downtime, Familytime (PDF), which constitute the protective factors for children (ensuring they grow up to be healthy, well-adjusted adults).
• More homework and after-school tutoring does not lead to improved learning.  In fact, some students become “robo students” who may be excellent at getting good grades  and test scores, but are disengaged, unable to solve complex problems, and unable to master 21st century skills.  Dr. Pope said, “Don’t confuse rigor with load.”  More schoolwork (load) is pointless (even detrimental) if it’s not the right kind of work (rigor).
• The importance of “successful” failure.  No one can get it right the first time, every time; certainly not if they’re really learning things that are new, important, or difficult.  To learn and develop children must have the opportunity to try, fail (without consequences), and try again until they achieve competence or mastery.  (We do just that in the Montessori classroom with our Montessori works).
• Finally, SLEEP.  Dr. Pope emphasized that the most important factor for learning and mental health is adequate sleep.  She said Kindergarten 12+hours, elementary school 11+, middle school 10+, and high school 9+.  This is every day (so night sleep plus naps), not just an average over a week.  In fact, she noted that ADD/ADHD behaviors are often the result of sleep deprivation and are easily addressed (with more sleep).

At The Montessori House we already practice what Dr. Pope preached in many cases.  It’s inherent in the Montessori Method to give children the opportunity to learn (to try repeatedly until competence is achieved), also to give children control of their time (choosing works, or choosing when they need downtime or a snack), and we build in some solid play time each morning and afternoon.

We generally recommend against tutoring or math/literacy enrichment programs outside of school, and encourage parents to limit the number of structured programs children attend.  Instead we always recommend parents read to their children, play with their children, and arrange unstructured play with friends outside of school (or in our After Care program).  And we couldn’t agree more with Dr. Pope on the importance of sleep — we see the difference it makes in our students’ behavior and ability to learn.

Since the end of December we’ve been placing children into all our programs for September 2016.   We’ve completed placements to children returning to The Montessori House and their siblings, and we’re now placing new applicants.   While most families we speak are interested in placement for September 2016, we already have a growing list of applicants for September 2017.

Openings for September 2016.  Of 100+ students currently enrolled at The Montessori House, we now count about 60 who will return to the school next September (most of the other 40+ students have “aged-out” of our programs and will attend their local elementary school).  That means we’re placing about 40+ new students — 16 new students in our Montessori Stepping Stones program (age 2-1/2 to 3), about 25 new students in our Pre-Primary Montessori programs (age 3 to 4), and a handful of new Kindergarten students (age 5+).

As occurs every year, we have the greatest interest in our full-day programs (Pre-Primary Montessori/Enrichment and Montessori Kindergarten) and our morning, half-day programs (Montessori Stepping Stones and Pre-Primary Montessori) — these sessions fill the fastest and have the longest waiting lists.  In fact, the Stepping Stones morning session is filled already, largely with the younger siblings from Montessori House families.  The last sessions to fill are our afternoon, half-day programs (Montessori Stepping Stones and Pre-Primary Montessori).

To be considered for placement, families submit a paid application (download here).  While we only offer families placement after a school visit and tour, families are welcome to apply either before they visit, at the visit, or after visiting.

We offer tours most school days.  Tours are most informative  when the classroom is filled with students and teachers.  Consequently we only conduct tours when classes are in session.  A personal, private tour  usually take about 45 minutes, with a generous amount of time in one or two classrooms — depending on your child’s age, we will show you the program they would enter in September 2016, but also show you the programs available in future years.   (Note, we can only spend time in the classroom on an “adults only” tour — a quiet infant carried by the parent is permitted, but no toddlers in the classroom please.)    Note, you may submit an application before you tour.

We generally schedule tours at 9:15 or 10:15 in the morning, or at 1:15 in the afternoon.  Please call to schedule a personal tour by calling us at 201-816-8343.  Or, we’ll contact you: e-mail us your contact information and we’ll reach out to schedule a visit.  Alternatively, on our Admissions Page , you can request our free Schools Checklist (at the right under “How Does Our School Compare?”enter your name, zipcode and e-mail in the boxes) , and we’ll e-mail you  information about booking a tour

Timing for Your 2016-17 Application: For families who are confident they want a placement offer for September 2016 from The Montessori House, we recommend submitting an application immediately.  Some families delay: to finalize plans to move to the area, to look at other schools, or they mistakenly assume they have plenty of time.  The cost of an application is small, and delay in submitting an application will reduce a family’s options now that we’ve begun placements  for next September.

Summary of our enrollment process:  At the end of the calendar year, we offer all our current students an opportunity to re-enroll for the following September.  Once we’ve completed re-enrollment, during the 2nd week of January, we  make enrollment offers to new families, more or less in the order we received a paid application.  After the end of January, we have rolling admissions and continue to offer placement in a session until that session is filled, at which point we start a session wait list.  A family may choose to enroll in an alternate session (e.g. afternoon rather than morning, or half-day rather than full-day), but still join the waiting list for their preferred session.

We urge families interested in entering September 2016 to act now: schedule a school visit and submit an application .

For more information please contact us through our website or call 201-816-8343.

Mar 12: 2015-16 Enrollment Agreements and Tuition Deposits Due

Apr 2: School Closed — Spring Break

Apr 13: School Reopens

We celebrate Valentines Day at The Montessori House this week.  Why?  Because the school and office will close from Friday February 13th through Sunday February 22nd.  We re-open on our usual schedule on Monday February 23rd.

An interesting articles in the New York Times: Is E-Reading to Your Toddler Story Time, or Simply Screen Time?

“We know how children learn to read,” said Kyle Snow, the applied research director at the National Association for the Education of Young Children. “But we don’t know how that process will be affected by digital technology.”

But a handful of new studies suggest that reading to a child from an electronic device undercuts the dynamic that drives language development.

In a 2013 study, researchers found that children ages 3 to 5 whose parents read to them from an electronic book had lower reading comprehension than children whose parents used traditional books. Part of the reason, they said, was that parents and children using an electronic device spent more time focusing on the device itself than on the story (a conclusion shared by at least two other studies).

But when it comes to learning language, researchers say, no piece of technology can substitute for a live instructor — even if the child appears to be paying close attention.

“There’s the possibility for e-books to become the TV babysitters of this generation,” he said. “We don’t want parents to say, ‘There’s no reason for me to sit here and turn pages and tell my child how to read the word, because my iPad can do it.’ ”

Parents note that there is an emotional component to paper-and-ink storybooks that, so far, does not seem to extend to their electronic counterparts, however engaging.

In any event, you’ll find only ink-on-paper books in the children’s reading corner at The Montessori House.

If your family is interested in exploring a scholarship (a.k.a. financial aid) at The Montessori House for the school year starting September, 2015 (2015-16 school year), now is the time to start the process.

First, you apply to The Montessori House: please have a look at our Tips for Sept 2015 Admissions.  If you haven’t visited the school, we suggest you call us to arrange a tour for yourself (we recommend you come for a tour during the school day without your child, if possible).  Please call us at 201-816-8343 to arrange a time.

Starting now you can prepare your scholarship application on-line through School and Student Services by NAIS.  Your application needs to be completed before February 22, 2015 (for scholarships for the school year starting September, 2015).

Scholarships are provided by The Friends of Montessori Foundation, and they consider your financial need as well as the depth of their own resources when making scholarship decisions.

Generally, The Montessori House, in January, 2015, will offer your child a place for enrollment, and ask you to commit with a $750 Reservation Deposit.  You’ll hear about your scholarship (if any), at the same time we ask you sign an Enrollment Agreement and complete your tuition deposit (about mid-March, 2014).  Note, the award may be subject to verification of information you submitted; for example receipt and evaluation of 2014 tax returns that you may not have sent to SSS/NAIS before March.

If Friends of Montessori Foundation cannot meet your calculated need, then you may choose to withdraw and receive a refund of your Reservation Deposit.  However, if the Foundation meets your need (or determines that you have not demonstrated a financial need), then you would not be eligible for a refund if you decide to withdraw.

Of course, before deciding to reserve a place for your child, you can wait to hear from the Foundation regarding your scholarship.  But, without a reservation in place, by mid-March we may have filled up your preferred sessions for 2015-16.

Feel free to contact us by e-mail (admissions@themontessorihouse.com) or by phone (201-816-8343) with questions.