Maria Montessori, Italy’s first woman physician and one of the great educators of the twentieth century, was born in Chiaravalle, Italy in 1870. She pioneered the work with children that we carry on today at Lake Country School. 

Her work began in 1898 with children who were labeled “mentally deficient” at the University Psychiatric Clinic in Rome. Through intense study, observations, and long days of working with these children, she discovered that their problems were more emotional than medical. As a result she designed special learning materials to meet their needs and trained teachers to present the materials in a certain way. Many of these children went on to pass state examinations that were written for “normal” children. Montessori’s success was proclaimed miraculous. In 1907 Dr. Montessori opened her first school, Casa dei Bambini (House of Children), in the San Lorenzo slums of Rome. Word of this "new education” spread and many more schools were opened throughout the world.

In 1929 Dr. Montessori founded the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) to continue her work known as the “Montessori Method.” She saw the child as the most legitimate hope for a new world and, during the Second World War, her method was regarded as a movement for world peace. Honorary doctorates, recognition, and awards were bestowed on her from countries all over the world. By the time of her death in 1952, she had gained an international reputation as an educator.

Dr. Montessori fervently believed that children have an inner force that gives them the power and drive to achieve their full potential. When children are given the proper measure of guidance and freedom, this inner force enables them to focus on what they need to know and they learn with wonder, joy and confidence. 

A vital part of the Montessori method is a carefully prepared environment that is beautiful and orderly. It includes didactic materials designed to meet the needs of each child at his or her particular level of development. The well-trained, sensitive and loving adult serves as the key link between the child and the environment. Through skilled observation, the adult is prepared to offer children instruction that will stimulate their interest and activity.

Lake Country School's philosophy is inspired by the educational vision of Maria Montessori; the models for the classrooms and for the developmental learning materials were created by her. The school continues her work in developmental psychology and education, incorporating the work of others in these fields while adapting to the needs of children in the new century.

As Montessorians, we believe that each child is born to be an independent learner and that the full potential of each person is realized only through an ordered, challenging, nurturing environment that is physical, intellectual and spiritual.

We believe that the child and his or her needs are the central and commanding focus of the learning process.  It is the role of the school to observe, to know and to defend the child as he or she proceeds through the stages of development. 

We see in each child the future of our society, of our nation and of our planet. The child in the process of fundamental development has unlimited possibilities and the future rests on our ability to cultivate these potentials.

We believe in cultural and economic diversity and make every effort to recruit families with different ethnic, racial, and religious heritages.

We believe that the learning process is governed by certain basic human tendencies or needs: 

• the need to communicate, to use language
• the tendency for order, the need to organize, classify, and interpret reality
• the need for independence and activity, the drive to work constructively
• the need for social relationships
• the need to experience reality through imagination

Like Dr. Montessori we recognize that education requires an ethical environment in which the values of the community are respected and the worth of the individual protected. Our philosophy includes the cultivation of the following values: 

Self-reliance and hard work. We facilitate education based on self inquiry while maintaining school-wide standards of academic excellence. We recognize the intrinsic rewards of the children’s work.

Respect for other people, including those who live or lived in other places and times.  We emphasize the positive advances achieved by humans rather than the wars waged by them.

International and interpersonal peace.  We seek to create situations where children cooperate at least as much as they compete.

Appreciation of the creative power manifested within the process of evolution and the formation of the universe. At the elementary level, we use storytelling, historical timelines, and impressionistic charts to inspire and inform the children.

The special relationship between the child and adult in a Montessori classroom is conveyed by these words of a young child, "Help me to do it myself.”

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