Tag Archives: Montessori School of Flagstaff Cedar Campus

The Difference of a Montessori Middle School Education

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On a daily basis, parents make decisions affecting the welfare of their children. Finding the best learning environment for a child to grow and succeed is part of the daily decision. Montessori Middle School focuses on children as individuals. Unlike a traditional classroom, the student-centered learning style focuses on self-reliance and independence.

The Montessori Middle School Approach

The Montessori Middle School learning environment is different than a traditional classroom. By focusing on each child’s uniqueness, instructors encourage self-discovery and learning. Montessori wants children to grow in all areas of development, including physical, social, emotional and mental. Foregoing restrictions or conforming to standardized testing norms, students learn areas of interest without limitations.

  • Small Groups/Individual Learning: Students use a self-paced curriculum. Working in small groups or individually allows children to feel confident about their discoveries. Resulting in more questions, the open-ended activities inspire students to continue learning. If a child is uncertain about a subject, the small grouping allows for questions without worry.
  • Non-Grading Learning Environment: Montessori groups children in a multi-age learning environment. The unique grouping allows children to mentor younger ones and develop leadership skills. The multi-age environment helps children feel more at ease. Participating in this style of learning environment allows students not to receive standardized grades.
  • Social/Communication Skills: Along with fostering independence and leadership skills, the Montessori learning environment enhances social and communication skills. The small groupings allow children to ask questions and discuss topics with other students. Often, the discussions lead to further exploration and learning.
  • Work Centers: The design of the Montessori learning environment includes work centers. At each work center, students may learn about one subject. Without any time restrictions, students may focus on one subject or several in one day. Basing the subjects at different levels, students will continue to learn new aspects.
  • Learning Styles: The self-paced learning environment allows the students to pick areas of interest. As each child makes a choice, the learning environment is both unique and different. Encouraging students to learn about individual passions allows for areas of expertise.
  • Instilling Self-Confidence: Children who focus on areas of strengths gain self-confidence. The desire to continue learning will aid in higher education choices in the future.
  • Curiosity and Learning: Montessori encourages children natural curiosity for learning. As students develop skills for exploring subjects and data, the desire for learning increases. Students will be able to use research, study and exploration skills in high school and college courses.

Montessori Middle Schools focus on children as individuals to reach their highest potential. Learning without time restrictions enables children to focus on interests. Fostering natural curiosity, students will continue to learn and grow at their own pace.

As a concerned parent for your child’s middle school education, if you would like more information on the Montessori learning style, please contact the Montessori School of Flagstaff Cedar Campus today. The highly trained instructors will answer all your questions. Providing informative tours, you will be able to view first-hand the effects of a non-restrictive learning environment.

Teaching Kids how to be Internet Safe & Savvy

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The internet is full of information that kids can use to write reports and to learn new things. It can also be very dangerous. If your children don’t know how to use the internet safely, you cannot be sure who they are really talking to. Predators often pose as children to gain a child’s trust to commit a crime. Also, curious children will often visit sites that are not appropriate for children. As a parent, it is up to you to make sure that your children know how to be safe when they are online.

Set Up Parental Controls

The most important thing that you can do to keep your children safe online is to set up parental controls. This safety feature will block your child if they try to enter any website that is not age appropriate. When setting up the parental controls, be sure to use a password that you children won’t be able to easily guess.

Insist On Having Their Passwords

The best way to know who your children are communicating with online is to insist that they give you their email password and their passwords for social media. As they get older, you can change this rule. However, if your child is young and they insist on using email and social media, you should have access to their accounts so that you can check up on them.

Teach Your Child to Only Communicate With People They Know

Predators will often send children friend requests on social media. You should explain the dangers of befriending strangers to your children. Remind your children that people online are not always who they say they are. Let them know that if they don’t know the person in the real world, they should not accept their friend request. Even if the person has a few mutual friends with your child, they still should not accept the friend request. The friends that the person has in common with your child could be children who haven’t been taught the dangers of befriending strangers.

Teach Your Child to Speak Up

You should teach your child that if they see something on the internet that makes them uncomfortable or that they feel is wrong, they should walk away from the computer and tell you. This could be messages and emails from strangers or classmates bullying another child. Remind your child that it is their responsibility to help and speak up whenever possible.

Remind Your Child That Posts and Photos Are There Forever

Many children are naive when it comes to the internet. They believe that if they post something and then delete it, that it is gone forever. It is important to remind your children that everything they put online is saved somewhere and it can come back to cause them serious problems in the future. This is not just photos, but also written words.

It is very important to teach your child how to use the internet safely. It could potentially save their life.  At the Montessori School of Flagstaff Cedar Campus, children will learn how to make smart and informed decisions throughout their Montessori education.  Contact us today to schedule a tour and learn about the Montessori difference.