Montessori is a method of education that is based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play. In Montessori classrooms children make creative choices in their learning, while the classroom and the teacher offer age-appropriate activities to guide the process. Children work in groups & individually to discover & explore knowledge of the world and to develop their maximum potential.

Montessori education is fundamentally a model of human development, and an educational approach based on that model. The model has two basic principles. First, children and developing adults engage in psychological self-construction by means of interaction with their environments. Second, children, especially under the age of six, have an innate path of psychological development. Based on this observations, Montessori believed that children who are at liberty to choose and act freely within an environment prepared according to the model would act spontaneously for optimal development.

Montessori classroom are beautifully crafted environments designed to meet the needs of children in a specific age range. River Oaks Academy discovered that experimental learning in this type of classroom led to a deeper understanding of language, mathematics, science, music, social interactions and much more. Most Montessori educational method can be integrated successfully into a faith based program.

River Oaks Academy’s Montessori curriculum emphasizes learning as a process that cannot be determined by a child’s age. Instead, learning is a process that is determined by the rate and speed at which a child can acquire one skill before moving on to another skill.

Every material in a Montessori classroom supports an aspect of child development, creating a match between the child’s interest and the available activities. Children can learn through own experience and at their own pace. They can respond at any moment to the natural curiosities that exist in all humans & build a solid foundation for life-long learning.