Dr. Maria Montessori was the first educator to realize the capacity of young children to learn and to systematically examine how the young child learns best. She believed that all children have a natural desire to learn and given the opportunity will absorb everything in their culture and environment. She identified that the most sensitive period for learning was the period between birth and age six. The Montessori method has been proven for over 100 years and is known and taught world-wide.

Sensitive periods are times in the child’s life when they are driven by nature to acquire a new skill or concept. During this time, learning will be easier than any other time in life. From newborn to two years of age, they are in the sensitive stage of language; from three to five years of age, they are refining small motor skills; and from four to six years of age, they are refining reading skills.

The Montessori philosophy and curriculum fosters love of learning and self-growth. Through the work children develop tools for learning that will prepare them for life.

Dr. Montessori once said:

“The most important period of life is not the age of university studies, but the first one, the period from birth to the age six; for that is the time when man’s intelligence itself, his greatest implement, is being formed. The essence of independence is to be able to do something for one’s self. Adults work to finish a task, but the child works in order to grow, and is working to create the adult, the person that is to be. Such experience is not just play; it is work he must do in order to grow up.”