Garden Montessori School

My daughter started school at Garden Montessori in 2018- I couldn't be happier with the progress she has made. The teachers are amazing and so dedicated to your child's success. Truly love this school. Our son will be attending with our daughter this year and we are so excited to see his progress as well. Children thrive here!

My son (Jack) has been at Garden Montessori for four wonderful years. I have been so impressed by Garden's many philosophies. They truly consider the needs of each individual child. During each stage of Jack's development, the staff worked with us (parents) to ensure that they were maximizing his potential. They strive for personalized excellence, and in doing so, Garden students have the unique opportunity to learn about their passions. For example, Jack is especially interested in the solar system. The knowledgeable and Montessori-trained teachers provided specific (solar system!) opportunities which allowed him to nurture this passion. Jack is so proud of his working knowledge of the solar system, and I strongly believe that is because he was provided with stimulating work related to this passion.Jack has also matured socially, and I credit Garden for this. He has developed a strong sense of justice (one of the many virtues that Garden instills), independence, curiosity, and kindness. While only in kindergarten, he is already an advanced reader, completes complex math problems, and loves to learn. I believe that this love of learning is essential for children to continue on to traditional school methods and beyond. We are so grateful for the incredibly gifted staff at Garden. They are attentive, empathetic, and knowledgeable. Every day I drop Jack off at school, I know he is in good hands.

I had the highest hopes for this school when we started in the fall of 2017. When my son was two years old and I had heard about it- I couldn't wait until he was old enough to go because it seemed so wonderful. Sadly, we felt compelled to pull him from the school only two months into his second year. His first year was a little bumpy with some behavioral things, but ultimately it was okay. When we went to the orientation this year, about a week or so before classes were to start, we were told they had moved our son to a different class. We were caught off guard because we had no idea of the change. We asked why and were told that his previous teacher got two sets of twins so they thought it would be better if he were in a different class. We felt very surprised finding this out right before classes started and felt that it should've been communicated earlier. Lack of communication seems to be an ongoing issue at this school. As the days passed things initially seemed okay. Then around the end of October we started hearing there were some behavioral issues. My husband and I addressed them as best we could outside of school, but ultimately what were we supposed to do hours later- after the fact? My husband even talked to them to try to figure out what to do, and they made some recommendations that we followed through on. When I emailed my son's teacher about some issues and the huge lack of communication on their part, she emailed me back and I was heartbroken and angry by her responses. She said things like Montessori kids come in and work through a cycle and my kid just won't and needs too much 1:1 teacher time which is "causing frustration for everyone." Then followed that up with how "staff are unwilling to involve themselves" with my son because it takes up so much time that's needed for camps etc. To be made to feel like your child is a burden and a frustration to teachers is awful. He's a four year old little boy, and when you're a teacher...that's your job. Once those statements were told to us, we knew he could no longer stay there. We'll gladly pay thousands of dollars to a people who actually want to teach our child. It feels like if your kid fits the perfect Montessori mold then things will be good, but if not, they'll be cast aside in time out or sitting with different teachers. As far as his new environment, he's doing fantastically, and the new teachers aren't seeing behavioral issues. He told me the other day that he loves his new school. I asked him why he loves it so much and he said "because the teachers are really nice to me." That broke my heart. I'm happy that the new place is great, but it kills me he was so unhappy at Garden. If you value communication- this school is not for you. There are far better places to go that do a way better job. Garden also does a ridiculous thing by following Seneca Valley's closings which is ludicrous as everyone drives their kids and SV is a huge rural district that will close a lot during winter because of the buses. Also, Garden takes huge amounts of time off for breaks as compared to other preschools which is also very annoying. Save your time and money- find a different school to send your child(ren). Included are screen shots from the email from Linda Edsall from 11/25/18

My daughter will be entering her kindergarten year at the Garden this fall and wow I cannot say enough great things about this school and the staff! My daughter has blossomed over these past two years at the Garden. A Montessori education is top notch and allows children to progress at their own pace. This school also teaches invaluable practical life skills. Our daughter learned to sew and loves to help with household chores! Along with the small class sizes, the caring staff go above and beyond to help your child progress and grow. Our daughter has truly cultivated a love of learning from this school which will help to motivate her throughout the future. There isn't a better program out there!

While our time so far at Garden has been short, I will say it has been very positive. We had our son in a daycare/"learning school" previously and we experienced ongoing issues with separation anxiety and he struggled to stay stimulated throughout the entire day. When we toured Garden we knew this was a better fit for our son, who is very independent and enjoys being around other age groups. I love the values that they teach, as well as the every day practical tasks like sewing, washing dishes and cleaning. Just last night my son was pretending to cook dinner and wash dishes in his room, which he has never done before. I think these are important responsibilities for children to learn and it's something we also teach at home. He has not experienced any separation anxiety at drop off in the mornings, he is excited to take his lunch and head inside for the day. This for me a is a huge relief because it broke my heart to see him upset for me to leave for the day at his previous school. Overall I think he is really enjoying his time there and appreciate the values he is learning. I strongly believe children need social interaction to enrich their development and am so happy we have Garden to fill those needs right now.