Montessori Continuing Education

Montessori Continuing Education, 3 to 14 years

Evening lectures and slide show presentations of children in their classrooms at all age levels are given throughout the school year to our whole parent community as part of our Montessori Continuing Education program. Teachers also give evening talks in their separate classrooms, showing parents Montessori materials specific to their own child’s age level and development. They explain the life of the classroom, its procedures and practices and its benefits for the children. Finally, twice a year parents join their children in their individual classrooms. This day is a favorite for all, as the children happily show their parents how to use the materials that they themselves have mastered.

For those interested in further Montessori Continuing Education, we also offer more detailed presentations about Montessori education such as: classroom schedule, the teacher’s classroom preparation, planning and record keeping, the use and progression of Montessori materials in specific areas such as mathematics or language and how all areas are related and reinforce each other in a Montessori environment. These events are offered several times during the year by an AMI certified Montessori teacher on staff (but not currently teaching in a classroom). 

Off site meetings for parents are also held in the homes of current and alumni parents of Forest Bluff School. Parents may join Book Discussion groups led by an experienced Montessori teacher. Books chosen reflect current events of the world in which we are raising our children, as well as topics specific to education, psychology and the development of children and adolescents.

Forest Bluff School co-founders Paula Polk Lillard and Lynn Lillard Jessen speak to Montessori parents.

Montessori Continuing Education: Coffee Discussions

Additionally, we hold morning and evening coffee discussions hosted by a Forest Bluff family in the fall, winter and spring. Parents are invited to join a small group of 18 to 20 others, in a mix of families from across the school community, to hear an informal talk and share thoughts. Topics for these talks reflect on the period in which we live and how to lead fulfilling lives in a complex time of change and challenge. After a talk of 40 minutes or so, parents follow with a “lightning round” session of their thoughts and reactions to what they have heard.

Because veteran parents of Forest Bluff School, some of whom have been at the school for 20 years or more, are often included in each coffee, new parents have the opportunity to ask questions about how the children fare at each of the older age levels including high school, college and in chosen careers. In these informal gatherings over the years, solid friendships are formed around the parents’ mutual dedication and love for their children, and their desire for the support of other adults in establishing the character and values we all wish for our children.

Preparing our home for younger ages and stages felt basic, simple and almost obvious, but as our children age it is so helpful to have the school's continual reminders and guidance to reevaluate our environment with each birthday or jump in maturity/growth point. After years of attending these evening presentations, it is still remarkable to us that you provide this level of quality in education to us as parents. We always leave these evenings with deep gratitude for being among a community that cares so much about not just the academics, but the whole child, the whole environment, and the whole family.