Parent & Baby Class
Birth-12 months
Forest Bluff School offers Parent and Baby classes, providing a Montessori environment for parents and infants to explore together. Inspired by "Montessori from the Start," these classes offer guidance on fostering independence and supporting development in early childhood, complemented by lectures and discussions throughout the year. If interested in learning more about our Parent & Baby Class, Contact Us.
Community and Parent Education
As part of Forest Bluff School’s parent education program, we offer Parent and Baby classes for parents and their children ages birth to 12 months. These classes provide an opportunity for parents and their babies to experience an authentic Montessori environment, where the room has been specially prepared for the youngest of children. Low wooden shelves hold materials that are simple yet beautiful in design and deeply engaging for babies and young children. Our program directors encourage parents and their children to explore the Montessori materials and observe how brilliantly they meet the developmental needs of even the youngest of babies.
Our directors welcome participants’ questions and are available to offer guidance on a variety of parenting/child-rearing topics, especially with regard to setting up the home environment to best support development and foster independence. To complement what participants learn in the Parent and Baby class, we offer lectures and discussions throughout the year to share information and answer questions about these early, precious years. Please call our office to ask about our yearly schedule.
Montessori From the Start
The inspiration and guiding principles for our Parent and Baby classes come from Montessori from the Start: The Child at Home, from Birth to Age Three, co-authored by Forest Bluff School co-founders Paula Polk Lillard and Lynn Lillard Jessen. This book—already translated into nine languages—is recognized worldwide as an accessible and authoritative resource for parents wondering how they can best support the development of their babies and young children within a Montessori framework. In explaining how the Montessori approach of hands-on learning and self-discovery relates to babies and young children, Mrs. Lillard and Mrs. Jessen draw upon the work of Dr. Maria Montessori—specifically, her instructions for raising infants and the materials she created for the care and comfort of babies. Many participants in the Parent and Baby class turn to Montessori from the Start when seeking advice on feeding, sleeping, toilet training, and more.
"We knew immediately that Forest Bluff School was the perfect education choice for our daughter once we toured the school, set in its prairie environment in Lake Bluff. The school’s global education credibility and soul starts with Paula Polk Lillard, the internationally renowned expert of Montessori education, who co-founded the school and co-authored Montessori from the Start with her daughter, Lynn Lillard Jessen. For the past ten years, our daughter (now 12 years old) and our family have been part of this incredible tight-knit parent-teacher community. We praise this education approach that truly focuses on the “whole child.”