Programs Overview
Forest Bluff School follows Montessori's "planes of development" principle, recognizing that child development occurs in distinct stages.
Our mixed-age classrooms and three-year cycles allow children to learn from and support each other, fostering deep connections and enabling teachers to understand each child's unique needs profoundly.
About Our Programs
At Forest Bluff School, our programs are designed in accordance with the primary Montessori program principle of “planes of development.” As a result of her extensive studies and observations, Montessori recognized that child development is not linear. Instead, it occurs in four distinct “planes” of approximately six years each. During each plane, the child possesses unique characteristics and needs that are best met by a specially prepared environment and supportive, well-trained adult.
Therefore, at Forest Bluff School, our classrooms are organized by a Montessori program of planes and sub-planes of development and contain mixed ages instead of specific ages. Children remain with their classmates and teacher for approximately three years in each room, allowing them to experience each classroom as both a novice who learns from and admires the oldest children and an expert who takes pride in assisting the youngest members of the classroom community. Additionally, completing a three-year cycle in each classroom enables teachers to know each child on the deepest and most enduring level. Parents, too, develop close and trusting relationships with their children's teachers as they work together over this extended period to support their children's development.
The First Plane of Development
Maria Montessori described the first plane of development, from birth to six years, as the time when the child's mind is truly absorbent. Children effortlessly absorb language, mathematical ideas, movement, and social behavior just by exposure to them.
Children in this plane of the Montessori program work best alone, with great concentration, but within the context of a larger group that supports and inspires their work. Forest Bluff School offers three separate programs for these important early years.
The Second Plane of Development
From the ages of six to twelve, children are finding their places in society and are fascinated with the workings of the wider world and the universe. Rather than fight this social tendency, the Montessori program embraces it, allowing children to work together in small or large groups. Although the teacher holds children accountable for their own work, this opportunity for collaboration allows children to find joy in new studies and to inspire others with their work.
The teacher's presentations at this level appeal to the child’s sense of wonder at the universe and its marvelous details. Children are ready at this age, too, for their own research projects, chosen according to their own interests and passions. Children in the Elementary Levels have the opportunity for "going out" experiences – walking to the Lake Bluff Library, and chaperoned trips of small groups to museums or local businesses to expand on their chosen research projects.
The Third Plane of Development
From ages twelve to eighteen, adolescents work to find their own places in the world and to discover and refine their core beliefs about themselves and their morality, spiritual values, and philosophy. Their new desire for privacy means that individual work and a smaller class environment will once again suit them best, especially at the beginning of this plane of the Montessori program.
The environment Forest Bluff School provides for students from ages twelve to fourteen years suits these needs for a smaller supportive community of peers and experienced teacher mentors, and honors the dignity of these exceptional young people as they enter early adulthood.
"I want to thank you for all of your time on the phone and in person discussing Forest Bluff and Montessori in general. We are so excited for the boys to start in January and the whole move feels on track now that we know they have a soft place to land. Thom and I were both so impressed with the spirit of the school and every single person’s commitment to fostering a Montessori environment for your students. Watching them work with so much focus, determination, and curiosity at every age level makes it clear that our children are very lucky to have the same opportunity."