Mission

The mission of Ave Maria Montessori is to give glory to God by assisting parents in their role as educators of the children God entrusts to their care.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

No. 2225: Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of which they are the “first heralds” for their children. They should associate them from their tenderest years with the life of the Church.

No. 2226: Education in the faith by the parents should begin in the child’s earliest years.

No. 2229: As far as possible parents have the duty of choosing schools that will best help them in their task as Christian educators.

Philosophy of Education​

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Ave Maria Montessori assists the natural and supernatural development of the child by providing specially prepared environments according to the discoveries of the great Catholic doctor and anthropologist, Dr. Maria Montessori. Dr. Montessori began her scientific observations of child nature at the end of the 19th century in Rome, Italy. In order for children to have a successful experience in a Montessori setting, it is essential that their parents obtain a thorough understanding of her discoveries and of the environments that grew out of them. The ‘environment’ refers to the physical space, furnishings, materials and most importantly, the prepared adult.

With the acknowledgment that Grace builds on man’s nature, perfecting yet not altering it; and that the natural is foundational for the supernatural, the development of a healthy ‘habitus’ – a whole inclination of one’s life toward the Light and Life of Christ - must be the goal of Catholic education. Dr. Montessori wrote that ‘education’ must be defined as that which is an aid to life.

Authentic Montessori environments provide opportunities for the development of man’s intellect and will through meaningful interaction of his senses with the created world. Dr. Montessori referred to this interaction as ‘work’. She said that the most significant period in human development was the first six years of life, the time prior to the age of reason, which she named the period of the ‘Absorbent Mind’. It is during this phase of life that the human person carries out what she called his ‘Great Work’ – the construction of the human personality. She paraphrased a statement of St. Thomas Aquinas when she said, “Show me the six year old and I’ll show you the man.”

Recent brain research continues to corroborate all of her findings and many researchers today are astounded at her ability to determine such a precise timeline of internal development without the use of technology. Montessori believed and wrote that it was God’s Providence that led her to these groundbreaking scientific discoveries. She said the child was her teacher and became offended when the emphasis and enthusiasm centered around her rather than the child.

She would tirelessly exhort adults to observe the child to gain understanding of him. Montessori observed that once children had been placed within a prepared environment, had been connected to the environment by the adult and given true freedom (as opposed to license) they began to exhibit characteristics which had previously not been associated with young children: spontaneous self-discipline, a love of order and calm, cooperation, an absorption of reading, writing, and mathematics, and finally, what she referred to as the true indicator of interior growth – joy in work and relationships. One of her most profound insights has been to observe the relationship between adults and children.

In her book The Child in the Church, Montessori wrote: “That the child should have a nature quite different from the adult would not seem to require further proof; but what is necessary to point out is that this difference is much deeper than most people think.” She referred to the epochs of adulthood and childhood as the two ‘poles of humanity’ and believed that when adults and children exerted a reciprocal influence upon one another, there resulted a more peaceful, harmonious existence among the human family. As modern life became increasingly complex, less agrarian and families lived apart from extended family, the natural development and needs of the child became less intuitive to adults. Montessori’s great contribution to the world has been to illuminate clearly the relationship between child and adult that God intended. As Catholic parents and educators, Montessori said there was no question as to what we are to pass on to our children – the knowledge that God created them out of pure love, and is continually present to them through His Word and His Church.

The question then is how and when to pass on these essential truths. “Because of what the child stands for and his needs we may regard him as a great external grace which enters the family in which he fulfills the ‘apostolate of the child’.” (The Child in the Church, pg. 9) Montessori saw that the adult, who was not aware of the unique developmental needs of the child, may become the greatest obstacle to the child fulfilling his apostolate.

As a Catholic school desiring to assist and support parents in their role as primary educators of the children God has entrusted to their care, the staff of Ave Maria Montessoriwill strive to deepen their own knowledge and love of Christ and His Church so that we may better serve the children and adults of the Ave Maria community. We regard our relationship with the parents as a cooperation and consider serving the developing life of each child as an honor and a privilege. What greater work exists than to assist in the development of a human person!

“A person’s respect for another shows itself best when, not regarding himself as superior to the other, he makes himself equal. And this is precisely what the Son of God did when He preferred to come into the world as a child, and live through the phases of infantile life. So now he who despises the little ones because they are ‘only children’ should be aware of his lack of respect, because in despising the child as a child, he is also denigrating Christ.” (The Child in the Church, pg. 19.)