What Your Adolescent Will Learn
Montessori Secondary programs are rooted in hands-on, experiential learning. Your adolescent may have an opportunity to start a business, complete with developing a business plan and securing funding, or work as an apprentice to an expert in a field she loves.
The Montessori Secondary program also includes advanced courses in language arts, mathematics, sciences, and social studies that are academically challenging. In addition, students take specialized courses including world languages, visual and performing arts, health and fitness, and participate in field studies (such as apprenticeships) and service learning.
Montessori acknowledges the need of the adolescent to serve others, so service is taught as a way to care for the school community and the world outside the school. Through service, students learn the value of hard work, are exposed to lives and cultures different from their own, and develop a sense of empathy. Powerful, successful service projects teach students that they have agency in the world—they can identify things that need to change, and help change them. This is a skill that will serve them well as adults.
Secondary students complete complex projects—a culmination of learning—that include research and presentation and illustrate their mastery of concepts. Through all of their studies, tools (such as checklists, rubrics work plans, and study guides) promote time management, organization, and decision-making.
Additional components of the Montessori Secondary curriculum include:
- A community within the classroom that allows opportunities to participate in classroom government and other leadership experiences.
- Experiences in nature that cultivate respect for the environment.
- Micro-economic experiences such as developing and running a business to promote a genuine understanding of currency.
- Responsible and ethical use of technology, with the majority of the school day spent in learning activities and practices that require peer-to-peer and student-teacher interaction.
