North Star Montessori Academy Hopes to Expand Program to Middle and High School
The North Star Montessori Academy in Marquette Township, Michigan is hoping to expand their Montessori method into their middle and high school.
According to Upper Michigan Source, the school’s Montessori method goes up to grade 6, but the academy is hoping to expand the program to their middle school and high school within the next few years. The Montessori approach provides students with a broken down daily schedule of three-hour un-interrupted work cycles where students are able to choose what they want to do and what they want to learn.
Autumn Bates, the first through third grade teacher, spoke with Upper Michigan Source about the approach and how teachers are able to work with their students who choose their own curriculum.
“The teachers then go to each individual student or students at the same pace and do our individual lessons with them,” Bates said. “We literally go from child to child to child, teaching.”
Children can benefit from this approach as they’re able to fully grasp a specific concept before moving on to the next. Not everyone in the classroom will be learning the exact same thing at the exact same time. There are no desks in the classroom and no assigned seating, so the children feel comfortable in this space. Students are encouraged to challenge and motivate themselves without the use of a laid out plan.
This year, the North Star Montessori Academy has seen its largest enrollment in quite some time. They have an open house planned to celebrate their success and encourage students and parents to join the community.
The expansion of the Montessori method into the middle school and high school will allow older children to keep up with their internal discipline and to receive personalized attention if they’re struggling with more difficult topics. As children get older, the school topics get tougher, and many people in a public school setting tend to fall back because of this.
The North Star Montessori Academy is just one of the over 8,000 Montessori schools currently in the United States.
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