Parents should understand that a Montessori school is neither a babysitting service nor a play school that prepares the child for traditional schooling. Rather, it is a unique cycle of learning designed to take advantage of the child's sensitive years, where she can absorb information from an enriched environment. A child who acquires the basic skills of reading and mathematics in this natural way has the advantage of beginning her education without drudgery, boredom, or discouragement. By pursuing her individual interests in a Montessori classroom, she gains an early enthusiasm for learning, which is the key to becoming a truly educated person. A child who misses the early years and/or leaves before completion of the Kindergarten year will not receive the optimum benefits and results from this program.

The basic idea in the Montessori philosophy of education is that every child carries unseen within himself or herself the man or woman he or she will become. In order to develop his physical, intellectual, and spiritual powers to the fullest, he must have freedom -- freedom to be achieved through order and self-discipline. The world of the child is full of sights and sounds which at first appear to be chaotic. From this chaos, the child must gradually create order and learn to distinguish among the impressions that assail his senses. Slowly but surely, he gains mastery of himself and his environment.