Welcome to the New School Year
August 24, 2014

(Cue: read to the end!)
facilities

Dear Montessori School of Lake Forest Families,

It has been a productive week here at MSLF, full of meetings and cleaning and planning. Classrooms are neat and bright and fully stocked, floors are glistening, gardens are thriving, egrets are hunting, the boardwalk is being installed, the first half of the roof is repaired, new employees are settling in, teachers and staff are refreshed and eager. All is well prepared to welcome you to the 2014-15 school year.

Although we each have our own reasons why we work at or attend the Montessori School of Lake Forest, we know we share a common value: We are all committed to providing the best Montessori education we can achieve. Whether we shape it as teachers, guide it as parents, or support it as administrators, we all work in service of the child.

In the United States, we worry a lot about the state of education because we understand how difficult it is to thrive in a democracy, and how difficult it is to keep pace with social and technological developments. We learn how American students and schools compare to international peers, and we know that traditional education has been struggling for decades. Over and over again, earnest researchers and practitioners puzzle out what children need to know and how to get them to know it. Not many have focused on how children learn. But since we know how children learn, we know what to teach them and when. That is the time-tested secret of Montessori education.

Montessori education has been working very well for more than 100 years. We don’t have to keep testing it; we don’t have to change it. Montessori students learn the languages of math and literature and social life so well that they grow up to invent the new technologies and systems that everyone else races to keep up with. We live in a world that is already strongly influenced by the inventions of Montessori alumni. There is no telling how the world will change as the Montessori alumni population grows.

While Montessori teachers and children continue to pursue education as organized by brain development, their peers in traditional schools are currently struggling with the Common Core Standards. These Standards are just the latest effort to codify what children need to know, and they entirely bypass the issue of how children learn. Consequently, teachers, parents, and children are struggling to make sense of the Standards, struggling to find ways to learn them.

If you wonder whether your child’s Montessori education will keep pace with the Common Core Standards, please click on the links below. You will see that you have chosen a complete pedagogy. It offers a comprehensive and brain-development appropriate curriculum via developmentally attuned teaching methods. It has been tested all over the world and is as relevant in 21st century Lake County as it was in early 20th century Rome. It is sought out by admissions counselors in the best high schools and colleges around the country. And on top of all this, it is a system of education that teaches children to be respectful and self-respecting, and to tie their own shoes! What more can you ask for?

So, welcome back to school for another year of the tried and true education of the future!

Best wishes and see you next week!

Ann Jordahl
Executive Director

By Teresa Pavelich June 2, 2025
At MSLF, overnight trips become an important part of Montessori learning beginning in Lower Elementary. Each trip is carefully planned to meet the developmental needs of students in the second and third plane of development , with each overnight trip getting progressively longer to ease children into these independent journeys away from their families. These aren't just trips - they're carefully crafted opportunities for students to discover who they are, what they're capable of, and how they can contribute to their community and the wider world. Beginning in their first year of Lower Elementary, students take their first MSLF overnight trip to Nature’s Classroom in Wisconsin. For many Lower Elementary students, this trip represents their first nights away from home. During their trip they explore the outdoors, work together in groups, use their practical life skills during community meals, and grow! It’s this first overnight trip for MSLF students where parents and staff remark how students come back almost transformed after being able to develop their independence in a supportive environment. Our Upper Elementary classroom has embarked on overnight trips to both Camp Timber-lee in Wisconsin and The Country Experience at Amstutz Family Farm in Elizabeth, IL. Both locations provide students with increasing opportunities to apply their practical life skills, like checking the weather to ensure they have weather-appropriate gear for their trip. Every task empowers them to develop self-reliance and problem-solving skills. These trips are also opportunities for the students to get to know one another and build strong relationships with their peers and with the adults in their classroom. Adolescent Program students at MSLF have opportunities to visit both Springfield, IL and Washington, DC . These overnight trips tie directly into their studies – connecting curriculum learned in the classroom to experiences in the wider community. They often take their learning on the road, for example by watching a legislative session in action in Springfield to see which bills are passed during their trip or presenting their research papers at monuments in Washington, DC. And for these students, the skills they built on their trips in Lower Elementary and Upper Elementary are put to work, as they pack their own bags, learn more about public transportation, and plan their daily itineraries to make the most out of their visit. Experiences like these at MSLF support the child’s independence, laying the groundwork for transitions in later life: the start of high school, going away to college, a first job, and beyond. As they conquer challenges outside their comfort zone, their confidence soars, laying the foundation for the autonomy and independence they will continue to utilize throughout their Montessori experience and beyond. It’s good for parents, too, to see how truly capable our children are!
By Teresa Pavelich March 7, 2025
Forbes Article highlights mental health benefits of Montessori education