Mary and the staff are excellent teachers who obviously care deeply about the kids and treat them with respect. They teach children life skills and creative arts skills as well as introducing them to many basic academic concepts like counting and letters. The kids learn both together and independently and seem to really enjoy it.I like it that there are a range of ages, with the older children helping to teach the younger ones. They also get outdoor time just about every day, which is important.My knowledge of Montessori philosophy was (and still is) fairly limited, but the more I learn, the more I like. Highly recommended.

We found our way to the welcoming and nurturing environment of Marys Montessori School after a year at another local Montessori School, which cannot hold a candle to Marys. We are now in our third year of having children at Marys School and we would not consider sending our boys anywhere else. The learning environment at Marys is the best of Montessori: combining structure and creativity, fostering independence as well as trust, and supporting the development of unique individuals who are still always accountable to their community of peers and teachers. The staff at Marys is exceptional, working with children (like my own) with a wide range of learning challenges and different personalities. It is truly a garden for growing up self-reliant, curious, and confident. I especially like the schools mixed age classroom and emphasis on learning through ones hands (both core tenets of Montessori education). In our case, this has meant watching my oldest son emerge as a teacher among his peers, fostering autonomy and responsibility; it has also meant seeing him positively and lovingly challenged every single day to engage his world through his hands and body (painting, climbing, building, sewing, digging, assisting with snack, feeding the classroom pets, drawing, handwashing, rolling out mats and putting them away, etc). This emphasis has urged him beyond his inclination to perhaps only talk and only imagine - putting him back in the real world of the classroom and playground, assisting his difficulty in focusing and completing tasks. The maturation and overall, holistic personal growth that Marys School fosters cannot be underestimated. And at the same time, there is joy with number work (math), letter work (spelling), and other engaged activities that we might think of as more academic. I must also add that we have been humbled by the staffs commitment to our second son, who came to Marys on a trial basis, given his complex medical history and development delays. The accommodations that Mary, Lynn and Megan have made for a strict medical diet he is on, for weekly in-classroom sessions with his speech therapist, and even adjustments they made to the backyard staircase have all made it possible for my son to adapt and thrive in the classroom. I have a third son who just turned one and will be there next year, we hope, so in all, we will have sent our kids to Marys for 6-7 consecutive years. We are invested in Marys School and know that Marys School is invested in our family. (you will also not find anyone else in this area as adept and insightful as Mary Willis in assisting parents with our own parenting challenges, in the most supportive and creative ways)I would encourage any parents to consider Marys School for the preschool foundation for your children, from ages 2 through 5.