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The Franciscan Montessori Earth School/Saint Francis Academy has been on the leading edge of private Montessori education in Portland for more than 34 years. We are the only accredited pre-K through 8th grade Catholic Montessori school in the Western United States. We serve children ages 2 ½ through 14 on our 10 acre campus in SE Portland. Our Montessori curriculum is individualized, multi-aged and emphasizes ecology, the study of the interconnectedness of all living things. Our established gardens and close proximity to wilderness enhance our outdoor and environmental programs which include overnight camping trips for elementary and middle school students. We also offer a full complement of programs including before and after school childcare, nutrition, athletics, religion, art and music. Please explore our website to learn more.
From Sister Kathleen Ann
Follow the Child
“Follow the child,” Montessori stressed. If you follow
or observe the child in his environment, you will learn
from him what he needs. The role of the guide is to
observe the child in order to understand how he
learns, where he is in his development, and what he
needs to continue to develop normally. Maria
Montessori directed her teachers to allow the children
to engage in any activity they chose for as long as they
wished, intervening only if they failed to be respectful
of the materials, other children or the classroom
environment.
The role of the adult is to provide a healthy, safe,
environment in which the child can develop normally.
A significant part of our work as parents and educators
is to remove the obstacles that get in the child’s way,
and those obstacles are often our own interference.
We are in some ways working too hard at a task that is
not ours to perform in the first place. The task of
development lies not in the hands of the adult but in
the hands of the young child himself.
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