Our Mission
Over 100 years ago, Dr. Montessori described her vision of how children come into the world...
"equipped in their whole beings for the adventure of life,
accustomed to the free exercise of their own will and judgment,
illuminated by imagination and enthusiasm".
It was from her vast observations and experiences of working with young children, that Dr. Montessori sculpted her educational philosophy, the bedrock of our current methodology and practice today. At Alta Vista, we help children learn and understand the world, so that one day they'll know how to make it a better place. We emphasize reading, math, and science because they open doors into the world. We emphasize independence, self-direction, and choice because they help young people discern what is the appropriate pathway to follow. We emphasize collaboration, cooperation and peace because, we are citizens of the world and we need to know how to live together in harmony. Our primary mission is to help young people construct themselves as complete human beings.
Three core beliefs guide us to accomplish this:
- that learning is active, not passive; that children and adults alike learn best by doing
- that people learn more effectively when they are self-directed and not when they're coerced by external rewards or competition
- that peace, cooperation and service must be cultivated from early childhood through modeling and practice
Our
method, the pathway by which we express our beliefs and achieve our mission, is the Montessori Method, a proven educational approach with a long and venerable history.
