Educational Philosophy
Learning the right answers will get you through school. Learning how to learn will get you through life!

Montessori teaches students to think, not simply to memorize, feed back, and forget.

The basis of our approach is the simple observation that children learn most effectively through direct experience and the process of investigation and discovery. No two students learn at the same pace, nor do they necessarily learn best from the same methods. Our goal is to be flexible and creative in addressing each student as a unique individual.

We recognize that before students can take advantage of a challenging education, they have to discover their innate abilities. They need to develop a strong sense of independence, self-confidence, and self-discipline. They must be willing to make and learn from countless mistakes. This suggests an education of the heart as much as an education of the mind.

The Renaissance School is designed to be a school where children can blossom! We seek to inspire a passion for excellence and to nurture curiosity, creativity, and imagination. Our goal is to give students a fine education and to prepare them for life.

Our students develop into people who are fascinated by the universe and feel compelled to understand something of life's secrets. They come to see that we all belong to the Earth and to the human family. Our students are prepared to succeed in high school, college, and beyond. They are prepared to live lives filled with quiet dignity and compassion for others. This begins with the habit of community service instilled during their years in a Montessori environment. Our students are building a legacy of kindness and wonderful contributions to the world. They share a passion for life and dedicate themselves to the pursuit of excellence.

We know that this goes beyond the scope of traditional education, but then the Renaissance School is a rather unusual school. Our students are accustomed to going beyond what is expected in school because they are presented with a curriculum that goes beyond what is expected of a school.

At The Renaissance School students are prepared for the world of tomorrow. Today's rapid technological and social changes make it increasingly difficult for us to understand and keep pace with the modern world. This has put our school under terrific pressure to re-evaluate what should be taught in an age when no one can predict the skills that our children will need when they reach maturity.

In the past, when Mankind's store of knowledge was relatively fixed and limited, the most efficient education consisted of lecture, drill, and memorization.

In an era of technological revolution and social change, the foundation of a good education is to learn how to learn.

Our course of study encompasses the full substance of the traditional curriculum, and goes beyond to teach students how to think clearly, do their own research, express themselves well in writing and speech, and to put their knowledge to practical application.

We have organized our course of study as an inclined spiral plane of integrated studies, rather than a traditional model, in which the curriculum is compartmentalized into separate subjects with given topics considered only once at a given grade level. In Montessori, lessons are introduced simply and concretely in the early years, and are reintroduced several times over the years at increasing degrees of abstraction and complexity.

Our course of study is an integrated, thematic approach that ties the separate disciplines of the curriculum together into studies of the physical universe, the world of nature, and the human experience. This integrated approach is one of Montessori's great strengths. As an example, when our students study the ancient Greeks in world history, they also read Homer in world literature. As they read Shakespeare, they study the Elizabethan period and attend performances of Shakespeare. Literature, the arts, history, social issues, political science, economics, science, and the study of technology all complement one another in our curriculum.

Our course of study is rigorous and innovative. Although we offer a warm, supportive academic atmosphere, we set a high standard of achievement for the quality of thought, work, and mastery of content and skills.

Most classes involve considerable library and field research. In preparation for college, we consciously teach students how to develop effective work habits and test-taking strategies.

Our goal is to produce students who are recognized for their character, leadership, and academic achievements.