I can do it all by myself!

With the new school year, we have a lot of new little friends who have joined our toddler classrooms. Naturally, this can be an anxious time for children and parents alike. Many of these children may be leaving mom or dad for the first time, and even for experienced daycare children, a Montessori classroom is an entirely new experience. They are taking a step in growing up, in becoming independent young people, and we do our best to make it a great experience for them.

That’s why we are so excited when we receive reports like this from Judi Chimits at our Mission Viejo Campus:

Parent Marcie U. said that her son, Dylan, who just started in Pre-primary (our toddler program) last week, is already starting to do things for himself at home. He’s pushing in chairs, putting things away, and he tried to put his cup in the sink (he’s too short and it spilled everywhere, but he tried to do it himself)!

I particularly love these stories of budding independence with our youngest students; they exemplify what’s at the core of the Montessori preschool philosophy of education. As Dr. Montessori explains:

If teaching is to be effective with young children, it must assist them to advance on the way to independence. It must initiate them to those kinds of activities which they can perform themselves and which keep them from being a burden to others because of their inabilities. We must help them to learn how to … go up and down stairs, to wash themselves, to express their needs in a way that is clearly understood, and to attempt to satisfy their desires through their own efforts. All this is part of an education for independence.

Everyone knows that it requires much more time and patience to teach a child how to eat, wash and clothe himself than it does to feed, bathe and clothe him by oneself.

The one who does the former is an educator…

Tomorrow, I’ll be giving a Parent Education Seminar at our Yorba Linda campus titled: “Help Me Help Myself—Montessori Techniques for Fostering Independence”. It’s all about how we as parents can help toddlers and preschoolers do more for themselves.

It’s truly wonderful to see all these children coming into our school,  eagerly learning these important life skills and even more importantly, developing a confidence in their ability to deal independently with the world that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Welcome, young friends: we love to have you with us!

Heike Larson

Knowledge for Life

Those readers who have been following LePort for a while may notice a new look: a new tagline, new colors, and a new logo. As we celebrated our 10th Anniversary in Orange County this year, we decided it was a good time to reflect upon what makes us different, and to create a consistent look and feel for our schools.

We are very pleased with the results. Our new tagline of “Knowledge for Life” captures the essence of what we do at LePort: our goal is to help students acquire the essential knowledge, thinking skills, and strength of character required to flourish as joyous children today, and as successful adults tomorrow. We seek to equip them with Knowledge for Life: real knowledge they can act on as they pursue their goals, knowledge that isn’t forgotten when they leave LePort, but lives on in their minds and helps them for a lifetime.

You can read more about the LePort essence—our mission, our guiding principles, and our standard for success—on our redesigned website.

Our new logo goes well with our tagline, and with our name. A boat made of books, three closed ones for the hull, and an open one for the sail. The books represent knowledge, the boat represents the journey of life. And, of course, LePort is French and means “The Harbor”—that is, the place where young minds acquire the knowledge they need to successfully live their lives!

Ray Girn

Excellent Test Scores—For What They Are Worth

Recently, we received the annual standardized test scores for our Mission Viejo Campus: we are happy to report that as a school, we scored in the top 10% nationwide. Our 3rd graders scored in the top 2%!

As a private school, we are not required to participate in standardized testing. We also don’t believe that these types of tests are very meaningful: like most assessments, they focus on basic skills in mathematics and language arts only. The questions test rote memorization and blind process repetition, rather than real understanding and broader skills. In contrast to many public schools and charter schools, we don’t spend much classroom time on tedious test preparation exercises. Instead, we teach real, meaningful content and skills. But, apparently, our approach pays off even on such multiple-choice tests.

Why do we have our students take these tests at all? Two reasons: first, because of society’s focus on standardized testing, our students have to learn to take tests like these—think ACT or SAT tests required by many colleges. Participating in annual testing allows our students to get some practice, and as we don’t spend much time preparing, they don’t lose much. Second, many parents do look to test scores to select a school. While we don’t think that’s a valid standard, we need to ensure that they don’t screen out our school, just because test scores are not available.

With that as context, I do want to say “Congratulations” to our amazing students: you did wonderfully—because you worked hard at learning real skills and knowledge. You should be excited about learning so much, and keep up the good work!

Ray Girn