My husband and I are incredibly grateful for CMS, where our daughter has attended for the past year. As this was our first time searching for a school, we researched and toured nearly 10 preschools in our area (mainly Montessori, but also some more traditional ones). As a stay-at-home mom, I was also apprehensive about starting our daughter at 2½ years old and even considered waiting longer. If it weren’t for CMS, we probably would have waited, because I truly believe no other school offered the environment that was most important to us—especially with her starting so young.

The Montessori approach is clearly implemented in every aspect of CMS, both academically and socially. For us—and for our daughter’s personality—the nurturing and respectful environment were the most important values in our search. Most of the teachers have been at CMS for over a decade, which was not the case at any of the other schools we toured. I love that our daughter can build a relationship with her teachers over the years, rather than changing to a new teacher every year. I believe this consistency provides a strong foundation for her academic and social development.

The first thing I always tell people when they ask about CMS is this: At all the other schools, yes, I connected with the director or whoever was giving the tour on some level—but I’d only get maybe five minutes or less of face time with a teacher, and I always left feeling unimpressed with their classroom presence and knowledge of curriculum.

I’m truly impressed with the CMS curriculum and culture. On other school tours, I received more papers and booklets, but honestly, I felt a disconnect between what was written and what I saw. As a family, we follow Montessori values, and I began to research Montessori education on my own. From our first conversations with the Lead Teacher, Miss Jocelyn, I could see those values clearly reflected at CMS. After attending for over a year, I’m even more astounded by the depth and thoughtfulness of the lessons offered for early childhood development.

As someone who struggled with math in school, I wish I’d had the opportunity to learn numbers the way CMS teaches them. On your tour, please ask to see the math beads and the related lessons—they are a perfect example of how CMS teaches the concept with real understanding, not rote memorization. The lessons are intentional, and the freedom my daughter has in choosing her work has developed her concentration and self-discipline. I have so much trust in this school—it’s not the kind of place where your child comes home with 10+ generic worksheets a day.

To get an overview of CMS’s culture, I highly recommend reading The Family Virtues Guide: Simple Ways to Bring Out the Best in Our Children and Ourselves. CMS focuses on one virtue per week, based on this humanity program (such as respect, empathy, patience, etc.). To me, this is a clear example of how CMS goes beyond academics and truly teaches life skills and character development. When observing the classroom, you can clearly see how these virtue lessons provide a foundation of calmness that, in turn, allows each child to develop their concentration to achieve their highest potential and practical life skills at an incredible level.

We are truly grateful for the foundation CMS is providing for our daughter!