Hello!

Hello world! Introducing Goldenrod Montessori, a new, non-profit, nature based Montessori school on Madison’s East Side serving children ages 3 months through 12 years.  Many of you reading this blog likely already know us, and you know that launching a school has been a dream of ours for a long time.  To those who are just getting to know us, thanks for joining us and we welcome you along for the ride!

Meet the team behind Goldenrod! We are a group of friends who have taught each other’s children and worked alongside each other in various capacities over the years.  The first seeds of Goldenrod were planted in casual conversations when we’d say to each other, “We should start our own school someday.”  Eventually, we realized that “someday” could be “today,” and so we decided to go for it!

From the get-go, we knew that Montessori practices and nature-based education would be the foundational building blocks of our school.  As a team, we have extensive experience in Montessori classrooms and we love the way the Montessori method honors the individuality of each child while encouraging the development of a strong community.  

A Montessori approach goes hand-in-hand with outdoor learning, because both help children develop critical thinking skills through hands-on experiences.  We also know that spending time outdoors positively impacts children’s development in a slew of ways: increased time outside has been linked to better mental health, improved emotional regulation, increased academic achievements, and higher learning outcomes.  And as adults, we love being outside too! 

As we began having further conversations around our shared vision for our school, we also knew that we really wanted to foster a sense of community.  We want parents to feel confident and connected to our classrooms when they drop their children off each morning.   We want our teachers to feel like they have a stake and their voices can be heard with regards to the running of our school.  And most importantly, we want children to feel a sense of belonging and purpose within their classroom.

Looking ahead, we are on track to open our doors for a day camp for elementary students this fall.  We are also so excited for next fall, when we will open for academic year programming for all levels.  We will be sharing more details about our vision and the process of opening the school here on the blog over the coming weeks and months.  Please follow us on Instagram and Facebook for updates!

--Jenny