Omni Montessori School Adolescent Program

The Omni Montessori School Program for Adolescents offers a rich and challenging hands-on educational experience to its students. Our approach builds on the Montessori Elementary curriculum to provide a course of study that offers exceptional depth and opportunities for personal engagement. The three-year curriculum is unmatched in its ability to meet adolescents where they are and prepare them for what lies ahead. Academic components include integrated science, interdisciplinary humanities, mathematics from Pre-algebra through Geometry and Algebra II, Spanish, literature and language arts studies, a wide range of arts offerings, and a diversity of physical education experiences. The program has a unique approach to delivering the above components. This approach attracts the attention of adolescent students and provides them with a means by which to relate to their studies.

Where we begin: The Land Lab and Pedagogy of Place

Places are laboratories of diversity and complexity, mixing social functions and natural processes. A place has a human history and a geologic past… Its inhabitants are part of a social, economic, and political order… A place cannot be understood from the vantage point of a single discipline or specialization. It can be understood only on its terms as a complex mosaic of phenomena and problems. The classroom and indoor laboratory are ideal environments in which to narrow reality in order to focus on bits and pieces. -David Orr

The adolescent’s “place” (geographically, historically, and socially) serves as the entry point for their study. This will encompass the whole of humanity and its interconnectedness with the natural world. More specifically, young people are striving to find their identity and place: in family, in the natural world, in society, in school –a place they have an urge and connection to. Our Land Lab provides the adolescent with an accessible place for occupations, apprenticeships, and enterprise. It allows the students to serve and work with the local community in a practical way (students as citizens). It reveals history as a real human experience, as opposed to the disconnected abstraction of a textbook. It connects the past, present, and future in a tangible way via local history impacting all academic disciplines. This gives the adolescents the opportunity to find themselves by meeting people of the past; knowing the history of their place and their stories, which has implications for their future: What do you want this place to be? Who are you in this great story of human life? Are you going to protect this? What will be your role?

Occupations and the Sciences

The Occupations are opportunities to integrate academic in-class science work with practical applications. These arise naturally from the needs of our land-based community and extend into the life and work of the local community. This project-oriented approach creates a context for the concepts students are exploring. Additionally, the students recognize the role that their work plays within the greater community. Each occupation group takes on practical work in their area while studying the science relevant to the specific project. Over the course of the program, chemistry, physics, botany, zoology, earth science, and other areas will be covered. The projects incorporate lectures, readings, discussions, experiments, historical studies, literary connections, applied mathematics, independent projects, and contributions to the community.

Humanities

Our humanities program is designed to allow students to connect both through experience and academic study with the whole of human history from hunter-gatherers to modern times. Each year, the student will revisit the story anew, through the context of different groups and civilizations, choosing one civilization per quarter for intensive study.

Student work in this area is also project-oriented. Classes include lectures, primary and secondary source readings, note-taking, seminar discussions, research and formal writing, independent projects, off-site visits, guest speakers, dramatic and artistic expression, experiential reproduction of historical settings and artifacts, and dramatic presentations to the community.

Creative Expression

Creative expression is an essential component of adolescent development as they explore and experiment with their emerging identities. During the adolescent plane of development, the developing personality has a natural predisposition to creative expression in many forms. We offer as many formal outlets as possible to the students.

Classes are currently offered in keyboarding, guitar, photography, pottery, painting, and acting. Other, smaller workshops also emerge for the students as the year unfolds. We have periodic “coffeehouses” where the students, faculty, and community can share their talents. Additionally, there is a theatrical performance during the spring semester.

Physical Expression

Physical expression is extremely important for adolescents. It gives them focus for their physical energy, allows them to challenge themselves and each other, and allows them to develop skills. Classes will be offered in six-week rotations and include (but are not limited to): ultimate Frisbee, rock-climbing, basketball, golf, fencing, and horseback riding.