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A new Montessori school has opened in Morrill, offering a unique form of education that emphasizes hands-on, self-directed learning rather than traditional classroom-style instruction.
My Friends Montessori School, which started classes on Aug. 18, is part of a wave of new Montessori schools that have opened across Maine in recent years.
First developed more than a century ago by Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori, Montessori learning centers around a child’s ability and drive to learn through non-instructional methods.
During a Montessori school’s “work cycle,” a student might practice careful, repetitive tasks like pouring water from a pitcher to a cup, or matching pictures to word cards to learn the names of animals, places and objects. In the classroom, learning materials are arrayed from left to right and top to bottom to help familiarize students with basic concepts used in reading and math.
The model now seems to be gaining more popularity in Maine.
Four Montessori schools have opened along the coast in the last five years. Two of these — My Friends and Fledglings Montessori School in York — opened this year. There are now at least 15 Montessori schools in Maine, according to the Maine Montessori Association.
Overall, Montessori schools represent just a small slice of Maine’s overall education system. An estimated 9% of Maine’s students attended private schools in the 2021 to 2022 school year, according to data analyzed by ProPublica, and just six of the schools represented in that analysis were Montessori.
But the recent spurt of new ones comes amid a longer-term uptick in home and private schooling and a drop in enrollments at public schools across the state and nation, which accelerated during the COVID pandemic. In Maine, the number of publicly funded students has dropped by 6% over the last decade, from about 182,000 to 171,000, state data show.
This trend has challenged the public school system, depriving it of the state and federal resources that come with more students.
Backers of private schools say that they can offer more focused, individualized instruction in smaller classroom settings. There is evidence that the holistic education of Montessori schools can bring higher levels of independence, creativity and academic performance.
My Friends Montessori School, located on Benjamin Lane in Morrill, instructs children between the ages of 18 months and 6 years old.
Founder and head teacher Monique Roy Whitcomb has spent 26 years working in Montessori education, most of that at schools around Maine, including a decade at Cornerspring Montessori School in Belfast at the start of her teaching career. She recently returned to the state after five years at a school in Florida.
Starting her own Montessori school was something she had “always wanted to do,” she said.
“I worked in child care, and I knew something’s missing. It was chaos. There was no order. The children were just not really sure what was going to happen throughout their day, and that just changes everything,” Whitcomb said about her experience. “So when I found Montessori, it was just one little, tiny classroom, 12 students, and once I found it, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is what child care has been missing all along.’”
In her new school, students can use flip books to learn new words, and rods and beads for counting and math instruction. Wooden figures adorned with thick strings allow them to learn how to tie their shoes. A tower of variously sized pink blocks can be maneuvered to create new shapes and formations.
The school is located in the lower level of her home, with one classroom divided into two spaces for different age groups. It can currently serve up to 12 students at a time. It is staffed by her and one other teacher.
“If they’re confident, and they’re independent, and they’re not fearful of making mistakes, they’ve gained a love of learning,” Whitcomb said of her students. “If you can instill that in a child, their learning is limitless.”
