If you're a mom of school-aged kids, then you would also agree with me that looking for a school with quality education, that fits their learning styles, that tunes in to their needs is hard.  Research and school visits are musts if you really want to give the best for them.

Personally, I am convicted that solid learning do not come from pure memorization of historical dates, scientific facts, formulas, nor complex equations.  I've memorized them when I was younger and honestly, I don't use all of them.  So I'm thinking precious time was wasted on memorizing than REALLY learning about life skills and life itself by not touching base on my curiosity and eagerness to learn using all my senses.  Indeed, numerous studies have shown that years of learning through rote memorization and repetitive instruction is one of the main reasons why people lose their spark of curiosity.  And I don't want that to happen to my children.

I want them to explore, to quench their thirst for knowledge, to equip themselves with life skills which they will actually use in real-world -- to be successful adults.  Focus on the learning and not why and how we learn it because even creative thinking can become inhibited if we put emphasis on information and formula overload.

These are the things that traditional methods of education couldn't meet anymore, although they've produced some of history's most brilliant minds, it appears that the past two decades have seen a radical shift in terms of equipping students with effective skills for real-world success.
One of Montessori de San Juan’s core objectives: Address the drawbacks of traditional schooling that often result in lethargic, poor-performing children.  This could be achieved if there is MORE to LEARNING based on the individual student's learning pace and style by avoiding to have:

• Over-scheduled students
• Too much note-taking
• Not enough attention to the actual lessons
• Over-cramming information in a short period of time
• An unreasonable amount of homework (which often goes unsupervised during the actual process of completion), and
• One-size- fits all mentality for learners. 

Gosh, I remember the time when I was still studying, my stress level was over-the-top, I thought it was the end of the world.  There were unreasonable deadlines to meet which made me focus more on finishing the project than actually getting the essence of what I'm doing.  I was graded for my compliance and not what lessons I actually pick-up.

In the Montessori de San Juan School, "Our children have such a love for learning, and a genuine excitement to go to school and practice what they are taught, that they consistently end up scoring higher than their peers in standardized tests,” Arellano pointed out.

If you are also a believer in this type of learning and still looking for a progressive school, let me share with you that Montessori de San Juan may be the school for your child because of the following reasons:

• SMALL CLASSES: There are around 150 students from grades 1 to 12, approximately 12-15 students per class. A small class will help educators easily gauge whether your child is a visual, tactile or auditory learner, and from there, this is how teachers assess their approach to the students. 
• ON LEARNING: everything is worksheets, modules, and hands-on activities related to the subject matter
• IN THE CLASSROOM SETTING: Students are grouped in wider age spans, namely 3-6, 7-9, and 10-12. This helps them form relationships and bonds with kids of different ages.
• AS STUDENTS GET OLDER: teaching method becomes semi-progressive, semi-traditional setup, adding textbooks into the mix. 
• CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES: involve 90 percent application and only 10 percent discussion, so a lot of the kids are able to see the practicality and the use of the subject matter they are learning. Hence, direct applications to what they are learning are shown.

Due to numerous success stories regarding progressively educated children, Montessori de San Juan is gaining quite a reputation as an elite school. Despite this, however, the school remains grounded in its mission to cultivate students who love learning so much, and learn so well, that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned in the future. From all indications, it is fulfilling this mission remarkably well.  To learn more about Montessori de San Juan, contact 725-6306 or 239-1102, or visit www.montessoridesanjuan.com.ph