About Us

Our Background

The Montessori Children’s House of Valley Forge Inc. (MCHVF) was established as a non-profit corporation in 1963. The school is affiliated with the
American Montessori Society (AMS). The Board of Directors, consisting of parents elected from the parent membership, together with the Administrator and the Educational Director, establishes school policy. Parents participate and volunteer in a variety of ways. They help with school enrichment, attend social events, provide daily snacks, prepare classroom materials for the teachers, share their talents and experiences with the classes, and more. The educational policies at MCHVF are established and implemented by the staff members.

The Montessori Children’s House of Valley Forge is licensed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, State Board of Private Academic Schools, and by the Department of Public Welfare. Our teachers are Montessori trained and State licensed.

They say that it takes a village to raise a child. It has taken a city of dedicated, incredibly generous parents and alumni parents, to raise this beautiful school. Thank you so much to all of you for your generosity, your commitment, support and hard work. Twelve years ago when we began this journey to find a new home for our school, we never imagined we would find such a wonderful setting to build our school. We feel so incredibly fortunate to be here and to have entered into this partnership with the National Park Service.
– Gill Gutteridge, School Administrator

Unique Location

We are proud to be one of the few schools and the first Montessori school located in a U.S. National Park, taking full advantage of our exceptional surroundings.
In February 2010, we completed a multi-million renovation and expansion of the former Ivy Hollow Farm (David Walker Farmstead). Located on 3.5 acres
within Valley Forge National Historic Park, the new purpose-built school
features six classrooms, a large multi-purpose room for gym and art, a meeting room dedicated for Parents, and a room specifically for Parent and Toddler classes. For more information, read a featured article about us in the Philadelphia Inquirer or view the video of Fox News visiting our school.

Objectives

Dr. Maria Montessori (1870–1952) developed her philosophy that the child absorbs learning through experience, during years of careful observation and working with children in Italy. She developed what came to be called a “prepared environment”, which lets the child learn through his or her own initiative and curiosity, at his or her own pace. This approach allows the child to develop self-confidence, an inner discipline and motivation. The teacher’s role in this environment is that of resource person and model. The insatiable curiosity of each child allows him or her to choose activities which seem the most interesting, at his or her particular stage of development.

We believe that a large portion of an individual’s pattern of behavior develops during childhood. The goal of early childhood is to stimulate the formation of those patterns, which will be of the greatest benefit in future learning situations. Our most important objective, as a Montessori school, is to cultivate the child’s natural curiosity and desire to learn. We do this through the development of:

Positive self image
In a Montessori classroom the activities are child-directed, non-competitive and self-correcting. As a result, each child experiences success rather than frustration. This develops the child’s sense of self-esteem and self-confidence, and allows him or her to be self-motivated.

Concentration and persistence
Since each activity in the classroom has a beginning, middle and end, this helps the child to develop a sense of order and increase his or her attention span. The activities and the classroom set-up allows each child to follow through the steps of an activity with a teacher or an assistant, who is always available to answer any questions or help with difficulties. Thus, the child gains the ability to work independently with the inner discipline to follow the project to completion.

Cooperation and respect for others and the environment
Each child is free to choose to work alone or with another child. Working with a friend encourages cooperation and harmony. If the child chooses to work alone, he or she learns to respect the other children in the classroom, and knows not to disturb one another. Every item in the Montessori classroom has a specific place and when a child finishes with an activity, he or she returns each item to its appropriate place.