Waterford Montessori Academy is a public charter school authorized by Saginaw Valley State University and managed by American Montessori Solutions, Inc. WMA provides a proven educational alternative to the children and families of Waterford and its neighboring communities.
The Academy offers a tuition-free elementary program at two locations. The Midland campus is for children in Kindergarten through Grade 5 and has an affordable tuition-based Early Childhood program for 3, 4 and young 5 year-olds, and before and after-school care. The Elizabeth Lake Road campus is for children in Kindergarten through Grade 8, and before and after-school care.
The philosophy of Dr. Maria Montessori lays the foundation for the program at WMA, and has been aligned to meet common core state standards. This curriculum framework will promote the intellectual, spiritual, physical, artistic, and academic excellence inherent in each child.
Our Mission
The mission of Waterford Montessori Academy is to assist its students to reach their full potential in all areas of life while promoting academic rigor, moral leadership, and personal responsibility.
Why Montessori?
Hands-on approach to learning for children.
Every child learns at their own pace.
Helps children reach their full potential in all areas of life.
Helps children become self-motivated, independent, and life-long learners.
Each classroom operates on the principal of freedom within limits.
Multi-age classrooms allow children to learn in harmony with one another.
Equipment, exercises, and methods to further the child’s self-creating processes.
The philosophy of Dr. Maria Montessori aligned to meet with common core state standards.
Montessori is a hands-on approach to learning which is implemented worldwide and is meant to benefit every child, regardless of their background or affluence.
Montessori recognizes that children learn in different ways and at their own pace. It is a developmentally based approach to education, whose primary goal is to help children to reach their full potential in all areas of life.
Dr. Maria Montessori, an Italian physician in the early 1900’s, discovered the remarkable and effortless ability of children to absorb knowledge from their surroundings. To further the children’s self-creating processes, she developed equipment, exercises, and methods based on what she observed children doing naturally, by themselves, and unassisted by adults. The pioneering work of Dr. Montessori has produced a blueprint for educating children, by awakening their natural curiosity and helping them to become self-motivated, independent, and life-long learners.
Each Montessori classroom operates on the principle of freedom within limits. Every program has its set of ground rules which differs from age to age, but is always based on the core Montessori beliefs of respect for each other and for the environment. In the multi-age Montessori classroom, learning takes place naturally, and children learn in harmony with one another.
Well-Known Montessori Graduates & Advocates
- Larry Page and Sergey Brin — founders of Google
- Jeff Bezos — founder and CEO of Amazon.com
- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis — former first lady
- Jimmy Wales — founder of Wikipedia
- T. Berry Brazelton — noted pediatrician and author
- Julia Child — chef and author
- George Clooney — actor
- Anne Frank — author and WWII diarist
- Will Wright — video game pioneer
- Prince William and Prince Harry — members of British royal family
- Sean “P Diddy” Combs — rapper and music producer
- David Blaine — magician
Montessori Advocates
- Thomas Edison — scientist, inventor and founder of a Montessori school
- Alexander Graham Bell — inventor, who helped start the first Montessori class in Canada
- Jean Piaget — noted Swiss psychologist and head of the Swiss Montessori Society
- Mister Rogers — children’s TV personality and strong supporter of Montessori
Montessori Parents
- Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
- Former Governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm
- Actors Michael Douglas, Cher, Patty Duke Astin, and Yul Brynner
- Musicians Yo Yo Ma and Willie Nelson
- Athlete David Robinson
About the Board of Directors
Waterford Montessori Academy Board of Directors
| Board Member | Position |
| Vacant | President |
| Patrick Carraher | Vice President |
| Ani Patterson | Treasurer |
| Vickilynn Mouthaan | Secretary |
| Linda Williams | Director |
