You help us help!
We always plegded to donate part of the profit from the conference and course to help Montessori schools who take care of children in less advantaged parts of the world. With deep respect and love, we are proud to present to you projects we have chosen to support!
Noble Sprouts of Faith School
Thomas Sankara School
Montessori Children’s House
Utu Montessori
Maha’s Montessori Mission
If you have a Montessori school or project in your community which needs some help, please send us an email at info@childhoodpotential.com
Huge THANK YOU to all of you who helped us support these projects by purchasing the Conference Lifetime Access or our Montessori 3-6 Curriculum Video Course!
We couldn't have done it without you!
Montessori Parenting was able to support Montessori Children’s House in Camp Verde with a donation to help purchase supply items and Montessori materials.
Learn more about Montessori Children’s House, Camp Verde in the below email from Merika J. Bach, Director of The Montessori Children’s House.
The Montessori Children’s House was founded in Camp Verde, AZ in the early 1990’s by Janet Taylor and Judy Clarke. There were many Yavapai-Apache children who attended the program and the ladies were asked to bring their school onto the reservation in order to be able to service as many Native American children as possible.
It grew from a 1 class schoolhouse to a 3 classroom campus. The school’s reputation has always exceeded expectations in all areas. Year after year there has been a waiting list for children in the community.
COVID-19 was terribly harsh on our community and its members. The reservation was struggling and hard decisions were having to be made. The Tribal Council decided to close the school due to the financial burden.
With sincere convincing of the school’s importance, we were able to make adjustments and keep the school open for a handful of students, therefore we had to lay off 5 teachers and assistants. There was no money for their salaries, no money in the supplies budget line and little money for anything else. We relied on donations from other departments and the community at large. The year was a struggle, but the children were overjoyed to be able to go to school, even if for only a few hours a day. They learned and thrived!
This upcoming school year will be much like the last in terms of the financial status. We have very little money allotted for our supplies. One of Janet Taylor’s husband’s clients heard about the school and its challenges and reached out to Lucie. This is a wonderful opportunity for our school, one which the children will ultimately benefit from, so we thank you!
This school is a precious resource for the children of our community. We are honored and blessed to be part of something so wonderful and valuable. Learn more about Yavapai-Apache on our website.
Merika J. Bach
Director of The Montessori Children’s House, Yavapai-Apache Nation
HADAYA is a grass-roots organization dedicated to helping refugees and at-risk youth build a better future through the power of books and play. HADAYA is a supporter of Maha's Montessori Mission - an initiative that makes a difference in the lives of refugee women and children by offering them access to Montessori education and by training adults to become certified Montessori teachers and assistants. Maha is training refugee women to better their prospects for future employment and to empower them by giving them means to independence. Their MACTE certifications will be recognized by all schools internationally.
Montessori Parenting was able to make a donation of Montessori materials for the second classroom in Montessori Children’s House, Nizip, South Turkey.
We hope that this will help the children by providing opportunities for education and give them hope for a better future!
We have completed renovating the building that was given to us by the Turkish government, in Nizip, Southern Turkey. There are three Montessori classrooms - one is already established, and we are in the process of establishing the other two. And there are close to 400 students, between the ages of 6-17, already enrolled in the after school program!
So many thanks to all of the friends and supporters who made generous contributions towards this project and helped make this happen. With special thanks to Childhood Potential, an on-line Montessori conference program, and e-shop MontessoriHracky.cz for donating most of the materials for the second classroom. We’re still working on the third classroom, and this will be for infants and toddlers.
Maha's Montessori Mission
Utu Montessori is located in the Kibera slum (Nairobi, Kenya), where approximately one million people live. It was founded in 2011 by a group of young people, whose main activity was waste collection, sorting and recycling. Thanks to this activity, newly educated people earned a little money, and thanks to the money earned in this way, the Utu Montessori school was founded (Utu means humanist in Swahili).
A group of volunteers led by Ahmed Ibrahim earned their first grades at Utu Montessori School not only by collecting rubbish, but also by using it creatively. Together with people from all over the neighborhood, they made recycled clothes, bags or jewelry from them. They managed to rent the land on which the school stands from the city, and classes were built on it "on the fly" and also with the support of other projects.
Although there are state-run primary schools in the country, the quality of teaching is declining every day. Why? The state does not reserve a sufficient amount of funding from the state budget for education, and uncontrollable corruption flourishes in the country. Another factor is the ratio of students to teachers. There are up to 50 students in one class and the teacher cannot attend to everyone individually.
The solution to this situation was to set up a school with teaching based on the Montessori method, which is not commonly taught in slums and can usually only be afforded by the wealthier segment of the population. A school based on this principle provides quality care and education unlike most other schools and kindergartens in slums. The basic principle of the newly established school is the effort to provide QUALITY AND AFFORDABLE EDUCATION FOR EVERYONE.
Utu Montessori is thriving with pre-school and elementary classrooms. 400 children are able to attend nowadays! The school also provides children with snacks and lunches. They have the security of eating twice a day, which in itself contributes significantly to improving their lives. Families in this area can usually afford only one meal a day. Quality education can be one way to reduce poverty and give children hope for a bright future.
Montessori Parenting is able to support the amazing Utu Montessori school by providing Montessori workshops and education for Utu teachers and donating funds to equip the school library, donate Montessori materials and help to build new classrooms.
We were able to provide Montessori training as well as make a financial donation to the Noble Sprouts of Faith school in Lagos, Nigeria. The donation will be used to purchase additional Montessori materials, structural changes and to keep the program running. Here you can find an email from the school founder, Maryam:
The Noble Sprouts of Faith School was founded in 2017 by Maryam Akinlade in Alapere, Kosofe area (Lagos Mainland) of Lagos State, Nigeria.
It started as a child care and conventional preschool albeit, with the passion to make it different and a standard one. This is because Maryam often questioned the quality of the educational system in her environment.
Her educational journey made her realised how important it is to give children the kind of education that will prepare them not only for academics but for real life challenges. She is also all about not only developing a child cognitively, but also psychomotor and social learning, empowering them to become compassionate and confident humans.
She discovered Montessori education a year after opening the school and decided to change the course of learning to an authentic Montessori method, despite all odds and pressure to keep it conventional because of the financial demand required of running a standard Montessori school and Authentic Montessori being alien to the community and being located in a majorly low income earning community.
Maryam became determined to follow through the principle of respecting a child's sincere desire and ability to learn and the recognition of his/her need for independence.
This was the drive she had to continue for the pursuit of her goal rather than giving in to a blended approach like many so-called Montessori schools around, whereby compromise of standard usually takes place to favor a higher turn over.
As the Montessori method/philosophy of education was introduced, many parents began to appreciate this approach of learning, which gives a balanced attention to the intellectual, physical, emotional and spiritual/moral development of each child amidst some criticism. The school began acquiring the Montessori materials in bits based on availability of funds and the age brackets of pupils in the school (ages 0-5) at the time.
Unfortunately, the pandemic started and schools were forced to shutdown for about six (6) months. The rent on the school facility was running while part payment of staff salaries had to be made.
During and after lockdown, Nigeria was hit hard by inflation which the country is yet to recover from.
Like many citizen of the country (majorly low income earners), many of the school students' parents had to battle with the financial strains from inflation, so little increments in the tuition fee to ensure optimal (minimal) requirements to run the school would mean many children would be withdrawn to cheaper non- Montessori Schools around.
Maryam was devastated about the situation and particularly worried about the students who were beginning to enjoy the Montessori method of learning. She was also concerned about the well-being of her dedicated staff, who had become passionate and have been on self development about the Montessori method, and who may be out of their jobs because the school was at the brink of closing down.
In addition, the struggle to ensure that the teachers are well trained in the Montessori method was also there.
The inflation affected everything including the supplies budget line. Maryam became confused on how to continue running the school in the midst of so many challenges.
At the brick of closing, Maryam learnt about Lucie and the project she supports. She reached out to her with the explanation of the school’s importance and her strive to build a Standard Montessori School with well-trained teachers but with minimal funding.
Lucie was nice enough to grant Maryam free training for her teachers. As the training takes place, the school has been able to make some adjustments and keep the school open to a handful of students.
The school has so far relied on personal monies from the founder with a little support from her family.
The few children are joyous to be back in school post lock down, learning in an almost Montessori environment, although still hope to be able to accommodate more children whose parents value Montessori and other less privileged children through financial aids. The teachers, despite their little salaries, are struggling with the economic situation as school can afford very minimal salaries but still glad to have kept their jobs and to be benefitting from the training to add value to themselves with the Montessori pedagogy acquired from the training.
However, this coming school year has been much like the last and even harder in terms of finance. We have very little money allotted for our supplies and we have little space rented as opposed to the larger space required for a standard Montessori School. In addition, most of the parents are indebted to the school because they are unable to afford the meager tuition as well, as materials fee.
The school is very grateful for the opportunity to be assisted by Lucie's foundation that has offered to help with some classroom materials that is much needed.
The project is one which the children will adequately benefit from, so we thank you! We are hoping to get more support to be able to move into a larger school building located in a conducive environment with good power supply options and other requirements for a Standard Montessori School and to get more qualified staff members.
Maryam Akinlade
Founder of Noble Sprouts of Faith School,
Ketu Lagos
We are helping build a new school for children from poor families in Dubreka, Guinea. Unfortunately, there is currently only one in operation in this area.
Our Guinean coordinator, Abdoulaye, has decided to start building thirteen classess in Dubreca, in the Khorira district, near the capital Conakra. "The idea of starting a school here has been running through my mind for five years. Every time I walked through Dubreka, I saw a lot of children playing on the streets during the day. When I asked them why they weren't at school, they said it was a long way from here and that their families didn't have the money for education”, says Abdoulaye. So he bought a plot of land, prepared a construction plan, put together all his savings, bought material and started building with a group of enthusiastic friends.
So far, Abdoulay has managed to raise about half the money for a building that will function as a kindergarten, primary and secondary school. The individual brick buildings are gradually growing on durable foundations, but the second half of the funds needed to be put together to complete and equip them. We were able to make a donation to this project, so we will be able to move children from the street to where they belong - to the classroom.