Mission and Vision
Mission
The MINE, ME & US Montessori School mission is to provide a nurturing, home-like educational environment for the young wherein they are encouraged and supported to do the important lifework of becoming a fully developed, whole person who is mindful of individual, environmental and community responsibilities.
MMUMS aims to advocate for parents and families during the first years of parenthood, by providing a unique array of resources. These resources consist of the unmatched talent in our qualified staff which enables us not only to provide quality care for your children but extend the care to your families through our exceptional family programs and classes. Our purpose is to be supportive of the local community entirely. We achieve this by fostering relationships with local farmers, nurturing collegiality with early childhood professionals, supporting holistic health and bringing it into the MMUMS facility, offering support for the whole family, and sustaining the development of the whole child. We are here to create a school community by utilizing and supporting our local community. We thank you for being a part of this grand mission!
Vision
The broader MINE, ME & US Montessori School mission is to be a change agent for the greater culture, to re-value the first five years of children’s lives, their parent’s experiences, the worth of their caregivers, and the significance of their daycare/preschool experience. MINE, ME, & US Montessori School believes in revaluing the Village. This aspect of the program champions and revalues early childhood education for children, parents, caregivers, childhood professionals, and all the unrecognized contributors to care for the very young and their “village.”
We seek to emphasize the importance of the first five years of life for children’s development, inform the public about the inequality of pay for caregivers, advocate for parent and family support during the early 6 years of parenthood, and promote need for fundamental changes in funding, laws, policies, etc. on a macro scale in order for the revaluing of early childhood to occur. MINE, ME, & US Montessori School currently houses four programs targeting specific areas of early childhood and elementary education - Nido, Toddler, Primary, and Elementary.
Our Nido Environment, Nido Community, Toddler Community and Casa, make up Montessori Infant Nido Environment, or “MINE”. Our lower and upper elementary classes, for students ages 6-12 years old, make up the Montessori Elementary, or “ME”. Our Upper School, or “US” for students ages 12-18 years old, is still in the visioning stages.
All our authentic Montessori programs seek to create green habits and environmental stewardship for our youth. This aspect of the program is designed for the purpose of incorporating environmental stewardship into the daily habits of early childhood and elementary curriculum and routine. Founded on the Montessori Method and curriculum we seek to guide children in creating environmentally responsible habits in school, at home, and in their local community and beyond.
Our programs emphasize peace building with an intention towards implementing an early childhood and elementary curriculum based on building and fostering peace, compassion, empathy, tolerance, respect, conflict resolution, mediation, and responsibility. We believe these are important components of home, school, community, and global citizenry even for the youngest children.
“Nursery Garden to Nursery School: Revolutionizing Infant-Toddler Culinary Curriculum” works to redefine the possibilities of daycare and school food programs by creating a template of a food program that serves organic, local menus, complete with the funding sources and logistics of how to form partnerships with local farmers, merchants, vendors, etc. NGNS has developed a culinary curriculum for the youngest children in daycares, those ages 6 weeks through 18 months. This program also facilitates dynamic menus, local food sourcing, and a culinary curriculum for children in our Children’s House and Elementary programs.
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“We love the MMUMS program. We love that our child is encouraged to persist through challenges in order to gain new skills each day. We love that she is encouraged to explore a very diverse culinary palette, which we have not found in any other childcare center in the area. We love that our child is encouraged to be mindful of her peers, her environment, and her whole self. We love that our child comes home covered in dirt or mud because she spent so much time outside exploring the forest and her natural surroundings. We love that she needs to be prepared to go outside, regardless of the weather, and that a good portion of her day is spent outside. Most of all, we love that our child doesn’t want to leave at the end of the day because she is having so much fun. She is always happy, smiling, playing, and laughing and this, in and of itself, is worth everything to us.”
-Dr. Liesl Baum Walker and Mason Walker