We have taken an unschooling approach in teaching our 6.5 year old daughter from day one. We moved to Idaho when she was 5 and since we were new to the area we decided to put her in a nature school to make some friends. She loved it so much we thought of having her go to a Montessori the following year. (since the philosophy of Montessori fits our view of unschooling) That is how we found Teton View Montessori and Lexi Fuhriman.

I was a little leery about the amount of hours of school at first but it’s turned out to be great! We love that our daughter is with children of mixed ages (it has been so helpful in her learning how to interact with others), that she can learn at her own pace because of the focus on child led learning, that she is learning concepts and not just memorizing, that she does not take tests, and that she is learning to respect and appreciate our country and those who fight to keep it free.

We love all of her teachers — Miss Lexi, Miss Emily, Miss Lannah and Miss Diana! They are kind and compassionate women who really care about all the kids they teach. I really appreciate Lexi keeping us updated on what our daughter is learning and how she is doing at school. Not just academically, but psychologically as well.

Our daughter has grown leaps and bounds since attending Teton View! Her vocabulary has grown, she is able to express herself better. She has grown more confidence in herself. She has experienced compassion and kindness from older classmates (and teachers) that has helped her feel included and apart. Her concepts and desires of being responsible for self have grown.

We are glad she was able to go to this school and highly recommend it! Montessori philosophy is a great option for teaching children, but it’s the teachers and the way they teach at this Montessori school that make it special!

Attending Teton View Montessori school has been the best experience for my son! He loves hands on learning and doing things at his own pace! He enjoys music class and playing with the kids in his group.

The teachers are the absolute best! They are friendly, inviting and encourage students to love learning! Each day is filled with fun and unique learning opportunities.

The school itself feels so calm and peaceful! A perfect environment for learning to take place.

In the world we live in, the gifts we have to share with each other are important. I could think of no better advantage to give the world than sending my kids to a school where the environment fosters independence, imagination, and critical thinking and are given with smiles and compassion far and above what you receive in a public school.

Having taught school in the public-school setting and then providing specialized learning within language and cognition for several years, making the switch from public school to Montessori was not even a consideration. However, after experiencing years of a mismatch between what our son could do at home as compared to how he performed at school, along with the gap of several years behind his peers, we became increasingly stressed and overwhelmed in our determination to help our son. It was necessary for our son to have a one-on-one paraprofessional to navigate the educational environment.

Our independent son at home was now bringing home the high anxiety, dependence, and selfhelplessness he developed and experienced while in public school. As parents, we knew he was capable of so much more as we worked with him all year long and saw what he could do. We didn’t understand why his skills were not transferring to the school environment, and even worse, becoming increasingly unstable as his anxiety paralyzed his ability to perform previously mastered skills. Our son became a passive observer with alarming detachment from learning and engaging with his peers. We started to doubt what we believed he could do and accept the lower leveled goals he was given in his program.

Yet, and thankfully, we wouldn’t let go of the hope that our son would learn to read so that his world would expand and afford him the endless possibilities gained through reading. Miraculously, we heard about Teton View Montessori from our daughter who began working there and who also knew what her brother could do. She was relentless in her insistence that we come and see for ourselves how learning could be different and enjoyable. Being an educator, I was thrilled with the hands on learning I saw happening as I walked around and explored the rich variety of resources a child could choose to engage with as they worked through their individualized learning plans. We observed children happily engaged while enthusiastically sharing with their peers what they were learning.

We worried our son would not know how to navigate this type of learning and was too dependent and far behind to even be considered and taken into the program. We are so thankful Mrs. Fuhriman did not believe this, even after we divulged just how far behind he was when compared to same-aged peers. Her years of watching children evolve from learning to perform to now exploring to learn enabled her to confidently assure us that our son would not only learn, but it would be a pivotal change that would break down the barriers our son had faced.

Oh, how I wish we would have started this very program, Teton View Montessori, from the beginning of our son’s education. We no longer have to pry out of our him what he is doing and learning because from the moment he gets in the car, we hear stories about what he did, made, or discovered. We are hearing stories that now include science, social studies, music, and art concepts. We even know the names of his “friends” as he now shares experiences he has with them. Our son is actively volunteering to participate in discussions and group projects. He wanted us to come in and see how he completed his math assignment using different manipulatives to problem solve “all by myself.” His anxiety level has been reduced to a miraculously low level as he now enjoys learning. He is so excited to not have someone follow him around and show him how he is supposed to complete his assignments.

Help is now given with supportive encouragement to explore different avenues rather than memorize a certain way or set of steps. Each child is at the level they need to be while being naturally supported to higher levels using materials and manipulatives that encourage exploration and curiosity. Although our son is behind his typical peers, it isn’t as apparent in a Montessori setting where his peers are more motivated by their own curiosity to learn rather than comparing themselves to their peers. Each child has an individualized experience.

If we could go back and advise ourselves when first enrolling our son in school, we would be just as relentless as our daughter when insisting we visit Teton View Montessori and to see for ourselves how learning can be motivated by a child’s natural curiosity and surpass expectations. If comparing our son today using the same mentality used to judge a child’s progress in the public school system, our son would have easily progressed at least two grades in several areas within a few months. Yet most important, our son is having fun while learning, which has extinguished the paralyzing terror he once experienced daily when expected to perform in a manner that did not make sense to him.