Whole Earth Montessori School

"Our oldest started at Whole Earth Montessori school when she was just under three years old and we couldn't believe the progress she made. We now have both of our children (6 yo in Kindergarten and 3 yo in preschool) attending WEM Full Time and cannot express how much we love the staff, the teachers and their authentic Montessori education. Our children continue to thrive, not only in the nurturing, respectful and self-motivated environment of the classrooms lead by WEM's amazing teachers but their beautiful campus naturally invites and encourage children to love, care for and preserve the beauty of nature we are fortunate enough to be surrounded by in the PNW. We believe children are as good as the tools we provide them with and Whole Earth Montessori is our true partner in raising our children to be bright, confident, self-motivated, independent thinkers."

"My son has progressed so much in such a short amount of time since starting here at WEM. The teachers are overqualified, incredibly patient, empathetic, and approachable. This is the first time my son has been away from either my wife or myself and they were able to help him immensely with the separation anxiety. The classroom experience is exactly like they advertise. When I sat in and observed for the firt time it was so quiet you could here a pin drop, all the children work choosing their own work, and my son was doing things I didn't know were possible. I can't wait for him to start full day."

"They did a horrible job in communicating. We probably submitted the earliest application (in January). They kept telling us our application was fine but we are in the waiting list since they don't enroll on a 'first come first serve' basis. They have some way of figuring out the best match - but they won't tell us what was the exact method. After keeping us waiting for about a year, one of their new staff told us over the phone that some part of the application was missing so it was kept in the incomplete folder. When we started asking why they didn't tell us that earlier as we were in constant touch, the staff handed over the phone to a senior member. And he/she tried to reverse the course. However, after a few more rounds of communication over phone and email it was quite evident that it was because of mismanagement and miscommunication on their part. As far as I understood, this happened largely because they have a non-transparent policy. Their policy is not to tell the parents why exactly their kid was on the waiting list/not selected. Is it because the application was too late or something else - they would give you no clue. Hope this review helps some parents in future."

"Excellent school, sent both my kids !!!!"

"My daughter started Whole Earth Montessori when she was 4 and she is now in the 5th grade. She loves attending Whole Earth and wishes they had a middle and high school program. My son just started this year in the first grade. This is his first year in a class room setting and he is doing great. He has made friends and is accomplishing a lot this year in reading and math. The reason I love this school is that it doesn't focus on academics for the sake of memorizing and testing. They include the well being and development of the whole child. An example of this, is the garden program and the amount of time the children are able to enjoy being outside with nature. Children's connection with nature is a vital thing that has been missing in their lives. This is evident in the destruction of the environment that has been occurring in the past century. As I see it, we have a choice now. We can continue the disconnect with Nature and destroy this beautiful Earth along with ourselves or we can rekindle the connection with Nature starting with ourselves and our children and help the Earth and ourselves heal. Whole Earth Montessori helps to foster our children's connection with Nature and not just with Nature, also with themselves. With these connections, children are more self confident, well rounded, and able to move through challenges easily. The other great thing about Whole Earth is that the children are allowed to move around during the day. They can work on a mat on the floor or at a table with others or by themselves. To me, it is more of a class room set up where there is a cooperation of learning happening. Where children feel free to be inquisitive and to come up with their own answers. Where they feel free to be them selves."