General Program Information

Montessori Children's House is currently accepting applications for the 2009-2010 school year.

Enrollment of current and new students usually occurs in January and February of the previous school year or any time an opening exists. Children are accepted according to the following priorities:

• Students currently enrolled have first priority for successive enrollment until such time enrollment is open to new and returning families. At that time current, new, and returning family applications will be numbered based on date received. Enrollment forms for current students are numbered as they are returned to the office during the enrollment process for the following year. Children are accepted in numerical order.
• Siblings of current students have second enrollment priority.
• Siblings of former students have third enrollment priority.
• Newly registered students have the next priority, based upon their date and time of registration.

Children are admitted to the program when openings occur during the school year in the following order:

• Students currently attending the school who wish to change their attendance hours have the first priority.
• Children registered for enrollment and currently holding a position on the waiting list have second priority.

We have created various program options so parents can select the program that best suits the needs of their family. The package prices for the extended care options are based on historical data and the needs of our families. For additional package information and prices, please contact us at 515-225-1073.            

EARLY PRESCHOOL PROGRAMS

We have found there are a limited number of preschool programs available for the 18-24 month old child in the Des Moines area. In Montessori from the Start (2003), Paula Polk Lillard and Jessen Lillard write about Montessori’s findings - that meaningful learning comes from a willingness to follow successive steps and engage in a “cycle of activity”. Dr. Montessori suggested “the appropriate time to address the challenge of engagement is when the child first achieves independent action at about 15-18 months” (Lillard, 2003, p.93).  Montessori Children’s House is excited to offer five options for the family with an early preschool child.  The morning part-time options continue to serve children that turn two years of age prior to September 15.  The full day options will be offered to children who turn 18 months prior to September 15 AND/OR turn 3 after September 15. 

3-6 YEAR OLD PROGRAMS

Montessori Children’s House offers both part-time and full-time options for this age group. Our part-time programs are either morning or afternoon with extended care options.   The AFTER CARE program is offered in two plans. Plan 1 should be selected by families that require 1 hour or less per day of extended care. Plan 2 should be selected by families that require more than 1 hour per day of extended care. The children in this program must turn 3 years of age prior to September 15.

5-7 YEAR OLD PROGRAM

Many of our families desire to leave their children at Montessori Children’s House for their 1st grade year or through the time they are 7 years of age. In order to accommodate that choice, we offer a 5-7 year old classroom. The children that qualify for this classroom turn 5 years of age by September 15, 2007 AND have been in a Montessori program for the past 6 months. In other words, we generally offer this classroom only to students already enrolled in another class here.

An application for the Half Day and Full Day Early Preschool classrooms can be found here.

An application for the age 3-6 and 5-7 year old classrooms can be found here.