Montessori isn’t just for little kids
Middle and high schoolers need more than the status quo.
You probably already know that Montessori schools are great for little ones — but what about for older kids?
Dr. Maria Montessori is best known for her pioneering work in early childhood, where she created a groundbreaking philosophy of education. You might love her emphasis on independence during the toddler years, or how the language curriculum respects a preschooler's developmental needs and interests while helping them learn to read. But you likely haven’t heard about her principles for older kids.
Montessori wrote less on the later stages of human development, but even so, she left us with some powerful principles that have helped us rethink what education can look like in the middle and high school years.
She defined the essential needs of each age group, and our Guidepost schools continue to center around those needs as your kid progresses beyond early childhood. We’ve worked diligently to translate Montessori’s principles and expand on her curriculum for older students so that the benefits of her approach don’t have to end at kindergarten.
And of course, our primary goal remains the same across age groups: to promote independence.
At Guidepost, middle and high schoolers make meaningful choices and take ownership of their education. To make space for this, we utilize:
A challenging, age-appropriate curriculum
A prepared learning environment (with space to read, build, sew, etc.)
A reliable routine that allows kids to dig deep into their learning
Here’s why we love this approach for older kids:
Academically challenging, fueled by a love of learning
We all want our kids to have an academically rigorous education. We want them to be challenged, learn new things, and grow as individuals. And of course, we hope such an education sets them up for a good college experience, career, and life.
But too often, “rigorous academics” translates to tons of busy work, rote memorization, and piles of homework. It’s a system that rewards compliance, not understanding — a recipe for stress, anxiety, and burnout.
It’s no surprise, then, that between 5th and 12th grade, nearly 75% of students report negative feelings toward school.
Consider the A+ student with the perfect GPA who can’t sleep because they’re tirelessly memorizing every fact that might show up on their AP exams. They’re not studying because they love learning, or even because they’re motivated to achieve a particular goal; they’re studying so they don’t experience failure. This child is tired and totally overwhelmed — but the system calls them “successful.”
Or what about the student who thinks they’re bad at math because they consistently struggle in class? They’re told repeatedly that they’re incapable of understanding these concepts — simply because they don’t learn at the same pace or in the same way as is demanded by their one-size-fits-all classroom.
They fall behind as their class marches ahead, and even when they “try harder,” nothing seems to get better. Can we blame them for throwing up their hands and deciding they’re “not a math person?” Or opting out of any career in STEM, even if they wanted one?
School can be academically rigorous and challenging without causing children to become burned out or disinterested in learning.
Our kids are growing up in a time when they will have more access to knowledge than any previous generation has had before. Education should feel like a privilege, not a burden, not something to be dreaded.
At Guidepost middle and high schools, learning is not motivated by grades but by mastery. It is propelled by a real desire to understand the world and get to the bottom of things.
Because when our kids graduate from college and the rigid structure of their education falls away, they won’t need A’s or 4.0s to succeed in their jobs, relationships, or personal projects and commitments. They’ll need a voracity for learning and a love of effort.
Preserving that precious love of learning is the most important task educators have.
When a person genuinely loves to learn, the world feels abundant with new things to discover. Challenges feel surmountable with the right knowledge and resources.
This is why a Montessori education recognizes and cultivates the child’s intrinsic love for learning, rather than stamping it out.
Prepared for life, not just for more school
Academics aren’t the only things we want our kids to learn. But for there to be room for anything else in your child’s day, they need uninterrupted time to pursue their interests.
They need to be able to go down a rabbit hole, pick up an internship, learn from an expert, or spend the day working on their own business. This is where Guidepost schools really shine.
After elementary school, most schools prioritize academics above all else, but in Guidepost middle and high schools, your child won’t just learn literature, math, and history (often in greater depth than they would in a traditional school). They’ll also learn:
Soft skills like teamwork, problem-solving, and critical thinking
Practical know-how around starting a business, doing taxes, etc.
Emotional intelligence and communication
Executive functioning skills like time management
Our students take filmmaking classes not to satisfy an extracurricular requirement but to actually make movies. They take economics courses because starting a business requires understanding the market.
To them, school isn’t just preparing them for life someday — it’s letting them live it now.
One of our middle school classes in New York is running a thriving composting business. One of our high school students in Texas has a professional photography studio with international clients.
Our students pursue internships in business, government, healthcare, and the arts.
Not to check a box. Because they want to, and they have the freedom. They are both making sense of the world and shaping it.
Together, these pieces lead to outcomes far more valuable than good grades — like real-world experience, connections, and the confidence to thrive.
Answering the question: What do I want to do with my life?
Academic learning is crucial. But it’s applying that knowledge to every area of life — seeing the connection, for example, between a live and integrated understanding of history and an independent understanding of the world today, or how building the ability to reason with precision in math class can be useful for thinking through a thorny conflict with a friend — that enables children to thrive in the world. Montessori programs understand this and make room for your child's life to be more.
This means doing real work, in the real world, applying their academic learning to real life.
Interacting with the real world is the best way for your kid to figure out what they want to study in college, or what type of work they love. Until they’ve experimented, they won’t know.
Take it from JP Barbagelata, a Guidepost grad who is now studying Film and Photography at Bard College in New York:
“When I was at my college prep school, I didn’t have the freedom to pursue projects that weren’t considered core academic subjects. But when I got to [Guidepost], not only did I have the freedom to follow my interests, I also had the encouragement I needed from my teachers.”
When your kid learns about topics that truly matter to them, they come alive in ways that traditional schooling can’t touch.
You don’t have to accept a status quo education, whether for your first grader or your teenager. There’s a better way.
Your child can graduate from high school having achieved academic success — that doesn’t come at the expense of real-world experience, a passion for learning, and an enthusiasm for life.
☀️ This week’s bright spots:
If you have 1 minute…
Watch this video on raising kids who aren’t always obedient — and why that’s a good thing.
If you have 10 minutes…
Read this essay by
on the hidden belief that kills great startups.If you have one hour…
Download our Montessori-inspired Summer Activity Guide and do one of the weekly activities (there are enough to last you all summer!) — here’s a recap of week one.