First plane · absorbent mind
18 mo – 3 yr
A small, calm room. Real objects, real food, real water. The work of becoming a person.
Learn more →Children aged 18 months to 12 years
A school where children learn how to think, not what to think.
Rooted in 100 years of Montessori practice and a thoroughly modern community of educators, families, and learners.
Our story
A learning community built on observation, autonomy, and trust.
Birchwood began with one Children’s House classroom and a small group of families who believed children deserved more than worksheets and waiting lines. Fifteen years on, we serve 180 students across three campuses and the same quiet rigor still anchors every decision we make.
— Maria Howard, Head of School
180Students enrolled
15Years in community
22AMI-credentialed guides
94%Family retention
How we are different
We did not reform the old model. We replaced it.
Attribute
Traditional classroom
Birchwood classroom
Leader of the work
The adult
The child
Pace of the day
Bell schedule, period bells
Three-hour uninterrupted work cycle
Age grouping
Single-year cohorts
Three-year mixed-age cycles
How learning is measured
Tests and grades
Direct observation, portfolio, mastery
Where authority lives
Top-down, adult-given
Earned through preparation and care
What success looks like
Right answer, on time
Concentration, independence, contribution
Programs by age
Families explore by age. Here is what each one needs.
Children's House
3 – 6 yr
The classic prepared environment. Practical life, sensorial, language, math. Three-year mixed-age cycle.
Learn more →Lower Elementary
6 – 9 yr
The Great Lessons, the cosmic curriculum, going-out trips. The age of moral imagination.
Learn more →Upper Elementary
9 – 12 yr
Long-form research, real responsibilities, the first true expedition into the wider world.
Learn more →Adolescent
12 – 15 yr
A working farm, a micro-economy, and the daily rhythm of community contribution.
Learn more →Erdkinder finishing
15 – 18 yr
Capstone projects, internships, and a thoughtful handoff to college or the next thing.
Learn more →Material spotlight
The objects that do the teaching.
3 – 6 yr
Pink Tower
Visual discrimination of dimension
Ten wooden cubes from 1 cm³ to 10 cm³. The child builds the tower again and again, and the wrist learns scale before the mind has words for it.
4 – 7 yr
Trinomial Cube
Algebraic abstraction through sensorial work
A three-dimensional realization of (a + b + c)³. The child rebuilds the cube long before they meet algebra. The algebra arrives recognized.
3 – 5 yr
Sandpaper Letters
Phonemic awareness through touch
Letters cut from sandpaper, mounted on smooth board. The child traces. Hand, eye, and voice learn the same letter at once.
4 – 8 yr
Golden Beads
Place value made physical
Units, tens, hundreds, thousands as beads, bars, squares, and cubes. The decimal system becomes something the child can lift.
A letter from our head of school
“We did not set out to build a school. We set out to honor what we kept seeing in classrooms, in children, in our own kids: that the work of childhood is real work, and it deserves a place to happen.
What you will find at Birchwood is a quiet room full of busy children, a guide who watches more than she speaks, and a community of families who trust that calm rigor is not boring. It is exactly what a child needs to become themselves.
If that sounds like what you are looking for, come walk through. A school is a place. It will tell you.
Maria Howard
Head of School · Children's House guide for fifteen years
Family voices
“Birchwood is the rare school that takes the philosophy seriously and the families seriously at the same time. That balance is hard to build and easy to feel.”
Dr. Lena Morales
Board chair, 2019–2024
AMIAMS AccreditedMACTE RecognizedNAIS Member
Come see what we mean.
School tours run on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the academic year. Bring your questions.
Book a tour →