Our Mission
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What truly sets Providence: A Christian Montessori Community apart is that we educate the whole child. Most schools focus solely on intellectual development—pushing information that students memorize, regurgitate on a test, and move on. But our children need far more than just facts. After all, they can look up information anytime with a quick search. What they really need is wisdom. And you can’t Google that.
Wisdom is the fruit of a long process—one that combines academic, social, emotional, and spiritual growth over time. It takes years for our kids to mature into adulthood, and day by day, hour by hour, they spend much of that time in school—or, in our case, community.
That’s why it’s so vital to choose a school community you trust—one that partners with you to cultivate wisdom in your child. At Providence, we’re not just a place of learning. We’re a place where your child can grow holistically into the person God has called them to be.
Check out the graphic below to see how this mission comes to life every day at Providence!
At Providence: A Christian Montessori Community, we understand that to truly engage the mind, we must first engage the heart and the hands—just as God intended. In both the Old and New Testaments, the Shema teaches us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” This call to whole-hearted devotion forms the cornerstone of our faith—and the foundation of how we educate.
The Montessori philosophy beautifully reflects this truth by weaving together grace and courtesy (heart) with hands-on learning (hands) from the very beginning. But here at Providence, we take it a step further. Every classroom experience is infused with an entrepreneurial mindset—encouraging children to observe with care (heart), think critically and solve problems (head), and apply their creativity to build meaningful solutions (hands).
We also believe deeply in the power of community. Community transforms lives. By modeling to our students what it means to truly “see” another person—not as a number or performance metric, but as a unique individual made in the image of God—they learn to honor the dignity of every human being. Our children come to understand that every person is worthy of care—not because of what they achieve, but because of who they are. And with this knowledge, they develop a spirit of compassion that manifests in action and deed.
That’s who we are. We’re different from any other school because we’re committed to nurturing the whole child—heart, head, and hands.
If that resonates with you, there’s a good chance our community is the place for you.
To give you a deeper understanding of what this looks like day-to-day, take a look below at how our teachers incorporate observation, problem-solving, and hands-on solutions in the classroom.
Toddler (1-3):
Teacher helping with potty training:
“We want to be potty experts in the class. It takes a lot of skills to do all those steps. Let’s look at those steps: feel the need, communicate the need, prepare your clothes and body to use the toilet, clean your body and fix your clothes, leave the toilet the way we found it, clean the germs away. Wow. Those are a lot of steps. Which one do you forget most? Ohhhh, how can we remember that one? Let’s see if we can make up a song to remind us.”
Observe, Problem Solve, Implement, Repeat…
A work is left on the floor and a child has walked away from it. Another child comes up to it and wants to use it. The teacher leads this discussion: “Do you know if your friend is using that work? See, they have not put it back on the shelf. They must still be using it; let’s ask them to please put it back on the shelf if they are done. You can pick another work and wait for this work to be ready. Our friends put the work on the shelf to show they are done. That way we know what work we can use. Let’s see if we can help our friends remember that. Let’s go talk to them.”
Observe, Problem Solve, Implement, Repeat…
Pre-school (3-6):
Teacher to class at group time:
“I’ve noticed that when it’s time to clean up our work and come to group, that some friends want to keep working. Sometimes they have a really big work that they want to finish. We want to respect our friend’s need, but we want to know if it should be put away and they forgot, or if they are wanting to finish it later. What would be a good way for them to communicate that to everyone without having to tell everyone individually?”
Students share their ideas: “They should put it up anyways,” “They can just tell the teacher,” “They can put their work in their cubby.”
After lots of facilitation from the teacher and reminding students that our goals in the class are to have “grace and courtesy” and to help friends be independent.
One student says, “They can put their name on it.”
Teacher: “Tell me more about that.”
Another child shares, “Yeah, someone could use the scrap paper and write a name on it and then we ‘d know they were not done with it.”
Another student reminds the class that some of the classmates are 3 years old and can’t write their name yet.
“Let’s use popsicle sticks like we do for snack,” says another student.
They decide to use popsicle sticks with names on them so any student can easily put their name on a work when they have to walk away from it.
Later, they notice that friends keep losing their popsicle sticks and they ask for another solution. Students decide to keep them in a cup in a central location.
Observe, Problem Solve, Implement, Repeat…
A younger student is trying to communicate with an older student. The older student is ignoring the younger student.
The teacher facilitates: “Did you notice your friend was trying to tell you something. Let’s listen to what he is saying.”
Younger Child: “I wanted to do the art project with her.”
Teacher to older child: “Did you hear your friend say what he wanted? Can you do that?”
Older child: “He asked me that before and I told him I had already done the art project and we need to let other people have a turn to do the project, but he keeps asking me.”
Teacher: “Oh, I understand. You explained to your friend what the situation is and he is still asking you?”
Turning to the younger child: “Did your friend explain to you why she couldn’t do that right now?”
Younger Child says, “yes”, and the teacher says, “Ok, what is a good way to handle this situation in the future?”
Younger Child: “I don’t know.”
Teacher: “Well. Let’s think about this, if you friend has listened to you and and gives you an explanation as to why she can’t do what you asked, is it helpful to keep asking her? She might be willing to work with you on something else, but you need to be willing to listen when she explains herself. Is there another friend you can ask to do the art project with? Who else can you ask?”
Younger child asks another child and happily they go off to do the project.
Observe, Problem Solve, Implement, Repeat…
Elementary (6 to 12):
After morning work cycle, the classroom is being left messy with coats, notebooks, pens, and markers around the room. Since students are free to work in various locations it is becoming very cumbersome to walk around the room and remind students to pick up, and to hear, “That’s not mine..”
Group is held – Now called “questions and concerns”. We need a solution to this problem in a way that does not frustrate our class. Students brainstorm all kinds of solutions. All ideas are listed on the wipe board. Time is given for more ideas to come from our introverts. Everyone is thanked for their ideas.
Then pros and cons are listed for each idea. Which ideas seem simplest? Which ideas are sustainable? Which ideas make us feel good about our class and respectful of others?
Students decide to get a bucket and have one friend pick up any materials and put them in the bucket that are out of place during clean up – this would be a job on the job chart. Then at the beginning of group, one item is chosen from the bucket. We proclaim, “The winner is_________” (the item’s owner). They win the opportunity to find the home of all items in the bucket. This eliminates the number of bodies roaming around cleaning up still and eventually the students get so good at cleaning up after themselves – that the bucket is more empty than not!
Observe, Problem Solve, Implement, Repeat…
Questions and Concerns Time. This is a time usually once a week when we problem solve as a group. These are things that are not going as well as we like or that need to be addressed. Sometimes they are technical issues like the one mentioned above and sometimes they are harder interpersonal issues. When a student says they have a concern about someone it must be established that this is not just a one-on-one concern that can be taken care of at the peace table. If this is something that has already been addressed at the peace table but is continuing to be an issue for several of the students, it is brought up at “questions and concerns.”
We remind everyone that when we address concerns we are looking for solutions – not criticizing others. On this day, outdoor play time was addressed again… it lends itself to lots of problem solving opportunities.
Student: “We are playing a make-believe game and other people want to play the game with us, but then they complain that they don’t like their role and then they quit in the middle and then we feel bad and have to start the story over again. It happens so often it really has become frustrating.”
Teacher: “Has anyone else experienced the same concerns?” Over half the class raises their hands. Teacher: “Ok, tell me the ideal situation when someone joins a game.”
Students share about how they were going to the mall in their make-believe play and some friends said they were shop owners at the mall and that made it more fun. Students and teachers brainstormed ways friends could “add value” to a make-believe event instead of expecting to be given a role that they may or may not like. Students seem content with this solution and start to try it out. Reports come back that friends have “added value” in all kinds of ways including offering limo services and dog sitting while the pretend families were away.
Observe, Problem Solve, Implement, Repeat…
The Middle and High School (12 and up):
Students have decided that they want to study food this semester for “Alamance Connects” (for more info in that program, see our description of the TMA program). Students brainstorm all the careers, locations, people they know in this field. Students lead the discussions and figure out what has too much overlap.
“We all can’t just go to different restaurants the whole time.” “But we want to eat at some of them!” “Let’s think food supply chain – farm to table, have we covered all the steps?” “Do we have a farm, do we have the inside scoop for different types of restaurants”, “My dad’s friend just bought the oldest restaurant in the county, I can see if we can go there?” “Are we talking to owners, chefs, waiters?” “What about becoming a chef? Let’s go to the culinary school.”
Students are waist deep in the brainstorming and planning process, then they have to get with their network of connections through family and friends, and call to schedule the special speaker or field study, and conclude with a follow-up correspondence. This is entrepreneur skill training in high gear!
Observe, Problem Solve, Implement, Repeat…
Student Meetings, Student Council, Special Committees. Whether we are meeting one-on-one with students to check in on their progress and goals for their independent and enrichment courses, or having student council meetings, or calling a special committee to brainstorm improvements for next year’s program – the pattern continues:
Observation: What is working; what is not?
Problem Solve: Any suggestions on how to celebrate and nurture what is working and how to address what’s not working?
Solution: Let’s make this a process that is sustainable and accountable.
Example of Special Committee Meeting with Students:
Students: “Some of us already know this material and it should just be a quick review.”
Teacher: “What about those who are struggling with it or never learned it before?”
The teacher is also noticing that some students new to Montessori are needing more time to become familiar with material that would normally just be a quick review for the other students. Students suggest having a quick pre-test of knowledge base. Those struggling with that information have a separate lesson based on a deeper review, while the others do independent work on a project related to the subject so they don’t have to sit through material they already know.
Observe, Problem Solve, Implement, Repeat…
Conclusion. You might be asking… Why doesn’t the teacher just do all that problem solving and make it happen. Wouldn’t it be a lot more efficient? Sure it would be; it’s always more efficient to do it ourselves… or is it? When toddlers have everything done for them, and preschoolers feel un-empowered, and elementary students feel useless, and middle and high schoolers feel frustrated…what do they do? How do they feel? Do they even care about what YOU want to teach them? Are they invested in the solutions others came up with without their feedback?
Instead, we must train every child at every level the skills that make life actually function, the skills he and she will use more than Algebra 2 or how many countries are in Asia.
When your child learns the skill to: Observe, Problem Solve, Implement, and Repeat, they will have learned how to be successful.
By the time your child leaves this program, you will have a capable, compassionate human that you enjoy being with and are proud of for the rest of their lives. It’s an investment. It takes time, it takes vision, we know how to do it, and we do it well.