Chesterton Montessori School

It was kind of a rude experience. My daughter attended the school from 2017-2019 at the old facility. That was pretty good until the end. I wanted to tour the new facility and the person I talked to (Brooke) made it very clear she didn’t want to tour me until October and it didn’t matter because they were full anyway. Needless to say, I won’t call back. The newer facility is on a small lot and doesn’t look that great. I usually don’t judge a book by its cover, but since they didn’t let me in; that’s all I have to go by.

I wanted to share our experience with Chesterton Montessori School during the 2017/18 school year. We took a tour of the facility during an open house last summer and learned that the school was beginning a Monday thru Friday Full Day Early Childhood Program – just what we were looking for - we were able to combine daycare with the Montessori program. We are so thankful that our daughter Megan spent her last year of pre-K at Chesterton Montessori. I can’t say enough about the program and the teachers. Meg is ready for kindergarten! At the end of Megan’s first day at Montessori, she climbed in the car and exclaimed “The teachers are so nice here!” – good sign for any working parent needing to use preschool/daycare! Montessori made it easy on us parents for pick up and drop off – using a car line system - so that I didn’t even have to leave my car. A staff member comes to the car as we pull up to the door and escorts Megan to and from the school – awesome after years of varying hassle with pick up and drop off at local daycares. Hourly after school care is available – we didn’t actually need the after school hours but Meg asked to stay so often that we finally allowed her 2 hours once a week after school in the All Day Room to play with her friends. We also added the weekly after school Kindermusik – which she definitely enjoyed. We have a limit of no more than 2 after school activities at a time for each of our kids (I’m actually thinking of cutting it down to one…lol) and having Kindermusik available at the school made this activity a no-brainer for us. Kudos to Mrs. Christensen for working with us for flexibility in picking up Megan due to having another car pool at the same time for our 10 year old. I appreciate the communication style of the Montessori teachers. An example from their study unit on continents – Megan’s class wanted field trips to each of continents as they studied them. I loved the story from Mrs. Cavallo & Mrs. Gumz of Megan asking if the class could take a field trip to Africa – Mrs. Cavallo’s answer to Megan described in lengthy detail the travels it would take to get to Africa with a class of preschoolers. By the end of the detail, Megan understood and finally said “So, I’m thinking it’s a no”:). Tuition was divided into monthly payments. I found the bookkeeping system to be entirely accurate – however old-fashioned with a separate paper receipt for each month. I understand that electronic payment options are coming which will definitely be an upgrade. We used our Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account to pay for some of the tuition – thankfully Mrs. Cavallo, Administrator & Education Director, signed my single claim form to simplify the reimbursement process. I would recommend taking administrative questions to Mrs. Cavallo directly in person, through email, or by phone. She knows the school policies and procedures better than anyone! Overall, this program for the 5 day - full day early childhood is awesome in every way! Definitely a great fit for our daughter. I hope our experience may help other parents who are spending their time and energy to tour and research preschools / childcare for their child!