LEONARDTOWN, Md. — Compass Point Montessori marked its opening with a ribbon cutting in Leonardtown Friday, offering a local early childhood education option with a Montessori-based environment centered on curiosity, independence and hands-on learning for children ages 3 to 6, highlighting a growing demand for flexible early childhood programs in St. Mary’s County.
Tiffanie Bockey is head of the school, and she described five learning areas as a critical part of their hands-on learning methods that empower children to explore, think critically and take ownership of their learning. She said the Montessori philosophy was rooted in trust that children are capable, curious and naturally driven to understand the world around them.
“Practical life, cultural, language, math and sensorial,” Bockey said. “You will see this in any Montessori classroom around the world.”
Inside the property on Point Lookout Road, in mixed-age classrooms, children learn through practical life scenarios in kitchen settings, laundry rooms, language and math stations and even a sensorial room, filled with bells, beads, textured surfaces, smells and shapes.
“Taste, touch, hear, see, smell,” Bockey said. “The sensorial area is a lot of exploring with the five senses.”
Bockey said the Montessori method helps children build confidence and independence through everyday skills.
“Practical life is set up for children to be able to spoon and scoop and fold laundry and fold cloths and set the table,” Bockey said. “Children want to help.”
Bockey holds degrees in education, has years of domestic and international classroom experience, and she is credentialed by the American Montessori Society (AMS). She said that she wanted to educate young people to be problem solvers and leaders, and that watching how her daughter developed under Montessori, in contrast to traditional early childhood schools, inspired her to open Compass Point Montessori.
“I was amazed at how independent she was becoming, and how self-motivated she was, and how quickly she was learning things,” Bockey said.
Kyle Bockey, who opened the school with his wife Tiffanie, emphasized how Compass Point Montessori grew from his family’s experiences moving around the country during his Navy career and seeing the difference Montessori education made for their daughter. He said his wife was the driving force behind the school and that their family hopes Compass Point Montessori will become a lasting community resource and an early childhood education option for families who are looking for a practical approach.
“The ultimate goal is for the children who come through here, we really want to set them up to be independent, self-motivated learners who are able to thrive in any environment,” Bockey said. “They’re able to problem solve on their own, they don’t need to wait to be told what to do, they have the confidence to be able to accomplish whatever it is their goals are.”
St. Mary’s County Commissioner Eric Colvin said Compass Point Montessori added valuable diversity to local education and that innovative early childhood development options aligned with a lot of the county’s long-term community workforce goals.
“Anything we can do to support [early childhood education] is great because we’re just such an innovative economy and workforce,” Colvin said. “We have such deep thinking going on, on the base (Naval Air Station Patuxent River) and with our contractors locally, being able to start that younger in our children here, so that they can just grow up to do the incredible work that’s being done in this county, it’s absolutely awesome.”
St. Mary’s County Commissioner Mike Alderson said the Montessori focus on social behavior and hands-on developmental learning provided an early foundation for success.
“I think with them providing their education, starting at the age of 3, it gives a much stronger foundation for the kids to learn how to operate in a social situation,” Alderson said. “The biggest part in early childhood education is getting the social skills needed to actually operate in the community.”
Alderson said schools like Compass Point Montessori complement state education goals under the Maryland Blueprint for Education, where there is a plan for 3-year-olds and up to kindergarten age, but the financing and infrastructure for education in those early years has yet to catch up with the state plan.
School Focuses On Curiosity, Independence And Family-Centered Learning For Children
Parents Daniel and Emily Chapman said they chose Compass Point Montessori because of its structure, leadership and focus on independence.
“From the moment we were starting a family, my wife and I started discussing what we were going to do schooling-wise,” Daniel Chapman said. “For the formative years, for preschool and the start, we knew very early on we were going to do Montessori.”
Their daughter has attended Montessori for three years, now entering kindergarten, and their younger son began this year at Compass Point Montessori.
“Lillian was reading before she was 5, and she’s now doing chapter books,” Emily Chapman said. “She’s already in The Magic Tree House series, and she’s doing addition and subtraction in the hundreds.”
Daniel Chapman said the school’s setting and philosophy have made a clear difference in their children’s growth.
“They’re gaining self-confidence and independence,” Chapman said. “It’s giving them a foundation so that later in life, they have a perspective, a discipline and a curiosity maintained to just live a much fuller, richer life.”
Samantha Thomas, assistant teacher/directress at Compass Point Montessori, said the school’s environment reflects a close-knit and family-centered approach.
“I think it’s really very family-oriented here,” Thomas said. “I hope that we continue to grow on that and find families that are really interested in the Montessori philosophy.”
Thomas described Montessori as a way of teaching that focuses on self-discovery and an awareness of learning.
“So, in Montessori we teach children to be very independent, to think for themselves, to foster a love for learning,” Thomas said. “Just thinking for themselves, doing for themselves, to prepare them to be contributing members to society.”
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