Our Program | Indigo Montessori

Our Elementary Program

Indigo Montessori is a mixed-age learning community composed of kindergarteners, first graders, and second graders opening in Fall 2025. Each year, Indigo Montessori will expand by one grade level, ultimately having a program that serves children kindergarten through fifth grades.

Our vision is to provide families in Baltimore with an accessible, high-quality elementary Montessori learning environment that is community-embedded and empowering to all children and their families.

Elementary

Who We Are

We are centered on the child, inspired by nature, and driven by equity while building community. We seek to uphold the principles of the Wildflower Network.

We practice the Montessori Method. We seek to follow the child and kindle the flame of curiosity, creativity, and imagination.

We are small. We are a one-class micro-school located in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore. Micro-schools seek to re-imagine what school can be.

We are a mixed-aged classroom. Multiple ages learning together is a hallmark of a Montessori classroom. It allows opportunities for leadership, true peer learning, individualized instruction, and a grounding in growth mindset.

We are accessible. We have a sliding scale tuition that takes into account what each family can afford. Families pay anywhere from 0% to 14% of their family income. We value an economically diverse learning community, and have an admissions process that ensures Indigo Montessori serves families from every income bracket.

Our Approach

Our program is centered on the child. Here, the child is an active participant in the learning process. The child explores their environment, chooses work independently, and dives into that which is interesting to them. Each child moves at their own pace through the Montessori curriculum. As the child moves through the Montessori curriculum, they discover the interrelationships between subject areas. Every child receives in depth instruction in math, language, science, history, and the arts. Each child navigates the social world of their community, seeking to both teach and learn from their peers. The environment is set up for the child.

Our program is inspired by nature. Here, children begin to understand our interconnectedness with the natural world. We incorporate outdoor learning in our weekly visits to Leakin Park as well as in our daily visits to the nature in nearby Roosevelt Park, where the forest becomes our classroom. We explore puddles, creeks, and reservoirs, and splash in the rain. We see our biology lessons lived out as we study trees, moss, lichen, and all the little critters that roam our Baltimore trails. At Indigo Montessori, we learn from nature.

Our program is rooted in equity. For the child at Indigo, equity looks like:

receiving personalized lessons based on each child's developmental needs
sharing common language to challenge oppressions and marginalization while calling each other into life-giving relationships
providing lessons on history through the lens of those who have been historically marginalized
practicing accountability to ensure that each child is being called into their best selves
considering the unique opportunities and challenges facing every child and committing to give each child what they need to find their way--socially, emotionally, physically, academically, holistically
actively working to close the achievement gap
listening to, and honoring, each person's narrative
believing in education for the sake of peace and collective liberation
respecting the difference of beliefs, while requiring behavior that protects all children and families
holding friendships across racial, gender, ability and economic lines

We value the unique perspective children bring to equity. We seek to guide children to develop within themselves the power to shape their lives and the world around them.

We value the diversity within equity. Students of all races, religions, classes, genders, abilities, and backgrounds deserve a personalized education. For this reason, tuition at Indigo Montessori is on a sliding scale. We welcome all students. All families in the learning community are essential partners in education.

We value the hard work of equity. We recognize that equity is hard work as we seek to transform ourselves, our school community, and our broader society to bring about justice and peace.

At Indigo Montessori, we practice equity in education.

Our program is built around community. For children at Indigo, community looks like:

inviting a friend to delight with you in the big work you just completed
marveling with friends as your chrysalis transforms into a butterfly
laughing with your friend when they tell a good joke
sharing meals with your friends
working to solve problems together
discovering with your friend a deer path in the woods to explore
comforting your friend when they are sad
imagining new worlds together
chasing each other around the playground
experiencing the love of a consistent group of friends
appreciating each other during daily community meetings

We value community across ages. For this reason, Indigo Montessori is a mixed-age classroom.

We value depth of community. For this reason, the same group of children are invited to remain together throughout their elementary years as our micro-school grows into a community serving kindergarten through fifth grades.

We value interaction within community. For this reason, we follow a Montessori approach. The children are free to move around the classroom, talk to each other, work with each other, be emotional supports for each other. In this, they have a plethora of experiences to practice growing together in community.

We value our broader community of families. We seek to work in partnership with families. We value their wisdom, and invite their engagement. We invite parents, grandparents, and other close family and friends to join us once a month for our Family Potlucks where family members are able to experience a taste of the Montessori environment and the work of the children. We invite each child's grown-ups to see their roles as active supporters of in this education journey.

We value our neighborhood community. The children will greet our neighbors as we walk each day to our neighborhood library. We will welcome our neighbors into our learning experience. We will partner with the shops and community organizations within the Hampden community. As the children grow older, there is no doubt that we will partner with the city of Baltimore in new and creative ways, initiated by the children.

At Indigo Montessori, community is central to our learning.

Let the children be free; encourage them; let them run outside when it is raining; let them remove their shoes when they find a puddle of water; and, when the grass of the meadows is damp with dew, let them run on it and trample it with their bare feet; let them rest peacefully when a tree invites them to sleep beneath its shade; let them shout and laugh when the sun wakes them in the morning.

- Dr. Maria Montessori