Proud of our Heritage

Here at Mountain Laurel Montessori we are proud to be raising heritage pigs.


Our pigs are Tamworths, one of the oldest known breeds. They are listed as threatened by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.

Heritage breeds are important because they help preserve the genetic diversity of our livestock. They tend to be hearty, withstand disease, and are often better suited to being raised on pasture.

Our Tamworths are happily soaking in all of the belly-rubs offered by the students and eating vegetable scraps from both of our campuses and a local restaurant.

Digging out from the snowstorm

Good will abounded as students, parents, teachers, and neighbors came back to school on the first day of winter vacation to help dig paths to the animals.

Two feet of snow fell during the weekend before Christmas 2009 in the biggest December snow storm ever in Flint Hill, Virginia.

Volunteers dug paths to the pigs, sheep, and chickens, and made sure all were warm and had access to fresh water and food.

It was a wonderful demonstration of the dedication of the Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School Community.

Holidays are a time for appreciating and enjoying family, and at Mountain Laurel Montessori we really value ours.

Students Give Presentations

Students deliver final presentations at the end of each Occupation and Humanities Project.

It is, in Montessori terms, the 3rd period of a 3-period lesson.

It is a time when the students share their newly developed expertise with the rest of the Farm School Community, and are recognized as true experts in that particular area.

Montessori students have many opportunities such as these to develop their public speaking skills.

Here, students from the Sheep Occupation talk about pregnancy and lambing, including DNA (the Sheep Occupation).

The Wind Energy Occupation is demonstrating their first successful anemometer

This Little Piggie Went to the Farm School...

We have new pigs!!

We have recently been joined by 3 young Tamworth pigs. Tamworth is a heritage breed that originated in the United Kingdom (notice the Irish red hair) and is now listed as "Threatened" in the United States.

It is fun to watch them interact and to check out their freshly painted home. They are playful and inquisitive.

We will raise the male for meat, and breed the two females in the Spring.

Students Portray Ancient Mayans in Washington, DC

As the culmination of our Humanities study of the Ancient Mayan Civilization, Farm School students wrote Dramatis Peronae (short monologues) of individuals from the Ancient Mayan Culture. On Monday, we went into Washington, DC, and each student found a place to perform that best suited their character. Here are some examples:

Left: Maya King building temple (steps of the sculpture garden)

Right: Maya girl prepares to be sacrificed to the gods to give her people a good harvest (benches along Constitution Avenue)

Left: Jaguar hunter (natural history museum under a jaguar in the mammal room)

Right: Maya Weaver (in front of Southwestern Native American weaving in Native American Museum)

Left: Maya Scribe (using the stone in front of the Natural History Museum)

Right: Heir to Maya Throne describes plan for peace (sculpture garden)

Left: Spanish Conquistador (riding a horse on the carousel)

Students become characters from history

Montessori education aims to inspire in young people the idea that every human being is worthy of great repect and is capable of doing great things.

At the Farm School, Humanities Projects are driven by the attempt to get inside the perspective of individuals from different cultures in history. What was it like to be a Roman architect? What did it feel like to be the heir of a Mayan king? What if you didn't want to be the next king? What did Elizabeth Cady Stanton struggle with as she helped women win the right to vote?

Students write traditional research papers on an aspect of the culture we are studying; then they write a Dramatis Persona, a fictitious (although grounded in facts from their research) first person account of a moment in that person's life.

By writing and speaking as these people from our past, young adolescents have the opportunity to explore what it feels like to be one of these people, and in turn, to think about what great things they will do in the world.

"Let us in education ever call the attention of children to the hosts of men and women who are hidden from the light of fame, so kindling a love of humanity...a reverent consciousness of its dignity and worth" - Dr. Maria Montessori

In a Word: Expansive

Each Wednesday afternoon, the Farm School students are given a word as they leave school. They go home and write a creative composition using that word. Thursday morning at tea / snack time, they read their composition to the group. The exercise has very few boundaries. It might be poetry, prose, a story, a fable, a diaglogue, etc. The given word may be a common word, such as "fire," or it may be a new vocabulary word requiring research before use. Often the words are an extension of something happening in the school community. Each week we will share one example of the "In a Word" series.

IMAGINATION

Seconds turn into minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days. The expansive plain devoured each step he took, so that it seemed the dry, hot desert would never come to an end. Exhaustion and dehydration began to sink in, hunger followed shortly after. Images skipped past his sight, tricking him each, miserable time. A vulture spiraled above him, trailing a dark shadow in its wake. A small, blue feather floated to the ground.

He fell to the got, dry earth, making a soft thud. His head swam as he dragged himself across the ground, heat beating the life out of him every second. He collapsed again and rolled onto his back. Water, water...water was all he could think as he tasted grains of sand on his tongue.

A gulp of hot air, a last beat of a heart, and then..."Bobby! Get in the house now!" A small boy lying in a sandbox jumped up and ran to the back door of his house. As he ran past his mother in the doorway, she swatted him gently and picked a blue feather off of his shirt.

-Rachel, 9th year student

Spontaneous Wind Exploration

Today the Farm School students explored the properties of wind using a parachute. The Wind Occupation group is developing a windmill prototype using the cloth from an old parachute. First, they had a great time testing their strength against the wind. The lessons that will grow from this fun include drag, lift, forces, and more.

Open House Nov. 8th 1:00-3:30

FARM SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE!

Please join us on Sunday, November 8th, from 1:00-3:30 at the Farm School. Students and faculty will be on hand to give tours and answer your questions.

The Farm School is a unique educational setting, and it really takes seeing to believe it.

As a parent of a 9th year Farm School student recently said, "it is such a great place for the heart, soul, and mind!"

We hope to see you on Sunday.

"So, it is good when a sheep burps?"

One of the Occupation groups (see below for explanation) this Fall is studying sheep. The students noticed that the sheep frequently burp. The question, "why do sheep burp?" led to a lesson on ruminant digestion and a fermentation experiment.

To simulate the fermentation that happens in one of the sheep's four stomachs, the students combined yeast, water, and sugar in flasks and attached balloons to the top of the jar. Learning about variables, some changed the amount of sugar or yeast, or varied the temperature. The amount of gas released was measured by placing the balloons in water and measuring the displacement.

Many Montessori Adolescent Programs use the terminology Occupation and Humanities Projects for the long term interdisciplinary studies in the curriculum. Occupation projects are science based, and revolve around the real needs of the farm (for instance, Sheep because this will be the first time we breed the sheep, or Wind Energy because we need to install a windmill to aerate the pond). The science standards of learning are covered through this project-based approach. They are called Occupations because they reflect the developmental needs of young adolescents as they look to the adult world and wonder "how will I contribute to society?" "What will I do?" They are trying on the occupation of farmer, naturalist, biologist, engineer, or veterinarian to see how it fits.

"a limitless field for scientific and historic studies"

“Work on the land is an introduction both to nature and to civilization and gives a limitless field for scientific and historic studies.” -Dr. Maria Montessori , Italian Physician and Educator (first published in 1948)

Dr. Montessori believed that we could achieve a better and more peaceful society by improving the education of young people.

The farm provides the basis for the curriculum at the Farm School, lending itself to project-based, experiential, learning.

Food, Inc. Makes an Impression

Farm School students, faculty, and parents attended a showing of the film Food, Inc. in Warrenton, VA with a follow-up Question and Answer session with Joel Salatin. The film made quite an impression.

At breakfast and lunch the next day, there was a lot of talk about food choices and analysis of where the ingredients for our meals were grown.

While the movie painted some pretty dire problems in the US food system, the students noted that they were proud to be a part of the solution - raising our own pigs for pork, chickens for eggs, and garden for fresh and healthy vegetables and herbs using sustainable farming practices.

In A Word: Braggart

Each Wednesday afternoon, the Farm School students are given a word as they leave school. They go home and write a creative composition using that word. Thursday morning at tea / snack time, they read their composition to the group. The exercise has very few boundaries. It might be poetry, prose, a story, a fable, a diaglogue, etc. The given word may be a common word, such as "fire," or it may be a new vocabulary word requiring research before use. Often the words are an extension of something happening in the school community. Each week we will share one example of the "In a Word" series.

To choose the word this week, we opened the dictionary and one of the students closed her eyes and pointed. The dictionary brought us this word: Braggart. Here is one example of how it was used in a composition.

BRAGGART

I lay down in cool grass facing syward,
where the birds and clouds took turns chasing one another in endless blue.
The smell of flowers filled the air.
The trees, tall and mighty, seemed like braggarts,
dancing with color when a breeze blew.
It was the most beautiful day I had ever...

"Erika, keep paddling!"

-Erika, 8th year student

Saving the Basil from the Frost

We harvested the rest of the basil on Friday and are proccesing it into pesto to be frozen for the winter. It will be wonderful to have something to eat from the garden when there is snow on the ground outside!

The basil crop did very well this year. It germinated better, grew better, and has continued to grow longer into the Fall than we expected. This explains the huge piles here in our final harvest. The de-stemming was a whole community effort.

Looking at Algebra Geometrically

The Farm School teaches Algebra using manipulative materials that represent the dimensions X and Y. Rather than memorizing abstract equations without any reference, the materials help the students to develop a concrete image of what the equations mean.

This is a natural extension from the Montessori

Elementary materials that lay the groundwork for advanced algebra and geometry. Here the students are using the Algebra materials both individually and in collaborative groups.

Grapes make great community service

Grape vineyards and wineries are integral parts of the landscape and culture of the Blue Ridge.

Farm School students learned about this aspect of our local agriculture up close this week when they picked Chambourcin grapes at Narmada Vineyards in Amissville.

The group picked over 3 tons of grapes!

Many thanks to Pandit Patil and Rob Cox for the opportunity.

No school today? No way!

Friday was technically a holiday. Students and teachers did not have to go to school. So what did we do? We went to school anyway! Students, younger siblings, teachers, and parents gathered at the Farm School to do community work.

In the morning, we built greenhouses to cover the raised beds, worked on the portable chicken house ("chicken tractor"), dug the hole and began to build the walls for the primitive pit fire (in which we will fire our clay pots), unloaded hay, and reorganized the Farmer's Market materials. In the afternoon, we ate lunch and played soccer.

It was a wonderful day. I was touched by the willingness of so many in the school community to volunteer their time and talents when they could have been sleeping in. The students have such ownership of the Farm School that they love to be there working together to get things done. It is a joy to work with these young people.

-Susan, Farm School Director

In a Word: Force

Each Wednesday afternoon, the Farm School students are given a word as they leave school. They go home and write a creative composition using that word. Thursday morning at tea / snack time, they read their composition to the group. The exercise has very few boundaries. It might be poetry, prose, a story, a fable, a diaglogue, etc. The given word may be a common word, such as "fire," or it may be a new vocabulary word requiring research before use. Often the words are an extension of something happening in the school community. Each week we will share one example of the "In a Word" series.

This week the word "force" came from the study of wind energy. The writing this week was an stream-of-consiousness exercise. After breakfast on Friday morning, the students were given the word and 15 minutes in which to write. The only rule was that they must keep writing the entire time. This piece is one example.

FORCE

The force of the blow shook the earth. The tectonic plates rattled and slammed as San Diego dissapeared into the ground. Tsunamis swept through southern Asia, tossing fishermens' boats like a toddler throws its toys when it is angry. Volcanoes erupted and Pompeii returned to its beginnings. Earth is on the verge of collapse and all the world can do is watch helplessly.

-Sam, 9th year student

Philosophy Discussion: Aristotle

9th year students took advantage of the beautiful day to hold Philosophy Seminar outdoors. Here they are discussing Aristotle with a Farm School faculty member.

Farm School students participate in Socratic Seminars and Literature Seminars throughout their three years at the school. The process of exchanging ideas is formalized further in 8th year Logic, and 9th year Euclidian Geometry.