Middle School
Milwaukie Campus
Ages 12-15 years
Welcome to Sunstone Montessori Middle School!
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“Choosing Sunstone Montessori Middle School for our daughter has been one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. The small, nurturing environment has truly transformed (our daughter’s) life. She is happier, more confident, and deeply connected to herself in a way we haven’t seen in a very long time.
The Montessori model honors her individuality, encourages independence, and has helped her build genuine self-confidence- not through competition, but through meaningful growth.
What happens at Sunstone Montessori Middle School goes far beyond academics and learning. Their rich engagement touches the heart and activates the mind in a way that builds true critical thinking skills. It’s authentic, it’s meaningful, and it’s lasting. It’s education at its very best.”
~ Parent, Courtney Stierlin
Montessori for Ages 12-15 Years
Sunstone Montessori Middle School is reimagining education for 12-15 year olds. With a 12 acre campus, caring community, and interdisciplinary curriculum, our middle school is specifically designed to engage the intellect, encourage exploration, and meet the social, cognitive and emotional needs of the Middle School student as they begin to sculpt their role in society.
Adolescence is a time of immense change. It is the only passage available from childhood to adulthood and absolutely singular in its goal of constructing one’s own identity.
Teenagers crave work that is both personally meaningful and socially relevant. They need an interdisciplinary curriculum that works in tandem with their physical environment. They need real-world experimentation and collaboration which leads directly to tangible and effectual change. They need a sense of purpose with significant contribution to society.
At Sunstone Middle School, learning is individualized, interdisciplinary, and rooted in real-world projects. From robotics to creating micro-economies, our students tackle challenges that ignite their passions and develop essential life skills. Regular field trips, multi-day expeditions, and community engagement extend our classroom into the world, helping students build confidence and become lifelong learners.
Our program provides the ideal mixture of intellectual, practical, and ethical work, that allows the young adult a safe space to sculpt their emerging identity, understand their place in society, and create opportunities to contribute to the world in a meaningful way.
A mere 4.5 miles south of our Woodstock Campus, our Milwaukie Campus inhabits 12 acres of woodland, open fields, and oak savanna. The property also features a natural pond, and a tributary of the Willamette River. This beautiful campus houses our Middle School, two Toddler classrooms (ages 16-36 months), and one Children’s House classroom (ages 3-6 years).
Nestled in a farm setting, students enjoy fields for athletic play, forests and creeks for exploration, and gardens that bring our community together for communal lunches. Seven beloved goats make it an extra special place to learn and grow.
Sunstone Montessori Middle School provides the stimulation and safety adolescents need to experiment and create their adult identities in a community that truly belongs to them.
At a Glance
Ages 12-15 Years
September – June
Drop-off: 8:30-8:50am
School Day: 9:00am – 4:00pm
What Does Your Adolescent Need?
Dr. Montessori, both a forward-thinking innovator and a dedicated researcher, created an educational approach rooted in close observation of each student and their family culture, while also drawing on current understandings of adolescent development. She crafted a curriculum designed to stay responsive to the issues of the modern world, while honoring the adolescent’s natural need for self-expression, critical thinking, and meaningful contribution to their community. These guiding principles give Montessori education its strength and relevance in today’s dynamic society and continue to shape the success of Montessori middle schools.
What kind of adult do you want your adolescent to become?
How do you expect them to get there?
Our middle school is faithful to Dr. Montessori’s developmental approach to education, which has guided so many adolescents into joyful, self-confident and capable adults. To connect with and engage adolescents, our middle school centers on a generative feedback loop between work and community:
What is Work for the Adolescent?
- Work is an outlet for personal expression, and interpersonal communication.
- Work brings students into “the zone,” and allows them to go deep into projects (i.e. work that is not restricted by disciplines, assessments or common curricula).
- Work challenges the intellect, engages the mathematical mind, and tests organizational skills.
- Work allows students to apply and build on previous academics, showing students that their actions can contribute to society.
What is Community for the Adolescent?
- Community shows how independence and interdependence always rely on each other.
- Community is small, responsive and safe. It is a space where all voices are heard, and all emotions can be felt.
- Community is humbling and empowering. It is a place where adolescents feel secure enough to take risks that will form their adult identity and prove their worth.
- Community supports tolerance and helps build the patience to see other perspectives, while staying true to core values and critical thinking.
Center for Study & Work
Dr. Montessori referred to the place where adolescents conduct work and build community as a Center for Study & Work. It consists of six interconnected components:
Social Organization
Dr. Montessori referred to an adolescent program as “a school of experience in the elements of social life.” Social organization is the activity that runs through all aspects of the Center for Study & Work. It is students exercising their freedom to create work plans, lead projects on and off campus, schedule their time, and consider their needs alongside those of their peers. If the work of the adolescent is to become an adult who contributes to society, social organization is of utmost importance.
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Educational Program
Our educational program centers on what Dr. Montessori called “Plans of Study & Work.” These are projects with real-world consequences, in which students have to problem solve as a group and respond to a need that is connected to our campus or a surrounding community. Additionally, students attend math and language seminars, workshops in activities around “personal expression,” and regular meetings with their advisor. The educational program gives order and ensures that adolescents are engaged in work, all to attain the multifaceted goal of social, emotional, and intellectual maturity.
(Un)prepared Environment
Dr. Montessori was precise in her description of the optimal learning space for adolescents: a natural outdoor environment that can be explored, studied, nurtured, sustained and linked to surrounding communities and environments. Our campus is at once ripe with adult-directed lessons and activities (prepared), as it is a resource that students use to envision their own projects, and see these projects through to completion (unprepared). The prepared environment is not limited by our campus. Students will engage with neighboring businesses, parks, and community centers; they will tap into our extensive network of practitioners and workspaces.
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Residency & Hospitality
Residency & Hospitality includes weekend campouts, weeklong trips, student-organized community dinners, hosting foreign-exchange students, preparing communal lunches, and general care of our environment. These activities are central to building community at our middle school; they are instrumental to the dignity and self-worth of adolescents who need to contribute to their society as adults (in training).
Prepared Adults
All staff are trained to work with adolescents. As adults-in-training, not only do adolescents pay close attention to adult behavior, they benefit greatly in working “side-by-side” adults. Adults also know when to stand back, and allow students to experiment and complete their work as they see fit. Finally, staff could never anticipate the breadth of interest from our student body, nor the depth of curiosity from each student. For this reason, we have a continually expanding network of practitioners and workspaces across diverse industries and activities (science and technology, entertainment, crafts, arts, sports, and beyond).
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Production & Exchange
When students decide what to produce (farm products; crafts) and how to exchange these products (farmers’ markets; special events) they engage in work that is of value to their community, to themselves, and to their physical environment. Producing and exchanging products allows adolescents to learn about interdependence, and that the economic decisions they make contain consequences far beyond their personal bank account. Production & Exchange ensures that student’s work remains socially relevant.
A Day in the Life
With the above components in place, your child’s day will look different from that of a traditional middle school. Here’s what you can expect:
Morning Gathering
We begin with a community-wide meeting to organize the day ahead, including time for individuals to do campus chores which may involve prepping communal lunch, setting up the science lab, or tending to the garden.
Seminars
We then break up into small groups for seminars (which alternate between math, language and scientific concepts). Math seminar centers around large white boards on which students present and discuss how they solved problems that deal with specific mathematical concepts. Language seminar involves experimenting with different forms of writing, group discussion of texts, or working on oratory skills.
Sciences & Humanities
This is when we cover basic academic concepts related to our on-going Study & Work projects. For example, if students are doing a Study & Work project with goats, guides may lead lessons on evolution or the history of animal domestication. We often structure seminar activities around these classroom lessons.
Communal Lunch
Groups of students take turns planning and preparing communal lunch. This includes cooking food, setting the table, and clean-up. We save time for students to relax and read or go outside for physical activities.
Applied Sciences & Humanities
After lunch we work on the applied aspects of our Study & Work projects. This often involves work outside on our campus (perhaps engaging with nature, working on the farm or building a structure), or in our workshop or science lab. Students may also use this time to visit practitioner workspaces off campus.
Personal Expression
Personal expression is a time for students to get creative and use their bodies. This may involve painting/drawing workshops, archery class, woodworking or ultimate frisbee drills. This is often when outside practitioners come to our campus to lead activities.
Schedule a Tour
We look forward to sharing Sunstone with you!