Montessori School of Holmes Run

Our son is now 4 and has been at MSHR’s «Children’s House» since he was 2 ½. We cannot say enough good things about the wonderful, nurturing environment and Montessori approach that is offered at MSHR. The teachers are incredibly skilled and kind. Each child gets daily one on one attention. When we’ve had the chance to observe in our son’s class, my husband and I are always impressed by the way a group of 2 – 5 year olds can be so calm, focused, and deeply engaged in meaningful work (and loving every minute of it)! Our son has made incredible leaps and bounds in becoming a confident, independent child who loves to learn and is doing things we never expected such a young child to do. We feel so blessed that we found such a fantastic school!

I am updating my last review that I wrote in 2010. For some reason that review has been blocked as well as the review from another parent Deirdre. Unilocal sees our reviews as false, but keeps up a review with inappropriate language that misrepresents himself and the school. MSHR has always done a wonderful job keeping my kids safe and protected.
My children have been attending MSHR since 2007. My youngest child started started at Children’s House, the preschool campus of MSHR. It was such a huge improvement from his last preschool, it made me rethink the experience my older son was having in the Falls Church City Public school system. I decided to pull my older son from public school and start him at MSHR for first grade. It was one of the best decisions I have made for my children. I never intended to keep my children in private school as we live in a very good school district, but if you read my last review, you will see I found Montessori to be a very good fit for our family.
Last year my oldest son graduated from the Middle School program. I had not planned on keeping him at MSHR for Middle School, as I thought it was too small and would limit his peer group. As he approached the difficult middle school (teen) years, I discovered that limiting his peer group was a advantage and helped him to mature. He had plenty of friends both in and out of school, but he was able to avoid some of the peer pressure and bullying that comes from a larger less controlled environment. He was able to get individual attention from his teacher, but at the same time was allowed to be independent. He is now a Freshman at Paul VI High School and is doing very well. His younger brother will graduate from MSHR middle school this year and join him at PVI. I am very proud of both my boys and I feel that MSHR has done a great job preparing them for the bigger world and the rest of their academic career.

Overall, we are very pleased with this school and would highly recommend it, especially for small kids through kindergarten. My son previously went to a Bright Horizons facility (one of Mitt Romney’s noted «success» stories) at my Agency. It was ok for infant through 2 years old, but most of the caregivers (I wouldn’t call them teachers) were more or less advanced baby sitters. The teachers at MSHR are clearly professionals.
In addition to the professionalism of the teachers, the most striking difference is the lack of drama and noise in the classroom. The children are very well behaved.
One of the previous reviewers mentioned an incident with a new male teacher. I can’t speak to precisely what did or did not transpire. However, if it is accurate, that would be an extreme exception and not the rule. Based upon our experience with the staff, I think it’s pretty clear this particular gentleman probably lost his temper and crossed a line with his statements. I think he is trying to rationalize the reason for why his son is no longer allowed to attend. It’s likely his own fault. I think he is subconsiously angry with himself, but he does not want to accept responsibility for his own actions and is displacing his anger.
The one area that could use a small amount of improvement is the administrative side. The physical infrastructure of the children’s house is a bit old, which may turn off silver spoon types. Definitely not a deal breaker though. These two reasons are why my wife and I give them 4 instead of 5 stars.

MSHR is a FANTASTIC school where the teachers and staff respect and nuture every child. We have been associated with the school, both the Children’s House and Upper School, for more than 4 years now, and you really cannot find a more nuturing environment for your children. The teachers and staff get to know the children as individuals, and encourage them to be their best. I am amazed every day at the things my children are doing (long division in the 2^nd grade!). I really cannot say enough great things about this school and the time and attention that they have given to each of our children. We sent our older child to a summer program at a fancy, expensive school in the area this past summer, and while the facilities and staff were very nice, my son every day told me how much he just wanted to go back to his school. That pretty much says it all. If you want a school that your child will want to go to everyday, and will be both cared for and challenged, MSHR is the place.

I have been associated with this school for 25 years. My cousins went there and as a result I sent all 3 of my kids. My oldest is 14 and went there for 12 years, my middle one for 9 for 8 years and last my 7 year old for 7 until today. That is a $ 300K plus investment in tuition alone not including the hours my wife spent with PTA and raising $$ to keep the school from closing over the past 4 years.
Now as to what happened. The kids were running around yesterday not listening to a male teacher who is new to the school. After one of the kids fall he tells my son to sit down and proceeds to berate him, by telling him look at me when I talk to you and «that only cowards don’t look people in the eye». I went to the school mad wanting to discuss withhis teacher, the school adminstartor (Christy Clake Choi) what a joke and the teacher that made the comments. I was told I need an appointment and that it was not possible to have this conversation. Needless to say it went down hill, I was furious and used profanity talking about the teacher. Iraised my voice so what.
5 hours late we get an email from Chrsity signed by her attorney. fucking really??? saying I was not permitted on school grounds and that our contratct was terminated becasue I threatend physical harm to the teacher who didn’t have the courage to face me but called my son a coward. Interesting… my 7 year old was kicked out of school, with all his stuff without them explaining anything to him or giving us an opportunity not to further torture him o make him feel as if it was his fault. As my wife picked him up a teacher not even his teacher or an administrator walked him out and said here you go. Here is your kid and his stuff thanks now leave.
This was the second incident that this male teacher made a 7 year old feel bad about himself, the school and the envionment. We informed his teacher about the first incident and have the emails that show her confiming. I wouldnot recommend this school, under this adminisration and I regret deeply that I didn’t let it shut down and that I bailed out.