Children’s World Bilingual Montessori was started by Maria de Leon in September, 2001.

Maria was the founder of Children’s World Bilingual Montessori in Ashland, Oregon in 1984. In 2000, Maria sold the school to the teachers to preserve the wonderful Montessori tradition she had built, and moved to Alaska to marry her husband.

Maria bought what we call today “the old house,” and made it into our two level Pre-Kindergarten classroom  and our office. In September 2001, the school opened with 8 teachers, 48 children and 2 programs: Preschool and Toddler.

In 2004, we rented two more classrooms from Jewel Lake Parish just down the road. Here we created a bright and loving space for 15 more toddlers and 5 teachers. In 2008, we rented another two classrooms for 20 more toddlers and preschoolers, growing our school little by little while still preserving the close connections and true Montessori philosophy that our program is centered on.

In 2010, we bought the next door lot and built the “North Building”, part of the long green building you see behind us now. We moved our Preschoolers and Older Toddlers from Jewel Lake Parish, and began to build custom classrooms organized by the Montessori method and filled with Montessori materials.

In 2011, we started our Infant Program in the Calvary Church with two classrooms and 12 Infants. We have now grown to have three classrooms, 20 infants and 7 teachers at this location.

Most recently, our dream of having an indoor gym became a reality in 2015 when we were able to build the “South Building.” This building gave us the opportunity to convert the lower floor of the North Building into our Indoor Gym, 1500 sq. ft. of beautiful space, for our children to play and to expand our classrooms to provide space for not only our Preschool and Older Toddler rooms, but for Younger Toddler as well.

Now in 2017, we have grown into a beautiful school with 6 different programs, a staff of 36 dedicated and loving teachers and administrators, and almost two hundred children here in care with us. We are proud of the variety of programs we are able to offer as it supports children through each unique stage of their development. Having these 6 different classrooms allows us to provide materials, projects, and care specified to age appropriate learning and development. We are glad to be able to give this attention and care to our children while learning in a safe, beautiful and encouraging environment every day.