The diocese’s only Catholic Montessori school for adolescents opened this fall in Mandan as part of the Church of St. Joseph. The School of the Holy Family welcomed 16 students in 7th, 8th and 9th grades.
The pastor at St. Joseph, Fr. Josh Waltz, heard God’s call in helping to create the school. Believing that the Montessori model is the best way to educate a child, the pastors at the Mandan parishes joined in conversations with school administrators at St. Joseph’s and Christ the King. Christ the King School transitioned to the Montessori education model five years ago with St. Joseph’s School following the same path last year.
“There was a need for a Catholic Montessori middle school that we saw grow out of the success of the Christ the King school,” Fr. Josh explained. “For years, we have tried to figure out why students from Christ the King and St. Joe’s rarely go on to Catholic middle and high school in Bismarck. We have tried a lot of different strategies.” The decision was made to extend the Mandan Catholic School community and create the middle school locally as an option.
That creation of community generates a familial connection. “The small class size really makes for the feeling of a family,” Fr. Waltz added. “They all study and learn together. On top of this, many of the learning activities are group based and encourage teamwork and project building. With this model, we hope to instill in our students a love for learning. We don’t want to just impose topics on them and have them memorize answers to get a certain grade. We want them to do their own research and work to come to an appreciation for learning.”
The school’s focus is building up community explained the school’s directress, Dr. Christine Fleischacker. “We spent the first few weeks getting to know each other in a positive atmosphere. The social aspect is as important as the academic at this age.”
The Montessori method offers a special blend of social situations within the community that builds upon the academic lessons.
The classroom experience begins each day with prayer and a morning meeting. The group gathers as a community with the students taking turns leading. It’s here that the students can address any issues they are having or resolve conflicts in an open dialogue. “It’s at that morning meeting where they test out their problem-solving skills,” Dr. Fleischacker said. “We foster an atmosphere where things can be discussed face to face and we find a solution together.”
From there, the students are free to work on their assignments at a pace that fits their needs. They have time to work and choose what room in which they want to work. It’s the freedom of movement and choice that the Montessori model is known for at all ages.
There are three main activities throughout the year that call upon each students’ talents. They learn how to become independent learners while contributing in a significant way to the broader community.
One project involves working on a farm. Connecting with the grandparents of a school family who graciously offered the use of their hobby farm about 15 minutes outside of Bismarck/Mandan, the students visited the farm each Friday afternoon this fall. They gained hands-on experience working with harvest, cleaning chicken coops, feeding and caring for livestock and various other jobs. It’s a win-win for everyone—a learning experience for the students and the farm owners welcome the extra help.
“We get them outside and connecting back to nature,” Dr. Fleischacker said. “Some have never been on a farm. They’ve had their eyes opened to many aspects of the farm already in a few short weeks.”
The students take the opportunity to learn while solving problems as a community. One example was finding out why raspberry plants were dying for unexplained reasons. The students were tasked with evaluating the water situation, testing the soil and trying to trace what might have been causing the plants to die. They incorporated the science of it and wrote reports on their findings, Dr. Fleischacker explained.
One of their assignments involved a scenario of thinking of the farm as a deserted island where they discerned how to rely on the livestock, plants, water supply and other resources to survive. Assignments like this draw out the hands-on approach to problem-solving and critical-thinking skills that are prohibitive in the classroom.
Another major project throughout the year is building and maintaining a business. It’s about teaching financial literacy through experience, according to Dr. Fleischacker. “They come up with the idea for the business and each have a job that depends on the talent of the student. One might do the accounting, one might design the flyers for the business, one might schedule workers. They come together as a community to start and run the business.”
The class has welcomed local business owners as guest speakers to share their tips and insight. The class has also welcomed a guest from the North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum to help them with their third major project of the year—creating and running a museum.
The students decide what they want to collect and display to the public. “Adolescents are capable of all of this, they are just not typically asked to think it through and execute,” Dr. Fleischacker shared.
The students are also working on various in-house projects that include running the school library. “We help them get outside their own lives and see the needs of the community and get to work solving those needs,” Dr. Fleischacker said. “There’s not a lot of memorization. They learn all the same subjects as any student their age, in a different way and we make sure of it. It’s just learned here together in collaboration. That’s what sets our program apart.”
To parents considering the School of the Holy Family, Fr. Waltz said it’s sometimes difficult to explain the methodology without giving a tour of the school, the various learning environments, not to mention all the students’ projects. His simple invitation for anyone interested, “Come and see!”