Our Mission
To provide an educational environment where children engage their unique curiosities, define their interests, and develop skills that lead to lifelong learning. With individualized instruction and observation, we uphold the values of collaboration, independence, and creativity.
Our Vision
To create an authentic Montessori learning community that enriches and nurtures the whole child. With an appreciation for cultural and socio-economic diversity coupled with customized instruction and a respect for each child’s innate gifts, we develop global citizens who strive for academic excellence.
Who We Are
NIA House was founded on the principle that children must possess a positive attitude toward education in order for meaningful learning to occur. This revelation was rooted in an observation of high school age children who were not excited about learning due to their defeated attitude toward the subject matter. As a result, the observers, who happened to be parents and high school educators, opened NIA House in 2009 to serve the pre-school aged children. The community response was so great that the organizers restricted the school to meet the demand resulting in the information of NIA House Montessori School.
NIA House Montessori School is an independent Montessori school in Nashville, TN. NIA House was founded in 2013 by a group of educators and parents who have passion for serving children age 2 to 10 years.
NIA House welcomes all families who demonstrate a philosophical consistency with the Montessori Method, a commitment to embrace and celebrate diversity, and are dedicated to an ongoing collaboration between the child, the family, and NIA House.
With regard to the child…
"…education should correspond to them, so that instead of dividing the schools into nursery, primary, secondary and university, we should divide education in planes and each of these should correspond to the phase the developing individuality goes through.”
— Dr. Maria Montessori
Our Philosophy
What is Montessori Education?
Montessori is a method of education based on self-directed activity and hands-on learning. In the Montessori classroom, children are encouraged to participate in selecting their lessons while teachers present age appropriate lessons to guide the child in this selection process. The lessons in the Montessori environment are presented to the individual child or in small groups. Children learn to collaborate with each other to explore, discover, and analyze the world.
The Montessori classroom environment is beautifully designed to entice the child and to meet the needs of the specific age range. Every Montessori learning material in the classroom is designed to support an aspect of child development. Marrying the child’s natural interests with readily available activities, provide the space for the child to develop to their greatest potential.
In the Montessori environment children indirectly develop:
functional independence, task persistence, and self-regulation
respect for themselves, others, and the environment
an understanding of safe and natural consequences
sensory perception and the development of literacy and mathematical understanding
imaginative exploration leading to confident and creative self-expression.