Azalea Montessori is a member of the Wildflower Network of schools. Wildflower is an ecosystem of decentralized Montessori micro-schools that support children, teachers, and parents. Wildflower aspires to give all children and families the opportunity to choose high quality, beautiful learning environments as they follow life’s unfolding journey.
At Azalea Montessori School, we believe that all children are naturally eager and inquisitive learners that thrive in a supportive and thoughtfully prepared environment. Through an intentionally small school, we invite strong relationships between teacher-leaders, parents and families, and community partners.
– Our approach is child-centered and values the development of the whole child-social, physical, cognitive and socio-emotional.
– Our environment is beautifully and carefully prepared with specialized Montessori materials in the areas of practical life, sensorial, language, math and art. Working with these sensory-motor materials develop children’s cognitive skills through direct experience: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, and movement.
– Children are given the freedom of movement and the freedom to choose work. An uninterrupted work time allows the child to develop concentration.
– Children work independently while the teacher introduces new materials and lessons through individual and small group presentations.
– A focus on Grace and Courtesy creates a peaceful and caring community.
We are conveniently located near I71 and I75 in the city of Norwood, in the heart of the Greater Cincinnati metropolitan area.
Our space is currently under construction as we work to create a beautiful Montessori classroom for our families. Connect with us on Facebook and we will keep you updated on the progress!
Azalea Montessori School
4502 Carter Ave
Norwood, OH 45212
Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Arrival time: 8:15 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Dismissal time: 3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
We offer a nature-based after school (extended day) program: 3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Monday – Friday.
We would love to talk with you!
We can be reached via email:
info@azaleamontessori.org
Please visit our Facebook page to keep updated on what is happening with Azalea Montessori!
Our school year runs from September 3, 2019 to June 5, 2020.
Winter Break is December 21, 2019 – January 3, 2020 and Spring Break is March 30, 2020 – April 3, 2020.
Additional holidays observed are Thanksgiving Day, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents’ Day, and Memorial Day.
We have parent teacher conferences in October and May to collaborate on your child’s development.
Jeana Olszewski
Founding Teacher Leader
Jeana Olszewski began her Montessori career teaching in a 3-6 classroom in Dayton Public Schools. After taking some time off to be with her four children, she returned to Montessori as a lower elementary teacher at The Good Shepherd Catholic Montessori School in Cincinnati. She spent nine years there, and three years ago moved into a Montessori curriculum specialist role for a small group of schools north of Cincinnati. She is AMS credentialed early childhood and lower elementary, state certified kindergarten-grade three, and holds a Master’s Degree in education. She is passionate about Montessori education and is thrilled to be a part of the first Wildflower school in Ohio. She is grateful for the opportunity to serve the families in Norwood and Cincinnati and is looking forward to the journey ahead!
Mindie Bell
Founding Teacher Leader
Mindie is a passionate and committed Montessori guide. She began her career as a traditional preschool teacher but was introduced to the Montessori method in 2011 and fell in love with the philosophy. She holds a B.A degree in English Literature from Wright State University and received her AMS Early Childhood Montessori Credential from the Columbus Montessori Education Center in Columbus, Ohio. Outside of education, Mindie enjoys hiking and camping with her family and dog, creating permaculture gardens, and learning about sustainable practices that are applied to her home and work. She is very excited to be founding the first Wildflower School in Ohio with her business partner Jeana.
Azalea is currently accepting applications for the 2019-2020 school year. In order to get to know you and your family, we are hosting small (2-3 families) coffee chat information sessions twice a month. We would love to meet you and talk about Montessori, Wildflower and Azalea!
We are meeting with this month at Azalea (construction is almost complete!) The address is 4502 Carter Ave, Norwood 45212.
We are meeting on Monday, July 8th from 4:30-6:00 pm and on Sunday, July 14th from 1:00-2:30 pm. Time slots are half an hour each.
Please click here to sign up for a coffee chat:
Parent Information Sessions
1. Attend a Parent Information Session to learn more about Azalea Montessori and its affiliation with the Wildflower Schools Network.
2. Please fill out an application. Please click here for our online application. Please contact an Azalea teacher-leader to request a paper copy.
3. Once your application is received, a Teacher Leader will be in contact with you to set up a time to meet (if you have not attended a previous coffee chat session) and a time to visit the school when renovations are complete.
4. After this meeting, you will continue with the enrollment process. A $50 registration/supply fee is required upon receipt of all enrollment materials.
Our 2019-2020 full day tuition rate is $7,900 which is consistent with other private Montessori schools in the area. Other Montessori school’s tuition rates range from $6,849 to $12,450 for both full day preschool and kindergarten. We do offer full day part time options. If you are interested, please contact us for rates and availability. After care tuition is $75/week for full time 3:00 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. The tuition rate for Azalea is intended to be an “all inclusive” rate and will not add lots of extra fees or additional donations on top of the tuition rate. Financial transparency is important to us, so please know that whatever the tuition rate, it will be the true cost of educating your child.
At Azalea Montessori School we believe educational opportunities should be available to families in our community regardless of financial means. Our goal is to create sustainable pathways that provide at least 30 percent or more of our school population with tuition assistance based on financial need.
We will participate in the Publicly Funded Child Care program offered through Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. Information about the program and eligibility requirements can be found here: ODJFS Child Care information
We will accept the Ed Choice Scholarships provided by the Ohio Department of Education. We will become a provider for the 2020-21 school year. More information on the program and eligibility requirements can be found here: ED Choice Scholarship Eligibility
Azalea Montessori School admits students of any race, color, gender, nationality, and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities made available to students at the school. The school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, nationality or ethnic origin in administration of the educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship programs, and other school-administered programs.
Azalea Montessori is the first Wildflower School in Ohio, and our aim is to be an experiment in a new learning environment. Our network is supported by a foundation that works to build capacity, systems, tools and research to grow and strengthen the network. It is our hope that we will be the start of additional Wildflower schools opening in the Cincinnati area.
Wildflower is an ecosystem of decentralized Montessori micro-schools that support children, teachers, and parents. Our schools aspire to give all children and families the opportunity to choose high quality, beautiful learning environments as they follow life’s unfolding journey.
Wildflower Montessori began as the labor of love of our founder, Sep Kamvar. Unable to find a school which combined Montessori education, an inclusive family environment, and a small, responsive school size, Sep was inspired to create his own with veteran Montessori teachers in Cambridge, Mass. In 2016 Sep worked establish the Wildflower Foundation, an independent nonprofit organization that builds platforms to support the growth and development of Wildflower Schools. Our schools are small and teacher-led, with deep parent engagement.
Learn more about our story.
Blurring the boundaries between home-schooling and institutional schooling, between scientists and teachers, between schools and the neighborhoods around them. At the core of Wildflower are 9 principles that define the approach.
After the first Wildflower school was created in January of 2014, there was intense interest in the school and the approach. This interest led us to open-source the model and help other family groups and teacher-leaders to create new Wildflower schools. Each teacher-leader at each Wildflower school serves on the board of at least one other Wildflower school, creating a community of schools that are linked by both a shared philosophy and a network of shared relationships.
Azalea Montessori is a 501(c)(3) non-profit school. We provide high-quality early childhood Montessori education for children 3-6 years old. Azalea believes educational opportunities should be available to families in our community regardless of financial means. We create sustainable pathways that provide at least 33 percent or more of our school population with tuition assistance based on financial need.
Currently, Azalea has financial needs to close our one-time startup gap and to provide partial scholarships to low-income families in the community. A generous local donor has provided Azalea with a matching grant challenge and will match 50 cents on the dollar of any new gift up to $50,000! This is an amazing opportunity and if you are able to contribute, the choice for which campaign will appear after you select the donor button.. All donations are tax-deductible. We appreciate any support that you can offer our school community!
Because we see our supporters as members of the Azalea Family, we are creating an “Azalea Family Tree” to showcase the generosity of those who contribute their support. A donation of $250 or more includes your name engraved on a leaf of the tree. The Azalea Family Tree will be a permanent art fixture installed at the school and will be a visual representation of generous individuals like you. (Please indicate name you would like on the leaf in the “notes” section of payment process).
