Should Christians Use Montessori? What a Christian Parents Should Know

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You're deciding between a Montessori preschool and a Christian one, and you want to know whether Montessori's approach actually fits a biblical view of how children learn. It's a surprisingly heated question. Educational choice tends to be a sacred cow, especially in Christian circles, and people get very passionate about their choices. But that's exactly why it's worth slowing down to think biblically about it, the same way we'd want to think biblically about every other part of parenting.

This evaluation comes out of a real question a parent sent in: "I'm considering enrolling my four-year-old in a Montessori preschool. I was curious about how different this would be compared to a Christian-based preschool." Below, I walk through pure Montessori philosophy point by point and hold each part up to Scripture, so you can see where it aligns with how God designed children and where it doesn't.

Pure Montessori vs. the school down the street

One thing I want to say upfront: my evaluation in this podcast is going to be an evaluation of Montessori philosophy in its pure form. Not every school labeled a Montessori school is accredited by the American Montessori Society. If a school is accredited, that means it adheres to pure Montessori philosophy. The Montessori school in your neighborhood might not be accredited, and it might only hold to bits and pieces of the philosophy. So I would encourage you, if you are considering enrolling your child in a Montessori school, to ask questions specifically of that school.

To evaluate Montessori philosophy from a biblical perspective, I've pulled up an article from the American Montessori Society, their "fast facts" page on what Montessori is. I'm going to read it to give us a general understanding of the philosophy in its pure form, and then we're going to break each section down and evaluate it through a biblical lens.

So, from the American Montessori Society's fast facts page. What is Montessori? Montessori education is an approach to learning developed by an Italian physician and educator, Dr. Maria Montessori, more than a century ago, and it is now changing the face of education worldwide.

Then it explains key underpinnings. The first: honors the human spirit and the development of the whole child, physical, social, emotional, and cognitive. Next: encompasses a view of the child as one who is naturally eager for knowledge. Third: is based on ideals of equity, inclusion, and social justice. Fourth: focuses on care of self, others, and the environment.

The next section lists additional distinctive features. First, classes are multi-age, typically with a three-year age span, and individual students follow their own interests while also learning from others. Time is given to enable students to explore and internalize concepts and ideas at their own pace while working toward individualized learning goals. Teachers serve as guides and mentors, systematically observing and assessing students' progress and providing support and tools so students may take ownership of their own learning and growth. And learning takes place across a variety of modalities: visual, auditory, tactile, and so on.

The final portion says: given the freedom and support to question, probe deeply, and make connections, Montessori students grow up to be critical thinkers and confident, enthusiastic, self-directed learners, and citizens accountable to themselves, their community, and the world.

Okay. I just read for you what Montessori philosophy is in its pure form, according to the American Montessori Society. Now I'm going to take each section and evaluate it biblically: according to the Christian worldview, what parts of this are good, and are any parts bad or untrue?

Underpinning 1: honoring the whole child

The first underpinning: honors the human spirit and the development of the whole child, physical, social, emotional, and cognitive. When we look at this through a biblical lens, we know from Scripture that God has designed us as body and soul, with physical, relational, emotional, and rational faculties. So this first point aligns with how God has designed us. When we think about education, we do want holistic education for our children, education that includes their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive capabilities.

Underpinning 2: the naturally curious child

The next point: encompasses a view of the child as one who is naturally eager for knowledge. Let's look at this from a biblical perspective.

We know from the first chapter of Genesis that God has designed us in His image. Our desire to learn about our environment and to be involved in it stems from our image-bearing capabilities and from the job God has given us to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it. We see this every day with our children. Children do have somewhat of a natural curiosity, and it's because they bear God's image. So part of this Montessori philosophy does stem from being made as God's image bearers.

However, we also know from experience that there are times when our children are resistant to learning, when they're not naturally curious, when they don't want to put in the hard work to actually learn something new. The Montessori philosophy does acknowledge this. I did a little more research on the website to find this out. According to Maria Montessori, the woman who invented this philosophy, the reason children lose interest in learning or are resistant to it is that they have not been given freedom of choice in their learning, that they've just been told what they have to learn.

According to the Christian worldview, part of this is true, because God has given us as humans great freedom within a specific moral framework. Think about the way God set up the garden and what He tasked Adam to do. God told Adam he could eat from every tree in the garden except one. There were probably hundreds, if not thousands, of types of trees in the garden. Think about the options Adam and Eve had for dinner every night. They could have gone for weeks and months without ever repeating a meal, or they could have chosen one tree and eaten from it every single day. God has given us great freedom within a specific moral framework. So there is biblical truth to Maria Montessori's point: sometimes, when we're always forcing children and telling them exactly what they have to learn, it might stifle their curiosity, because we don't give them the same freedom of choice within a moral framework that God has given us.

However, according to the Christian worldview, there is another reason children choose not to engage in learning or put in the hard work, a reason Maria Montessori did not identify or adhere to. According to the biblical worldview, it's because we are fallen. Because we are sinful by nature, we fall easily into laziness. There is a laziness inside us where we don't want to put in the hard work it takes to do things that are true, good, and beautiful.

According to the Montessori philosophy, children are naturally eager for knowledge, and there's nothing innate within them that stops this pursuit. So any hindrance to a child's learning must be an external force, something happening to the child, whether that's limiting their freedom or some other external force. But the biblical worldview teaches that there are both internal and external forces that hinder us from this natural, God-given curiosity.

As we continue this evaluation, you're going to see that this misunderstanding of human nature is one of the main ways the Montessori method doesn't live up to reality. This is going to be a repeated theme: a misunderstanding of the nature of what it means to be human.

Underpinning 3: equity, inclusion, and social justice

The next item, straight from the Montessori Society, says Montessori is based on ideals of equity, inclusion, and social justice. We could have a whole hour-long podcast on these three terms, but we won't, because I work hard to keep this podcast twenty minutes or under. So, quickly.

The Bible is not about equity. Equity means equality of outcome. In Scripture, we never see equality of outcome. We see God gifting people differently, requiring equality of treatment, that people are treated justly as image-bearers of God. God gives people the freedom to use the varying gifts He has given them and to have different outcomes. So equity, equality of outcome, is not a biblical concept. Equality of image-bearing, of value and worth, that is deeply biblical.

Next, inclusion. The Bible is about inclusion, about welcoming others, but within certain God-given limits. For example, with the gospel, all are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. All are invited to the banquet. But the requirement is turning from your sin, repenting, and trusting in Christ. It's not just an open door where anybody can come no matter what they do. Yes, anybody can come, but turning from your sin and trusting in Christ is a requirement. So you would need to ask the school whether they have a policy of inclusion and what that means.

Finally, social justice. Those of you familiar with Scripture know the Bible is about justice, that God is a God of justice. Praise God, He's also a God of mercy, because if He were only just, we would all be headed straight for hell. But God has not treated us according to our sins. He has given us mercy through Christ. So the Bible is about justice and mercy, and it's about justice for us, the right treatment of others. Now, in our society, social justice is often something completely different from biblical justice. It's often not about true justice but about equity, equality of outcome, regardless of the effort someone puts in. So again, you would need to ask your individual Montessori school what they mean by social justice.

Underpinning 4: care of self, others, and the environment

The next factor says Montessori also focuses on care of self, others, and the environment. You would need to ask the school what they mean by this, because on the surface the Bible does promote each of these things. But we don't know what they mean deeper in the Montessori philosophy, or in the particular school you're considering.

Biblically, we are called to care for ourselves by living in a way that aligns with God's design. In our society, self-care looks like carving out "me time" and building up my self-esteem. That's not what the Bible is about. The Bible is about living according to God's design: Are we eating well? Are we getting enough sleep? Are we treating our families with love, care, and concern? Are we treating others with love, care, and concern? The Bible also tells us to care for others, to love others as we love ourselves. And we are to care for creation by stewarding it well, back to that Genesis 1 command to fill the earth and subdue it. So again, to understand what this looks like in the Montessori philosophy, you would have to ask your individual school.

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Distinctive feature: multi-age classrooms

Now the additional distinctive features. The first: classes are multi-age, typically with a three-year age span. We know the Bible promotes unity amidst diversity, that God created us to be diverse in our giftings, talents, ethnicities, families of origin, strengths, and weaknesses, in so many ways. Having multiple ages in one classroom can be a really healthy thing for all the kids. I actually think this is one of Montessori's greatest strengths, that it doesn't just divide children up by age but keeps them together across a wide age range. This is something I think can be distinctly biblical, and it is an advantage over the traditional educational model.

Distinctive feature: following your own interests

The next distinctive: individual students follow their own interests while also learning from others.

You're going to want to ask your specific Montessori school what is meant by this. What does it mean by students following their own interests? If you have a child who is very drawn to literature, does this mean they can be in school for eight hours doing nothing but reading? That might be really fun for the child, but does it mean they never have to do mathematics or science? If you have a child drawn to math, does it mean they do math all day because that's what they enjoy, and never focus on phonemic awareness, phonics, or learning to decode words?

Learning according to how God designed us is great. There's that verse in Proverbs: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." What it really means is train up the child in the child's way. See how God has designed this child and train them up in that. Find what your child is good at and really foster it.

So we want to know what is meant by this in the particular school. If your child's strengths are being leaned into, that's great. But are they only engaging in what they like all day long? This is an issue, because it promotes selfishness. It promotes the idea that life is just about doing whatever you want and whatever interests you. It also assumes the child knows what is best for himself or herself, and this isn't biblical. Training a child according to their strengths is wise and biblical. However, assuming a child knows what is best for themselves is not. Some children are not naturally good at math and will want to avoid it. If they just get to avoid math all the time, that's not healthy for their growth and development. Similarly, if they're not good with language, we don't want them avoiding it all the time.

When I was teaching, I taught for a decade in a Christian school just outside of Chicago, a traditional-model school. I loved all my students. But whenever I got a list of transfer students, and some were transferring in from the Montessori school in our town, I would internally groan. These students were lovely, and I'm so grateful the Lord placed them in my class. But it was so hard, because I knew there were going to be huge gaps in their learning. A mom would come in and say, "Oh, last year at the Montessori school my child was doing long division in second grade." What she meant was that the child could divide up blocks evenly. But if you're doing long division, whether in a third-grade classroom or one day in an engineering job, you can't take out thousands of blocks. You need to be able to do this in your mind or on pencil and paper. So whenever I got students transferring in from the Montessori school, it was always such a hard transition, because there were huge gaps in those kids' understanding based on what they had been allowed to do all day. Maybe not every Montessori school is like that, but at the one in our town, kids were allowed to just engage with whatever they wanted all day long. There were certain things they'd simply choose never to engage with, and they were far behind in those areas.

Distinctive feature: learning at your own pace

The next distinctive: time is given to enable students to explore and internalize concepts and ideas at their own pace while working toward individualized learning goals. Again, find out more about what is meant by this. Learning according to how God designed us is great, but are students just engaging in self-focused activities all day long? This again assumes the child knows what is best for himself or herself, and this is not biblical. Because of how God designed us, children are meant to be guided, primarily by their parents, but also by the other adults in their lives who love them and are in roles of authority over them. They need to be directly guided, led, corrected, and directed. Add our sinful, fallen nature into that, and even more direction and correction is needed. So this is again something I see as hugely problematic about the Montessori philosophy.

Distinctive feature: the teacher as guide

The next distinctive: teachers serve as guides and mentors, systematically observing and assessing students' progress and providing support and tools so they may take ownership of their own learning and growth. We do want our children to take ownership of their education. We don't just want to stuff them full of information; we want to train them to become lifelong learners. But it's important to find out what is meant by the teacher serving as a guide and mentor. Do they ever offer correction, or do they just consistently affirm the child and gently steer them?

Our children biblically need loving correction. We are all born innately believing we know what is best. This is just part of our fallen nature, thinking our way is best and right. An environment that doesn't offer direct and loving correction is not biblical, because it just lets children stay stuck in this natural belief that they know what's best, when they truly don't. So this is something you'll have to ask more questions about.

Distinctive feature: multiple learning modalities

The final distinctive: learning takes place across a variety of modalities, visual, auditory, tactile, and so on. It's great to learn according to how God has designed us, but you're going to want to lean in and ask questions. Does this mean that if my child really loves tactile blocks in math, they're never taught how to compute on pencil and paper? Because if they're not, that is an issue. Again, if you're doing higher levels of mathematics, you can't say, "Oh, I need a million blocks over here." You can't do that. So yes, we want to lean into our child's strengths and learning styles, but we want to make sure they're actually being directed in ways that will help them as they grow.

Summary: strengths and biblical concerns

As we wrap up, here's a summary. The components of the Montessori philosophy that can be beneficial and align with the Christian worldview are: leaning into God-given curiosity, learning with children of multiple ages, setting individualized goals, and having greater independence. These are real strengths that align with the Christian worldview.

However, some big components that do not align with the Christian worldview: the assumption that the child has innately within themselves all they will need to learn well. We don't want to underestimate our children or think they need one hundred percent guidance, that's not biblical either. We want increased independence. But our children, like us, need guidance, and they are fallen. So they need direct correction and instruction in the way they should go.

A caveat for those listening who may already have their children enrolled in a Montessori school: you may not have had the same experience I just outlined. You may not have seen the same negatives, because again, not every Montessori school is accredited. What I've been evaluating is Montessori philosophy in its pure form, which may differ from what's presented at your school. Same to the questioner: what I've presented may differ from what's actually in the Montessori preschool you're considering. These are just questions you'll have to go in and ask. Hopefully I've given you some good talking points to go in and ask about how this philosophy plays out in that particular school.

On a personal note: I've had multiple friends, when their children reached school age, ask my thoughts on Montessori. To be completely frank, each time I have steered them away from Montessori schools. I think that with Montessori philosophy in its pure form, while there are some pluses, the negatives, in not understanding the true characteristics of human nature, really make it something that is not generally beneficial for children. Again, your Montessori school may look different. For this questioner, for preschool, Montessori might be a fine philosophy for one year before your child is actually in kindergarten or upper grade levels. However, for any years beyond preschool, I don't recommend Montessori schools.

Questions to ask before you enroll

Since so much depends on the specific school rather than the label, here are the questions to take with you when you visit or interview a Montessori program:

1. Is the school accredited by the American Montessori Society, or does it hold to only parts of the philosophy? This changes almost everything below.
2. When children "follow their own interests," can a child avoid whole subjects (math, phonics) all day, or are core skills still required?
3. Does the teacher offer direct, loving correction, or does the approach lean toward affirming and gently steering only?
4. Are children ever taught to work beyond manipulatives, for example computing on pencil and paper, not just with blocks?
5. What does the school mean by equity, inclusion, and social justice? Ask for specifics, since these terms often carry meanings that differ from biblical justice.
6. How does the school define care of self, others, and the environment in practice?

If a school's answers show real structure, guidance, and correction alongside the genuine Montessori strengths, that's a good sign. If the answers assume the child already knows what's best and needs little direction, that's where the philosophy departs from a biblical understanding of children.

Want to think through every area of parenting this way? Our Parenting Series walks families through discipleship in each part of a child's life, teaching you how to evaluate ideas like these through a biblical worldview. You can find it in our shop, with individual family, small group, and full-church licenses available. And to make sure you never miss a new episode, you can sign up for our newsletter below.