There are Montessori Schools all over the United States. They have been around for many, many years. Mary Montessori started them years ago. Her idea was that children's work is called play. She did believe that children learned through play. She also believed that they needed to reach certain milestones in their play. Children in a Montessori school are required to reach developmental milestones, before they can move on to another activity. Often in Montessori schools, you will see Montessori materials. They are actually materials that you see just at a Montessori school. They are academic materials, lettering and numbers. They are very specific to a Montessori school. Children in a Montessori school are also taught to be very independent. They are taught very early on to clean up after themselves, to put things away, to respect their environment. There is a lot of talk about the environment and how we need to respect the environment and respect others. It is an academic setting, but it has some developmental underpinnings.