History
Joliet Montessori School, located in Crest Hill, IL, is a not-for-profit school that has been serving children since 1966. Registered with the Illinois State Board of Education, JMS offers a classic Montessori education. We welcome children ages 3 – 15 of all ethnic, racial, cultural and religious backgrounds.
Montessori education has proven itself a worthy method for more than a century, but it only came to the Joliet area in the mid-1960s, when Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Baca of Joliet organized with several other area families to bring this innovative philosophy to life.
Working together, they funded and established Joliet Montessori School in January of 1966, and in September of that year, 63 children filled two classrooms rented at the Guardian Angel Orphanage at the intersection of Plainfield Road and Theodore Street in Joliet.
Two years later, the new building was completed at Root Street and Weber Road, just a few blocks from the original site. Since 1968, JMS called this location home, adding classrooms, grade levels and facilities to become the premiere Montessori school in Will County.
First JMS Class 1968-1969
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Newspaper clippings of JMS faculty and students from the 1970s.
JMS Today
More than half a century later, JMS continues to bring the gifts of Montessori education to a diverse student body from Joliet and surrounding communities, fulfilling the promise of Maria Montessori and the founding families of JMS, year after year and generation after generation.
Equity & Diversity
Joliet Montessori School is committed to equal opportunity and respect for diversity. The school admits qualified students of any race, color, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, gender, sexual orientation, or religion, and extends to them all the rights, priviledges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. The school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, religion, physical or mental disability, or any other status protected by applicable law in the adminstration of its admissions, scholarships, and loans, and its education and other programs.
Our Mission
Joliet Montessori School inspires students to engage academically and socially every day, developing independence, a love of work, and a respect for all.
JMS is committed to providing Will County families access to the benefits of the Montessori method of education. We stress the importance of independence, initiative, responsibility, compassion, and respect.
We believe that learning is most effective and enjoyable when the student is given an active role in his or her own student career, and that making education fun instills a lifelong love of learning that will help children succeed at every stage of adolescence and adulthood.
As a non-profit, non-parochial, state-registered private school, JMS is dedicated to sharing this love of learning with children without regard to ethnic, cultural, religious or economic background. Teaching our children how to transform curiosity into learning is a global concern, and we educate with a global perspective across every grade level.
A 3rd year elementary student teaches her classmates a volcano lesson.
A primary student sight reads, matching toys with words.
The JMS graduating class of 2014.
