Welcome to:
The Launchpad Montessori Academy
Teaching the whole child, and improving educational opportunities with a model tailored to each student.
About the Initiative
Over the past several years, many families in the local community have expressed a strong desire for increased educational options for their children and grandchildren. After finding sufficient interest within the local community, we have initiated the development of The Launchpad Montessori Academy, a small, independent, Progressive-Montessori Private School that cultivates the love of learning, critical thinking, compassion for others, and a deep commitment to social justice and the environment.
Megan Sierk, founder and Director, is passionate about quality and affordable education options for anyone who seeks it. She holds a Master's Degree in Education from Drury University, where she graduated with honors. As part of her Master's program, Megan wrote position articles such as "No Time to Wonder" and "Differentiation in Education" advocating for high quality and individualized educational experiences for our young citizens.
Megan knows from personal experience the struggles parents face trying to find the best academic fit for their children as she has explored private schools, public schools, virtual schools, hybrid programs, and homeschool programs in her search for the best learning experiences for her own children. What she learned is that there is no "one size fits all" solution, and each child deserves a learning experience that is tailored to him/her as an individual.
A message from Megan:
" Welcome, and thank you for being in this space with me! It is my personal mission that every young individual be allowed to experience his or her work of learning in an organic, developmentally appropriate way that is supportive in the best way possible for them. We are shaping the future of our community, and together we can make a difference! Thank you for taking an interest in this passion of mine. I hope to meet you soon."
About The Launchpad Academy
Our Mission
To create a safe and supportive space where students are given the opportunity to feel inspired and encouraged, in developing to their fullest potential.
Our Vision
We will cultivate exceptional lifelong skills, knowledge, and passion among all learners, creating a strong foundation for their future.
Our Model of Education
What is a Progressive-Montessori Education?
Attending to the whole child: Progressive educators are concerned with helping children become good people, not just good learners.
Community: Learning isn’t something that happens to individual children-separate selves at separate desks. Children learn with and from one another in a caring community, and that’s true of moral as well as academic learning.
Collaboration: Progressive schools are characterized by what we like to call a “working with” rather than a “doing to” model.
Intrinsic motivation: Progressive educators are likely to ask “what’s the effect on students’ interest in learning, their desire to continue reading, thinking, and questioning?”
Active Learning: In progressive schools, students play a vital role in helping to design the curriculum, formulate the questions, seek out (and create) answers, think through possibilities, and evaluate how successful they and their teachers have been.
Deep Understanding: Progressive education tends to be organized around problems, projects and questions- rather than around lists of facts, skills, and separate disciplines. The teaching is interdisciplinary…to invite them to think deeply about issues that matter and help them understand ideas from the inside out.
Taking Kids Seriously: Progressive educators take their cue from the children- and are particularly attentive to differences among them. (Taken from https://www.alfiekohn.org/ ).