About Montessori House
 Sherie
Richardson established Montessori House, Inc. in 1991 as a
private preschool. It began about one year after the death
of Sherie's husband, Dr. Gunnar Richardson, a pediatric dentist.
Sherie,along with the help of family and many good friends,
began the school so that she could continue to stay home with
her own children (4 daughters) and still have an income.
Sherie received
her AMI Montessori Training from Nimal Vaz in 1991 and was
privileged to teach with Debbie Gardner during the first year
and a half. Debbie passed away April 10, 1993.
During the fifth
year of operation of Montessori House as a private preschool,
Dave and Star Burba were referred to the school by Jim and
Jamie Utic who had been bringing their children to the school.
Dave and Star enrolled their daughter, Madison, in the Montessori
House program and continued to bring her and then her brother,
Dylan, until the present time.
In November, 1999,
Sherie was going through some very difficult struggles financially
and had made it a matter of serious fasting and prayer to
determine if she should abandon Montessori House and seek
employment elsewhere. During this time, she was made aware
of a house owned by Marston and Sue Richards that would be
perfect for a Montessori school. Mr. Richards is an architect
and had designed the home for his family using the Frank Lloyd
Wright style as a basis for his design. The house was built
in 1972 . Sherie, having been in the house before and having
attended a Montessori conference at Taliesan West a few years
prior to this, and having met with Frank Lloyd Wright architects
who drew up a Montessori School designed by Taliesan architects
and attending Montessori teachers, knew that this house would
truly be perfect for a Montessori school.
Coinciding with
this experience, Sherie had attended a meeting at the Arizona
State Dept. of Education Charter Board and been introduced
to the method of obtaining a charter in the State of Arizona.
Sherie approached Dave and Star Burba and asked if they would
be able to help her with this huge undertaking. Dave, who
is a pitcher with the Cleveland Indians is very generous and
is supported in his generous donations by his wife, Star.
There response was, "Of course. We would love to help!" and
within a month, they purchased the property and procedures
began to remodel the property for the school.
Mr. Richards continued
to serve as the architect to present plans to the city many
times. Jim Gardner, Jr. was hired as the general contractor.
Vaughn Young Associates furnished interior design ideas. The
charter was obtained in April 2000, for Montessori House,
Inc. and after a long summer of meeting city zoning and building
requirements, state and county regulations and spending tens
of thousands of dollars, which has been so generously furnished
by the Burba's, the school opened on September 11, 2000. In
order to get to this opening date, a thousand doors were closed,
but a thousand and one windows were opened.
Many parents, friends, and neighbors participated by donating
hundreds of hours of time to paint, scrape, haul, clean, and
support this huge undertaking.
The beginning enrollment
includes around 40 students in grades K-6 with the preschool
(which is not part of the charter but part of the Montessori
House Incorporation) enrollment of 29 children. Sherie Richardson,
serves as the administrator.
All students, teachers,
parents, and staff who are part of the beginning of this new
school, and who will be a part of its future, are part of
a dream-come-true and a vision realized.
There is much to thank God for and much to look forward to.
See
photos of what we do at Montessori House
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