Santa Rosa / California / United States
Since 1976, Montessori Services has focused on bringing hard-to-find, child-size Practical Life materials into the classroom. Although our School Catalog focus has expanded to include materials across the curriculum, materials for the exercises of Practical Life remain our specialty. Founded in Pennsylvania by Jane Mills Campbell, an AMI-trained Primary Montessori teacher, the original Montessori Services School Catalog was created with a simple goal: make it easy and cost-effective to find the specialized items used in the Montessori classroom. In 2004 our family resource catalog was created at the request of Montessori teachers. For Small Hands gives parents access to many of the same child-size items children use at school, enabling children to participate in the home environment with the same ease and success they enjoy in the classroom. Janes kitchen table business grew steadily, moving cross-country by school bus ( yes, by school bus ) to the Campbells California garage, from the garage to a small storefront, and eventually to our current location in downtown Santa Rosa, about one hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Get Directions to our showroom. Montessori Services celebrated our 30th anniversary several years ago, yet it seems like I was in the classroom just yesterday. Actually, I left teaching when my first child was born. Seeking a way to stay in touch with fellow Montessorians, I started a home business, first making materials for local teachers and then finding products for them. I had no business plan, only my classroom experience to draw on. Since then, we have produced and mailed countless catalogs, displayed at many Montessori conferences, and entered the brave new world of the internet. These days, our year-round staff of 16 fulfills your orders from two catalogs and two websites. It has taken over 30 years to get here and I find we are still on the journey.
