Cougar Mountain Montessori

The founder and owner of our school, Joan Heiting, first discovered Montessori in 1969 when she was looking for a preschool for her then 3-½ year old twin daughters (shown in the picture below).  Joan felt there was something almost magical in the respect and opportunities for choices and problem solving offered to young children. 

She visited about 15 preschools in the Seattle area before observing Northwest Montessori across from Woodland Park Zoo, where she enrolled her daughters (who later became Montessori Teachers themselves!)

Joan was originally a high school English teacher, graduating from the University of Oregon in 1963 with a BA in English.  

After a few years of teaching high school English she decided to make change.   She quickly became a Montessori convert and completed training in 1971 at The International Association of Progressive Montessorians, sponsored by Northwest Montessori in Seattle.

Joan co-founded Lake Hills Montessori Preschool in 1971 with Mary Ann Pitzler and was a lead teacher there for four years.  Joan became accredited through the American Montessori Society (AMS) in 1974 and supervised and co-taught with many interns and teachers, several of who have founded other Montessori schools in the Pacific Northwest.   In this respect, Lake Hills and Cougar Mountain Montessori are true "grandparent" schools for other schools in Redmond, Snoqualmie, Issaquah, Renton, and Bellevue.  

In 1977, while earning her Master’s in Behavioral Science, Joan began Cougar Mountain Toddlers in the family room of her home, currently our Main Campus West Class art room!  For two years the toddler program flourished as it overflowed into the living room and bedrooms.  

In November 1979, Cougar Mountain Montessori opened with a full-day Montessori Preschool class renting the basement of the Faith Tabernacle Church on Newport Way (now the Sanctuary Church).   A small house was rented in 1980 on SE 164^th for the full-day children with the preschool located in the living room and toddlers using the family room.  The full day children used this facility for almost 2 years.  Half-day preschool and toddlers continued to stay up on the hill.

In those days the upper house was accessed by a little gravel road that washed out several times a year during winter rains, and we never thought anyone needing daycare would ever drive all the way up there each day to such a remote school. Over the years many upgrades have taken place as the school has flourished.

We’re very proud of our school nestled in the trees. Joan has always maintained the best Montessori standards, combined with accepted early childhood and elementary practices.  

We are pleased to not only provide a quality preschool and child care program, but after more than 30 years, to be a resource for parents and children, as well as have the opportunity to be a professional support in the community for adults seeking careers in early childhood development.