Tuition
Regular Tuition
$750/month
Grades
We will begin with K-3, and offer more grades as our students grow.
Year
Grades
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
K, 1, 2, 3
K, 1, 2, 3, 4
K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Enroll
Print out this form and return it, along with a $200 enrollment fee per child. $100 of this fee will be applied to first month's tuition.
This application is not a guarantee of placement at Bluestem Montessori. Families must still complete an application and interview process to secure placement. We will begin this application and interview process at a future date.
Wait List
You may also join the waitlist, for 2019 and beyond.
Print out this form and return it, along with a $50 wait list fee per child.
Staff
Executive Director & lead teacher
Laura Erickson
Laura is our Executive Director and will also be our Lead Teacher for Elementary II (Grades 4-6). For the 2017-18 academic year, Laura is serving as an Elementary I teacher with LK.
Her own Montessori education developed a life-long love of learning that has led her to a BA from Hastings College, an MA in Medieval History from the University of Washington, and most of the way through a PhD (oh that pesky dissertation!). In 2008 she became a Fulbright Scholar, and took her husband and baby daughter to study medieval manuscripts in Germany. She has taught hundreds of college students as a teaching assistant and then as an instructor, and was recognized by her department for her excellence in teaching.
In late 2015, Laura decided that she was done wishing for alternative elementary education in Lincoln and decided to do something about it. She quit writing her dissertation and began work on what would become Bluestem Montessori Elementary, gathering friends and likeminded folks to start brainstorming. Since then she has learned all about founding and managing a nonprofit, Montessori education and philosophy, and educational administration.
Laura is a Girl Scout leader and a mother of two spirited girls, and thoroughly enjoying her Montessori training at the Mid-America Montessori Teacher Training Institute.
Lead teacher
Lookkaew Mongkonrat
Lookkaew (LK) has an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and an Ed.D. in Educational Administration from the University of Nebraska in Omaha. She has years of elementary teaching experience and has studied many different educational philosophies, including Montessori.
LK's particular expertise in contemplative education has brought a special beauty to Bluestem Montessori. She is committed to creating a peaceful environment and strives for holistic education, always looking at the whole child. The children love starting the day with meditation exercises. She is also strongly committed to nature education and is always excited to find opportunities to get outside.
LK is currently working on her Montessori certification at the Mid-America Montessori Teacher Training Center.
Advisor
Tim Fickensher
Tim is a retired Montessori teacher and our advisor on all things Montessori and classroom related. Having founded Omaha's Roberts Academy (a Montessori secondary school), Tim has years of experience running a classroom as well as with the difficulties which face a new school. Tim spends one day a week in our classrooms, and the children always look forward to his visits.
Assistant
Sena Bollman
Sena comes to us with experience working with special needs children in Ashland Public Schools as well as volunteering at her son's Montessori preschool. She is devoted to the Montessori philosophy and has a talent for working with elementary school children. In addition to helping in the classroom, Sena is our office assistant and keeps us running smoothly.