Testimonials

“When we moved to Chicago from NYC, finding our footing took a bit of time. But finding a place for our son to grow and learn was even more difficult. During that time, our nanny would often take him to a nearby playground, which happened to be the same one Ms. Ashley’s school went to. For the very first time, our very timid son (who was actually quite scared of other kids) played with other children. One of Ashley’s students walked right up to him and asked confidently, “Would you like to play with us? ”They then held hands and walked off together. It was a defining and magical moment, as if our son felt the warmth of her students. It was then that we knew Travel Montessori was special.

The magic only grew from there. In the two years our son has had Ms. Ashley as his teacher, he’s developed such a joyful spark for learning. He has always loved books and been very curious, but the way she approaches early literacy is incredible. As he prepares to graduate from preschool, he’s now fully reading and is so confident in his ability to read, which I think is even more important. Ashley’s methods have also deepened his interest in math and its application to everyday life skills like counting money and reading analog clocks. And she makes all of this learning fun! Our son is excited every day to go to school and to come home and tell us all about his day.

More than anything, he has grown exponentially as a person with Ashley. She has truly instilled the Montessori philosophy that kids are so much more capable and independent than society believes. She teaches them responsibility by helping in the classroom and guides them in respecting the world and people around them. She gives the children such confidence by celebrating their individual characteristics and strengths.

We owe Ms. Ashley so much. She is an amazing teacher, and it has become more and more clear that it wasn’t just the classroom, the philosophies, or the books and songs that created those magical moments, it was her. She is the magic.”- Preschool Parent

“We originally found Ms. Ashley during COVID while searching for a warm, supportive learning environment for our oldest son. What we found was so much more. Ashley introduced our family to Montessori education in a way that completely changed how we viewed early childhood learning, and over the years, all three of our children have gone through her program.

Each of our children is incredibly different, yet Ashley met each one exactly where they were. She has a remarkable ability to understand each child individually, nurture their unique interests, and help them thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. During parent-teacher conferences, every one of our children was described as confident, resilient, and comfortable in the classroom, and we credit so much of that to Ashley’s guidance.

Academically, the growth has exceeded every expectation we had. Our children developed strong reading, writing, and math skills while also gaining confidence in their abilities. When tested, they were admitted into selective enrollment programs, offered advanced curriculum opportunities, and consistently scored in top testing percentiles. Ashley’s approach makes learning visual, hands-on, and genuinely meaningful.

What stands out most is Ashley herself. She creates an environment where children feel safe, known, supported, and excited to learn. Her classroom is rich, warm, and deeply engaging, and she approaches every child with curiosity, respect, and high expectations. She builds true confidence by helping children think independently and discover what they are passionate about.”

Ashley has been part of our family’s life for five years, and we recommend her wholeheartedly. If we had twenty children, we would send every one of them to her.”—Parent of Three Students

“Our daughter studied with Ms. Ashley for two years, and the improvement we’ve seen in her reading, math, confidence, and social development has been truly remarkable. Ashley has a special way of guiding children to think independently instead of simply giving them answers. I still remember our daughter getting stuck on 11 × 2, and instead of correcting her directly, Ashley asked her to think about 10 × 2 first — helping her work through the problem herself with confidence.

Ashley also tailors learning to each child’s level and interests, making learning genuinely fun and engaging. During a classroom observation, I saw her teaching grammar concepts like nouns and adjectives through interactive games with toys and word cards, and the children were completely engaged. Her classroom is creative, thoughtful, and nurturing, and we’re incredibly grateful for the impact she’s had on our daughter.” —Preschool Parent

“My family and I had the great fortune of meeting Ms. Ashley during the summer of 2020 when we were desperately looking for a way to support our then-4 year old daughter; Zoom preschool was just not cutting it for us. I don't know what we put out into the universe to deserve the chance to meet Ms. Ashley, but she undeniably changed the course of our daughters' lives for the better in immeasurable ways. 

Ms. Ashley is a unicorn of an early childhood educator. She's kind, smart, innovative, and has a knack for identifying and playing to a child's strengths so they are motivated to learn while also challenging them to face the "hard" tasks to build their skills, confidence, and independence. After just a few months of learning with Ms. Ashley, we were thrilled when she opened up her classroom to our then-3 year old daughter as well. Ms. Ashley is so skilled at multi-age learning environments that are tailored to each child's needs while fostering a true sense of community among her students. 

While the confidence, problem-solving, and interpersonal skill development were most important to us, it was also pretty thrilling to watch our preschoolers do two-digit multiplication and understand the "why" behind it, and to watch them learn to read earlier than we thought possible via true, explicit phonemic instruction and not just memorizing sight words. In the end we decided to keep our oldest with Ms. Ashley through Kindergarten, and are so glad we did. She started first grade ahead of her peers and I cannot stress enough how strong of a foundation she provided both of my girls for elementary school. Thank you, Ms. Ashley!!— Parent of Two Former Students