Q/A
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Chrysalide Education for ?
Chrysalide Education is for parents looking for a quality play and learning bilingual preschool environment for their children from 3 to 6 years old. The Pines Preschool is for parents who are committed to a real educational project, targeting the independence, the blossoming, the development of the full potential and the capacities of adaptation of their children.
Insn’t the Montessori Approach too lax ?
If the Montessori Approach rejects the notions of punishment and reward, it harmoniously mixes order and liberty. It encourages people to learn “to do by themselves” and to find satisfaction and pride in it, rather than coerce them into applying strict instructions. Some children need more guidance than others but the spirit remains the same.
The working environment is very ordered. Respect is a cardinal value. The recommended discipline is active or positive. It’s a discipline for society and not uniquely for the school, a discipline for activity, work, initiative and creativity not for immobilism and passive obedience. As said a pupil of one of the first institutions of Maria Montessori to a school inspector at the beginning of the 20th century “we don’t do whatever we want but we want everything we do”.
At Chrysalide Education teachers intervene more often than thos of a classical Montessori School and children interact more often like in Finnish education establishements.
What structure do the former pupils of Chrysalide Education generally integrate ?
Most of the enrolled children enrolled are sons and daughters of foreign aid workers who have lived in Tunisia for several years. They have no difficulties integrating a classical educational structure in their own country or somewhere else. On the contrary, like former pupils of The Pines Preschool , they find ways to use their spirit of initiative and sense of adaptation, both cultivated throughout their early childhood at Chrysalide Education to put them at the service of their academic success. [1]
Chrysalide Education chose bilingual immersion (English and French), the two most spoken language in the world.[2] The children will be able to pursue their curriculum in an English institution (American Cooperative School of Tunis, British International School of Tunis) or a French one (French educational network in Tunisia), in Tunisia or in the rest of the world, especially as both Montessori American and French official programs are simultaneously teached at Chrysalide Education.
[1] Sur les résultats scolaires comparés d’anciens élèves Montessori voir “Outcomes for students in a Montessori Program, A longitudinal Study of the Experience in the Milwaukee Public Schools”, Association Montessori International/USA, 2003. Voir également Lillard, A.S,“Preschool Children’s Development in Classic Montessori, Supplemented Montessori, and Conventional Programs,” Journal of School Psychology 50:379-401 (June 2012) et Grace Chen, “10 Benefits of a Montessori Preschool”, education.com, 6 Juin 2013. https://www.education.com/magazine/article/10-benefits-montessori-preschool/.
[2] Sur l’intérêt à apprendre le français comme langue étrangère, voir par exemple le site du département de français de l’université de Virginie, http://french.as.virginia.edu/why-study-french.
How to register ?
First, you just need to contact us to schedule a tour.
Send us a mail at admissions@chrysalide-education.com or call Dr Julie Gauthier at the following number +21622625943 In a second step, you’ll have to fill in the registration form available on the main menu of this website.
My Child is not 3 years old yet, can he register at Chrysalide Education ?
Yes, subject to certain conditions (being dry, awakening, autonomy) and provided places are available, children of 2 1/2 years old, at the time of their enrollement, can integrate our structure.