Our History
There is so much to tell in describing our school to a new parent. Sourdough Montessori School opened on October 13, 1997 in a cozy country home nestled in Sourdough Canyon as the realization of a dream shared by my parents, co-founders Jay and Kathryn Josephs. From the start our goal has always been the same: to create the greatest pre-school we could imagine.  I'm not sure we knew then what that really meant, and in truth we seem to find new answers to this challenge every day. But either way, our reasons for doing this have never wavered: as parents and educators we fully appreciated how important the pre-school years truly are, and thus why it mattered that we built Sourdough and operate it top this day, so children might have a place like it in Bozeman to learn and grow.

Over twenty five years and 1,000 students later and our initial belief in the importance of the school has only grown in meaning as we have come to experience the daily wonders that occur within our Sourdough community. It drives us still to be the best pre-school we can be, because we see how much our mission really matters. 

Our Schoolhouse

Upon your arrival to our school you will immediately sense the rural, peaceful nature of our environs. Rolling mountains and open hillsides, where a random collection of horses, deer, elk and other four legged wildlife regularly frolic, greet the visitor and silently announce the tranquility of the place about.

As soon you one enter our front gate, the abundance of our natural backdrop is supplanted by our fully-fenced backyard, which beckons for exploration. The yard is sprawling, with a canopy of tall trees (with low hanging bird-houses) rising overhead and enough flowering bushes to ensure plenty of shade in summer and sturdy climbing limbs all year long. A paved path for trikes and wagons winds around three sides of the yard which is studded with stuff – mostly built from rugged and rustic logs. Kid stuff - like sturdy forts, and swings, and climbing walls, and a hammock, and a tree trapeze, and rings, and a slide that seems to shoot right out of the trees, and a sandbox rimmed with massive logs, and a basketball court, and sturdy picnic tables for eating or working, and a rabbit hutch. In short, there is more than enough space and things to allow our kids to fully stretch their growing minds and muscles in an environment that I think makes some of our parents jealous that they can’t go back and be a kid at Sourdough themselves.

As I say, there’s a lot to our yard – and for good reason: we understand that much of the real learning that takes place at Sourdough occurs on the yard during free play. We know this not just from experience, (and because it is what the experts tell us), but because we were kids once too.