Teacher/Director/Owner

Tamara has dreamed of having her own early childhood Montessori school since her undergraduate work at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo where she earned her bachelors degree in Child Development and a minor in Psychology.  During her time at Cal Poly Tamara worked in the extended care program and later, after graduation, in the primary classroom of the Montessori Children’s School.  The Montessori Children’s School is a highly sought after private school in San Luis Obispo that has been owned and directed by Mary Kern for over 25 years.  The staff (many who have been there for well over 15 years) were all great mentors to Tamara and helped her see the true essence of Montessori and the magic of a normalized multi-aged (3yrs – 6yrs) classroom.  Most of all, the staff at MCS modeled true respect for the child at all times and this resonated with Tamara and drove her to pursue a career in Montessori Education.  Tamara began her Montessori training at the Montessori World Education Institute and worked as a support teacher/intern at the Montessori Children’s School until the summer of 2003.  In 2003 Tamara moved to the Sacramento area and was given a job at the California Montessori Project as a Kindergarten teacher.  This position prompted Tamara to pursue her California multiple subject teaching credential, master’s degree in education and finish her Montessori certification for early childhood (NCME).  Tamara worked as a Kindergarten teacher for CMP for seven years.  She was an active faculty member, serving on the curriculum development team as a Montessori mentor teacher and began a Stewardship committee where she served as the mentor for peace education for other staff members.

Tamara began instructing for the Montessori Training Center (previously the Montessori Teacher’s College) in the spring of 2006 and has the privilege of advancing and sharing her knowledge of the Montessori pedagogy with aspiring Montessori teachers there.  Tamara’s education and experiences at the Montessori Children’s School, California Montessori Project and the Montessori Training Center have allowed her to develop the skills necessary to pursue her dream of directing her own early childhood school.  Opening Lotus Child Montessori has allowed Tamara to fully participate in the formative years of her three children while sharing her love and respect for the developing child with other teachers, parents and children.  Tamara is committed to running a school where the child’s best interest is the first priority and the Montessori pedagogy is practiced at its best.  Her vision for Lotus Child Montessori is to create a family learning community that feels GREAT to part of.

Tamara lives in Fair Oaks with her husband Chris, daughter Marin and sons Mark and Adam and pug dog Liza. In her spare time Tamara loves the company of her friends and family, seeing live music, camping, reading educational and cultural literature, snow skiing, long walks and practicing yoga.

Head Teacher

Bridgit has worked in Montessori classrooms since 2001.  She is Montessori trained with a certificate from the National Center for Montessori Education for early childhood (2 ½ - 6 yr olds). Bridgit began her career in Montessori education with the California Montessori Project working in the before and after school programs.  Her natural ability to work with children was quickly identified and she was given an assistant teaching position in the classroom along with more responsibility over the extended care programs.  Bridgit worked as a Montessori support teacher in the Kindergarten, 6 to 9, and 9 to 12 age grouped classrooms.  Bridgit has experience working with children with special needs in a Montessori environment and was known on campus for helping children resolve conflict peacefully.  She spent five years working as a support teacher in the Kindergarten class, four of which with Tamara allowing the two to develop a wonderful working relationship. Bridgit served as the extended care coordinator and was able to successfully bring out the essence of Montessori with a child-centered program in a more relaxed educational setting.  Bridgit began working at Lotus Child Montessori upon our opening in September 2010. Bridgit took this teaching position because she was excited to use her skills as an early childhood teacher in a more traditional Montessori setting within the multi-age classroom. Bridgit's strengths as a teacher include her ability to show true authentic love for the children, help children problem solve, presenting yoga and peace education, arts and crafts and her positive outlook on life that is contagious to everyone who meets her.

In her spare time Bridgit enjoys practicing Bikram yoga and going to the gym.  She also loves to travel, camp and explore nature. Lastly, she relishes spending time with friends and family and adores working in the Montessori environment.