The location of Lotus Child Montessori on Banister Road in Fair Oaks was the home of one of the first Montessori schools in the Sacramento region, opening in 1976. The previous owner of the Bannister property, Karen Lecy, discovered the teachings of Maria Montessori and traveled out of town to get proper Montessori training and bring a Montessori school to the Sacramento area. Karen operated her school on our site as well as several other Montessori schools in the surrounding areas. She is the founder of Sacramento’s Montessori Training Center and served as the director of the National Center for Montessori Education (NCME) before it merged with the American Montessori Society (AMS) in 2007.  Karen later sold her business to Norman Lorenz who operated a thriving Montessori School on the Bannister Property through the 1990’s. For several years the Bannister property had been the home to several other early childhood schools and daycares.  Karen wanted to bring a Montessori school back to the Bannister property and was put in contact with Tamara Mohler through mutual colleagues.

Tamara had dreamed of opening an early childhood Montessori school since her days as an undergraduate student 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 very sought after private school in San Luis Obispo that has been owned and directed by Mary Kern for over 40 years. The staff were all great mentors to Tamara and helped her see the true essences of Montessori and the magic of a normalized multi aged 3 to 6 year old 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 in at the Montessori Children’s school until the summer of 2003. In 2003 Tamara moved to the Sacramento area and earned a job at the California Montessori Project a Public Charter School in Carmichael, California 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 with the Montessori Teachers College of Sacramento. Tamara worked as a Kindergarten teacher for the charter organization in Carmichael, Fair Oaks and Sacramento 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 was an instructor for the Montessori Teachers College (now the Montessori Training Center) from 2006-2013 and has had the privilege of learning, growing and sharing her knowledge of Montessori pedagogy and lessons over the years.  Tamara’s education and experiences at the Montessori Children’s School, California Montessori Project and the Montessori Training Center have helped her to learn the skills necessary to pursue her dream of operating an early childhood school.

Tamara began talking to Karen Lecy in 2008 about the prospect of opening a school on her property. The birth of Tamara’s daughter Marin, in August 2009, delayed the progress of opening the school a little but it gave her even more motivation to pursue her dream because it was Tamara’s wish to participate fully in the formative years (0-6) of her children. Opening Lotus Child Montessori allowed Tamara to do this while sharing her love and respect for the developing child with other teachers, parents and children. Lotus Child Montessori opened it’s doors for children in late September of 2010 after a whirl wind of a summer doing renovations and bringing the facility up to current fire code safety standards.  On LCM’s first day of school we had two children and two teachers. Throughout our first year we grew to serve 14 families and our enrollment had more than tripled as we entered our second school year. We now operate a full school with a waiting list.

Tamara and her husband, Chris, purchased the Bannister property in July of 2021. Currently, LCM operates two classrooms, Our Early Beginnings class is for toddlers (18 months to 3 years old) and Primary class (3 to 6 years old). We are licensed for 36 children at a time.  Tamara and the LCM staff are committed to running a school where the child’s best interest is the first priority and the Montessori pedagogy is practiced at it’s best. Our vision for Lotus Child Montessori is to create a family learning community that feels GREAT to be part of.