Montessori Schools - any feed back?
 

Our lil Girl is showing some distinct signs of advanced scholastic behavior. She will be 4 in a few months and already is spelling and writing words and doing some simple math. Her problem solving skills and vocabulary dwarfs other kids her age. We are starting to think that she may become bored with Kindergarten when she starts up in 2 years. We thought about a Montessori school for her. Have any of you had any experience with a Montessori school? Pros/Cons?

A friend of mine sends his kids to a Montessori school, and he seems happy with it. The kids seem reasonable bright and well-adjusted, and haven't gone any killing sprees (yet), so I guess that's a success.

Mike PM me ...

Hell, my daughter is 2.5 and she can explain fermats last theorem, contrast Platos earlier works from his later, and recite the periodic tables backwards in chinese. And thats all before morning snack.

:)

We have a four and a half year old that will be starting kindergarten at Waldorf school next week. Our concern is much as yours of a bright kid that we wanted to make sure they are not bored with public curriculum. We looked at the Waldorf/Montessori philosophies and found the Waldorf fit us a little better. I guess I will know a lot more on if it will work out in a few months.

My youngest daughter, 18 months, (with the crazy mom) will start Waldorf Kindergarten too. Its her moms will. Personally I value the fact that they have small groups of children and a calm, naturalistic environment. I don´t give a crap about their 'unique' philosophy. Most of the value of any given environment for a child, be it kindergarten, school or what have you, will depend on the individual personality and competence of the immediate adult care taker or teacher. Good examples can be found in most settings - as well as bad.

Have you considered DNA testing to find the father?

:p :p :p

Lube,
My wife and I are going through the same desicion with our 3.5 yr old girl right now--timely thread. We're leaning towards it.

i meant decision..:)

Everyone I know who has sent to their kids to Montessori has liked the experience. We didn't do it w/ our kids so no first-hand input. I went to Montessori myself, but have no recollection.

I've talked to Mike. I have done business with Mike. I admire Mike, Hell, I LIKE Mike.

That said, a DNA test IS in order;)

Is that where they teach them to make the salad? :-)

Agree, there is no way that she came from my DNA pool! Plus, she has a very disagreeable personality when she gets mad - she has a temper like a rattlesnake!

Here is a pic of her pouting cuz she can't horse back ride with her brother yet...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1156975885.jpg

Nothing better than a young woman with determination! In the photo below, Arden is about to drop her brother like a bad habit! Vee wasn't for victory!

Great looking daughter, Mike.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1156976741.jpg

My daughter has been in Montessori since four (she is going into first grade at 6 now). Like anything, the teacher makes a huge difference, and it is good to see how your kid interacts with the future instructor. One of the great things about this system is that mixes multiple ages in the same clasroom and focuses on independent projects. As the kids get older they work on colaberative projects more. The mixture of ages does two things that I like: It avoids forcing kids to work in lock-step (so that they can rise to whatever level they are able to), and it allows them to make friends younger and older than each other. The elementary aged kids come visit the preschool kids and they read and hang out to them. Its great for all involved. The kids learn to get along at different levels and they make lasting friendships. So far he are pretty pleased with how it has worked for our daughter. It is not a perfect setup though. The kids need to be pretty self starting. They don't really force a structure on kids that can't stay focused.

We have friends with kids in a Montessori school here in Houston. I do not care for the "do what you like" Philosophy. The family isn’t doing virtually anything to set controls, or limits on the kids, so that may also be the problem. The kids are monsters, and the mother doesn’t seem to even care that they are out of control.

I think her favorite saying is: “Isn’t that so cute?”

Our daughter is in a private school and every year she gets a Montessori kid who has transfered into her class. Everyone of the kids has had problems adjusting to a "typical" classroom setting. It is the "do as you like" philosophy that has caused the problems. Sooner or later this philosophy catches up with them and they will have problems IMHO.

I'm a psych in a public school system. I have friends with kids in Montessori. My thoughts:

THE school and THE teacher count (as with anything). There are good Montessori programs and bad ones. Lax teachers and good ones. Sometimes I've seen Montessori be an excuse for being a lazy teacher and not dealing with behavior or planning. Sometimes I've seen Montessori be a blessing for kids that need to explore more (especially in response to some public teachers who require all kids to fit in the same box.

I frequently see some difficult adjustment when the kids go from the Mont. program to public schools.

I'd say check out the specific program closely.

I don't have kids currently but I probably wouldn't do Montessori. More likely, if I were that concerned, I'd move to a public district that has a good rep and resources.

OUr daughter just started first grade at public school. They did her "gifted" assessment over the summer, came back smarter than heck. We're keeping her in public school though, for a few reasons. One is the money of course - I'm massively in debt, but thats the cost of having a stay at home wife for the 2 kids. Second is that we have a small community school, and it is the best in the county system. Third is that I see her teacher at least 2 times a week, as does the wife, and we are staying involved.

Man I wish I could have gone to one of these schools. I was considered 'gifted' haha and read at a post high school level before I was 9 yrs old.

In first grade, we had these numbered primer-type books (ie book 1-20something) that were a major part of our curriculum. Everyone else was on 'book 1'...they gave me 'book 15'. To put it in perspective, the 2nd graders were on ~book 4 or 5. I was still bored, so they started having sit in the second grade classrooms for half the day. However, I was small for my age and mouthy already, so I'd catch a beating OFTEN from the older kids. It eventually wore me out and I was sick of feeling so alone so I lied and said I could not do the work just to get back in the first grade classroom.

It really screwed me up. And, at the end of the year, the teachers came to my folks and said they felt I had not adjusted properly so they wanted to hold me back but create a custom curriculum for me. My folks were bull**** and said absolutely not.

Stupid small town public schools. I remember taking all those John Hopkins tests and courses in the summer.

I don't think my parents were even aware of schools like Montessori in the early 80s....