Posted on 02/22/2008 2:18:16 PM PST by TChris
I'm interested in any FReeper experience or knowledge about Montessori schooling, formal or home.
We are looking into placing our daughter (5 yrs old) into a Montessori preschool.
I read her books and found them pretty fascinating.
I came across a bunch of homeschoolers on a catholic site that did this type of thing at home.
If you go to the family section and use the search function you could find old threads, or just post a new one and you will get responses.
from what I remember the main thing is that they try to involve all 5 senses in the learning experience, and it is more child centered (child chooses the activity)
A friend’s daughter went to a Montessori school for several years. I can tell you that a) it beats public school and b) it’s not leftist...it’s probably somewhat libertarian if you want to put a political label on it.
I only know one guy who attended a Montesori school and he wears dresses and high heels.
I recommend that you look into what days they are scheduled to be closed.
That was one concern I had.
Another concern is whether self-directed learning is wise. What if your child only wants to learn about dancing (...or trucks, or clouds, etc.), but not much else? And is it a shock to go from the self-directed atmosphere of Montessori into a structured atmosphere later, in public school?
"Blame the school"--slogan some people can't get past...unless they homeschool!
It isn’t 100% self-directed - there is some adult guidance.
As for the other issue, if your child participates in mainstream extracurricular activities, the switch to public school probably won’t be too much of a shock.
I have two close friends who had their kids in Montessori schools for a couple of years. My sense is that discipline is loosely enforced...they’re into the whole “free spirit” environment.
Of course, that was 20 years ago...maybe things are different now.
On one hand, the overall big picture theory of Montessori is sound if it is managed correctly. It is when you get into the details where it breaks down. It gets even worse when you have administrators in these schools who are adding their own spin to the Montessori method.
For example, discipline is the real challenge. There were several instances where my wife had to deal with children, being children and doing things like choking other children or hitting each other. In one case, it was very bad so my wife yelled at the child who was choking the other to stop as she ran over. The administrator made my wife apologize to the child for raising her voice. The administrator had taken the Montessori so far, no teacher was ever allowed to raise her voice or discipline a child, even for serious cases such as this. Instead, the teachers are expected to sit down at the child’s level and ask the child why they did it and how it made them feel.
Another example, as a music teacher, my wife conducted the children’s choir. At a performance, several parents complained because hand gestures to stop singing, they found offensive. This was simply normal conductor’s gestures of raising the hand, palm forward. The school reviewed with her conductor’s gestures and decided that they were obstructive to the child’s learning because they were dictating gestures.
I could go on and on, but I hope this gives you the attitude we had to face. Now, with that said, there may be some great Montessori schools, but from what we’ve learned from this experience, we realized this kind of attitude is the norm among the schools. Most have just taken the theories in the Montessori to far.
I highly recommend this school. My 9 YO son has been going for the last 6 years and is light years ahead of most 4th graders.
He’s been going since he was 3 and could read perfect in kindergarten !
He’s not gifted it’s their system of teaching.
Now he’s in 4th grade he does 7-8 page reports better then I did in college !
I did individual testing for children in a Montessori school. I highly regard Montessori schools. Will send you a private message about these schools so I won’t take up space on this thread.
I had 3 bothers growing up, but they're better now.
I attended a Montessori school in New Mexico, went to the Army, left as a First Sergeant after 15 years (artillery), went to college in the Army, and now run a drilling company and raise cattle.
All types.
Thanks for your endorsement.
Have you had any experiences with the potential lack of discipline mentioned by other posters above?
"I wish I could blame this on his mother."
I think it totally depends on the teacher and the director of that particular school. Theories have to be applied in reality, and that is set by the Principal, etc.
I talked to a mom recently whose son started with Montessori. They taught phonics, which is so important. I looked at a Montessori school, too, before we homeschooled. It had been highly recommended, but it was not the closest Montessori school to us. The director was wise and wonderful.
you could also look at some online resources?
like here..
http://www.montessorird.com/?gclid=CKC_7qTv2JECFQM-QQodEEM9ag
Even if you don’t wind up sending a child to a school - there are still some neat things you can buy and let them play with it at home.
Good luck!
The preschools are pretty good—except they do no dressup or imaginitive play.
The elementary schools can be excellent, but only if you are a high-achieving, kind of self-motivating child. A lot of children do better in a traditional classroom where they have to do the same work as everyone else.
In other words, it’s not so good for lazy children, and there are a lot of them!
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