Montessori Preschool - Great/Negative experiences

[newtodcl]

Hi,

Looking for any feedback on Montessori preschool vs "traditional" preschool, the budget angle comes into play as the Montessori preschool is a little over double the amount of the traditional one (which is also highly recommended).

Little background - DD is 3 as of Jan.22 and (like every other child ) very bright. Has excellent verbal skills to the point that people are taken aback (never spoke baby talk), can count to thirty, write her name and most letters of the alphabet (recognizes them all), write some of her numbers but knows them by sight, knows how to tell time (just the o'clocks , shapes/colors ) and can put together a 100 piece puzzle unassisted. Both parents are engineers (however I resigned to stay at home with her and our new baby(, so she is probably a little anal.

We toured both schools and she seems fine with either one (she currently goes one day a week for a few hours to ours moms group "playschool" that is volunteer based (by herself) and to playgroup with me. I guess my concern is that she will be bored in a traditional setting (their literature for 3 year olds lists numbers up to 10 and colors/shapes, etc)but I do not understand fully how she will be motivated in a Montessori setting. This is our first child, and I did not attend preschool or kindergarten but did go thru 4 1st grade teachers before being placed into a gifted class, so I do not want her to dislike school and be bored as I initially was.

Thanks to all who made it through this long post and have advice.

 

[kfeuer]

My youngest son is in a Montessori preschool right now and it's been a wonderful experience. We could have had free preschool, but I feel like the Montessori school has been worth every penny. My DS is very bright (sorry, not trying to brag but it's true) and he's soaked up knowledge like a sponge since he started. Within a couple weeks of class beginning he was reading, and his reading is constantly improving. He's doing lots of writing these days and that's getting better all the time, too. His teacher is also a professional musician so they do lots of singing. One thing I remember the teacher telling me is that while in traditional preschool kids might play with kitchen toys, in Montessori they do the real thing.

If you know your child needs a challenge, I think Montessori is the way to go. They adapt to your child really well.

 

[lastminutemom]

Montessori is wonderful for the right child. However, for a child who isn't self motivated, it may be a disaster. My youngest DD was a perfect fit for montessori, the oldest two were not. She thrived, I wouldn't have ever sent her siblings.

Preschool to me isn't about academics -- I am a big believer in play based preschool especially for those children who have good beginnings. Does one school give you a more warm and fuzzy feeling?

 

[Hef4545]

My son went to Montessori. He loved it. They do things with a purpose. They have them wash their table with a sponge and use a certain pattern.
This is to strenghthen their hands so they can hold a pencil properly..Just an example.... I remember he had spanish, reading, reading Maps, music - and he loved to learn and go to school.... but I made one mistake. I moved him to public school in first grade because of the cost of the program. I don't think he learned anything new until 4th grade. He had behavior problems and I think it was because he was bored. In retrospect, I should have left him in the program and juggled the dollars. They don't have an accellerated program in our system until middle school so he was not challenged. Of course, eventually he fit in but if I had it to do over

 

[luvsJack]

I considered Montessori for my ds. I was a center director and taught 4 years olds in a traditional preschool setting. We only had the one class and I wanted him to experience school without Mom before Kindergarten. He is extremely bright, but he is also very creative and it was the creativity that made me choose another preschool. I am not saying they do not produce results and teach a lot, I just didn't like the no room for creativness part of it.

 

[AMYCC1]

I'm going to give an opposing view here. When my dd was 4, she went to montessori preschool. We all (me, dh and dd) really really disliked it. First off, the communication with parents was abysmal. Parents weren't encouraged to observe in the classroom or really participate. I didn't feel like the teachers were engaged with the students. And the concept of choosing work didn't really work for us. My dd needed a more structured atmosphere, which is not Montessori. I have also heard plenty of comments from mainstream school teachers that Montessori kids are at a disadvantage when joining the ranks of 'regular' school. THat's our experience in a nutshell.

 

[Psychodisney]

All three of my kids went to Montessori for preschool and one did Kindergarden there as well . All Montessori schools and teachers are not created equally-some may be worth the $ and some not. Is it a traditional Montessori school? Is it 5 days vs. 3 days?

I loved my children's Montessori experience. But, now that the oldest is in HS, do I think it was worth the money? Maybe not- I wish that I wouldn't have sent them 5 days a week so that I could have had more time/ fun with them!

 

[newtodcl]

It is a 5 day program from either 8:15 to 11:45 or continuing on to 2:45 for an additional $100 a month, but all they do during the "extra" time is lunch, rest and free play. They do seem to have all the wooden toys and individual trays of activities etc of a "traditional" school. That is a valid point about 5 days a week though, kids do have their whole lives to go to school, but are only little once and she has a Jan. birthday so she has 2 more years before pre-k.

 

[Aristomommy]

There are so many differences btw. Montessori schools that you would need to visit the particular one you are interested in. One reason it wasn't be a good fit with DD, because she wasn't the "typically" developing child. She immersed herself into one thing and didn't have motivation for another. Also, the teachers don't usually let you work with more advanced materials until the child masters the level to their standards. If your child needs acceleration (and sound like she is extremely bright) it may be a point of frustration for her. We chose a private school's pre-k and DD was recommended for early entry into Kindergarten.

DS on the other hand would do well with Montessori or a regular preschool, but I haven't decided where to put him next year. He turned 3 Jan 17th, so he is close to your DDs age. We haven't pushed academics on him, he is great a puzzles, knows his shapes and colors, but he has picked that up by himself. If you plan to stay home, a 3 day program may be enough school for her. Good luck, she sound very bright!!

 

[krystalleigh1]

I've heard of good and bad Mont. and traditional preschools. It all comes down to the teachers. Do they have training in child development, are they patient, do they seem to be a good "fit" with your child, do they allow a good mixture of free play and scheduled activities? Another big one for me is the crafts they produce. A good teacher will be more concerned about the "process" rather than the finished result. A good teacher will give the kids the materials and let them decide what to make instead of telling them, "ok, this string goes here to make the mouse, this sticker goes here to make the nose, etc." I get a good idea about what kind of teacher a preschool has by the crafts the kids create. If they look to "perfect" then the teacher is not letting the kids do their own thing creatively with the craft. That's probablly a teacher that dosen't have training in Early Childhood. Ed.

 

[Disneymoon]

I've heard of good and bad Mont. and traditional preschools. It all comes down to the teachers. Do they have training in child development, are they patient, do they seem to be a good "fit" with your child, do they allow a good mixture of free play and scheduled activities? Another big one for me is the crafts they produce. A good teacher will be more concerned about the "process" rather than the finished result. A good teacher will give the kids the materials and let them decide what to make instead of telling them, "ok, this string goes here to make the mouse, this sticker goes here to make the nose, etc." I get a good idea about what kind of teacher a preschool has by the crafts the kids create. If they look to "perfect" then the teacher is not letting the kids do their own thing creatively with the craft. That's probablly a teacher that dosen't have training in Early Childhood. Ed.

I am a preschool special education teacher with a master's degree in early childhood special education and BA in child psychology

I object to the bolded portion above. I don't think you should judge a teacher by the type of crafts they produce in their classroom. I do both "process" related art that is very opened ended and craft projects that are more structured. Both types of work have real purpose in a classroom. Children learn to follow multi-step verbal directions, imitate a model, do steps in sequence, etc. through so called "craft" projects. All of these skills come into play later in elementary school.

Also for what it is worth, I feel Montessori can be a GREAT fit for some kids and a TERRIBLE fit for others. Montessori schools are generally less structured and allow for more student choice of activities, which is wonderful for some students but if your child has difficulty staying with a task or only likes to do one type of task it could be tricky. Good luck with your decision

 

[3darlings]

All three of my DDs went through Montessori preschool/kindergarten. We had a wonderful experience but I think that is because of the particular school we were in. It was small (only three classes) and it was like a family. There was consistent feedback from the teachers. I don't think I would like the bigger Montessor schools myself, they are alittle too rigid in the Montessori approach for my liking. The center we went to had the perfect mix - structure within an unstructured environment (if that makes sense.) So you may want to take a look at several Montessori schools - they can be surprisingly different. Montessori was especially important for my oldest, who had some motor planning issues and alittle slow developmentally. It was also good for my youngest who is now in a gifted program - she needed to be pushed. It probably wasn't so important for my middle one who is neither gifted nor developmentally challenged. She had to tag along with her sisters, however! Good luck what ever decide.

 

[KariC]

We have loved the Montessori experience with our twins. I love love love how they introduce and build on to math concepts (another sahm-former engineer)! They are learning so much! We are now deciding if this is where they should continue....we are a bit nervous with sending them to the 6-9 years class as young 6 year olds.

Feel free to PM for any specific questions.

 

[littlele]

We had both sides of the Montessori experience. Loved the teacher and the entire classroom, but as soon as the teacher changed (2+ years later) we were out of there.

That being said, I give that particular teacher a lot of credit in the development of my child. As each school year begins and the first connection with my Dd's teacher happens, they always want to know what her background is and why she is the way she is now (very bright, inquisitive, analytical, etc). As soon as Montessori is mentioned, they have all nodded their heads as if to say, "I knew it" or "of course". Now do I believe that it is the sole reason for her being 'her'? Of course not! But I do credit the Montessori idea with giving me, as a parent, some ideas as to what a young child can do.

I could go on and on, but I would say if you can give it a chance I certainly would if I were you!

 

[luvsJack]

Just a little true story told to me by a Montessori teacher in a child development class we were both in: A little girl was in Kindergarten and every day the teacher would put out crayons and paper and ask the children to practice writing their names. The little girl would not do the work. The teacher was very concerned about the little girl so she called the mother. The mother couldn't figure out what was going on so she called the little girls preschool teacher (the Montessori teacher). As soon as the Montessori teacher heard the whole story she knew what was wrong. The little girl would not write her name with the crayon! The Montessori teacher had taught the children that pencils were for work and crayons for play. As soon as the little girl was given a pencil she wrote her name.
Some children need this type of structure, some don't do well with it at all.
The teacher I took the class with had a hard time accepting some of the ideas taught in the class--for instance that preschool age children should not be taught reading, and that they need to learn by process not product. It seemed to go against what she had been taught. That may have just been the school she came from, I don't know.
To the pp that mentioned art (crafts) and learning by process--you are right the process is what is important. But the other poster is right too, children do need to follow directions, steps in sequence, etc. I always used something besides art to teach those skills. In K-12 it is starting to be very important that students are taught critical thinking, something that is extremely important at the college level. The beginning of this is giving the preschooler the materials and having them figure out the best way to use them.

 

[minnie1928]

I'm going to give an opposing view here. When my dd was 4, she went to montessori preschool. We all (me, dh and dd) really really disliked it. First off, the communication with parents was abysmal. Parents weren't encouraged to observe in the classroom or really participate. I didn't feel like the teachers were engaged with the students. And the concept of choosing work didn't really work for us. My dd needed a more structured atmosphere, which is not Montessori. I have also heard plenty of comments from mainstream school teachers that Montessori kids are at a disadvantage when joining the ranks of 'regular' school. THat's our experience in a nutshell.

When I first read this I thought that perhaps the school you were dealing with wasn't a strong Montessori school. Many schools call themselves Montessori, but don't follow the true Montessori style or follow it loosely. Then I read the rest of your post. Montessori schools are built around the concept of independence, which is why the teachers appeared to not be engaged with the kids...that's kind of the point. Teachers are there for guidance when needed, not to instruct as teachers do in traditional classrooms

My kids both attend Montessori and it's been some of the best money we've ever spent (aside from our DVC ). I highly recommend that you do your research to make sure that you are getting a quality Montessori school and not one that simply uses the Montessori name.

 

[littlele]

I also wanted to mention that I realize that some children will work well with this type of learning and some work better with the 'memorizing' style.

My daughter excelled very well with reading/writing (in 3rd grade was passing 8th grade reading/writing) while some of her former classmates were struggling to even be at grade level.

You'll have to decide if this style of learning (as mentioned before, by process not product) works well for your child. I know that our school district has adopted a math program that closely resembles a Montessori style and some children are really struggling to understand the whys/hows of math instead of just getting by with a simple answer.

 

[camdensmom]

Just a little true story told to me by a Montessori teacher in a child development class we were both in: A little girl was in Kindergarten and every day the teacher would put out crayons and paper and ask the children to practice writing their names. The little girl would not do the work. The teacher was very concerned about the little girl so she called the mother. The mother couldn't figure out what was going on so she called the little girls preschool teacher (the Montessori teacher). As soon as the Montessori teacher heard the whole story she knew what was wrong. The little girl would not write her name with the crayon! The Montessori teacher had taught the children that pencils were for work and crayons for play. As soon as the little girl was given a pencil she wrote her name.
Some children need this type of structure, some don't do well with it at all.
The teacher I took the class with had a hard time accepting some of the ideas taught in the class--for instance that preschool age children should not be taught reading, and that they need to learn by process not product. It seemed to go against what she had been taught. That may have just been the school she came from, I don't know.
To the pp that mentioned art (crafts) and learning by process--you are right the process is what is important. But the other poster is right too, children do need to follow directions, steps in sequence, etc. I always used something besides art to teach those skills. In K-12 it is starting to be very important that students are taught critical thinking, something that is extremely important at the college level. The beginning of this is giving the preschooler the materials and having them figure out the best way to use them.

This completely contradicts the Montessori philosophy. However, it validates what I am about to say.

Montessori is a philosophy. It is great for allowing children to develop at their own pace and be self-directed. The problem is that it is NOT legally trademarked. Basically, anyone could open up a "School" in their basement and call it a 'Montessori School." You need to really do your research. It's a great philosphy for developing a whole child when done right at a young age.

I personally don't care for it with older children as they do need some structure as they get older.

 

[Keara'sMom]

My dd (now 11) went to a Montessori preschool, and I have both positive and negative feelings about her experience. On the positive side, she learned respect for others and for materials in a way that was different and more significant than she would have learned elsewhere (imho). Also, the Montessori school she went to has a lovely "peace" curriculum in which kids go to a peace table when they're having conflict and learn to deal with the issues themselves.

That said, if I had it to do over again, I would have sent dd to a traditional preschool that stressed creativity, pretend play, and fun. DD learned to dislike math in preschool (her language arts skills were very advanced, and I think, without really realizing what they were doing, her teachers pushed her a bit in math). Frankly, I wish that she hadn't even known the word "math" at that age! Whatever. Anyway, she had fun in preschool but was happy when we decided to send her to public school instead of having her stay at the Montessori school for kindergarten.

Like others have said, I think it depends on the kid, the school, and the teachers. Good luck in your decision-making!

 

[disneylover410]

Both of my children have gone to montessori and I am so impressed they stayed in for kindergarten. I wouldn't have it any other way. They work at their own pace and if they aren't interested at first, they don't push. Of course mine are very bright also My oldest has gone to public school for first grade and is so far ahead. I can't tell you enough wonderful things about the program. It is the way to go for any child. My four year old reads books amazingly now and hasn't hit Kindergarten yet. Very impressed and wouldn't do it any other way. Worth the $$$$$$$$