<p>I’m glad to hear so many happy Montessori parents. One of my kids went to Montessori preschool who didn’t learn anything specific, it seemed. It’s too early to say/see any effect. But, I’m quite satisfied with the experience somehow. I don’t have low expectations by the way.</p>
<p>Montessori kid at my house. She went from age 3 -10. She’s done very well, thank you. How much of that is related to Montessori? I have no idea, but she thrived in the program. I think she feels “responsible” for her education but maybe she’d have been that way without Montessori. I do believe it was the right choice for her.</p>
<p>Well although my kids thrived and have done well in montessori, both went beyond the ps program. Second, not all kids do as well in montessori as mine have. Like all schools I think you have a wide range of abilities and inate talent. Third some kids do better in a more traditional environment which is more structured.</p>
<p>My son attended Montessori from the age of 1 when we did a mom and tot Montessori program together. He continued in Montessori through 9th grade (that was all that was available in our area). From there he applied to and was accepted at a top NE Prep school. He is now a senior and has been accepted at his first choice college. </p>
<p>Montessori is not for everyone but for those who are self motivated learners it is wonderful. I cannot say enough about the quality of education my child received and about the self motivated and reliant person he has become.</p>
<p>Beware, though that all Montessori programs are not created equal. Look for accredited schools and spend time visiting and talking to the kids. Ask where their “graduates” attend school. The best Montessori schools may track their kids through college.</p>
<p>I still miss hearing about the pink tower and the golden beads :)</p>
<p>You can PM me if you would like to discuss further</p>
<p>Seems I’m in the minority, but for my son, Montessori was NOT a good experience. I attribute it to what Cecil says above - there are good and bad schools, just like anything else, and most importantly, good and bad teachers. S’s teacher was bad. Period. </p>
<p>It was advertised as this open learning environment that was geared towards the strengths of the individual child, but all she did was compare S to all the other kids and where he was (or wasn’t) developmentally as compared to his classmates. He was my first and this was SUPPOSED to be a great environment, so I did not trust my instinct that it was a bad fit and I kept him there for 2 preschool years. I finally stopped going to the parent conferences because I left in tears everytime. </p>
<p>If nothing else, it was a great learning experience as a new parent (to trust my gut). It was such a relief when we finally pulled him out and he absolutely blossomed. Throughout the years each time he won an award or experienced a significant achievement I had to resist the urge to send a copy to the school because they made me feel so bad about my kid!!</p>
<p>But our good friend and neighbor’s daughter had another teacher at the school, and she was a completely different child than S (and a girl, so more advanced anyway at age 4) and they loved it there. So, just like everything in life, it’s a matter of fit and details. Their daughter WAS more self-motivated than S, who for sure needed a more structured environment. So know your kid, I think would be my advice. The label doesn’t always mean it’s right for your child.</p>
<p>Neither of my kids ended up in Montessori and academically they have both done just fine.I was interested in Montessori for my 2nd child, but where I live the Montessori preschool was considerable more expensive.</p>
<p>In Cincinnati we have 2 Montessori public schools and one now goes through high school. The elementary schools at least are wildly popular and people camp out to be able to enroll their children on registration day. Why the school board doesn’t create more of these popular, SUCCESSFUL schools I’ll never know.</p>
<p>There seems to be a self-selecting group of students and active parents who choose the Montessori school option. </p>
<p>And our Montessori HS hasn’t produced any National Merit kids yet so I’m not sure if the method translates well to the high school level, where perhaps kids should not “be in charge of their own education.” Just speculating, of course.*</p>
<p>*EDIT: I hasten to add that of course NMF isn’t the only measure of success in high school, college, or life! ;)</p>
<p>As a point of interest, our particular HS doesn’t offer any AP courses and I don’t know why that is. Are they not compatible with the Montessori method?</p>
<p>My three sisters and I went to a Montessori school for most of our elementary years (with a few breaks, two of us attended through 6th grade and two through 8th grade).</p>
<p>We’re now graduates of Wesleyan, Barnard, Brown, and Harvard: two lawyers, a doctor, and a free spirit. Some of us worked hard without being pushed; others didn’t. I loved that school academically and learned a ton. The biggest way that school influenced our lives was not the Montessori system, but the fact that it was majority black (we’re white Jews).</p>
<p>I’m very skeptical that a Montessori system is meaningfully different from a standard preschool for children ages 2-5. There are distinctive materials/toys, but most preschools are essentially free play environments, and it’s the teachers and the other kids who make one school different from another.</p>
<p>Both my kids went to Montessori preschool, one for 2 years and one for 3. They both have grown up to be high-achieving, independent thinkers, one in an Ivy and one heading off to MIT. Both have always been very comfortable on their feet, for example, doing presentations in front of people, a skill I struggled with forever. My regret was not leaving them in Montessori for a few years of elementary school. Our Kindergarten teacher told me she could always tell the Montessori kids, with that independent thinking thing. At least she was good about rolling with it. I cannot say the same about some other public school elementary school teachers.</p>
<p>My nephew went to Montessori preschool, went to an Ivy and is now a doctor.
My daughter did not go to Montessori preschool, is at an Ivy and will (likely) be a doctor.
My son did not go to Montessori preschool, is at a great LAC and will not be a doctor.
They’re all successful.</p>
<p>Any meaning to all this? I don’t think so.</p>
<p>My son went to Montessori from age 2.5-5 (preschool-pre-K), then to public school. My daughter didn’t go to any formal pre-school – she just was in a family day care home while I worked, she was thriving there so I decided to forget anything more formal. </p>
<p>Montessori was a great fit for my son and he loved it there. But as noted, my daughter was doing really great spending her days in the home of a loving mom with about 4 or 5 other little kids to watch over, at the same age.</p>
<p>Both kids grew up, have since graduated from college, and are doing well. So I really don’t think it matters beyond the fact that its good to put a small child in a nurturing and encouraging environment. I was attracted to Montessori in part because of the early introduction to reading and writing – my son really enjoyed the math activities, but couldn’t learn to read there. It turned out that he was dyslexic – the one advantage of Montessori is that I knew it was NOT the fault of the school that he didn’t read, but something related to his learning style. My daughter --who was getting no formal schooling at all – was a self-taught reader well before the age when most Montessori kids pick it up – so again, the school you choose isn’t going to change the kid. </p>
<p>Montessori was a good fit for my son because he was then a very independent and curious learner – I think he would have been bored in many traditional pre-schools and I’m pretty sure he would have been seen as a behavior problem at a school with a strong emphasis on group activities, as he tended to resist efforts to direct his activities. But I think that was a matter of his innate personality – so Montessori was a good fit for him. Over the years he has retained many of the characteristics that made Montessori such a good fit – but again, I don’t think its because of the school experience. </p>
<p>I honestly think that the best thing a parent can do is make an independent and as objective as possible of their child’s personality and needs, and then try to make the best choice for that kid with the range of options in their community. If there happens to be a reasonably-priced Montessori school nearby and the kid seems like he will do well there – great. But I wouldn’t embark on a long commute or pay money I didn’t have to make it happen.</p>
<p>I’d note that my son’s Montessori school closed down for financial reasons around the time he turned 5, and he briefly attended another school --but the schools were very different, even though the 2nd school actually hired his teacher and bought materials from the first. But the directors of school #2 seemed to be very different, and it impacted everything – about half a dozen or more kids from school #1 went over to school #2 and we were all very dissatisfied with the new environment. So the label really isn’t enough to tell you about the quality of the program offered – just like everything else, there are excellent Montessori schools, mediocre Montessori schools, and really poorly managed, terrible Montessori schools.</p>
<p>DD1 went to Montessori for over two years & DS went briefly. We felt the school we went to was just milking us, and bailed out. When the owner found out that we were not going to put DS, born in July, in their kindergarten, she did her best to try to convince us that he was not ready for public school kindergarten and should take a year to mature. We were really disappointed that they didn’t really learn anything of consequence.</p>
<p>They are both doing well now, but I can’t see their Montessori experience having anything to do with it.</p>
<p>I went to a Montessori school from a very early age through kindergarten. I loved it there, but my grade was very small and my classmates had some family issues, so my mom moved me. I hated elementary school, and didn’t really start enjoying school much again until high school (I’m now a high school senior). I learned long division in kindergarten, but then struggled in 4th grade to do it in the strict, bleak manner that seems common at a more traditional school. I have an unconventional learning style, so a regular school proved problematic for me. I was far from a child prodigy (I’m more of a late-ish bloomer) and didn’t read until I was 6 or 7, but I liked Montessori. I was miserable after I left. I don’t know how much it affected me. My sister went there through 7th, and she’s really awesome, but I don’t know how much it impacted her. She’s the only one in the family who hasn’t been diagnosed with adhd. At age 6, she was making sure our 13 year old brother had his school things. So, I think it’s just her…</p>
<p>My son went to a Montessori school in Kind. and grade one. It was a wonderful school with wonderful opportunities. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with ADHD and this type of learning environment was not a good fit for him. He needed more structure. He had too many choices, could not ever finish anything and there just seemed to be too much stimulation in the room. He did much better in a traditional classroom. It was a neat school though…</p>
<p>My son went to Monessori-based preK and K. If it had been offered, he would have continued on at those schools.</p>
<p>I think Montessori had a positive influence on our whole family. It reinforces the idea that we are all lifelong learners without emphasis on the so-called boundaries of home, school and work life.</p>
<p>I went to Monessori preschool for 2 years I think and I ended up in all the gifted and talented programs and was two years advanced in math. My mom also bought little math exercise books at teacher stores when I was in elementary school and made me do them so I think those two things greatly contributed to how I turned out to be now.</p>
<p>Both my girl-boy twins went to a local (quite inexpensive) Montessori from age 3 through 12 (sixth grade). It was a great school and a good experience for both of them, even though they’re quite different. As is often true of girl-boy twins, my daughter was more focused, excelling and fully using the experience; my son, while he did very, very well, was always in his sister’s shadow, which was difficult. Despite that issue, both my husband and I have felt it was the best decision regarding their education that we made. We had read that having a rich, stimulating environment in school early on would give them a jumpstart in life, in contrast to other families who, if they would invest in private school at all, would opt to have their children attend private high schools. For what it’s worth, we feel that Montessori was a great jumpstart for our children.</p>
<p>We loved the Montessori process. I think the Montessori reading program was perfect for both my kids for different reasons. My daughter could read at the pace she wanted instead of waiting for others. My son, who has mild ADHD, couldn’t have tolerated the rigidity of the local public school’s approach to reading; it would have made him hate it; instead he learned to love to read. For math, my daughter just soaked it up; my son was less invested in it.</p>
<p>They transitioned beautifully to public school in seventh grade and excelled throughout high school. My daughter was valedictorian and my son was on the dean’s list all four years. My daughter is a first-year at a top LAC where, so far, she’s got a 4.0. My son is at a strong LAC where he was on the Dean’s List first semester with 3.93.</p>
<p>However, all this emphasis on grades and GPAs still doesn’t tell the whole story. The Montessori school they attended was truly the spirit of Maria Montessori without extreme rigidity. The teachers focused on the whole child, nurturing and encouraging the students in myriads of ways. It was a healthy emotional environment and I think it helped them to become the centered, intellectually curious people that they are now. (We all have a little neuroses, especially if we’re on CC! 
)</p>
<p>Interesting! I know 3 kids from the Montessori program here in France, and 2 of them are dropouts (the third is only seven). I think the difference here is that we have/ used to have a strong preschool and primary school cursus, and that parents tend to go towards Ms when their kids are emotionally and/or socially fragile. Moreover the rigidity of the French middle school system is probably more of a shock after Ms than in the States. I also believe that parents who are concerned enough about their kids to put time and money into finding the best possible school are more likely to produce over-achievers.</p>
<p>To update my earlier post: Our city now has a 2nd Montessori HS, to serve another area of town. It will graduate its first class of seniors in 2011.</p>
<p>So the school board, for once, IS responsive to demand. ;)</p>
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<p>The effect of that is what I was trying to know.</p>
<p>I just learned that the two Google founders credited their Montessori education (in early years) for their success (I didn’t watch the interview though).</p>