<p>My kids have done pretty well academically and I really credit that to their Montessori pre-school that I thought did a great job getting them interested in learning. Given the large number of “achievers” -as the dude would say- that are here I am curious what your thoughts were on Montessori-especially pre-school.</p>
<p>S1 attended Montessori from age 3-6, then went to a public school mixed grade Montessori classroom for half a year, until we moved. Great experience that I would have liked to recreate for my next two kids. He has done well in every classroom envirnment. He is graduating this spring from our state flagship university, where he has done well. </p>
<p>S2 attended the same Montessori for a half a year at age three. When we moved he attended A church based preschool (because it had a great reputation. Not a religious based curriculum, and not Montessori, although like most good preschools it used a number of Montessori materials and methods) until he started kindergarten. He thrived in both preschools, and has thrived in every classroom since then. He taught himself to read at age 4 and learned sign language at the church preschool. He is in his second year of college at an out of state flagship, where he is in the honors program. He is frankly the kind of kid who would have done well if he had attended school in a paper bag. </p>
<p>D attended preschool at a local YMCA (another move), where, again, there were a number of Montessori methods and materials used. It was a distinctly less academic preschool experience, but she had a marvelous time and learned to swim. She is doing well as a high school sophomore.</p>
<p>All three kids learned the important things in their different preschools: They learned to share, to wait, to play nicely with others… along with all the other statements from the “Everything I Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten” essay. </p>
<p>In other words, Montessori was nice, but not necessary for my children who came from a happy family, living in a safe neighborhood, with enough food and love and money for many enriching experiences.</p>
<p>I was in Montessori through sixth grade. I think it’s terrific for the right kid (in my case, the right kid was someone who was motivated to work). I’d like to see more schools on this model and in higher grades.</p>
<p>My kids were all in Montessori preschool and part of their elementary years. I’m not sure how much the preschool years influence non-Montessori K-12 years.</p>
<p>The elementary years reinforced my kids’ love of learning and also taught them to be independent learners. Kid4 is the Montessori poster child–moved through different subjects at her own pace when she was ready. Downside is that high school doesn’t work that way–exams and assignments have due dates. On the plus side—she can go way beyond the class subject matter to explore topics on her own.</p>
<p>I think Montessori has been of lasting impact to my kids, who attended from 2-6. There was an elementary option, but the kids who stayed were a little ‘odd’ and I wanted the children to have the neighborhood friends they weren’t making there ( and fit in with them…). They are very good at helping others, and we’re exceptionally well prepared for first grade. S14 wants to teach school and is interested in Montessori methods he can incorporate. I particularly think the manupulaitves in math are helpful for visualizing.</p>
<p>My 3 kids attended a Montessori school for different lengths of time. Once went 1st - 6th grade, one went K-4th grade, and one went age 3 - 7th grade. I believe it greatly impacted who they are and how they approach learning, and school. And in how they relate to teachers and other adults.</p>
<p>One important thing to remember is that using the name Montessori isn’t really regulated, and it’s very easy for anyone to call themselves a Montessori school. </p>
<p>I think the approach itself is amazing, and we were lucky enough to find a specific school that offered a wonderful learning environment for our kids. Allowing kids to learn at their own pace and to linger on things that interest them is such a gift. Transitioning into our traditional public schools was an adjustment, but they weren’t behind in anything academic. They had to get used to keeping track of a lot of paper and assignments, and to the fact that they didn’t form strong personal bonds with their teachers. </p>
<p>My kids were there well beyond preschool years, but I do think that the years they spent in Montessori helped them not get turned off or shut down by some of the meaningless time sucking assignments they had in middle school and high school. My oldest summed it up after being out of Montessori for a couple years. He said he felt like at Montessori, they worked as hard as they could even though there weren’t any grades, and they behaved responsibly and kindly even though there was no punishment. (to be clear, there was sure discipline and expectations, but not a million rules, hall passes, detention, etc)</p>
<p>My sister and I went to a public Montessori for 9 years, from preschool to 6th grade, then to the best public high school in our area. The kids from our Montessori school did much better than the average student, and were overrepresented in the Honors program for the top 80 students (out of 350 total per class). </p>
<p>I’m sure a lot of this can be explained by parental involvement and the importance of education in the Montessori families - getting your kid into my elementary school took more work than getting your kid into the neighborhood school, so only parents who really wanted something special and different for their kids would send them there. But it was also definitely true that the Montessori kids were independent thinkers and self starters (slightly) more often than the students from more standard schools.</p>
<p>I don’t know how well Montessori high school works though. There was one in my area, and though it was definitely better regarded than the average failing public school, there are other schools that offer regionally and even nationally well-regarded educations.</p>
<p>Good point PN that not all Montessori schools/classrooms are true Montessori and that many vary in structure and quality. </p>
<p>We have a Montessori classroom in one of our public schools that teaches 1-5th grades. After seeing it, the only things really Montessori are the certified teacher, the name, and the rugs. They follow the district curriculum and don’t utilize many of the methods or manipulatives.</p>
<p>My kids’ elem was part of a charter school taught by very experienced Montessori teachers. So wonderful that I wanted to be a student in their classrooms. I still love the math beads.</p>
<p>My understanding is that Maria Montessori designed the program to help needy and troubled young kids but its interesting to me that in the US it seems that more affluent/educated people use it and its not accessible to more needy kids who stand to benefit from it the most.
More and more states are providing pre-school public education and I began exploring public pre-school montessori models for our district but one of the few large-scale programs I could find was in Arlington, Virginia.</p>
<p>Do any of you know if there are education programs (general ones at colleges, not special Montessori training programs) which include Montessori theory or practice? I’ve always thought it would be such a great idea, and now I have a kid thinking about becoming a teacher.</p>
<p>I am a believer in the value of a Montessori education, especially in the younger years. It continues to keep a kid inquisitive, teaches boundaries, and kids can learn kinesthetically, which is more appropriate for a 4 year old than doing a worksheet. My kids went to Montessori preschools. Unfortunately, in my area the highest grade that Montessori went up to was 2nd grade.</p>
<p>Both of my kids went to Montessori school. One went from pre-k to grade 2, and the other from age 3 - 5. The one who attended actual school there loved math and reading, and hated writing. In 3rd grade, he started another school, and his writing looked like he was maybe 4 or 5. He is now a math major, and maybe those early years, where he picked what he wanted to do, influenced him. Both have done very well academically, are in mostly GT/ AP classes, and are strong test takers. I do credit Montessori for some of that. I do remember my kids loving learning when they were in Montessori school. I recommend Motessori to people who ask.</p>
<p>D.S. attended a Montessori school from grades 3 through 6, and is now in college. He credits Montessori with 1) instilling an ongoing love of learning and 2) helping him become the self-motivated, non-procrastinating student he is today.</p>
<p>Montessori schools vary widely in philosophy and scope, and aren’t for everyone. But our experience was a positive one.</p>
<p>S1 attended a Montessori pre-school and a church-based (non-religious) kindergarten because that was what was available. I’m not sure if they caused his problems, but he seemed to learn to avoid doing things he didn’t want to do. Had real problems with a first grade teacher who did not do well with little boys. Since he was our first child, we were not as pro-active as we might have been had we known more. </p>
<p>S2 did not attend pre-school at all, just a good babysitter. However, he had a terrific kindergarten teacher (best teacher either of my kids ever had) who got him off on the right foot. I think S1 would have done much better throughout school if he had had this teacher, too. </p>
<p>Part of this is probably attributable to their differing personalities, but I think natural tendencies were reinforced in their two situations.</p>
<p>Montessori pre-school was a disaster for my creative kid. Too much “working on puzzles on placemats”, or “the block area can only have two people in it. Come back later”. Picking up cotton balls with tweezers. Her most vivid memory is pounding wooden “nails” into a tray of clay, again and again. Sometimes it felt as if the teacher was overly focused on “work is play” instead of “play is work”. For kids that are quiet and self-directed, it’s probably great, but for my 3 year old it felt dreary.</p>
<p>I never had any of my kids in Montessori schools, but my D (college senior) did not have a good experience in one during a teaching practicum. She taught in several different types of schools.
She said the kids in that particular Montessori elementary school were inattentive, rude, and undisciplined. She said it was just an excuse to let ADHD kids run amok. Montessori may be good for kids who can’t sit still and like hands-on stuff in preschool and early grades, but by 3rd-5th grade, kids should be able to sit down and listen, and she didn’t see that happening at this particular school. (btw, she said the kids in the Catholic school had the best behavior.)</p>
<p>I think Montessori should be a good experience for most kids, if not all, if there are plenty of things for kids to explore/learn and with highly knowledgeable teachers around.</p>
<p>“Montessori” can mean almost anything and cover a huge variety in types of schools, behavior of kids, etc. I had my older kids in elementary Montessori at an infant-6th grade school, and S was at a gr. 1-6 for a time. I also worked as an assistant at a 1-8th. They couldn’t have been any more different. </p>
<p>The one I worked at was very firm in discipline, had kids doing a lot of traditional school work, but at their own pace. There was nothing ADD about it and kids weren’t running around doing nothing. At the one both of the older kids were at, it had a working farm, so the kids did farm chores in addition to working at their own pace on set lessons. I never saw any kids running around unchecked, but to the untrained person, it might have seemed unstructured. The other one was somewhere in between the two. It really depends on the school’s philosophy. </p>
<p>I had my youngest in a Catholic school and sure, they had the best behaved kids of any school any of my kids have been in. They sort of HAVE to be when the teachers give them detention for things like not raising one’s hand properly, wearing the wrong clothes to school, for helping out another kid when it’s silent time and other rules that have nothing to do with actually LEARNING anything. And God forbid a kid read AHEAD in the book! Sorry-we couldn’t get away from there fast enough.</p>
<p>Just want to make it clear that I’m reporting about particular/individual schools that my D taught at last semester, not Montessori or Catholic schools in general. Of course a student teacher’s perspective will differ from that of a parent or student.</p>