Do any of you have your children in a Montessori school or teach them with this method?
I went to one from pre-school to 1st grade, and on&off throughout grade school and middle school. As far as education for the students goes, I have never been taught as well. My classmates and I all read way above our grade level, and did very well on tests.
This does not mean we were smarter than other kids at all, just that we were being taught using Montessori methods instead of public school methods.
I hear very little about these schools any more and was just wondering.
All three of the little junilou’s went to a Montessori preschool for several years. The missus and I believe it was a good experience for them.
That said, there are a few things to look for. The Montessori method relies on “discovery learning.” The child finds something interesting and learns about it or how to do it. This requires a very low student-teacher ratio and it requires exceptionally good teachers who can guide the child to keep exploring new things, even if they don’t seem as interesting as something that has already been explored.
Good Montessori schools have lots of adults, lots of learning tools and use lots of different ways to present information. The children are active, but not out of control. They draw on the natural curiosity of a child, but find ways to control it, rather than just letting the child go from one thing to the next.
Good Montessori schools are expensive. Bad ones aren’t worth it at any cost.
Even the best Montessori schools aren’t the right choice for all children. Some respond better to a more structured environment. Some don’t work well in the group evnrionment and need more one-on-one and less sharing.
I understand all the words, they just don’t make sense together like that.
Sorry about this. I’m just posting to see if my post yesterday really was accepted and is just awaiting another poster. I’ve got faith in CGI, but 24 hrs is too many for me to handle without the satisfaction of seeing my post!
Okay… so it didn’t take. I did say something like this:
kunilou summarized their philosophy and method; I’ll just add a testimonial.
Little Pantellerite is enrolled at our local Montessori school. He loves it and we love it. He’s the youngest one in the 3-4-5 class (admitted at 2.5 last September) and ever since he’s been there, his knowledge, language skills, social skills, etc., have grown and improved dramatically. (Example: two or so months ago, he found some of my GSA literature laying on a table, pointed to the symbol, and said: “That’s Nowrf Amewica”.) The environment is very caring and very self-paced. On the weekends and holidays he wants to go to school. When we pick him up in the afternoon, he never wants to leave.
Montessori has convinced us; we’re sticking with it!
Penn
I’m glad to hear of your success with Montessori. I loved it too. I was lucky enough to attend (as a really small kid) a few classes taught by Maria Montessori (early 70’s).
BYW, I’m a member of the Church of Tellerism, as taught by Penn and Teller in their Vegas show. I’m a convert, it’s true. I saw Teller heal. Really! He healed that polyester like no one else could. Said the space aliens taught him how. 
Anyways - it was a good show. Have you been to Vegas to see them?
I’m afraid that–despite how much I like Penn and Teller–any resemblance between their name and my screen name, Pantellerite, is wholly superficial.
Pantellerite is one of the types of rocks that I study, named after its type locality, the beautiful Isole di Pantelleria in the Strait of Sicily. It is part of Italy (the absolute southernmost part), however, which is the homeland of Maria Montessori (whose image, IIRC, graces the obverse of the 1000 lire note.)
I think the concept of Montessori is fine. I suspect that you have to be careful with individual schools. It is a franchise, and Maria Montessori is not inspecting each school to make sure her principles are adhered to.
The Montessori near us has a pretty shabby reputation and has been staying afloat simply because it’s in a growing area and there are enough new folks that don’t hear the old stories. The example that is closest to me was that of the two kids who went to day care with my kids. Neither seemed to “know” as much as the other kids their age. One day the lady who runs the day care went to help the (fourth grade) girl and discovered she could not read at all. Having a background in primary education, the lady ran a couple of her old tests and discovered that the girl was classically dyslexic. The parents took the daughter to a professional who confirmed the diagnosis. When they went back to the school, the whole staff said, “Gee, we never knew.”
(I have more than a bit of problem with the parents not noticing an inability to read in 3 1/2 years, but that school certainly messed up.)
I do know of other Montessori schools that are excellent. I just don’t think the name is a guarantee.
Tom~
One other consideration with Montessori schools is the likelihood of your moving. We liked the Montessori concept, but felt that transferring kids in early grade school from an unstructured environment to one in which structure was more important than content (your typical public school) would be counterproductive.
As it turned out, our kids did move to Germany between 3rd & 4th grade for one kid and between 4th & 5th grade for the other. There was enough culture shock (even going to American schools on post) without adding in strict rules about not talking out of turn, or getting up to look at something in the classroom that interested them.
By middle school, the focus is more on the content, which should make any transition easier.
Sue from El Paso
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.