Montessori School

[ides]

I'd say you can wait till he's a little older. O is almost four & is now getting more into paying attention & activities. The school he is going to is $305/month for 4 mornings a week.

[houseelf]

Montessori is a gift for life. I'm a believer! It is crazy expensive. It is cheaper to send a kid to the local public university than the montessori in this neighborhood.

My oldest went through montessori through fourth grade. His chief complaint was not being able to move around in traditional school. Homework wasn't a big deal but there were some issues with matching up curriculum. He had mastered intricate long division but hadn't spent as much time on decimals. The mandated state curriculum was heavy on decimals. It took maybe 8 review sessions over the summer and we were good to go. Even last year in 6th grade, his teacher commented on his ability to stay focused on his work while the rest of the class was buzzing around him.

I will say that in our experience, after 3rd grade the kids did not use the fabulous hands on materials as much. They still get the choice and time management piece in upper elementary. If I had to do it all over again, my kids would attend montessori from ages 3 to 9 and then transition to a traditional school.

If you are interested in why montessori is so effective, google Lillard-Stoll and read her research. I heard her speak and she provides evidence based research that montessori works.

My youngest is going two full days a week. I couldn't do the traditional five mornings a week because he has speech therapy twice a week.

[hanginginthere]

This is a very cool thread! I taught Montessori for years- it was what I was doing when I met hubby when he was in med school. I LOVED it! I had taught in traditional public schools before and there is no comparison! I wish we could afford to send DD there- she is only 2 so maybe once residency is done and she is 4 we can send her during hubby's pay back years when we have funds... For now I do a lot of the Montessori stuff at home

[niener]

LOL!

Okay, so this thread is making me think... Is it really worth about $550 per month for preschool? (DS is about 2.5 years old.) If I decide later, once we're more financially stable, could I just start him in Montessori kindergarten, or would it be too late? I love the philosophy, but that's a huge sticker shock for basically just teaching him to share. He already knows his colors, part of the ABCs, and can count to 10, so I know I can teach him stuff...

I was 4 or 5 when I started going. I don't think it was too late.

[niener]

FYI, check out today's Google doodle -- it's a tribute to Montessori! Here's an article about what the doodle means: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2409181,00.asp

[Thirteen]

I am very interested in what I'm hearing on this thread. Clearly, I need to pull my head out of the sand and start researching these things.
As I was telling LM on Friday, I'm not sure I will be doing "school" for DS anytime soon, but it's good to know what the options are before we are ready to look.
I saw the article linked, but does anyone have a book recommendation about the Montessori Methodology?

[spotty_dog]

I read several of the books by Maria Montessori when I was looking into the method during one of my phases. But I think the book/author that was most recommended for an overview of modern Montessori teaching was this: http://www.amazon.com/Montessori-Tod...dp/080521061X/

[Thirteen]

I read several of the books by Maria Montessori when I was looking into the method during one of my phases. But I think the book/author that was most recommended for an overview of modern Montessori teaching was this: http://www.amazon.com/Montessori-Tod...dp/080521061X/

Thank you, A!


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[hanginginthere]

When I was going through elementary training we used the Maria Montessori books and also the books by Paula Polk Lillard- the latter makes for easy reads and are very comprehensive

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I would also encourage anyone considering Montessori to go observe for the day. It's definitely something very interesting to see in action. The schools (typically) though not always require a high degree of parental involvement. Additionally, most are considered private schools (though not all) so there is significantly less economic (and sometimes racial/ethnic) diversity in these schools than may be found at a typical public school. I consider that a significant downside to Montessori though clearly I'm a HUGE fan in general. I think there's something to be said for going to your neighborhood school...not that I ever experienced that but I think that's why it might be important to me.

[SoonerTexan]

The Montessori schools
In our area are often 2x the price of a normal preschool. Bums me because I'd love to be able to send N someday, though we plan on doing public schools k-12

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

The Montessori schools
In our area are often 2x the price of a normal preschool. Bums me because I'd love to be able to send N someday, though we plan on doing public schools k-12

I'm pretty sure my old Montessori is now $12-15k for elementary school per year. Way out of our budget.

[niener]

I think the ones here are around $200/wk for full-time. Supposedly there are a few public Montessori schools in the nation, but only a few.

[BonBon]

Where we are, the price ranges from a few thousand a year for preschool, to ~8K for kinder+, to ~11K for middle school. I think the diversity depends on the area, because our school is very diverse in comparison to the public school up the street that my kids currently attend. I'd say only about 50% of the population are white americans. It breaks my heart that we're not there anymore, but DH didn't want to invest over 400K in their early education. We're saving for college instead. (There have been a lot of tears over this!!)

[TigerLily]

I decided last week to start sending A 5 times a week for 3 hours a day and her tuition went up to $350 a month. I'm feeling pretty lucky about that right now! She loves it so much, she was sad on the days when I told her she doesn't have school. This school is very diverse compared to other public and private schools in the area school district, which was a huge plus for us.
We have a public Montessori school here and that is where I did my field experience for my teaching degree. It was a fantastic environment. I wish there were more public Montessori schools.