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My kid have only been in Montessori program, so I can't give you a comparison based on the same student. However, I love the Montessori method. My kid just finished his first year of Preschool at a Montessori program. Before he start, he could barely talk. After just 9 months, he's extremely talkative now and his vocabulary is VASTLY improved compare to where he was and he's speaking proper full sentences. His writing skill (finger control) is similar to his cousin, who is 2 years older than he is and drastically better than his cousin who's his age. Both of those cousins were/are not in Montessori program, just your regular preschool. It's amazing to walk into a class room of 30 3-5 years old and see them all quietly working. They seem to love to work too. When he started, his math and number recognition were better than his language. However, after 9 months, his language has drastically improved while his math and numbers have only improved somewhat. That is because he chose to do the language related work rather than the math work. After 4 years old, they'll have a minimum requirement for what each kids have to learn before they can pick their own work. Before 4, they can pick any work they want.

Be careful, many schools use the term Montessori as a marketing gimmick - they really aren't Montessori schools.

I think you really have to do the research to determine if a school is an authentic Montessori school.

It's subjective, of course, and every child is different. Some will thrive in a Montessori environment, and some will do better with a traditional format.

In general, children who are self-directed do exceedingly well with the Montessori method, but those who need a lot of structure don't do quite as well.

Personally, I love the child-centered/directed philosophy found in most Montessori schools, but like Paramount said, some schools are only posing as Montessori, so do your homework on the individual schools. (Full disclosure: we're homeschoolers, and I'm a former public school teacher.)

My kid use to go to kinderhouse montessori. I think overall my kid had a really positive experience at a montessori school.

PM me if you want more info.

I think in a lot of ways the montessori system was much more effective teaching than what my kid gets in public school in CV right now..

My kid also goes to a chinese afterschool program right now. A lot of it is more memory based, without real understanding imho....

But in all seriousness, you're kid's mileage is heavily influenced by what you do. I made a habit of having my kid read with me each night for about 15-20 minutes. I'm not expecting a superstar, just someone who loves to read. (I hated to read when I was kid..Who am I kidding. I still hate to read). My kid has decent reading skills now. My kid can do math, but a lot of the concepts like multiplication/etc she can do the mechanism but doesn't really understand what she is doing.

I daughter goes to Montessori for a year now. Even though she is very self-directed, she often gets in trouble because she wants to play more. I think traditional preschool is more "play-based" compares to Montessori. Regardless, I love to have my girl goes to Montessori because I think she does get a lot out of Montessori academically. At 4 and a half years-old, she is reading quite well. She also understands math concepts...even though she is a trouble maker at school. We have been working with Montessori to help her to work on whatever she is going through... So, it really depends on your kid's learning style and your goal. At time, I thought Montessori is not for my daughter because she doesn't enjoy go to school. Even now, after a year at Montessori, she still tells us every morning that she doesn't want to go to school. It's probably because her little sister and Grandma are home everyday, so she wants to have fun at home.
To make the long story short, I would want my daughter to go to Montessori regardless (and I am not a tiger mother...lol)

The other thing that I love about my kid's Montessori school is, they teach them both Spanish and Mandarin from the very beginning. So, they get immersed in the languages very early. That alone is something public school can't match. My kid is still only three, yet he knows his 0-10 in 3 languages as well as various other common words in Chinese and Spanish. I think exposing them to foreign language early will help them later on. I imagine that by the time he finish elementary school, his Spanish and Chinese will be good enough that he'll breeze through foreign language classes in HS.

I disagree with CAR that only self motivated / self-directed kids will take full advantage of the montessori program. When you walk into any of the four preschool classes at my kid's school, you'll see ALL of the kids are busy working on something. Some work alone while some work in pairs. I'm pretty sure not all of those kids are self motivated. Yet, they all seem busy learning/working. I think peer pressure is a great thing. When you see all of your friends/classmates working, you'll want to do the same. Also, having older kids teaching the younger ones how to do some of the work is very helpful. My kid loves to work with older kids on stuff that he doesn't really know how to do. But he wants to learn from his older classmates. It's like have 30 teachers instead of just 3.

My kids went thru true Montessori in nm at great fancy school w well trained teachers. I believe those years made them netter people. We spent way too much money doing it but it was worth it.

Are you talking preschool (which I think you are) or grade school?

I've seen the way they deal with the unmotivated kids at AN's preschool. The teachers ignore them until they get back to business. It reminded me of Star Trek, when the Klingons turn their back on a Klingon that has dishonored their race. :)

[It's pretty much textbook Montessori, I think]

Also, what do you mean by textbook Montessori?

If you are touring MBMA, they do not stop what they are doing or put on any special show - it's business as usual. We were on a tour a few years back and in fact we felt the environment was too subdued for our daughter; sort of ironic we ended up at the elementary program there (and probably would have been better served *had* we chosen to be on the K side at MBMA).

Did it work? Yes. Within a few minutes, the girl got back to business. Textbook Montessori? There are plenty of books/pamphlets that explain the Montessori philosophy and how they go about doing things - probably can find some online as well.

I think even as adult, we don't work at 100% all day long. So, I don't expect kids to do so. There are time where I'm lazy and just check some email or surf the net for a little bit. I think the peer pressure (seeing all your classmates working) will get you to do so. I know it works as an adult too. I work in a lab environment and when all of your coworker are busy working all around you, you tend to want to do the same. It's even more effective when you do extreme programming as a software engineer. Which is what these kids are doing. They pair up and teach each other. If it works for adults, I believe it works for kids as well.

I didn't say that *only* self-motivated kids do well. I said that, in general, they do exceedingly well -- they often do *better* in a Montessori/self-guided environment vs. a traditional environment. Some kids honestly don't do as well in a Montessori environment because they need more structure and a heavier hand to guide them. This is just my opinion based on discussions with parents, older kids, and adults (including other teachers) who have been through Montessori and traditional schools.

As you know, I'm an ardent supporter of homeschooling and more child-centered teaching/learning methods, but acknowledge that it's not for everyone. I can see the difference with my own three kids. Two do very, very well with more "independent" study, while the other one would probably do just as well (if not better) in a more traditional environment. Everyone is different, and there is no "right way" to teach or learn, IMHO.

Appreciate everyones advice. The school we are looking at for Montessori is a toddler program and is AMI certified. Does this change anyone's oppinion?

Thanks!

I've toured 2 different Montessori schools (one is only pre-K through K, and the other is pre-K through 6th grade), and I see differences between the two. Both are good, and you can see both have the quiet hum you expect from a Montessori class. However, the pre-K through 6 school feels more complete to me. I can't really explain it. That's where I end up sending my kid. So, you have to tour as many Montessori as you can (within the distance you're willing to drive to), so you can assess which one would be right for you. There's no single curriculum, like public school.

Well, don't go here :(

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