Pros and Cons of Montessori education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in a Montessori school. Let me give you the inside's intake on this. DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO A MONTESSORI SCHOOL unless the child is a very slow learner. If your child has a autism or some other...

I also work at an AMI Montessori school and agree with a lot of this. Personally, I would send my 3-5 year old to a montessori school but beyond that I believe I would be doing a diservice to my child if I let him learn this way as he develops. It is unrealistic. I see the merit of the idea but the child loses such important skills in a Montessori environment. Like respect of adults and others. The 4-6th graders at my school are appalling in regards to behavior. Absolutely unacceptable behaviors-rude, disrespectful and often times way off base of reality. It makes me sad (first furious that I have to deal with this but then sad for the children). I see the behaviors snowballing through the grades as I have all of them in my "specials" class which I also find to teach a counterproductive lesson. And the spelling, grammar, sentence structure and paper organization-I just can't believe how awful it is. My seniors handed me papers with their names on the back, on the bottom, on the side-if I was a college professor I would chuckle and throw it away without reading it. The Method seems to want to create a bubble of learning. Learning shouldn't be done in a bubble and all learning: cognitive, musical, physical, emotional should be taught in ALL aspects of a childs' life...not JUST in a prepared classroom. How do they, then learn to transition to the gym, the grocery store...Life. As much as we would like our kiddos DO NOT live in a bubble. They have to go out in a world that thrives on competition, order, bosses and subordinates, respectful interaction and so forth. The "prepared environment" is just that-not real, as much as the Method says the point is realistic endeavors its surely not at all real. As teachers and parents we do not follow our kids around setting up their life. Again, I see the merit but it is 2012, the method should evolve to be valid. Parents can teach kids to pour water...in 15 seconds and really doesn't need to be practiced as life gives you that opportunity when you are actually thirsty :/. I doubt my son will really ever need to learn how to polish brass and I also don't think my son should have to use a hall length strand of beads to learn how to count- paper, pencil and calculator might be more relevant?! Really, In my humble opinion a combination of traditional ed, montessori ideas and technology might create a useful, relevant education. It is extremely true when posters say that Montessori is not for everyone...they seem to have to say that a lot. If you have a intrinsically motivated, well behaved kiddo it might work and they might do well. But if you have that wonderful type of student find a school that has HIGHLY educated teachers (some montessorians have ONLY the 1 year training and no bachelor's degree). The teacher really makes the classroom...visit a class for a long period of time and more than once. If the teacher is great he/she will welcome you and won't mind at all!

[Anonymous]

There are many things I liked about the Montessori experience for our eldest and it was certainly better than many other full day preschools which had poor food, TV, no control in the classroom, time outs, and poor curriculum, but I just can't continue to by sympathetic when I constantly hear from my Montessori parent friends that their child isn't "choosing harder work". There is a reason little children don't often choose hard work for themselves. They aren't sure how to do many things yet and it is intimidating to do new things much less teach yourself how to do something on your own. Children need to be taught a new subject before they grow to love it and "choose" it on their own. If only the schools would realize that they should teach new things well at first (not just introduce it once or twice) and then give children room to explore I'd be up for going through it again provided there was more instruction for free play as well. I love the materials and some of the discipline methods, but my DC also had social issues as a result of the Montessori experience that we've had to correct with much of our own effort and are now looking at alternatives for our second.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in a Montessori school. Let me give you the inside's intake on this. DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO A MONTESSORI SCHOOL unless the child is a very slow learner. If your child has a autism or some other...

Montessori is completely inappropriate for kids with ASDs. The lack of structure in the classroom doesn't work for them. They also don't understand social cues very well so "gentle guidance" by the teacher doesn't work well.

[Anonymous]

This post is scaring me away from montessori schools. I don't know much about them but it seems like a hinderance almost.

[Anonymous]

My 3 children have gone to a montessori preschool and they all enjoyed it. They are all very bright, so a play based preschool wasn't enough for them since that's kind of like being at home except having to fight with more kids for the toys. for preschool i think montessori is great. they all learned skip counting, and began reading. My oldest stayed for kindergarten and i wouldn't do that again. there's not enough structure for the older kids. mine wanted to be taught and the rigor of public has been a better fit. but i think montessori in preschool is great.... learning because its fun and not because you get a sticker has been a good model for them.

[Anonymous]

And the spelling, grammar, sentence structure and paper organization-I just can't believe how awful it is.

This is the problem with Montessori Kindergarten too. My DC was shocked in 1st grade when they correct spelling and had spelling tests. I wish they would have introduced the concept of spelling at least a little bit in K but they will not teach or correct spelling in Montessori as a matter of principal. They also completely miss the mark on avoiding memorization activities. I'm not advocating for drill and kill but early readers should be taught sight words and some memorization rather than sole phonic sounding out of words.

[Anonymous]

Well in our public K all they teach is inventive spelling as well, but not too much phonics, just sight words and very simple phonics. Phonics is way more important in my mind for SPELLING and learning new words than learning sight words. Typically phonics books have some sight words in them anyways and most Montessori schools have some sight word work as well. I've never understood the benefit of spending a lot of time learning sight words. As soon as you understand phonics, there are much less sight words to learn and as soon as you start reading regularly, you learn those words through the books you are reading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This post is scaring me away from montessori schools. I don't know much about them but it seems like a hinderance almost.

Please investigate Montessori for yourself and don't rely on a bunch of faceless strangers to make this decision for you. Real Montessori school is definitely not a hindrance--hard to believe anyone could think this about it, knowing what it is firsthand--though it is may not for everyone. Visit a real school--an accredited one with a good reputation for being faithful to the tenets of Montessori--and talk to real people. I imagine there are crap faux-"Montessori" schools out there that have no idea what they are doing and project chaos and God knows what else.

[Anonymous]

After reading so many negative posts about Montessori schools, I feel so lucky to have my daughter in a Montessori school that seems to have got it "right". I knew nothing about Montessori schools when I enrolled my daughter into the preschool/primary program. It worked out that way because I actually applied at the school as an assistant (I have prior child education experience). As I learned more about the philosophy and saw the teaching and kids in action I became a believer in Montessori style of teaching. My daughter is happy and now in Kindergarten. My mother has her Masters in education and works as a counselor at an elementary school and is amazed at what my daughter has learned so far. I know her school has all AMI trained teachers, each classroom usually has about 25 students, work and play is well balanced, I am now a sub an can walk into any classroom and have respect of all the students. The school is partly funded by the state which is great because I learned tuition in other states is crazy! Maybe it is because of that fact that I don't consider the students at the school spoiled, but just have parents who are 100% invested in their child's education.

[Anonymous]

My son is a typical 3 year old and has very little concentration. I was first worried about him not being able to find his own work, and completing tasks on his own. Now that we're halfway through the school year, I'm happy with my decision to stay with Montessori. While the teachers are always giving him "lessons" on different things, I noticed he picks up just as much from the older students. He'll watch the older kids work on numbers or letters, and he's absorbing it all. He came home asking me how to add, and his teachers said that was a topic they have not covered with him yet (too young), but it's something he observed from watching the other kids. My son still does not understand the concept of adding, but the fact that he's slowly taking things in tells me he's learning. I think he spends a lot of time observing others at school, but when he comes home, he's looking for a "project" of his own, and will creatively make one up for himself. He works independently at home for long stretches of time, and I really believe it's the Montessori experience that is fueling his desire to learn and "work" at home.

[Anonymous]

The problem with a lot of traditional preschools, especially full day ones, are that they are mini versions of public schools. It is nice to have a little variety if you can't afford private school forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After reading so many negative posts about Montessori schools, I feel so lucky to have my daughter in a Montessori school that seems to have got it "right". I knew nothing about Montessori schools when I enrolled my daughter into the preschool/primary program. It worked out that way because I actually applied at the school as an assistant (I have prior child education experience). As I learned more about the philosophy and saw the teaching and kids in action I became a believer in Montessori style of teaching. My daughter is happy and now in Kindergarten. My mother has her Masters in education and works as a counselor at an elementary school and is amazed at what my daughter has learned so far. I know her school has all AMI trained teachers, each classroom usually has about 25 students, work and play is well balanced, I am now a sub an can walk into any classroom and have respect of all the students. The school is partly funded by the state which is great because I learned tuition in other states is crazy! Maybe it is because of that fact that I don't consider the students at the school spoiled, but just have parents who are 100% invested in their child's education.

Would you be willing to share the name of your school?

[Anonymous]

DD is 3 and at a Montessori school. The teacher crafts individual lesson plans for each child every single week. While they have freedom, she also skillfully guides them to their planned lessons. So she can't avoid "hard" work by not choosing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is 3 and at a Montessori school. The teacher crafts individual lesson plans for each child every single week. While they have freedom, she also skillfully guides them to their planned lessons. So she can't avoid "hard" work by not choosing it.

Same with my 5 year old's Montessori teacher. She makes lists for the children every week of work they need to do--a nice variety among subjects. My son has learned so much this year--doing phonograms taught him to read lightening fast, it was unbelievable. And his math skills are so much farther than I would have thought.

[Anonymous]

My niece has a child in this form of school, the child is smart however i feel in her case she sent the child here because she is just lazy. the child cooks food and does everythin that has to be done for self. while she sits back and does nothing. this child isn't going to know what a mother is for. not sure i like this type of education in cases where you have self centered parents and lazy parents.