I'm a DC Montessorian. AMA.

[Anonymous]

Given the much larger class sizes do you are Montessori programs as better for those just doing the "academic core" if the day vs those that need preschool to also provide childcare during the rest of the work day? For 2.5 and 3 year olds especially I would not think it is great to spend all day long in such a large group although I can see this being fine if it is just 3 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, as well as the two previous posts.

Folks, keep in mind that 25-30 is a good number, IF and ONLY IF the space is available. Cramming kids in is bad news bears, but that high number in a large classroom is perfect!

Please explain why 25-30 kids is necessary for Montessori to work. I am genuinely curious. I am the PP with a child at Franklin. I am not convinced that you need that many kids in a classroom at all.

Not OP, but I can tell you it isn't necessary. All the schools that have a better reputation and happier teachers have more help and less children. Unless at least one assistant is very good it can be a nightmare to have over 25 children. The amount of teaching that goes on from older to younger children in large classrooms is very small. For the most part, children the same age are learning from one another on the same activity. Also just time wise it's impossible for one teacher to get to all the children in a day in a class that large. I do think 30 children with 2 good assistants who actually help teach the 3 and 4 year olds and a floater teacher as well is a great classroom especially if there are close to 10 kindergarteners, but that rarely happens. Franklin does have a lot of additional staff giving the lead teacher breaks, so I think their rooms of 30 might work pretty well with a strong teacher and assistant.

It only works well because it gets rid of the not so compliant kids within a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe that 25-30 preschoolers in any room is a terrible idea. Children thrive with the facilitation of loving, trained teachers and assistants. They also learn from each other but the guidance and co-learning that comes in a good play based school is the best, in my opinion.

Not the OP, but your opinion is useless because you don't know what you are talking about. In a Montessori classroom you do NOT have 25-30 "preschoolers" (3-4YO) in a classroom. You have 25-30 kids ranging in age from 3 to 6YO. Having the age range is crucial. You may not believe it, but the older kids actually do teach and help the younger kids. So in a Montessori classroom you do in fact get "loving, trained teachers and assistants" and "co-learning." Why not try reading and learning more about Montessori philosophy before spouting off and spreading misinformation?

[Anonymous]

What is your opinion of the other Montessori schools run by Metro Montessori? My child attends one of the "sister schools" of Franklin.

Also, I am not yet positive but believe my child is going to be the oldest in their classroom. Do you think children benefit as much in this situation? Last year my child was in the middle of the age range and did very well, in my estimation. So I am happy for them to be the older student who does more "teaching" of peers. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

20:50- why so defensive? You seem very threatened by someone who disagrees with you. Just sayin'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe that 25-30 preschoolers in any room is a terrible idea. Children thrive with the facilitation of loving, trained teachers and assistants. They also learn from each other but the guidance and co-learning that comes in a good play based school is the best, in my opinion.

Not the OP, but your opinion is useless because you don't know what you are talking about. In a Montessori classroom you do NOT have 25-30 "preschoolers" (3-4YO) in a classroom. You have 25-30 kids ranging in age from 3 to 6YO. Having the age range is crucial. You may not believe it, but the older kids actually do teach and help the younger kids. So in a Montessori classroom you do in fact get "loving, trained teachers and assistants" and "co-learning." Why not try reading and learning more about Montessori philosophy before spouting off and spreading misinformation?

I am a PP at Franklin and I think YOU don't know what you're talking about. Many of these classes have difficulty retaining kids for the third year (rising cost of tuition and better options in DCPS) so you have mostly 3 and 4 YOs. My child's class was 27 kids, with maybe 3 kids in their third year. I thought the classes were remarkably calm and not chaotic, but I did not observe any older kids teaching younger kids anything. My 3 yo says he has never gotten a lesson from an older child (beyond superheroes and guns in the free play time).

I do think the teachers and assistants are very good but wish my kid could have more attention from them. Yes he works independently, but left to is own devices, he just scribbles on paper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe that 25-30 preschoolers in any room is a terrible idea. Children thrive with the facilitation of loving, trained teachers and assistants. They also learn from each other but the guidance and co-learning that comes in a good play based school is the best, in my opinion.

Not the OP, but your opinion is useless because you don't know what you are talking about. In a Montessori classroom you do NOT have 25-30 "preschoolers" (3-4YO) in a classroom. You have 25-30 kids ranging in age from 3 to 6YO. Having the age range is crucial. You may not believe it, but the older kids actually do teach and help the younger kids. So in a Montessori classroom you do in fact get "loving, trained teachers and assistants" and "co-learning." Why not try reading and learning more about Montessori philosophy before spouting off and spreading misinformation?

I am a PP at Franklin and I think YOU don't know what you're talking about. Many of these classes have difficulty retaining kids for the third year (rising cost of tuition and better options in DCPS) so you have mostly 3 and 4 YOs. My child's class was 27 kids, with maybe 3 kids in their third year. I thought the classes were remarkably calm and not chaotic, but I did not observe any older kids teaching younger kids anything. My 3 yo says he has never gotten a lesson from an older child (beyond superheroes and guns in the free play time).

I do think the teachers and assistants are very good but wish my kid could have more attention from them. Yes he works independently, but left to is own devices, he just scribbles on paper.

Sounds like Montessori is not a good fit for him. I don't think my daughter would do well with Montessori either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe that 25-30 preschoolers in any room is a terrible idea. Children thrive with the facilitation of loving, trained teachers and assistants. They also learn from each other but the guidance and co-learning that comes in a good play based school is the best, in my opinion.

Not the OP, but your opinion is useless because you don't know what you are talking about. In a Montessori classroom you do NOT have 25-30 "preschoolers" (3-4YO) in a classroom. You have 25-30 kids ranging in age from 3 to 6YO. Having the age range is crucial. You may not believe it, but the older kids actually do teach and help the younger kids. So in a Montessori classroom you do in fact get "loving, trained teachers and assistants" and "co-learning." Why not try reading and learning more about Montessori philosophy before spouting off and spreading misinformation?

I am a PP at Franklin and I think YOU don't know what you're talking about. Many of these classes have difficulty retaining kids for the third year (rising cost of tuition and better options in DCPS) so you have mostly 3 and 4 YOs. My child's class was 27 kids, with maybe 3 kids in their third year. I thought the classes were remarkably calm and not chaotic, but I did not observe any older kids teaching younger kids anything. My 3 yo says he has never gotten a lesson from an older child (beyond superheroes and guns in the free play time).

I do think the teachers and assistants are very good but wish my kid could have more attention from them. Yes he works independently, but left to is own devices, he just scribbles on paper.

Sounds like Montessori is not a good fit for him. I don't think my daughter would do well with Montessori either.

I'm not sure it is. I like the free choice but i should have kept closer tabs on the situation. He had a difficult adjustment to the larger class but it's hard to know what's going on. But at this point, we aren't going to switch him out for one year before K.

[Anonymous]

You might want to actually. The kids who transition best seem to be the ones that are socially most ready and many of them come in with lots of friends from their preschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You might want to actually. The kids who transition best seem to be the ones that are socially most ready and many of them come in with lots of friends from their preschool.

If my IB DCPS calls me off the WL for PK4, I am there!!! But short of that, we aren't going to find a different preschool for one year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe that 25-30 preschoolers in any room is a terrible idea. Children thrive with the facilitation of loving, trained teachers and assistants. They also learn from each other but the guidance and co-learning that comes in a good play based school is the best, in my opinion.

Not the OP, but your opinion is useless because you don't know what you are talking about. In a Montessori classroom you do NOT have 25-30 "preschoolers" (3-4YO) in a classroom. You have 25-30 kids ranging in age from 3 to 6YO. Having the age range is crucial. You may not believe it, but the older kids actually do teach and help the younger kids. So in a Montessori classroom you do in fact get "loving, trained teachers and assistants" and "co-learning." Why not try reading and learning more about Montessori philosophy before spouting off and spreading misinformation?

I am a PP at Franklin and I think YOU don't know what you're talking about. Many of these classes have difficulty retaining kids for the third year (rising cost of tuition and better options in DCPS) so you have mostly 3 and 4 YOs. My child's class was 27 kids, with maybe 3 kids in their third year. I thought the classes were remarkably calm and not chaotic, but I did not observe any older kids teaching younger kids anything. My 3 yo says he has never gotten a lesson from an older child (beyond superheroes and guns in the free play time).

I do think the teachers and assistants are very good but wish my kid could have more attention from them. Yes he works independently, but left to is own devices, he just scribbles on paper.

That's because Franklin is not a good school, period. See OP's comments above about corporate for-profit Montessori schools. Our kids go to an AMI-certified Montessori school, and we have seen firsthand older kids working with younger kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20:50- why so defensive? You seem very threatened by someone who disagrees with you. Just sayin'.

Not defensive or threatened so much as frustrated, because with every single Montessori thread, there are people who pop up all upset about the large class sizes, without having done a single bit of reading about the Montessori method. So easy for them to speak out of ignorance. Just sayin'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:20:50- why so defensive? You seem very threatened by someone who disagrees with you. Just sayin'.

Not defensive or threatened so much as frustrated, because with every single Montessori thread, there are people who pop up all upset about the large class sizes, without having done a single bit of reading about the Montessori method. So easy for them to speak out of ignorance. Just sayin'.

PP here. I am familiar with the theory. People are allowed to express their view that the "theory" doesn't always work in practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:20:50- why so defensive? You seem very threatened by someone who disagrees with you. Just sayin'.

Not defensive or threatened so much as frustrated, because with every single Montessori thread, there are people who pop up all upset about the large class sizes, without having done a single bit of reading about the Montessori method. So easy for them to speak out of ignorance. Just sayin'.

I have yet to meet ANY parent who does not read about the Montessori method first before enrolling and then once enrolling they find out as much about the program as possible. Sorry, OP. Most of the parents complaining have first hand experience. Parents who don't send their kids to Montessori are not commenting. They simply don't care.

[Anonymous]

NP here. I'm somewhat familiar with Montessori, my nieces and nephews did it and I know some teachers well. I can see the appeal (although I don't think it was very helpful for some of my nieces and nephews, when they transitioned to public school, the shock was so bad that they basically checked out until graduation years later).

OP and others on this thread have said that some Montessori schools are great with good teachers, smaller class sizes, and happy students. But the majority of them are terrible and should be avoided. That's far from a ringing endorsement to me, honestly.