Montessori vs Play based preschool

[Anonymous]

Please forgive my ignorance with this question, but can someone explain to me the difference between Montessori preschool and a play based one? Currently looking for preschools for the fall and I’m not sure which route to go.

[Anonymous]

Not an expert at all but my understanding is that a Montessori program is very individualized and self directed. Each kid works on their own activity or "work". Montessori programs can be rigid in the sense that each "work" has a correct way of doing it so they are prompted to use it correctly rather than however they want.

My child is in a "play-based" program that has circle time and "centers" where they have groups of children doing an activity together for 10-15 minutes and then they rotate them.

In play based programs, children generally have more time to interact with one another than they do in Montessori programs. But every program is different, many Montessori programs diverge from the standard Montessori approach.

[Anonymous]

Montessori isn't a trademarked term, I can open a day care tomorrow and call it Montesorri Magic Land. For this reason, it is suuuuuper important to tour and see the individual programs you are interested in.

DCUM has a bias against montessori--that it stifles children's creativity. I haven't experienced that, but my experience is with a single program. We sent our (now 9 year old) son through a local montessori from 3-6 and it was the best thing we could have done for him. He learned such amazing cooperative skills, improved his confidence in himself tenfold, and had fun. The playground was a nature based space where kids invented all sorts of creative games. It was a good fit for his personality--he would have been overwhelmed at the noise level and "controlled chaos" in the "play based" programs we toured, while the Montessori we chose always had a quiet hum of activity and paired partner work. He was able to work up through 4th grade math in kindergarten while staying on level in phonics and writing skills. It was a loving, cozy environment that caters to the individual child's needs.

But really, tour the individual program. They are all different.

[Anonymous]

In my somewhat limited experience, Montessori has a tendency to attract very rigid teachers. If it is a true Montessori program. This has been my experience and that of others I know. A very rigid approach can be alright for some children but very hard on others. Play based is generally a better fit for most kids. In my opinion there is also a lot more fun in a play based program. The Montessori classroom is very quiet and orderly. Again ok for some but most children are more likely to enjoy a play based program. Especially a 3-4 year old.

[Anonymous]

We toured on and when we left, we we looked at one another in shock. The kids moved from station to station like zombies.
The 40 minutes we were there, only one child smiled. She happened to be playing tea time.
Most of the 'toy' were not toys. They were who knows what.
The place is probably great fit for some kids, but I didn't want that to ours.He would have had to move from station to station using the same tools day in and day out the way they were meant to be used.

[Anonymous]

I second the poster who recommended touring individual programs and not just going off the word "Montessori" in the name of a school. There are a few programs out there that claim to be Montessori, but in actuality bear little resemblance to the approach and philosophy. Something to check would be whether a school is accredited by the Montessori associations (AMI or AMS) or if their staff has had specific Montessori teaching training.

I agree that Montessori may not be work universally well for every kid or their family. But I've found Montessori to be a great fit for our family. I've had two kids go through a Montessori primary program and a third who's currently still at a Montessori school. My eldest actually started off at a "traditional" play-based preschool program, and while that school was perfectly lovely, he struggled with all the constant transitions (different activities every 10-15 minutes) and was honestly bored with the activities there. He's a sensitive, introverted, and independent kid, so I thought he might do better in a Montessori program where he'd have more freedom to choose what to work on and the opportunity to do a "deep dive" on something for hours or even days instead of constantly being forced to move on to something else with all his classmates. My instinct was right - he thrived at a Montessori school. I was a little concerned with how his younger siblings would do with Montessori because they have VERY different personalities (more social, more energetic, more... loud), but they too have done very well.

I was not familiar with Montessori at all before sending my kids there, and it's definitely different... there was a steep learning curve for me as a parent and you do have to kind of "trust the system" on what the kids are working on. But one thing I really do appreciate about Montessori is the view that children are so capable and are naturally drawn to wanting to help and be involved and learn about the world. It was totally disarming to see 3 year olds rattling off the names of continents or 5 year olds writing in cursive or any of these little kids walking around carrying glass pitchers full of water, because it's not the kind of thing you normally would think to show/teach/entrust to a toddler. But they can totally handle it (and love doing it)! And while some may claim Montessori classrooms are super rigid and one previous poster noted kids were moving around like zombies, I have not found that to be the case at all with any of my kids' classes or other Montessori schools I've visited over the years. It really is more like a light hum of activity with kids being busy and engaged in their tasks, freely moving around the classroom and working together as needed. Wish I could say the same about my house, ha!

That said, it's... preschool. Play-based, Reggio, Waldorf, Montessori... just find a school that you feel good about and works well for your family's situation, and I think your kid will do just fine.

Good luck, OP!

[Anonymous]

PP here. One more big difference I neglected to mention between Montessori schools and traditional play-based programs:
Montessori classrooms are multi-aged, usually ages 3-6, and ideally have something like 25-30 kids with one or two trained teachers and/or an assistant. The student:teacher ratio is intentionally high to encourage independence, self-motivation, and kids helping each other. Students ideally stay in the same classroom and with the same teacher for their entire three-year primary "cycle," with the final year (aka Kindergarten) marking the culmination of their experience. While mixing ages may sound a little crazy, the larger class size actually works because of it, as the older kids are more independent and responsible and often assist the younger kids.

[Anonymous]

If you are looking at Montessori schools, you must look for an AMI or AMA accredited school. Otherwise, it will be a fake "Montessori" school.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks everyone for your feedback!

[Anonymous]

Same cr a p. Reggio is the worst one, they let kids do whatever they want. Like thats gonna be college

[Anonymous]

Are there “traditional” preschools?

[Anonymous]

We had a wonderful experience with Montessori for my two boys. We were fortunate to have a found a true Montessori school near our house that was accredited by AMS. Both of my children gravitated to different aspects of the Montessori education, but my younger son truly benefited from experiencing the ability to be leader in the classroom when he was in Kindergarten. I never knew anything about Montessori before we decided on sending our children to a Montessori school, so I highly recommend touring to check it out!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are looking at Montessori schools, you must look for an AMI or AMA accredited school. Otherwise, it will be a fake "Montessori" school.

Some people think AMA is fake. Aren’t they an American off-shoot of the Maria Montessori AMI? I heard the split was a very nasty court battle in the United States.

[Anonymous]

I won’t say that it was perfect but I think Montessori was great for DD. She had this personality trait where she cannot stand being told what to do, and she also have a very active mind and just gets really into things. She is very intellectually curious. At Montessori she rarely had somebody telling her what to do unless she was already into doing it. When she was at a play-based preschool before that she was just stressed out about having to switch tasks when she didn’t want to, and she wasn’t into a lot of the tasks.

She has level 1 autism, fwiw.

DS did okay with play-based. Something I don’t like about play-based is that if it’s Piaget-style, it assumes that children aren’t capable of learning more intellectual, abstract things. I didn’t want my 3-year old to have to sit and memorize math facts or anything, so play -based was good as far as that goes, but I liked that DD got to learn more advanced things just because she wanted to.

However ultimately they are both doing great so I probably thought too hard about all this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my somewhat limited experience, Montessori has a tendency to attract very rigid teachers. If it is a true Montessori program. This has been my experience and that of others I know. A very rigid approach can be alright for some children but very hard on others. Play based is generally a better fit for most kids. In my opinion there is also a lot more fun in a play based program. The Montessori classroom is very quiet and orderly. Again ok for some but most children are more likely to enjoy a play based program. Especially a 3-4 year old.

Strongly disagree with this and challenge your conclusions about what is best for children. Are you just basing that on your own experience, or less, just an opinion? Because there is a LOT of research that backs up certified Montessori. I'm not saying play-based is horrible, and good for families who find a great play-based place. But there are good reasons why Montessori-like pedagogy and practices are increasingly appearing in mainstream prek and elementary schools both public and private.