Why do parents who send their kids to Montessori seem to think their kids are better educated?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Because it's often true -
all other things being equal (teacher quality, student motivation, blah blah blah).

All of the K class in our Montessori school were emerging readers (could read books with one or more sentences on each page) and could count up to a thousand with the thousand chain (which gives a concrete introduction to cubing numbers). They knew how to attend to their own work yet loved to jump in and help a younger student in need of guidance.

Montessori for my children provided just the right balance of free play, calm group socialization, with rigorous yet effortless learning. My children's creativity was not stifled, they did not become little robots, but they did acquire an excellent grounding for the "real" school.

That being said, the most important thing is that THE METHOD IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE TEACHER.

Both my kids went to a play based preschool...and both were reading at an end of first grade level at the beginning of kindergarten. (My older one was - and my younger one is now - pulled out 2x/week for enrichment in kindergarten with an advanced academics teacher. For my second child - a boy - he is one of THREE kids out of 60 out of two different kindergarten classes who is pulled out for this enrichment.) This was far more than an 'emergent' reader could ever be. (Oh...and one mother looked at me at pick up the other day waiting for our kindergarteners to be released and said, "I'm shocked that Larla wasn't picked to be pulled out for this enrichment program. She was at Montessori!!!" Um...okay...

Reading is like bike riding or potty training...you can give the back up support for it, but they do it when they are ready. It really doesn't have to do with Montessori.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Because it's often true -
all other things being equal (teacher quality, student motivation, blah blah blah).

All of the K class in our Montessori school were emerging readers (could read books with one or more sentences on each page) and could count up to a thousand with the thousand chain (which gives a concrete introduction to cubing numbers). They knew how to attend to their own work yet loved to jump in and help a younger student in need of guidance.

Montessori for my children provided just the right balance of free play, calm group socialization, with rigorous yet effortless learning. My children's creativity was not stifled, they did not become little robots, but they did acquire an excellent grounding for the "real" school.

That being said, the most important thing is that THE METHOD IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE TEACHER.

Both my kids went to a play based preschool...and both were reading at an end of first grade level at the beginning of kindergarten. (My older one was - and my younger one is now - pulled out 2x/week for enrichment in kindergarten with an advanced academics teacher. For my second child - a boy - he is one of THREE kids out of 60 out of two different kindergarten classes who is pulled out for this enrichment.) This was far more than an 'emergent' reader could ever be. (Oh...and one mother looked at me at pick up the other day waiting for our kindergarteners to be released and said, "I'm shocked that Larla wasn't picked to be pulled out for this enrichment program. She was at Montessori!!!" Um...okay...

Reading is like bike riding or potty training...you can give the back up support for it, but they do it when they are ready. It really doesn't have to do with Montessori.

I'm not the PP, but I would agree with you only to an extent. If you are giving back up support for it and your child is ready, yes, they will be reading, using the toilet and riding a bike sooner. If parents are not giving support, it has been my experience and the experience of a few other people I know that Montessori resulted in "better education" than a play-based curriculum. I am not saying that to mean that one is better than the other. You're always going to have better results from whatever program your child is in if you are involved. My child was in play-based preschool before Montessori preschool and she has done well in both environments.

You're talking about parental entitlement, which may or may not have anything to do with what sort of education a child receives, either at school or at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does "Montessori" have any minimal standard whatsoever? I don't think so. Anyone can claim to be Montessori.

There is accreditation. You can't stop someone from saying they are Montessori, but only accredited schools that follow the model and have trained teachers can claim to be accredited, which is a differentiator.

One of my kids went to play-based preschool and one did Montessori. They are both very bright and learned to read early, but no question the one in Montessori learned more, across many dimensions (math, geography, practical life, science).

Things my non-Montessori, play-based preschool attending son could do before K:

--Knew the capital of every state
--Knew the location of every state (i.e. hand him a blank map and say, "Where is New Hampshire?" and he could point to it)
--Knew the planets in order
--Knew how to add and subtract numbers 12 and less
--Could read fluently (like Frog and Toad type books)
--Wrote sentences himself (as in, he'd sit down and would write on his own, unprompted: "Pleas do not tch this diaree. It is min" for "Please do not touch this diary. It is mine."

And this is why I CANNOT STAND when parents mention Montessori preschool as being some end all/be all of education. Kids are different. I just sit there with my mouth shut smiling at you "sympathizing" about how unstimulated your "poor" kid is in kindergarten but I'm thinking: STFU. My kid isn't unstimulated and it is hard to envision yours is above mine as far as his/her learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does "Montessori" have any minimal standard whatsoever? I don't think so. Anyone can claim to be Montessori.

There is accreditation. You can't stop someone from saying they are Montessori, but only accredited schools that follow the model and have trained teachers can claim to be accredited, which is a differentiator.

One of my kids went to play-based preschool and one did Montessori. They are both very bright and learned to read early, but no question the one in Montessori learned more, across many dimensions (math, geography, practical life, science).

Things my non-Montessori, play-based preschool attending son could do before K:

--Knew the capital of every state
--Knew the location of every state (i.e. hand him a blank map and say, "Where is New Hampshire?" and he could point to it)
--Knew the planets in order
--Knew how to add and subtract numbers 12 and less
--Could read fluently (like Frog and Toad type books)
--Wrote sentences himself (as in, he'd sit down and would write on his own, unprompted: "Pleas do not tch this diaree. It is min" for "Please do not touch this diary. It is mine."

And this is why I CANNOT STAND when parents mention Montessori preschool as being some end all/be all of education. Kids are different. I just sit there with my mouth shut smiling at you "sympathizing" about how unstimulated your "poor" kid is in kindergarten but I'm thinking: STFU. My kid isn't unstimulated and it is hard to envision yours is above mine as far as his/her learning.

Maybe your friends are assholes. Maybe they're really excited that they've found a preschool that works really well for their kid. Maybe you should take it less personally, or be friends with people who don't suggest that your kid is stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does "Montessori" have any minimal standard whatsoever? I don't think so. Anyone can claim to be Montessori.

There is accreditation. You can't stop someone from saying they are Montessori, but only accredited schools that follow the model and have trained teachers can claim to be accredited, which is a differentiator.

One of my kids went to play-based preschool and one did Montessori. They are both very bright and learned to read early, but no question the one in Montessori learned more, across many dimensions (math, geography, practical life, science).

Things my non-Montessori, play-based preschool attending son could do before K:

--Knew the capital of every state
--Knew the location of every state (i.e. hand him a blank map and say, "Where is New Hampshire?" and he could point to it)
--Knew the planets in order
--Knew how to add and subtract numbers 12 and less
--Could read fluently (like Frog and Toad type books)
--Wrote sentences himself (as in, he'd sit down and would write on his own, unprompted: "Pleas do not tch this diaree. It is min" for "Please do not touch this diary. It is mine."

And this is why I CANNOT STAND when parents mention Montessori preschool as being some end all/be all of education. Kids are different. I just sit there with my mouth shut smiling at you "sympathizing" about how unstimulated your "poor" kid is in kindergarten but I'm thinking: STFU. My kid isn't unstimulated and it is hard to envision yours is above mine as far as his/her learning.

Maybe your friends are assholes. Maybe they're really excited that they've found a preschool that works really well for their kid. Maybe you should take it less personally, or be friends with people who don't suggest that your kid is stupid.

You misunderstand...this is NOT from the preschool attending set that blabs like this - it is from the kindergarten set. MEANING: Their kids formerly were in a Montessori preschool, and are now in public elementary school, and talk to me like "Oh poor Sally who has to sit there all day bored to tears because the curriculum is so, so beneath her ability because she went to (past tense) Montessori." All the while I'm thinking, seriously...stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does "Montessori" have any minimal standard whatsoever? I don't think so. Anyone can claim to be Montessori.

There is accreditation. You can't stop someone from saying they are Montessori, but only accredited schools that follow the model and have trained teachers can claim to be accredited, which is a differentiator.

One of my kids went to play-based preschool and one did Montessori. They are both very bright and learned to read early, but no question the one in Montessori learned more, across many dimensions (math, geography, practical life, science).

Things my non-Montessori, play-based preschool attending son could do before K:

--Knew the capital of every state
--Knew the location of every state (i.e. hand him a blank map and say, "Where is New Hampshire?" and he could point to it)
--Knew the planets in order
--Knew how to add and subtract numbers 12 and less
--Could read fluently (like Frog and Toad type books)
--Wrote sentences himself (as in, he'd sit down and would write on his own, unprompted: "Pleas do not tch this diaree. It is min" for "Please do not touch this diary. It is mine."

And this is why I CANNOT STAND when parents mention Montessori preschool as being some end all/be all of education. Kids are different. I just sit there with my mouth shut smiling at you "sympathizing" about how unstimulated your "poor" kid is in kindergarten but I'm thinking: STFU. My kid isn't unstimulated and it is hard to envision yours is above mine as far as his/her learning.

Maybe your friends are assholes. Maybe they're really excited that they've found a preschool that works really well for their kid. Maybe you should take it less personally, or be friends with people who don't suggest that your kid is stupid.

You misunderstand...this is NOT from the preschool attending set that blabs like this - it is from the kindergarten set. MEANING: Their kids formerly were in a Montessori preschool, and are now in public elementary school, and talk to me like "Oh poor Sally who has to sit there all day bored to tears because the curriculum is so, so beneath her ability because she went to (past tense) Montessori." All the while I'm thinking, seriously...stop.

When DD started public preschool, there were a lot of people who complained about their child's experience of the transition - whether that was from daycare, from a nanny, from a stay at home parent, or whatever. Maybe the curriculum IS beneath their child. The point of kindergarten is still to acclimate children to being in school at all. It doesn't need to be academically rigorous, and kids who are already acclimated to being in school at all may very well be bored with that agenda. It doesn't mean your kid is stupid so chill out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does "Montessori" have any minimal standard whatsoever? I don't think so. Anyone can claim to be Montessori.

There is accreditation. You can't stop someone from saying they are Montessori, but only accredited schools that follow the model and have trained teachers can claim to be accredited, which is a differentiator.

One of my kids went to play-based preschool and one did Montessori. They are both very bright and learned to read early, but no question the one in Montessori learned more, across many dimensions (math, geography, practical life, science).

Things my non-Montessori, play-based preschool attending son could do before K:

--Knew the capital of every state
--Knew the location of every state (i.e. hand him a blank map and say, "Where is New Hampshire?" and he could point to it)
--Knew the planets in order
--Knew how to add and subtract numbers 12 and less
--Could read fluently (like Frog and Toad type books)
--Wrote sentences himself (as in, he'd sit down and would write on his own, unprompted: "Pleas do not tch this diaree. It is min" for "Please do not touch this diary. It is mine."

And this is why I CANNOT STAND when parents mention Montessori preschool as being some end all/be all of education. Kids are different. I just sit there with my mouth shut smiling at you "sympathizing" about how unstimulated your "poor" kid is in kindergarten but I'm thinking: STFU. My kid isn't unstimulated and it is hard to envision yours is above mine as far as his/her learning.

Maybe your friends are assholes. Maybe they're really excited that they've found a preschool that works really well for their kid. Maybe you should take it less personally, or be friends with people who don't suggest that your kid is stupid.

You misunderstand...this is NOT from the preschool attending set that blabs like this - it is from the kindergarten set. MEANING: Their kids formerly were in a Montessori preschool, and are now in public elementary school, and talk to me like "Oh poor Sally who has to sit there all day bored to tears because the curriculum is so, so beneath her ability because she went to (past tense) Montessori." All the while I'm thinking, seriously...stop.

When DD started public preschool, there were a lot of people who complained about their child's experience of the transition - whether that was from daycare, from a nanny, from a stay at home parent, or whatever. Maybe the curriculum IS beneath their child. The point of kindergarten is still to acclimate children to being in school at all. It doesn't need to be academically rigorous, and kids who are already acclimated to being in school at all may very well be bored with that agenda. It doesn't mean your kid is stupid so chill out.

I'm not going to 'chill out' - MY point is that I don't think kids get bored unless parents put that idea in their heads. My child has never said he is bored and he is the one reading far above kindergarten level. (If he is one of a few kids out of 60 who is pulled out for enrichment and he isn't bored...why would yours be?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not going to 'chill out' - MY point is that I don't think kids get bored unless parents put that idea in their heads. My child has never said he is bored and he is the one reading far above kindergarten level. (If he is one of a few kids out of 60 who is pulled out for enrichment and he isn't bored...why would yours be?)

While I totally know the entitled whiny parents you're talking about, I'm just saying that it's also possible that the kids ARE bored and have said so. If they are unhappy with their kid's kindergarten experience and you're happy with it, I don't see why it's so hard for you to a) ignore them, b) say "My son, who is reading above grade level, is not bored" or c) say "I'm really sorry to hear that" and then move on to other conversation topics. It's only as big a deal as you make it.

[Anonymous]

I think there are a lot of positives to the montessori method--especially the manipulatable math objects. If there is a good montessori preschool option available that is affordable, great. But there are a lot of great other early childhood education programs as well and it's not the be all end all of preschools.

[Anonymous]

I am also sick of the "Poor Caleb is so bored. He reads on the 7th grade level, and there are no books in the classroom on his level. I refuse to bring in books from home because I don't want Caleb to stand out!"

It continues for years and years. It's not just about Montesorri; in the end it becomes just about how brilliant their kid is.

I have a bright kid who is extremely social. He never finds school boring because his friends are there - they have involved pretend games, they play recorder together , they play sports. Parents who talk about their kids being bored are generally people with poor social skills who sometimes halso have kids who have poor social skills.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure where these parents have their preschoolers, but I'm also sick of the "my child is bored in kindergarten" postings. As if all children who start out in K will forever be bored for the rest of their lives and no other children will ever catch up to them. One parent made such a fuss near us that they ended up having to leave the school after it was determined that little Jonny was super high in math, but couldn't even write a sentence in 1st grade whereas most of the other kids from play based schools had surpassed him in this regard. We did play based and Montessori for our kids and there were positives and negatives to both. Seriously comparing two great preschools, I didn't see that one was better than the other in terms of the whole child. Just different and they emphasized different things. Yes, Montessori is known to be more academic, so I don't get why these parents complain when they put their child in public school. I want to tell them, "feel free to enroll your kid in a private elementary Montessori." I do wish parents would do searches on this subject before posting about their bored kindergartener or 1st grader 2 months into a new school. There must be a hundred "My kid is bored in K" postings both here and on the individual state public school forums.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure where these parents have their preschoolers, but I'm also sick of the "my child is bored in kindergarten" postings. As if all children who start out in K will forever be bored for the rest of their lives and no other children will ever catch up to them. One parent made such a fuss near us that they ended up having to leave the school after it was determined that little Jonny was super high in math, but couldn't even write a sentence in 1st grade whereas most of the other kids from play based schools had surpassed him in this regard. We did play based and Montessori for our kids and there were positives and negatives to both. Seriously comparing two great preschools, I didn't see that one was better than the other in terms of the whole child. Just different and they emphasized different things. Yes, Montessori is known to be more academic, so I don't get why these parents complain when they put their child in public school. I want to tell them, "feel free to enroll your kid in a private elementary Montessori." I do wish parents would do searches on this subject before posting about their bored kindergartener or 1st grader 2 months into a new school. There must be a hundred "My kid is bored in K" postings both here and on the individual state public school forums.

Truly gifted kids don't get bored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure where these parents have their preschoolers, but I'm also sick of the "my child is bored in kindergarten" postings. As if all children who start out in K will forever be bored for the rest of their lives and no other children will ever catch up to them. One parent made such a fuss near us that they ended up having to leave the school after it was determined that little Jonny was super high in math, but couldn't even write a sentence in 1st grade whereas most of the other kids from play based schools had surpassed him in this regard. We did play based and Montessori for our kids and there were positives and negatives to both. Seriously comparing two great preschools, I didn't see that one was better than the other in terms of the whole child. Just different and they emphasized different things. Yes, Montessori is known to be more academic, so I don't get why these parents complain when they put their child in public school. I want to tell them, "feel free to enroll your kid in a private elementary Montessori." I do wish parents would do searches on this subject before posting about their bored kindergartener or 1st grader 2 months into a new school. There must be a hundred "My kid is bored in K" postings both here and on the individual state public school forums.

Truly gifted kids don't get bored.[/quote]

+1 but you'll get flammed for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure where these parents have their preschoolers, but I'm also sick of the "my child is bored in kindergarten" postings. As if all children who start out in K will forever be bored for the rest of their lives and no other children will ever catch up to them. One parent made such a fuss near us that they ended up having to leave the school after it was determined that little Jonny was super high in math, but couldn't even write a sentence in 1st grade whereas most of the other kids from play based schools had surpassed him in this regard. We did play based and Montessori for our kids and there were positives and negatives to both. Seriously comparing two great preschools, I didn't see that one was better than the other in terms of the whole child. Just different and they emphasized different things. Yes, Montessori is known to be more academic, so I don't get why these parents complain when they put their child in public school. I want to tell them, "feel free to enroll your kid in a private elementary Montessori." I do wish parents would do searches on this subject before posting about their bored kindergartener or 1st grader 2 months into a new school. There must be a hundred "My kid is bored in K" postings both here and on the individual state public school forums.

Truly gifted kids don't get bored.[/quote]

+1 but you'll get flammed for this.

Only because you are both wrong. Go over to the davidson academy forums to see the stories of the profoundly gifted kids. Some of them are truly gifted and bored in the wrong learning environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure where these parents have their preschoolers, but I'm also sick of the "my child is bored in kindergarten" postings. As if all children who start out in K will forever be bored for the rest of their lives and no other children will ever catch up to them. One parent made such a fuss near us that they ended up having to leave the school after it was determined that little Jonny was super high in math, but couldn't even write a sentence in 1st grade whereas most of the other kids from play based schools had surpassed him in this regard. We did play based and Montessori for our kids and there were positives and negatives to both. Seriously comparing two great preschools, I didn't see that one was better than the other in terms of the whole child. Just different and they emphasized different things. Yes, Montessori is known to be more academic, so I don't get why these parents complain when they put their child in public school. I want to tell them, "feel free to enroll your kid in a private elementary Montessori." I do wish parents would do searches on this subject before posting about their bored kindergartener or 1st grader 2 months into a new school. There must be a hundred "My kid is bored in K" postings both here and on the individual state public school forums.

Truly gifted kids don't get bored.[/quote]

+1 but you'll get flammed for this.

Only because you are both wrong. Go over to the davidson academy forums to see the stories of the profoundly gifted kids. Some of them are truly gifted and bored in the wrong learning environment.

Right - but that is for the profoundly gifted. Not the run of the mill advanced (gifted) DCUM kid.