When to start Montessori?

[Anonymous]

I am trying to decide between Montessori and a play-based preschool for my DD, who is 18 months. I know she's too young for Montessori now, but I've also heard about very long wait lists. I very much like the idea of Montessori for her when she is around 3-4 years old. I'm thinking about looking for a play-based preschool for her when she's 2-3 and Montessori for 3-5, but I honestly don't know the advantages/disadvantages. Can anyone who has a child in Montessori at age 2-3 state why you chose Montessori at this age over a play-based "traditional" pre-school? Thanks very much!

[Anonymous]

Aidan Montessori has a toddler program for 18 month olds - 3 year olds. Even at that young age, the children respond well to what's going on in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

We started our son at 2.5 and he's doing well.

[Anonymous]

It's all about what you want. For me, I wanted actual instruction, and I thought that if I saw Montessori as the best, I wanted it. I think lots of parents get this buzz word "play based" in their head and they aren't really sure what it means. Kids have plenty of time to play in any school they go to, and for me, I felt like if I was paying a lot of money, I wanted there to be a focus on actual academics, no matter how early. For us it was 2 for the toddler Montessori program, which ended at 3 when they moved to the primary classroom. Toddler was kinda a mess, actually, too many adults, and in hindsight I might as well have kept him home and done a lot of that on my own (then taken him to the park for the socialization part). Most schools take kids in primary at 3, because by 4 they should already be familiar with a lot of what is in the classroom. Rarely do they accept kindergarteners with no Montessori background, unless the teacher is very senior with many years of experience. At least that's my experience.

[Anonymous]

We did toddler montessori and it really did not work out as well as the primary years did although perhaps it was because it was a newer school. We did a traditional school for our second from 2-3 and it worked out much better. Many children start at 3 and do fine in the program so I wouldn't hesitate to start at 3.