Is Montessori worth the money?

[Anonymous]

I am a stay at home mom and trying to decide between a traditional preschool vs. a montessori school for my child. I've visited both and am undecided. Traditional preschools are only 2-3 mornings/week whereas Montessori is 5x/week so you obviously pay more for more time in school but even factoring the time in, Montessori schools are so much more expensive. We can afford it but I wonder if it's really worth it. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Depends on the teachers. Are they AMI trained? That's better than AMS, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the teacher. Are they creative, kind, patient, organized, inspire children to learn, make school exciting....

Signed, an AMS teacher who works in a school with both AMS/AMI.

[Anonymous]

I do not care for Montessori, so I would pay significantly more for a play based environment over a Montessori environment.

This is assuming you mean play based by traditional. "Academic" focused preschool is a very new invention, and one that is not good for children IMO. It's far from "traditional", but sometimes people use the word to mean that. Given a choice between an academic model and Montessori, I would choose Montessori. While I don't particularly like Montessori I don't think it's harmful, while I think that pushy academic programs actually hurt kids.

[Anonymous]

Worked for us.

[Anonymous]

Yes

[Anonymous]

It depends on what your personal/family goals are. We did both (first play-based, then currently Montessori).

We have an only child so we like that she is in class with older kids that she looks up to and likes to emulate. The older kids are mature beyond their ages and are a good influence on her.

As first time parents we made a lot of mistakes and didn't foster as much independence as we would have liked (e.g. child comes into our room in the middle of the night to sleep). Montessori has helped her and us give her more freedom and has really encouraged her independence.

I actually prefer play-based curriculum because I believe in creativity and imagination, but now that my daughter is in Montessori it's hard to pull her out. I see such major differences that I don't think would exist in a play school.

[Anonymous]

Do you research. Play based is best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you research. Play based is best.

Yes, do your research, OP. Don't accept PP's declaration that "play based is best" -- seriously, some rando on the internet has concluded that something works for her child, and you should just accept it? Forget it.

If you haven't already, tour the school, talk to the teachers, talk to other parents of students at the school, and read up on the method. I agree with PPs who say check into AMI vs. AMS. Also look at whether the Montessori school is truly Montessori or "Montessori-inspired" (I've found the latter schools are really just an exercise in cynicism -- thinking they can charge more if they slap the "Montessori" name on their website). Also, think about what kind of personality your kid has and whether he or she would like it in a Montessori environment -- some kids thrive in it, other kids need more of a play-based environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Worked for us.

good for you! I decided for a Daycare with a Pre-school teacher provider, my son learning alphabets,art, Spanish, good manner, I'm so happy! and only pay $200 p/w

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worked for us.

good for you! I decided for a Daycare with a Pre-school teacher provider, my son learning alphabets,art, Spanish, good manner, I'm so happy! and only pay $200 p/w

If its so awesome and you're so confident in it, you wouldn't feel the need to defend it against something as innocuous as someone saying something different for their kid.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the kid

[Anonymous]

Kids that are motivated, curious and confident will do well. Kids that like to play and need structure and discipline will not. At least that's my experience. Montessori was amazing for my motivated kid. Learned so much that helps him still 4 years later.

[Anonymous]

Nope. We were paying $950/month and the result was my child was frustrated because his classmates used to be mean with them and the teacher was basically on the mean children side. Lead teacher had a tendency to protect the children that were from her country of origin (India).
We are paying $400/m at another PK where DS has friends and teacher treat him with respect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope. We were paying $950/month and the result was my child was frustrated because his classmates used to be mean with them and the teacher was basically on the mean children side. Lead teacher had a tendency to protect the children that were from her country of origin (India).
We are paying $400/m at another PK where DS has friends and teacher treat him with respect.

Do you really need to get the racist crap going in two different Montessori threads?