Help me understand the difference between Montessori and play-based preschool

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmmm... Thanks for that comment, but I still can't really see how this plays out in real life. So, at a montessori school, if a kid is playing with (working on?) a puzzle, and decides to pretend that the pieces are dinosaurs, are they corrected?

This was our experience at Aiden Montessori, yes. Our child was corrected by the teacher and also by other kids, often older due to the mixed agree classes. He was also not allowed to use or touch a toy unless he had first been instructed in its proper use. It was not a good fit for us.

This was our experience as well, with a different school. We participated in a one-day-a-week parent-toddler program for under 2s. Although I liked all the toys, I was turned off by the way the teacher constantly corrected DD. For example, she was not allowed to use the ball out of the shape sorter for anything other than putting it back in the hole. There were rules about everything. It even made me feel anxious. One (older) child was immediately shushed when he started singing the ABC song. Apparently, it's a big no-no in Montessori. I know that it probably depends on a particular school. But this was not a good fit for DD.

Montessori methods are designed for 3+. The fact that anyone is trying to apply them to a 1 year old is a big red flag to me. I'd ignore anything said by someone who thinks 1 year olds should follow a methodology designed for 3-6.

PP here. This makes much more sense. Most kids in the parent-toddler class were not verbal and probably only had limited receptive language. So, it felt like the parents had to be constantly on top of their children, correcting them to comply with the teacher's rule. I can see that a 3 year old should be able to follow directions much better.

Mmm, I disagree. Again, this is going to be school dependent. My son's is age 0-6, and most of the stuff in the infant and toddler rooms are very similar to what you'd see at a "traditional" daycare with a few significant modifications. For the babies (0-20 months or so), there's more of an emphasis on self-feeding and getting dressed by themselves, which I found ridiculously helpful. For the toddlers, they're big into fairly early potty training and getting the kids to help prepare their own meals -- meal time is a big, time-consuming deal where the kids prepare the fruit, set the table, wash the dishes, and so on. "Play" is called "work," but it's basically just the same as normal play except kids are supposed to respect when other kids are playing with something and wait their turns, and toys are set up as "kits." But, the kits are manipulateable -- they don't enforce that they be used in a certain way; that doesn't happen until they're in the primary classroom where some of the kits are instructional materials for teaching math and language and geography and what have you. But, I have noticed that the kids who started in the infant room are more independent and self-sufficient than those who started later on, so I think that the daycare choosing to offer these younger "grades" is both a function of convenience for the parents and a way to instill the Montessori ethos early on.

My son, age 2, sings the ABC song without chastisement, understands how to share ("we're working on it together"), can take turns, has plenty of prosocial 2 year old behaviors ('so and so is my friend,' 'teachers says there's no such thing as best friends'), cares for dolls, cleans up after himself, and knows how to wash dishes and sweep. It's been a good fit for him.

But, again, this is going to be school dependent. A lot of what my son's school does probably happens at plenty of traditional daycares, the lingo is just a little different. The more significant differences start to appear in the 3-5 classroom.

[Anonymous]

We had our twins in Julia Brown Montessori for 2 years when they were 3-5. It was a great experience for us.

The kids had Montessori class for 2.5-3 hours during the day. Outside of the Montessori class, the daycare setting was pretty typical for a play-based preschool. As long as they were not interfering with other children (i.e. disrupting another child trying to play separately vs playing together), or being violent or destructive, they were given free rein to play including playing with toys in creative ways. They had a significant amount of outdoor time at least two periods of 20-45 minutes, often 3 depending on weather.

During the Montessori period, the room was kept quiet and calm. They had calming music playing quietly in the background. Each child had a work space, either a space at a table or a mat on the floor. There were six subject shelves around the room. During the class, each child had to complete at least one project from each subject. The child could pick any project. Each project had a goal or lesson involved and the children were guided by the teacher or teacher aide in how to learn the lesson from the project. After the lesson was learned, a child could then take more time to play with the project components or learn more about the project as long as they had time available. However, a lot of the learning, other than the one lesson per project was self-guided. Children could pick many or few projects. They could just do the lesson and move on or play longer with the project. This was ideal for my twins. Twin A has problems with transitioning. In his first play-based daycare, he hated, for example, when he was told to put a toy away and join circle time. In the Montessori class, it was self-guided. He would take a project, be guided for the lesson and they would spend 20 minutes making a couch out of blocks or separating the two bowls of marbles by color. After he did the math project, he could then take the components and sort them by size. After he did the alliterative letter lesson, he could then make a story with the little objects. As long as he completed the required six subjects, he was fine. Twin B however, is bright and has a short attention span. He would go through about 20 projects in the time it took his brother to do 6-8. He would do the lesson, play briefly and then go and change to another. He also changing projects because he would walk near his friends and see what they were doing, talk to them briefly (as long as they kept quiet and didn't talk too long, they were allowed to socialize briefly), stop and get a snack (they usually had fruit and water out on a side table during class), look out the window and then get another project. He learned so much going through so many projects. I was told by the teachers that by the time they rotated projects, he had always learned every project, knew them all, and often learned lessons a little more advanced for his age because he had played with the projects enough to learn all the lessons. Both twins thrived here because of the self-guided nature of the Montessori teaching.

And outside the Montessori classroom, they had the freedom to be active, burn off energy and be creative. If we hadn't gotten into another pre-school which was our first choice, we would have kept them there for until entering them in public K. It was a good experience for our family.

[Anonymous]

There is so much variation in the quality of various Montessori and pre-schools, that I would suggest go with what works for you. My son went to a Montessori and it did have an academic focus, My son benefited tremendously from this education but remember that this kind of academic benefit is also related to the innate abilities of the child. There were a few kids in that school who had behavioral problems and were significantly behind in cognitive abilities. We left because of the disruption these students were causing in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had our twins in Julia Brown Montessori for 2 years when they were 3-5. It was a great experience for us.

The kids had Montessori class for 2.5-3 hours during the day. Outside of the Montessori class, the daycare setting was pretty typical for a play-based preschool. As long as they were not interfering with other children (i.e. disrupting another child trying to play separately vs playing together), or being violent or destructive, they were given free rein to play including playing with toys in creative ways. They had a significant amount of outdoor time at least two periods of 20-45 minutes, often 3 depending on weather.

During the Montessori period, the room was kept quiet and calm. They had calming music playing quietly in the background. Each child had a work space, either a space at a table or a mat on the floor. There were six subject shelves around the room. During the class, each child had to complete at least one project from each subject. The child could pick any project. Each project had a goal or lesson involved and the children were guided by the teacher or teacher aide in how to learn the lesson from the project. After the lesson was learned, a child could then take more time to play with the project components or learn more about the project as long as they had time available. However, a lot of the learning, other than the one lesson per project was self-guided. Children could pick many or few projects. They could just do the lesson and move on or play longer with the project. This was ideal for my twins. Twin A has problems with transitioning. In his first play-based daycare, he hated, for example, when he was told to put a toy away and join circle time. In the Montessori class, it was self-guided. He would take a project, be guided for the lesson and they would spend 20 minutes making a couch out of blocks or separating the two bowls of marbles by color. After he did the math project, he could then take the components and sort them by size. After he did the alliterative letter lesson, he could then make a story with the little objects. As long as he completed the required six subjects, he was fine. Twin B however, is bright and has a short attention span. He would go through about 20 projects in the time it took his brother to do 6-8. He would do the lesson, play briefly and then go and change to another. He also changing projects because he would walk near his friends and see what they were doing, talk to them briefly (as long as they kept quiet and didn't talk too long, they were allowed to socialize briefly), stop and get a snack (they usually had fruit and water out on a side table during class), look out the window and then get another project. He learned so much going through so many projects. I was told by the teachers that by the time they rotated projects, he had always learned every project, knew them all, and often learned lessons a little more advanced for his age because he had played with the projects enough to learn all the lessons. Both twins thrived here because of the self-guided nature of the Montessori teaching.

And outside the Montessori classroom, they had the freedom to be active, burn off energy and be creative. If we hadn't gotten into another pre-school which was our first choice, we would have kept them there for until entering them in public K. It was a good experience for our family.

The outdoor, unstructured play time is such a big deal with my kid's Montessori school as well. They strongly believe in the importance of outdoor play, try to do it as much as possible given weather, and it's basically free-reign. The teachers stand against the wall and monitor safety, but generally let the kids do whatever they want and work out their own problems. I'd say that of all the programs we visited, the Montessori one was the most committed to making sure there was some time outside. I live in a colder climate than DC and there are periods where state law mandates that they can't go outside and I can totally see a difference in my son's attitude on those days where they don't have outside play time. For a Montessori program, which is pretty structured generally, I think having some time to run around and be little crazies is so important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmmm... Thanks for that comment, but I still can't really see how this plays out in real life. So, at a montessori school, if a kid is playing with (working on?) a puzzle, and decides to pretend that the pieces are dinosaurs, are they corrected?

This was our experience at Aiden Montessori, yes. Our child was corrected by the teacher and also by other kids, often older due to the mixed agree classes. He was also not allowed to use or touch a toy unless he had first been instructed in its proper use. It was not a good fit for us.

This was our experience as well, with a different school. We participated in a one-day-a-week parent-toddler program for under 2s. Although I liked all the toys, I was turned off by the way the teacher constantly corrected DD. For example, she was not allowed to use the ball out of the shape sorter for anything other than putting it back in the hole. There were rules about everything. It even made me feel anxious. One (older) child was immediately shushed when he started singing the ABC song. Apparently, it's a big no-no in Montessori. I know that it probably depends on a particular school. But this was not a good fit for DD.

Montessori methods are designed for 3+. The fact that anyone is trying to apply them to a 1 year old is a big red flag to me. I'd ignore anything said by someone who thinks 1 year olds should follow a methodology designed for 3-6.

PP here. This makes much more sense. Most kids in the parent-toddler class were not verbal and probably only had limited receptive language. So, it felt like the parents had to be constantly on top of their children, correcting them to comply with the teacher's rule. I can see that a 3 year old should be able to follow directions much better.

Mmm, I disagree. Again, this is going to be school dependent. My son's is age 0-6, and most of the stuff in the infant and toddler rooms are very similar to what you'd see at a "traditional" daycare with a few significant modifications. For the babies (0-20 months or so), there's more of an emphasis on self-feeding and getting dressed by themselves, which I found ridiculously helpful. For the toddlers, they're big into fairly early potty training and getting the kids to help prepare their own meals -- meal time is a big, time-consuming deal where the kids prepare the fruit, set the table, wash the dishes, and so on. "Play" is called "work," but it's basically just the same as normal play except kids are supposed to respect when other kids are playing with something and wait their turns, and toys are set up as "kits." But, the kits are manipulateable -- they don't enforce that they be used in a certain way; that doesn't happen until they're in the primary classroom where some of the kits are instructional materials for teaching math and language and geography and what have you. But, I have noticed that the kids who started in the infant room are more independent and self-sufficient than those who started later on, so I think that the daycare choosing to offer these younger "grades" is both a function of convenience for the parents and a way to instill the Montessori ethos early on.

My son, age 2, sings the ABC song without chastisement, understands how to share ("we're working on it together"), can take turns, has plenty of prosocial 2 year old behaviors ('so and so is my friend,' 'teachers says there's no such thing as best friends'), cares for dolls, cleans up after himself, and knows how to wash dishes and sweep. It's been a good fit for him.

But, again, this is going to be school dependent. A lot of what my son's school does probably happens at plenty of traditional daycares, the lingo is just a little different. The more significant differences start to appear in the 3-5 classroom.

this!
our montessori toilet-trained our younger child. we did zero at home. she just started demanding to use potty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Judging from my friends' kids who go to Montessori, they leave significantly ahead in academics. By middle elementary school, though, where anyone went to preschool is irrelevant.

We got a student from a Montessori school in my first grade classroom this year. He is significantly behind the other students in reading. I talked to his teacher and she said that students get to choose what to do and he mostly wanted to do math and science so that's what he did. Nobody made him do anything else so he didn't. Yeah, that's not how the world works kiddo. He had a hard adjustment because he was used to do what he wanted all of the time.

You're complaining because a kid can't read before starting FIRST grade? When you know for a fact that he must be well ahead of the other kids in math and science?

In most districts, kids are expected to be reading on at least a level D by the end of KG. If they come into 1st grade as non-readers, yes, they are behind.

[Anonymous]

I have 2 kids at a Montessori school. They get tons of free play time, and at least 2 hours each day outside. They eat outside, too, when possible. My sons are very different. One is a rule-follower and loves order, predictability, and mastering skills. The other is a free spirit, needs a lot more physical action in his learning, and doesn't really like rules. Both are doing great in this learning environment. I definitely think it is dependent on the school. Yes, Montessori is calmer environment than play-based (at least at the ones I've toured), but they are for sure not somber or depressed! At our school, it's more like focused and self-controlled while still having fun. It's been great for our kids, but I think they would have done OK at a play-based too. To me, I pick schools based on safety, teacher turnover, my gut feeling, and if the kids seem happy.

[Anonymous]

As a former Montessori teacher, I have always advised parents to observe classrooms and see what they believe would be the best "fit" for their child. Believe me, some days my class was quiet but there were plenty of days when the classroom was noisy and felt chaotic. Life has its share of both kind of days and a classroom gets plenty of both types of days also. And when parents observe, I remind them that it is just a 20 or 30 minute observation. I do tell them if it was a "typical" day or it felt particularly quiet, but if it was quiet, I certainly let them know that there are days when it is not so. I always reminded visiting parents that although there were not "dress-ups" available in my classroom for pretend play, there were plenty of opportunities available for real-life opportunities for the children: If they wanted to make orange juice, it was available. If they wanted to wash and peel carrots, the opportunity was available to them. Children didn't need to pretend. Opportunities for real-life activities were made available to them, from the youngest at 2.5 years all the way to the older kindergarten child.

Ultimately, parents choose what is the best "fit" for their child because a parent knows their child best. Observe schools and classrooms carefully choose.