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[quote=Anonymous]Montessori has a lot of structure, actually.   It doesn't have anywhere near the amount of free play that a play-based preschool has.   The Montessori environment is fairly rigid in its set-up and use of materials.  But once a child has been instructed on the use of the materials, the child then gets the freedom to choose which materials s/he wants to work on and when.  The child can work as quickly or as slowly as s/he wants when learning to master a material.   If the teacher notices that a child spends too much time on one material, the teacher may guide the child onto another activity.    This all works really well "if" you have excellent Montessori teachers in an excellent Montessori school.   Not all schools that call themselves Montessori meet this standard, however.  So you have to shop around carefully.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of preschool curriculum.  There are a lot of things about Montessori that I really like.  It's very developmentally appropriate.  And overall, it tends to have better outcomes than other methods over the course of a student's educational career.  And that last point may be why parents around here choose it so often.  They want their children to do their academic best.

I wasn't able to find an excellent Montessori school within my price range (which had to include before and after care because I work FT).  And I was really disappointed about that.  My son remained in his excellent play-based program, and honestly we have all been very happy.  Free play promotes the use of imagination.   And that has been shown to be very important for kids to learn how to develop their executive function skills.

A great book on Montessori:

http://www.amazon.com/Montessori-Science-Angeline-Stoll-Lillard/dp/0195168682

Most schools around here try to take a developmentally-appropriate approach to learning, whether Montessori or play-based, or something else.  But not all schools are great at it.   Definitely visit a variety of schools.  A good school with good teachers, IMO, is more important than the type of curriculum they follow.

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