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[quote=Anonymous]Two disclaimers up front: (1) I am new to the Montessori world, having always liked play based preschools just fine, and (2) I no longer live in DC, so this school is not local.

Question(s) for those of you who are Montessori parents:

We've signed up our daughters to begin a Montessori program that is 5 days/week, 8:30-12.  The school believes entering students must have an orientation week.  The schedule goes something like this: 
Friday: visit school for 30 minutes; meet teachers
Monday: 8:30-9:00 school
Tues: 8:30-9:30 school
Wed: 8:30-10:00 school
Thurs: 8:30-10:30 school
Fri: 8:30-11:00 school

We are out of town for the scheduled orientation week, and the school has just informed me that the girls will be required to do this orientation week during what is supposed to be the first week of school, because this orientation is "an essential first step in establishing a relationship between your child and the teacher".  Side note: this school charges 10 months of tuition, at what I'd consider a fairly obscene tuition rate (about twice as much as local play based). My girls will now receive THIRTY MINUTES of school in August and 10.5 hours of school in June (the August and June days are combined into a "month" to justify this additional tuition).  Doing the math, I am literally paying $55/hr, per child, for this time.

Anyway: I in no way believe that my child needs to be "introduced" to the school in increments increasing by 30 minutes per day, and we certainly didn't arrange childcare around an orientation plan like this.  Is this sort of plan the usual approach for Montessori?  This school has already ticked me off on a couple of unrelated matters (let's just say management skills appear to be substantially lacking- the teachers are fine, the management is floundering and uninformed about its own policies).  I don't want to push back too hard if this is like the Montessori Gold Standard Introductory Approach.

Please advise, and tell me what else I should expect as we jump into Montessori!  (And yes, I am aware of the general teaching philosophy, but this place is making me wonder what else is in store.)
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