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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am a big fan of Montessori but I don't think the specific concerns you have with your current school will be solved by switching to Montessori. [/quote]

Montessori seems so orderly though and don't they all have to complete the "work"?  You can't walk off and do something different, right?[/quote]

Yes, I think the work is very thoughtfully-designed. But the kids get to choose what work they are doing. And generally if they stop in the middle, the only thing the teacher is going to insist that they do is clean up after themselves. There are exceptions for the time the teacher is introducing a new activity one on one. Then the child must sit there and watch the demonstration. But generally speaking, if you observe a Montessori classroom, it is going to look a whole lot like individual kids or small groups of kids doing whatever the heck they want, and it doesn't sound like you'd be comfortable in that environment.[/quote]

Not all Montessori schools are the same. The name isn't trademarked. Anyone can call their school Montessori. We looked into a "hard core" Montessori school in our town and didn't end up there because there was no time allotted for imaginary play, and the children there [u]didn't[/u] get to choose their work. They were expected to complete each station, every day. No playground time if you didn't finish your work. All Montessori schools aren't like this - it's important to check them out in person and ask lots of questions. [/quote]

Any accredited Montessori will not allow imaginary play.  Maria Montessori did not believe in imaginary play as being useful or helpful for little ones.  This ford against all the brain research that has been done recently, which shows that imaginary play is critical for the development of empathy, executive function, and creative problem-solving.  this is why we didn't send our DC to Montessori, while loving most other aspects of the pedagogy.  [/quote]

This just isn't true.[/quote]

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