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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As someone with a 3 year old in a primary class at Montessori, I have to disagree with the notion that the older kids get involved in teaching/helping the younger ones. My daughter, too, is independent and self-directed, so I thought Montessori would be a good fit. But she tends to tag along after the older kids, maybe because she has an older brother, and they often exclude or tease her. The teacher knows, and has been working on it, but I also think this is pretty typical behavior among 4-5 year old kids. (I can imagine my son, age 5, doing something pretty similar if a 3 year old girl tagged along and tried to play with him.) She gets called "baby" by some of the older boys, which is a huge bummer. I encourage her to play more with the kids her own age, but it is an ongoing issue.

I think if you're a true believer in Montessori, you want buy into the gestalt enough not to question that much. And yes, older kids at my daughter's school are doing puzzles that map the countries of the African continent and other content-heavy stuff. So if that's what you're looking for, you'll find the strong focus on content a good thing. For me, I'd rather my kid focus on play, which is the true "work" of early childhood, in my opinion.[/quote]

I'm a PP with a 5 year old in Montessori.  I remain skeptical on some fronts, but in my classroom observations it's been clear to me that my 5 year old takes a leadership role with the younger kids. I've seen him and other 5 year olds helping the younger children, both redirecting them and specifically helping them on tasks (more so the 4 year olds than the 3 year olds) - there certainly shouldn't be any excluding in the classroom (everyone is responsible for their own work) or teasing and if there is the teacher should have addressed this.

The Montessori classroom is mixed age because it mimics the home environment where kids are with siblings of different ages and functions like a family.  I like Maria Montessori's observations that children play better when their "play" is doing real tasks -- that is they really are preparing food, rather than playing with play food in a play kitchen, or they really are polishing brass or cleaning tables or stacking blocks.[/quote]

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