My son would be at Overlee, which is closer to our house. Congrats on your son starting in the fall!

Would you mind telling me what Montessori this is?

My DS is at a part day Montessori program that is 3hrs but they have a routine that is the same each day and the work cycle is not the full 3 hours (they're outside, they have circle time, etc). Our class is 10 students with 2 staff.

No insight, but just wanted to say my little one is doing LAA full time five days a week starting this fall! Which LAA school would you go to? We would be at Cherrydale. He's not yet 2, so Im guessing they would be in different classes (just guessing they would group by around the same age of younger 2s, older 2s, etc. but I don't know - maybe a parent with kids already at LAA can confirm for us)

My little boy LOVES to be outside all the time too!!!

(Sorry, no actual help on the questions you asked haha. But one thing is: you don't have to leave him for the full day program, you could always get him early or drop him off a little later if you want, to ease into it.)

I'm trying to decide between the two for my 2.5 year old. The LAA program would be 2 or 3 days a week full-day (9 am -4:30 pm) whereas the Montessori program would be 5 days a week, 3 hours per day (9 am-12 pm).

My son is very energetic, verbal, and loves being outdoors--I like the 3-hour-a-day schedule at the Montessori, but cannot picture him tinkering with tiny toys for 3 straight hours. I am also concerned about the class size of the montessori, which is close to 30 students, with only one teacher and 2 TAs (is that typical?).

With respect to LAA, I like the way they break their day up into various activities (playground, afternoon activity, snack time, etc.), but am concerned that the day runs very long, and my son's week would be kind of jolty, with being in school for almost 8 hours 2 or 3 days a week, and then not at all for the other days. Are there any LAA parents here with children in the PT program?

Would appreciate any advice/insight!