Anonymous wrote:I went to a Montessori elementary school and and in looking back, my reaction is that I'd have been better off in a more traditional, more structured elementary school environment, such as the lower school of the traditional prep school I entered in 6th grade and graduated from. Other friends from the Montessori school also had similar sentiments, so it's odd for me to hear people on here say they found the Montessori curriculum too rigid! Our Montessori was well regarded and sent most of its graduates to established prep schools for middle/high schools, so they obviously were doing something right despite my complaints.

Can you talk a little about why?

Anonymous wrote:DS was enrolled in a well-regarded AMI Montessori program when he was 3 and it was too strict and rigid. He was miserable everyday and I was convinced that it did not work for his personality (extroverted but also sensitive and stubborn). But after touring a half dozen traditional pre-k programs, I felt he would be bored since he does tend to act out when not challenged (for example, he was already counting into the hundreds after his first year of montessori and the pre-k classes I was touring were still focusing on 1-20). Fortunately, we found a smaller and "warmer" AMI Montessori program and he thrived!! It wasn't as fancy (or expensive!) but it was the right fit for him and we were so relieved. When touring schools, I would definitely consider the culture of the school more than the curriculum. Good Luck!

This is very true. Our oldest was tricky to place in PreK, so we looked at a lot of different schools and types of schools. We toured four different Montessori schools and not one was anything like the other. I silently labelled them to keep track: The stuffy, rigid Montessori, the silent, creepy, anxiety-ridden Montessori, the too-many-rules-for-parents Montessori, and the the flexible, crunchy, back-to-nature Montessori.

I went to a Montessori elementary school and and in looking back, my reaction is that I'd have been better off in a more traditional, more structured elementary school environment, such as the lower school of the traditional prep school I entered in 6th grade and graduated from. Other friends from the Montessori school also had similar sentiments, so it's odd for me to hear people on here say they found the Montessori curriculum too rigid! Our Montessori was well regarded and sent most of its graduates to established prep schools for middle/high schools, so they obviously were doing something right despite my complaints.

DS was enrolled in a well-regarded AMI Montessori program when he was 3 and it was too strict and rigid. He was miserable everyday and I was convinced that it did not work for his personality (extroverted but also sensitive and stubborn). But after touring a half dozen traditional pre-k programs, I felt he would be bored since he does tend to act out when not challenged (for example, he was already counting into the hundreds after his first year of montessori and the pre-k classes I was touring were still focusing on 1-20). Fortunately, we found a smaller and "warmer" AMI Montessori program and he thrived!! It wasn't as fancy (or expensive!) but it was the right fit for him and we were so relieved. When touring schools, I would definitely consider the culture of the school more than the curriculum. Good Luck!

We moved and the montessori schools around our new home in Fairfax were not taking new students or were out of the way or. For some reason, Old Town Alexandria, where we lived, had so many Montessori options.

We liked it with our older DD, but thought it was starting to lag with the younger DS. He didn't respond to the quiet work approach and was more active. He's in a play based school and DD started K this year.

The hardest thing for DD is losing the directed, choice based learning. But she's seems to be dealing with that decently.

Liked Montessori but didn't think it was a good fit for second child who is more sensitive than the older one and needed a lower student-teacher ratio. So we left and I don't regret it. I thought the academics at Montessori were better but my second child was more advanced academically upon entering K, so go figure.

Found Montessori too strict & rigid, with a lot of focus on specific achievements rather than personal & emotional development.
Moving to a Waldorf-inspired school

Anonymous wrote:I have found that with many Montessori families there is a fixation on acceleration or "working at their level" as is often quoted. But I found the "acceleration" to be superficial. In this community though, it was very important for parents to feel like either a.) Sally was allowed to work at her gifted level or b.) Montessori magic was turning Sally into an advanced student.--so, as long as this appearance was maintained those parents were happy. I found it to be an angsty culture. I felt like there was a lot of backbending to keep up appearances, even after kids go on to other schools. Almost all kids leave Montessori and go on to traditional schools in elementary and do grade appropriate work. While I have heard horror stories, most kids I have known transition fine. My oldest was actually a model Montessori student, which looking back was probably the best indicator she needed a different environment to stretch her social needs better.

Yes. Kids may be calculating area and doing other fancy math things, but they have no idea what they are doing and they aren't taught their math facts.

We had DC in Montessori pre-k through first two years of middle school. It was hit or miss with the teachers, some were too nice and lenient and most, especially in the later years were very critical. Math was non existent in fourth and fifth year of middle school which was our main reason for pulling our DC. We supplemented along the way with tutors but DC was still far behind the curve when we transferred to another private. Three years later and DC is doing well, but the scars of personal treatment from some of the teachers are still there. It's incredible what they did over just a few years in the middle school to kill our DC's self esteem. But, as I said, DC is thriving now and doing well, so we have moved on. Would I do it again, NO. And if you do, pre school only, then get the hell out or your DC will have a tough time adjusting to a regular school and the social system.

This is sort of a different perspective, but I went to a Montessori school for Elementary School (K-6th grade.) I had a very hard time transitioning to a traditional middle school and high school. I wasn't taught very good study skills, and that haunted me throughout college and beyond. The way my Montessori teacher taught math was beyond confusing and I have struggled my whole life.

However, I had a very good education is science. I am very curious about the world as an adult, and I think the Montessori method was very good about teaching critical thinking skills.

Anonymous wrote:We left Montessori because it was killing my kid's natural interest in exploring things. She was not allowed to "play" with anything until she's been given a "lesson" on how to use that item, and innovation was definitely disfavored. That doesn't work with our family and parenting style.

This. Most people who are new to Montessori don't realize how rigid it really is. Rolling out the mat, use the pink tower, put together the map puzzle, from left to right, from big to small, oh, not good fit for any free-thinking kid. We couldn't even finish the the first year in the primary room.

I really wanted Montessori for our children because I had attended Montessori when I was a child. We tried with our oldest. It did not work for us because we felt that the school was too rigid in its non-rigidity, if that makes sense. We felt that it was pretty strident and stressful so we moved our oldest and then the rest of the kids followed the oldest to the same school.