Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, but from the get go you already are leaning toward the Montessori school and are even bribing your twin to be potty trained to get there. Doesn't sound like they're equally good schools or that you have the same respect for both. There are actually just as good if not better play based preschools out there. Your play based preschool seems to just be a filler till you put them in the preschool you've done a lot of research on.

Twin dad PP back. I don't think we're overly biased towards Montessori. From 3 months to 2.9 years, we had them in a large play-based daycare center, which we loved. Excellent facility. However around 2.3 years, the former director left the facility. There were a few months of interim directors and finally a new director came on board. However, she did not run things as well and suddenly a school with low staff turnover had high staff turnover. There were repeated complaints from parents and they had to initiate monthly parent meetings for the parents to come in and discuss current issues with the director and regional director of the facility. We were looking for the best option as an alternative and the Montessori pre-school was our second best option. Another play-based facility was our first option, but we're on the waiting list and unlikely to get one let alone two spots for at least a year.

Yes, I consider the Montessori pre-school to be a better choice for our children than the daycare that we have Twin A in, but I do not inherently think that Montessori schools are superior to play-based schools. However, even in our previous daycare which we loved, we did notice that in play-based care, you occasionally have a lowest common denominator effect. When one child hits, it often trickles through the group as the teachers are not always able to be there 100% of the time in group play. With 12 children to 2 teachers, the teachers often miss some group play when the group is spread out in several clusters of 3-4 children. With decreased group interaction in the Montessori school, there are often fewer opportunities for some types of learned behavior. Additionally, our Montessori has three classrooms of mixed ages, so that the 3 year olds are mixed in with the 4, 5 and 6 year olds. It seems to break up some of the age-related issues of the younger crowd. This is where I think a lot of the discrepency in the twins behavior comes from.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taught years ago with a K teacher who had a Montessori classroom. Nothing on the bulletin boards. NO decorations in the class and it was super quiet.


I have no direct experience with montessori instruction, but I definitely prefer the calm feeling of the clsssrooms over the crazy overstimulation and disorder I have seen in many regular preschools. Kids do not need to be constantly having their senses assaulted.

Understandable to a point. When you have students who have very poor language skills you need a little noise.

It is generally not recommended for speech delayed kids. And, they don't want kids with delays. (well, one we found was supportive but several we looked at were not). I like calm and structured but there needs to be a balance.

Montessori teachers are not trained to work with special needs. Some might be willing to go outside their training, but many will not. In my experience, the more rigorously the school adheres to Montessori certification, the more problems it has with kids with SN or LDs.

And all speech delays are equal.

Give me a break! My DS has speech issues and his Montessori school and teachers bend over backwards to work with his speech therapist to help with his issues, and go to IEP meetings to help devise a plan for him. The Montessori kids I know are very articulate and well spoken.

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, but from the get go you already are leaning toward the Montessori school and are even bribing your twin to be potty trained to get there. Doesn't sound like they're equally good schools or that you have the same respect for both. There are actually just as good if not better play based preschools out there. Your play based preschool seems to just be a filler till you put them in the preschool you've done a lot of research on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have twins and one (B) is currently in the Montessori pre-school that we want both to be in. However, the other twin (A) is not potty-trained, a requirement for the Montessory pre-school. Twin A is in a daycare/pre-school center near our home until potty-trained. Twin A is excitable, unfocused, has weaker verbal skills and hits to get attention doesn't follow directions as well. Twin B used to be this way from their prior daycare, but has started to be calmer, more focused, has advanced his verbal skills more since switching schools and is learning different ways to vent that don't include hitting. This has been over the course of 10 weeks since switching from their prior daycare and the main difference between the two has been the schools. There was much more similarity of level and behavior prior to the shift.

We have taken Twin A to the "Show off your classroom" night where Twin B got to show us around the classroom, and show us the various projects worked on during the day. Twin A loved it and talked about it for a week and definitely wants to go. We've been using that as a springboard to encourage Twin A that if potty-trained, will join Twin B at the Montessori school. We've made some small strides in the last week and a half since then.

As for what is Montessori? In our school, the room is set up with a large open carpet in the middle, with several children's desk/tables on two sides. Then along the walls are sections of various subjects (Nature, Math, Spacial Relationships, Letters/Spelling, etc). In each section are bookcases that have several dozen projects that have some lesson to them. Each student goes to a basket and takes a carpet mat that they spread out on the floor or a table space (larger ones for the floor, smaller ones for the tables). Then each student can select a project to work on from anywhere in the room. The teacher and assistant in each room go around from student to student and they talk about the various projects and help the student figure out what the goal of the project is and help them perform the task.

For example, for spacial relationships, there is a long wooden block that has various cut cylinders. The cylinders are different diameters and different heights, but they go in order from smallest to largest. The students take out the cylinders (each has a knob handle on the top) and shuffle them up and have to put them back into the block. In letters, one of the projects is a basket of things that begin with the same letter. The students have to name each object and then associate the objects with the letter. For older, more advanced student they have baskets with items for 3 different letters and a card with the letters. They have to sort the basket with the items for each letter. they also have the option to take a sheet of paper, a colored pencil and a letter guide and they have to learn to draw the letter on the paper. And many more.

One of the ideas behind the Montessori method is that each child selects the project/lesson to learn and is likely to be more interested in learning when they can select what they want vs when there is a set curriculum that is dictated to them. We have certainly found that with Twin B there is more of an interest in learning than from daycare before.

this is a very helpful post. thanks.

You're welcome. After several of the negative comments from earlier in the thread, I thought our perspective with one child in and one child not in Montessori would help.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is ironic as Maria Montessori initially started the program for poor learning disabled kids in Italy.

My thoughts exactly

Anonymous wrote:This is ironic as Maria Montessori initially started the program for poor learning disabled kids in Italy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:cont. My class, meanwhile, was loud and messy. One group painted at the easel every day. We sang and sang phonics songs, etc.

I would choose the neat classroom every time!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have twins and one (B) is currently in the Montessori pre-school that we want both to be in. However, the other twin (A) is not potty-trained, a requirement for the Montessory pre-school. Twin A is in a daycare/pre-school center near our home until potty-trained. Twin A is excitable, unfocused, has weaker verbal skills and hits to get attention doesn't follow directions as well. Twin B used to be this way from their prior daycare, but has started to be calmer, more focused, has advanced his verbal skills more since switching schools and is learning different ways to vent that don't include hitting. This has been over the course of 10 weeks since switching from their prior daycare and the main difference between the two has been the schools. There was much more similarity of level and behavior prior to the shift.

We have taken Twin A to the "Show off your classroom" night where Twin B got to show us around the classroom, and show us the various projects worked on during the day. Twin A loved it and talked about it for a week and definitely wants to go. We've been using that as a springboard to encourage Twin A that if potty-trained, will join Twin B at the Montessori school. We've made some small strides in the last week and a half since then.

As for what is Montessori? In our school, the room is set up with a large open carpet in the middle, with several children's desk/tables on two sides. Then along the walls are sections of various subjects (Nature, Math, Spacial Relationships, Letters/Spelling, etc). In each section are bookcases that have several dozen projects that have some lesson to them. Each student goes to a basket and takes a carpet mat that they spread out on the floor or a table space (larger ones for the floor, smaller ones for the tables). Then each student can select a project to work on from anywhere in the room. The teacher and assistant in each room go around from student to student and they talk about the various projects and help the student figure out what the goal of the project is and help them perform the task.

For example, for spacial relationships, there is a long wooden block that has various cut cylinders. The cylinders are different diameters and different heights, but they go in order from smallest to largest. The students take out the cylinders (each has a knob handle on the top) and shuffle them up and have to put them back into the block. In letters, one of the projects is a basket of things that begin with the same letter. The students have to name each object and then associate the objects with the letter. For older, more advanced student they have baskets with items for 3 different letters and a card with the letters. They have to sort the basket with the items for each letter. they also have the option to take a sheet of paper, a colored pencil and a letter guide and they have to learn to draw the letter on the paper. And many more.

One of the ideas behind the Montessori method is that each child selects the project/lesson to learn and is likely to be more interested in learning when they can select what they want vs when there is a set curriculum that is dictated to them. We have certainly found that with Twin B there is more of an interest in learning than from daycare before.

this is a very helpful post. thanks.

Anonymous wrote:"Spatial relationships" is the SENSORIAL area of the Montessori classroom. The activity you described is called "knobbed cylinders."

Anonymous wrote:We have twins and one (B) is currently in the Montessori pre-school that we want both to be in. However, the other twin (A) is not potty-trained, a requirement for the Montessory pre-school. Twin A is in a daycare/pre-school center near our home until potty-trained. Twin A is excitable, unfocused, has weaker verbal skills and hits to get attention doesn't follow directions as well. Twin B used to be this way from their prior daycare, but has started to be calmer, more focused, has advanced his verbal skills more since switching schools and is learning different ways to vent that don't include hitting. This has been over the course of 10 weeks since switching from their prior daycare and the main difference between the two has been the schools. There was much more similarity of level and behavior prior to the shift.

We have taken Twin A to the "Show off your classroom" night where Twin B got to show us around the classroom, and show us the various projects worked on during the day. Twin A loved it and talked about it for a week and definitely wants to go. We've been using that as a springboard to encourage Twin A that if potty-trained, will join Twin B at the Montessori school. We've made some small strides in the last week and a half since then.

As for what is Montessori? In our school, the room is set up with a large open carpet in the middle, with several children's desk/tables on two sides. Then along the walls are sections of various subjects (Nature, Math, Spacial Relationships, Letters/Spelling, etc). In each section are bookcases that have several dozen projects that have some lesson to them. Each student goes to a basket and takes a carpet mat that they spread out on the floor or a table space (larger ones for the floor, smaller ones for the tables). Then each student can select a project to work on from anywhere in the room. The teacher and assistant in each room go around from student to student and they talk about the various projects and help the student figure out what the goal of the project is and help them perform the task.

For example, for spacial relationships, there is a long wooden block that has various cut cylinders. The cylinders are different diameters and different heights, but they go in order from smallest to largest. The students take out the cylinders (each has a knob handle on the top) and shuffle them up and have to put them back into the block. In letters, one of the projects is a basket of things that begin with the same letter. The students have to name each object and then associate the objects with the letter. For older, more advanced student they have baskets with items for 3 different letters and a card with the letters. They have to sort the basket with the items for each letter. they also have the option to take a sheet of paper, a colored pencil and a letter guide and they have to learn to draw the letter on the paper. And many more.

One of the ideas behind the Montessori method is that each child selects the project/lesson to learn and is likely to be more interested in learning when they can select what they want vs when there is a set curriculum that is dictated to them. We have certainly found that with Twin B there is more of an interest in learning than from daycare before.

Anonymous wrote:3 year old DD is in a private Montessori this year. The convenience can't be beat--it's near our house and near her older brother's elementary. But try as we might, we just don't GET the Montessori cult/fixation. The school is just weird, the teachers distant but pleasant at best, and downright cold and controlling at worst. We're not allowed in her classroom, and we feel incredibly awkward every time we go in, lest we violate one of the many "rules." The place is eerily silent: I've never been in a preschool that is so bizarrely quiet. I know that is part of the Montessori schtick, but it just seems so joyless and Stepford-like. I have so sense whatsoever that she is having any fun--with all the "practical life" stuff it seems like all she gets to do is drudgery. (Fold laundry! Pour water! Clean stuff!)

Should we just pull her and find a new program since we're clearly not a Montessori family? The other hitch is that they hold two months of tuition in advance, so we could be out big bucks. How big a deal is it two switch a kid at this age and stage of the year?