Anonymous wrote:Twin Dad. I do apologize for questioning you, but I read your remarks as if a typical playbased program produces kids who are unfocused and un-controlling since you didn't seem to single out Twin B as being any different than the other children. As you probably know, that is a rumor that gets circulated among Montessori parents and teachers quite frequently.

Anonymous wrote:"On occasion"is different than the behavior of Twin A which seems to be a regular occurrence. "Twin A is excitable, unfocused, has weaker verbal skills and hits to get attention doesn't follow directions as well." That is not normal 3 year old behavior even in most preschools. It just sounds like this parent is comparing some Kinder Care like free for all daycare with revolving teachers to a well regarded Montessori and that argument just gets tiresome. There are plenty of great non-Montessori preschools that don't have any children like Twin A because the teachers work with the children on how to behave. Most of the child psychologists who give talks around the area don't even recommend Montessori for social skills. Montessori schools are well known to have parents mainly interested in academics.

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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.

You think 12 children to 2 teachers is somehow more chaotic than 26 children to 2 teachers in Montessori? I doubt it. Your children were younger and were in a daycare environment that apparently has been spiraling out of control due to management. Not really the same comparison as the Montessori you now really like verses the great play-based preschool that has a waiting list. At our play-based preschool no one has hit since age 2.

How in the world would you know for a fact that at your play-based preschool "no one has hit since age 2?" You sound defensive, imo.

-Signed, Montessori teacher

Hitting from age 3 and on is not a "normal" thing in our neighborhood. We live in an affluent area with gifted teachers and attentive parents and by age 3 the children were playing well together and following the rules. We hear about any incident from talking to the teacher regularly and from our own child who tells us whenever someone is doing something wrong. They're not angels. Sometimes kids feel left out of a game. But they know not to hit, spit, throw blocks, etc. I guess you're right I'm not saying it never happened, but after talking to the teacher every day I can tell there incidents are few and far between. All the children are what I would call "very well behaved". The regularly say please and thank you without prompting and share and play games together without problem on a daily basis without much adult intervention. I would expect the same at a well regarded Montessori too.

Anonymous wrote:

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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.

You think 12 children to 2 teachers is somehow more chaotic than 26 children to 2 teachers in Montessori? I doubt it. Your children were younger and were in a daycare environment that apparently has been spiraling out of control due to management. Not really the same comparison as the Montessori you now really like verses the great play-based preschool that has a waiting list. At our play-based preschool no one has hit since age 2.

How in the world would you know for a fact that at your play-based preschool "no one has hit since age 2?" You sound defensive, imo.

-Signed, Montessori teacher

Anonymous wrote:OMG are you me? That was us last year. My end result was that the kids enjoyed it, learned a lot but as a parent MY experience was sub par. Eh, but I'll live.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You think 12 children to 2 teachers is somehow more chaotic than 26 children to 2 teachers in Montessori? I doubt it. Your children were younger and were in a daycare environment that apparently has been spiraling out of control due to management. Not really the same comparison as the Montessori you now really like verses the great play-based preschool that has a waiting list. At our play-based preschool no one has hit since age 2.

Anonymous wrote:
You think 12 children to 2 teachers is somehow more chaotic than 26 children to 2 teachers in Montessori? I doubt it. Your children were younger and were in a daycare environment that apparently has been spiraling out of control due to management. Not really the same comparison as the Montessori you now really like verses the great play-based preschool that has a waiting list. At our play-based preschool no one has hit since age 2.