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Did/does your child go to Montessori?

63 replies

ghosty · 19/05/2005 09:49

I had a look around a Montessori preschool today which seemed absolutely lovely. DD is only 15 months and I would only be thinking of sending her when she is 3 for 3 mornings a week until she is 4 ... then move to 5 mornings a week until she is 5 when she will start school.
I went because the owner of the school is a friend and I thought I would check it out.
It was a little haven of calm but busy little people ... lovely atmosphere, great resources etc etc etc.
So, what do you think of montessori? Would love to know any thoughts and opinions (good OR bad) ...
TIA
G xx

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ghosty · 23/05/2005 02:14

Don't YOU have to go to playcentre too thought Bobbybob? I always admire playcentre mums ... I am far too selfish ... when DD goes to preschool I want a break ...

Having said that, I always hear good things about playcentre ...

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bobbybob · 23/05/2005 04:18

You have to go until your child is 2.5 or potty trained (and 2.5). Then you help out as a parent help a couple of times a term, do a bit of fundraising, and clean up an activity every time you pick up. So yes it is a bit of work,and when you are there you are actively there (ie, not just gossiping with a cup of coffee) but you do get time when you don't have to go.

I won't ever leave Bob at Playcentre - that's when I see him in action with all the equipment I miss seeing him use at PreSchool.

I guess in terms of cheapness whilst not having to stay Kindy wins - but then you do seem to get what you pay for (ie not a lot).

Franniban · 24/05/2005 20:19

Hi, It's very interesting reading all your comments on this subjuect. I'm also looking at Rudolf Steiner Schools, which I think have a similar philosophy. I must say I would worry that my son, if anything like me, would end up doing nothing except whatever he likes.
Anyway, Swedishmum, if you go to the following web site you can search by County, and there are schools in Ashford. www.montessori.org.uk/BeginnersGuide.php

redsky · 24/05/2005 20:28

I sent my ds to a Montessori nursery and thought it was terrific for him. I didn't realise how contraversial the decision was until much later - one school we looked at was very anti-Montessori - something about them not stimulating creativity, and one of my cousins in australia who is a kindergarten teacher was horrified that I had sent ds to Montessori. I still think it was right for him - he loved the order and structure it provided.

RnB · 24/05/2005 20:50

Message withdrawn

cocoliver · 24/05/2005 21:52

my dd aged 3 and a bit has been going to one since just before her second birthday (just a couple of mornings a week then and now only 3).It is fantastic, there are only six children with 2 'teachers' and they adhere fairly closely to the original Montessori techniques. They cook, garden and do the most wonderfully inventive and fun projects. She loves the singing time and birthdays are fun too. I think it is great, one of the reasons is that it is in someone's house so is very relaxed. A few places I looked at say they are Montessori but in fact probably adhere to only a few principles. However I have no idea if my 2 ds's will be right for it ...have to see but very positive so far.

ghosty · 25/05/2005 11:05

Perhaps someone could explain something to me ...
On one hand people talk about the 'order and structure' being too much and not encouraging 'creativity' but then on the other hand people talk about children not coping with school because they are too used to doing whatever they like ...

I've been doing a bit of research, see, and I don't geddit!!!

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soapbox · 25/05/2005 11:31

I'll try

The session itself is quite structured, IME this was circle time, 'work', snack and then group play.

When the children are 'working' the way in which they work is quite structured, i.e. they must take the activity from the shelf, get a green mat (to define their work space) put the activity on the green mat, work with it until the activity is completed then make it clean and tidy for the next child, then put it back on the shelf, then get a new activity from teh shelf and so on. If a child wants to join in with an activity someone else is already doing they must ask permission to join in, the child using the toy can let them or not, it is their choice!

However, the child has pretty much free rein on what activity they choose to work on. So they can make the choice from the various activities set out on teh shelves. Some things like trainsets, dressing up box, climbing frame, can only be used in the group play session, but any other activity can be chosen. In reality the child does get an element of direction from the teacher in helping them to choose what to do, so the teacher will keep an eye out to make sure that the child gets a range of experiences over the course of the week. Although when they are smaller this happens less than when they are older.

So I suppose the order and structure comes from the way in which they work, the choice comes from what they choose to work on!

If it helps, the way in which they work is so calm and focussed they are used to sitting down and concentrating on a series of tasks for 1-1.5 hours at a time. This serves as excellent experience for the classroom situation where some children (boys mainly) just cannot seem to sit down for more than 5 minutes at a time!

Blu · 25/05/2005 12:00

Hmmmm. DS cannot sit still for more than 5 mins at a time. His nursery teacher is a properly trained Montessori teacher, and uses a lot of the structure in the 'general' nursery that DS attends. She says Ds does concentrate on the activities, and achieves a lot, but he is 'very hoppy' and gets up every few minutes the middle to twirl and dance before persisting.

I thought Steiner schools were almost the opposite of Montessori in their approach to enabling children to learn?

Chandra · 25/05/2005 12:05

I'm not quite sure about the creativity part not being attended, I remember that when I moved from Montessori to normal school I was shocked at how little independent thinking the other children were doing, it was much as if the other children were just accepting what the teacher said as a dogma of faith rather than asking if they didn't understood why, they sometimes found it difficult to think that there were several ways to do the same thing. However this may well be because the way the school they attended was rather than because it was not a Montessori.

About doing badly when making the switch... It may happen specially if you "uproot" the child before reaching the last level. Our school spent a lot of time during the last year before normal school with more activites based on the blackboard and also more homework. I don't think we did badly, actually most of us ended in the honour lists of the secondary schools a year later. However, children that were moved to a normal school during the previous years had a little problem of adjustment, but I believe that if you inform the teacher of the move they will have time to prepare the kid to make the change. HTH

bundle · 25/05/2005 12:09

my girls' nursery teaches them to put their coats on that way too and it's not montessori. we did visit one montessori when we were looking for a place for dd1 (4 yrs ago) and it was spookly quiet, we just didn't like it.

ghosty · 26/05/2005 09:13

Thanks for that explanation soapbox .... that really helped!
Chandra ... montessori must be great ... 'cos you are ... creep, creep!

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swedishmum · 26/05/2005 09:42

Thanks for the link Franniban - will check them out.

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