Montessori vs CM?

[Sastra]

Following on from another thread that pointed out that in a lot of areas you need to be looking for child care whilst you're still pregnant, I have been investigating what options are available to us.

There's a Montessori nursery locally, which im going to see next week. Intriguingly, it would cost the same as a child minder.

I'd be really interested to know why you would choose one over the other (of course taking into account what they're like in RL etc)? What are the relative merits/draw backs?

I'm also interested to know what the relative advantages/disadvantages of nursery/childminder are, although not specifially Montessori nurseries (no idea what they are is just it a London thing?).

Are childminders any more flexible? The 3 (maybe) days I will be working will change each week so kind of concerned that this may be a problem.

I chose a CM for DS when I went back to work at 5mo because I wanted him to form a bond with one person. I know all nurseries run a key worker system but to me it is still not the same as it being one person ALL the time. In nursery the key worker will go on holiday/ move rooms/ leave/ not be working on some of the days DC is in. The children also move rooms so they are only ever with their key worker for a certain period of time. I wanted to avoid that. I'd rather take time off and have DS myself when CM is not available- but I have a job that is flexible enough to accomodate that. I also value the face that he goes out and does 'normal' things every day with his childminder. He goes on the school run and to the library/ park/ rhymetime at the library etc- basically all the stuff I would do. I hated the idea of him only seeing the inside of a baby room. It's been very successful. When DS started talking he spontaneously called CM 'CM-mummy' and I'm so pleased he sees it like that- it really is just another family he is part of.

However, at rising 3 I will be moving DS to a Montessori pre-school. I have chosen one very carefully- they vary hugely in 'how' Montessori they actually are. I think the Montessori method will really suit DS so I have chosen a very purist one where ALL the staff are fully qualified Montessori Directoresses. I can see now that in 6-9months time DS will be ready to benefit from a more structured 'learning' environment.

So I think he will have had the best of both worlds!