Tell me about montessori nurseries

[milliec]

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bump heard of them but not sure about them tbh i think tey do lots focussing on learning

The one dd went to was fantastic but its like anything there are probably good and bad ones. If your dd is happy where she is I wouldn't necessarily want to move her. There is some stuff on the net, good website here worth looking at? montessori uk

I don't think they're anything that special (DS splits his funded preschool sessions between a bog standard committee-run preschool and a Montesori nursery). I've had experience of about 5 other preschool/nurseries before this, too with older children! If your DD is happy and you're otherwise happy with the current place, I wouldn't dream of moving her.

The Montessori approach focuses can be implemented in lots of different ways. From what I can tell, though, they all have a big emphasis on pattern recognition and fine motor skills. These are obviously a help with learning to read, maths and writing. But not essential to go Montessori for a child to do those things well, either, iyswim.

focuses in last message,

Not sure I know enough to advise you - but I can say that I have four dcs, of whom only ds2 went to a montessori 3 sessions a week for 2 years before going to the same nursery class at prep school his siblings did (for complicated reasons to do with a house move in area he was the only one who went there). His reading was WAY ahead of his siblings by 6 and has continued the same. He has always been much better academically, with better concentration and focus (although I am lucky in that all 4 are high end of spectrum). However, DS2's advantage was definately that he had much better phonic understanding at a very early age, and a much better ability to concentrate on a task. He certainly learned these at his nursery as HD and I commented at the time, but I couldn't say to what extent that was a great teacher or the Montessori method.

my two children both attended and ds is still there.
its a structured day and they use various "toys" to learn. they arent toys but i dont know what else to call them.
there is a lot of emphasis on space,puzzles,then colours and shapes, it can be a simple intrepretation of the original school of thought or procedure or it can be very much montesoorii(sp!) depending on the school
the teachers however have to be trained in montesorri.
my two were brilliant at it and loved it. dd is 5 and could do her alphabet and recognize the letters by 3 1/2. ds is that now and knows his letters and numbers. the learn pronuciation with the "Letterland" system. and its been very good for my dd who started primary this year and got a merit award (1 of 3) in her class in her first month!

i have just visited my local montessori nursery school with a view to sending DS1 there once he is 3. it was very impressive and all the children were a bit freakily well behaved, but it was just far too ordered for my liking. i think when they are small and meant to be 'leaning through play' that a bit of chaos and plastic toys (it was all very puritan and spartan in its layout and equipment) are what he needs at this age.

it might help to look at a book i saw last week. it's quite new and called
'How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way'

www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/1628463/How-to-Raise-an-Amazing-Child/Product.html

there are some excellent techniques that you can employ at home, from birth onwards, and i think i would prefer to use that to supplement DS1 & 2's experiences while keeping them in more 'standard' nursery environments.

DS goes to one. They do vary in quality apparently.
The idea is that the staff help the children extend any ideas they have and guide them into activities to help them develop the ideas. It's very child-led, which does NOT mean there isn't discipline, but you won't see any shouting or naughty step. There is a big emphasis on teaching the children to respect boundaries, especially physical ones.
The leader said to me "We start with the Big Bang and work from that" - she was being flippant really, but I am amazed at how they take a child's interest and turn it into a sculpture or a reading session or a nature walk...it is really stimulating.
They use real-world things as well - I think Montessori started rehabilitating children and helping them to acquire skills for the real world. They are very big on tidying and mopping up and the children seem perfectly happy with it.
I wholeheartedly recommend it but at the same time I can see why people are a bit - it just works for our ds very very well.

hmm - I had my eye on one for dd but they were pulled up (twice!) by Ofsted for keeping the books out of the children's reach...

maybe I'll start a new thread...

Everything is at child level in ds's one incl the artwork displays they have done.
I totally love his nursery

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