Montessori Pre schools - what are people's experiences of them please...

[IamBlossom]

Thinking of taking DS1 out of his private nursery he was in because I worked full time - I don't now after I had his baby brother and am looking to move him - there is a montessori pre-school down the road that i am contacting and would be interested in other people's views on their methods....thanks.

Bloss

I liked the discipline and orderliness of the one ds attended for a while. Sad to have to change when we moved and feel he might have done better socially and focussed more on his motor skills had he stayed put. It seemed to suit him but perhaps less so a more boisterous child who enjoys free play .

The one thing I have against Montessori is that they discourage imaginitive/free/fantasy play any play they do is calle work.
I think it is important to allow children role play and pretending and the MOntessori principles of keeping everything as real as possible eg. little girls cannot pretend to be faires because it is not real.
All stories are factual no tales.

I think they will help you child to be very well behaved.
I wouldn't send my child, as lovely and inviting and calm as they look on surface.
I would rather my child came home from playschool with filthy knees telling me wild stories of adventure and mischief...

I think it very much depends on how "strongly" Montessori they are. My DS goes to one which I chose because of convenience. The staff are lovely, he has fun, he is absolutely allowed to pretend to be a fairy if he wants to(!) and when I arrived at storytime the other day they were reading Whatever Next which, if you don't know it, is about a bear who "goes" to the moon in a rocket made from a box he finds under the stairs using a colander as a helmet and wellies as space boots. Don't get much more "pretend" than that!

DS's nursery is kind of Montessori "lite".

There is lots of calm, structured, purposeful activity offered Children choose to participate or not, as they wish. Lots of opportunities for free play. Lots of running around outside, nature walks, dancing, creative activities, cookery.

He absolutely loves it.

didn't know about the no imaginative play-really?

am about to send ds to a steiner kindergarten which IME is good on imaginative play but also lots of modelling of methodical behaviour

and good understanding of needs of hyper 3 yo boys, which is good imo

My Ds is at a montessori nursery and he absolutely loves it ! My ds is a boisterous child and I was concerned that it may have been too orderly for him but I need not have worried as he is having a fab time. The staff are so caring and really put the needs of the child first. Ds's nursery teacher said that because ds is such a physical boy she always incorporates physical activities into his day. At the moment they are covering a project on the winter period and ds spent time doing winter warm up exercises on the mats.

I have always been very interested in the montessori philosophy and therefore may be slightly biased but all of the montessori nurseries I have viewed I have been very impressed with which is not something I can say for every other nursery.

i did a years montessori training after ds1 was born... dont have much experience of actual montessori nurseries as there arent any near enough to us for me to have sent the boys (now 1, 2 and 3), tho i wish there were.

i dont buy every single one of her theories, and i do think that the world is generally much more child friendly than in the time in which she lived... but i have much respect for her approach and think that she spoke a lot of sense about a lot...

theres a lot of misconceptions about montessori. and crucially i suspect, a lot, of nurseries with montessori in the name which do not interpret the 'method' properly. or do so in part - and im not sure how well it 'works' to do some of it and not all... all down to the individuals running and teaching in the individual places i expect.

for eg - they are not allowed creative play?? not true. tis true that there is much emphasis on truth and reality; out of respect for the childs developing and learning mind, the real answers are given to questions, not simplified or cutesy ones...

Maria montessori believed that children under 6 could not tell the difference between fantasy and reality, and so they deserved the truth as fantasy would be misleading.

and she believed that to tell a child fantastical stories was to fill their heads with other peoples fantasies and imagination, rather than to allow the child to develop their own imagination, based on a real and solid understanding of the world and reality, which they deserved to have so that they could move on to bigger and more complex questions...

i dont think i do it justice really, but just wanted to post.... that at the end of the day, you need to go to the nursery and check it out for yourself. ask a lot of questions, maybe even read up on the philosophy forst and like all things parenting related; trust your own instincts and judgment.

Like others have said I think the creative play is down to some more Montessori lite nurseries as to how "creative" they are allowed to be. I am in no way putting it down I am sure it works for some children but to me personally the fantastical side of my children is very important to me and thus if I was not in the middle of nowhere with the neares one 200 milea away I would consider a steiner school.
I think the steiner schools offer a more spiritual type of education although both institutions are very child centred just intotally different ways.

have to confess i dont know much about steiner schools, tho i like the sound of a holistic approach to educating children.

and have to say too, im not convinvinced at all that children under 6 cant tell the difference between fantasy and reality!
i do take the point that telling v young children fantasy stories is teaching them other peoples ideas of fantasy, tho im not convinced that this in turn discourages them from developing their own unique imagination... i dunno. like i say, i take a lot of it on board, but ceratinly not all and like with everything else, i pick and choose to follow and believe what 'speaks' to me...

and i do make stuff up for them and tell them stories and even bare-faced porkies now and then and dont feel im screwing up their chances of developing as full and complete people

ng I do kind of agree with that (but what about books? oh and my 3 yo can def tell the difference between a "story" and reality...

but i do think thats all interesting. one of the things that annoys me about steiner schiiks is that they don't give real answers, just answers in terms of other things, so eg why is the sun hot. now i would try to give a kind of honest answer-its a big ball of fire, we don't know why its there but its a good thing cos it means we can grow plants and keep warm and so on-trying to get the concepts across even if the actual details aren't strictly true (oooh MB will tell me to read rosalind driver agian if she sees this...). A steiner answer would be "so the plants can grow to feed us". i don;t like that

I think I would choose montissori over steiner but there aren't any local montissori schools, sadly.

it is sad. they dont seem to be very far and wide - is just luck if you have one anywhere nearby. (we dont either).

ds1 now going to a nursery class with a forest classroom where they spend hours working outside in the woods, wittling sticks, learning how to count rocks and the like - sounds brilliant to me. we're just lucky its nearby and we can afford it! (ds2 will start in sept too, then ds3 in a couple of years, assuming all is well/we havnt moved/gone broke)

my dd has just turned 2 and attends a montessori nursery, which she loves. She is sfull of beans and needs lots of stimulation, and they really seem to be channeling it When she becomes frustrated she lashes out, but because they do aveything methodically etc she really seems to thrive as she knows more of what is expected of her etc. on the other hand, there is lots of playing and cuddles so they seem to have a nice balance. She is v happy there, and only does one day atm but when i can afford it will up it to 2 days. don't know here you're based, but here is the site also has some info re montessori

sorry fillyjonk- to answer your question as best i can, MM said that she wouldnt have any fantastical stories at all for dc under 7 (tales with animals that talk or drive trains etc) but like you, i know my ds1 at least understands that telly isnt real, that dogs cant talk, that little cook small isnt really that little.... the grey area is that since everything is new to a young child - even normal boring stuff we take for granted - we cant always know how they will interpret things and if we give them he truth, they can then move on to new stuff and so, further 'complete' themselves and increase their chances of findinghappiness and fulfillment. and instead of dwelling long on other peoples 'stories' they can imagine their own (and imagination is a v useful tool in learning)
for eg the smoke alarm on their bedroom ceiling; given that he understands so much about fantasy and reality, youd think that he wouldnt have an irrational fear that the little green light inside it is some sort of alien/mystic force to be feared. telling him its a 'good' alien may seem to allay his fears, but will prob have him dwelling on the mystery of the green light for far longer than if he accepts that its just a light and then has time to dream/think about other, more complex or interesting things, things relevent to his current stage of development in one area or another...

crikey, i can waffle!

that looks lovely AB - glad to hear shes thriving there

My ds is 3.5 and very very active and yet he loves his Montessori preschool, and responds well to the structure and the calm. They have only recently started using some creative play, with a dressing up corner, and I had reservations about sending him at 2, to do "work" rather than "play". However, he plays hard from 6am until 7pm, has lots of opportunities to get dirty knees and do creative play at home or with friends . . .

We are very happy with it, and were surprised to realise that we would be on our visit to look around. I'd have never chosen to send him there, looking at their policies on paper, but in real life, with wonderful "teachers" who really do make him feel valued, it's fine.

it is NG, she loves it and it's worth every penny, they will also take the vouchers when she's 3

My dd (4 last October) adores her nursery and has come on leaps and bounds
she has developed 2 imaginary friends since starting, regularly dresses up as a jungle animal and is encouiraged to bring in her own books or favourite objects to show and tell.
Our Montessori head is a very experienced lady, the kids adore her.

Dd has some serious visual difficulties and the order, calm and structure make her feel safe.
It is the most child focussed environment I have visited. Infact there is not one negative I could voice.
Dd wakes up on Mondays singing Monday I love mondays it's a nursery day.

We've just checked out the Montessori in Herne Hill for 2yo DD and it looks great. They do have structure and plans to their day (it would end up like Beacon Hill if they didn't), but within that structure it looks like they are allowed a pretty free rein as to what they can do and are encouraged to investigate things for themselves.

The Montessori compared very well to a couple of others we looked at, but any nursery depends so much on the staff.

We viewed a very severe looking nursery where the kids had to wear uniforms and it was awful. All of the children under 3yo seemed to be mute and those upstairs (3y+) in the older section were packed in so tightly they were falling over each other.

adath I have to disagree. Both my boys attend a Montessori school here in Boulder, Colorado. They may call it work, but imagination is constantly used, painting, artwork, design, song, dance, play (outdoor) and they certainly have plenty of non-factual stories. My children adore it and both have very vivid imaginations. Montessori is an amazing methodology - not ideal for all children admittedly. I would see if you could take your ds IamBlossom into a session to see how he copes with it. Children are taught to be respectful, to listen to others and be helpful. Which I personally feel is fantastic in this hectic world in which we life in.

I think it depends on the school. The one we sent dds to was fab, the one bang right next door to us is rank (misspellings by teachers, separating older & younger children, horrible environment.

It always made me laugh that when it was someone's birthday they got to do a druid like walk round some candles, chanting something or other.

Makes me laugh now too, helping out at their school. You can always tell a Montessori educated reception child by the way they put one their coat!

dd1 was at a strict montessori for one term. It didn't really seem right for her as she had no discipline problems. It all seemed too serious, this encouragement to 'work' and work on their own. I can see that it would suit some children. But at that age I wanted her to see nursery/school as something enjoyable where she could make friends - work can come later. In the end we moved her to one with lots more play, more group activities and at the end of day 1 came out saying "I dont want to go back to my other nursery, can I stay here?".

Just depends on the child I think.

Want to add that there does seem to be differences in montessori schools - some taking the ethos further than others.

do seem to be differences