HI all any parents who have entrolled their kids Modern montessori?

Question

what are your views and is MMI really very effective?????????

Answer 1

hi

Modern montessori is based on the teachings of Maria montessori, basically the theory goes that every child learns at their own pace in a creative nuturing environment. I have seen it work really well with some children. They are happy to go at their own pace and it is a great pathway i feel for children who are gifted, as the pace at what they learn will be more suited to their specific needs rather than being in a mainstream system.

I have also seen it not used very well, i had a child come into a kindergarten and he always asked if they could do this and do that and the parents had pulled them out, because they felt the montessori centre was being too strict and not leeting the child have choices. Montessori are very high on discipline such as you have ask before you take something off the shelf, if the paint and the easel are sitting there ready for a child then they are expected to go ask if its ok to go paint. Mind you this is one centre i seen, i have heard other great things about different centres. Try this website it has loads of info http://www.modernmontessori-intl.com/, try this page too http://www.modernmontessori-intl.com/corp_philo.htm it will answer your questions

Answer 2

I loved Montessori but I think it may not be right for all kids. It allows for a great deal of self directed learning which is fine-if you have a child who is very self-directing.

There also seems to be a lack of consistency among the teachers in general-some are incredibly strict and others are so laid back that nothing seems to get accomplished.

Our son was in Montessori when he was 4 but I don't think I would have let him go much further into it. In his case-his teacher had some very irritating "cultural" biases such as: girls should play with girls and boys should play with boys. In addition, she also believed that girls were better at reading-boys were better at math and didn't really push learning the basics very hard. She also didn't watch the children while they were on the playground (she would often be found inside-letting the children monitor themselves!).

That being said, I found Montessori to be a good "play" school for my little guy. He had fun. The classroom was always very bright and cheery and the children who attended were from nice, professional families like our own and we found it easy to get to know other parents.

His teacher was from India and was very into diversity and teaching the children about "far off places". We loved that aspect of it.

One last thought-especially in the U.S., you will hear many negative comments about the Montessori system as a whole. These comments normally come from main stream educators who are very biased in their own right. The bottom line for them I think lies in the fact that Montessori does tend to cater to "gifted" children as well as wealthier families. IF you hear these things, I would turn a deaf ear. While my experience with Montessori was not perfect, I would challenge main stream educators to observe and learn a few things about the program and theories behind it as a whole.

The experiences will vary from school to school but it is certainly not a bad place if you have a child who can self monitor and tends to be more compliant. I would describe it as a very kind education setting.