Montessori?????

Question

Who, where, why, how, what etc...? How does it work? Positives/Negatives?

Answer 1

A good state school will have the best aspects of a Montessori school mixed in with the aspects of a state school so your child won't be shell shocked when it comes to year 1 and they start on the national curriculum. This balance is very important. In order to find out about your local school's nursery visit the schools and as well look at their latest OFSTED report (every school has a government inspection every 2 years now instead of every 4 years). You can find the reports at www.ofsted.gov.uk

Answer 2

Maria Montessori invented this type of schooling. I actually go to a Montessori school, I'm eight. You see, instead of regular schools (I've never been to a regular school) You don't sit at desks all day, you move freely around the classroom and make work choices, such as metal insets, who am I cards, the clock of Eris, timeline choices, pin map choices, math choices, and so on. I go to a Montessori school that has three classes: The 3-6 year olds, the 6-9, and the 9-12. I'm in the 6-9, because I'm eight. It's much more fun to be in a Montessori school. And actually, in all the classes, you learn more than you would in a regular school. In the 3-6, you would actually be learning like 9-10 year old things. 9-11 year old things in normal schools, not Montessori. And if you were in the 6-9, you would actually be learning like 12-14 year old things in a regular school, and again, not Montessori. And if you were in the 9-12, you would actually be learning 15-17 things in a regular school, again, not Montessori. So I highly recommend Montessori, even if it doesn't have the same class age groups as the one mine does. Every Montessori school is a little unique. Montessori will make your kid much, MUCH more smarter than in regular schools, and your kid will also have much, MUCH more fun learning in a Montessori school than in a regular school, too. Montessori is awesome!

Answer 3

This site will answer the who, what, how...

http://www.montessorilovetolearn.com/whatis.asp?page=3

Simply put, Montessori is a creative method of self-directed learning for the child. Both of my daughters went to Montessori pre-schools. Much of the Montessori experience depends upon the make-up of the child and the actual school attended. As in all things, there are excellent Montessori schools, and some not so good.

The type of child who benefits from Montessori is usually an independent, curious, self-learner. The Montessori materials help to develop thinking and problem-solving skills. You have to see the actual materials to appreciate them.

My oldest daughter loved going to Montessori school and flourished. For my younger daughter, it was not a good fit because she was more artistic and needed nurturing. She does not have an analytic, mathematical mind.

A good Montessori school is worth looking into. Lifelong benefits are reaped by those children who are started early in Montessori training. Don't believe people who say that there is no supervision and children are allowed to run wild and have problems later in a public school setting. The children learn to discipline themselves in a good school and it is really quite amazing to see.

Answer 4

MONTESSORI, Maria Montessori, MD, Montessori Method, Montessori schools, Montessori, Italy, India, Nobel Peace Prize
Maria Montessori, MD, the founder of the Montessoi Method ... Montessori developed an interest in the treatment of special ... Montessori Index ...www.montessori.edu/maria.html - 12k - Cached - More from this site
Montessori Biography
What ultimately became the Montessori method of education developed there, based ... every exercise, every method Montessori developed was based on what ...www.montessori-namta.org/generalinfo/biog.html
International Montessori Index
Includes information about methodology, teacher training, evaluating schools, and related topics.
Category: Education Theory and Methods > Montessori Method
www.montessori.edu

Answer 5

The Montessori system has been around for decades, and there are schools world wide. It is not just a pre-school - there are even Montessori high schools and the occasional college.

My son went to Montessori for a number of years and I was very involved with the school. We were running up to grade 6.

Some schools may be structured differently, depending on how "classically Montessori" they want to be.

In my son's school, classes were broken into "Elementary I" and "Elementary II". Each consisted of three grade levels. E1 was the equivalent of grades 1, 2, and 3; E2 was 4, 5, and 6.

The first year in E1 the child is learning all new material, obviously. The older kids help the younger kids. The second year, the child works on the same material, but at a little more advanced level. They continue to get help from the older kids, but now in turn help the younger ones as well. In the third year, they learn more advanced stuff but help the younger ones too.

The pattern repeats for E2.

Second, Montessori focuses on being self-directed. The children have a certain amount of things they need to accomplish within a day or week, but they get to self-direct when they want to do stuff. This part impressed me a lot because I remember lots of times in public school having to take a certain class in the morning that I just wasn't into, or wanting to stay longer in science or whatever.

If the child is in the mood for art, they can work on art. If they are later in the mood for science, they work on science. That said, they are obligated to accomplish all their requirements, so it's not like they can just do art all week long, but they do get to do it when they're in the mood for it, and continue it for as long as they want as long as they get everything done.

Third, Montessori works on conflict resolution and getting along with others.

Fourth, it focuses on concepts rather than specific terms and rote learning. For instance, in math, they have hands-on materials that demonstrate concepts - a series of 1 bead, 5 beads, 10 beads, 100 beads, etc., and can change them out and learn mathematical relationships. Other subjects may be more traditional. Many things are presented such that they learn without knowing they are learning. My son could tell time on an analog clock at age 5. I asked him if they were studying telling time, and he said "no, but we played a game".

Montessori also keeps away from homework, feeling that at home children should not be in "perpetual school", and formalized grading (although there are regular progress reports).

I'm glad we kept him in for as long as we did. Nearly all children at the school were wonderfully well-rounded and well-behaved.

When he took karate lessons, his karate school teacher told me that they love teaching the children from the Montessori school because they're always so well focused and well behaved.

The only drawbacks (aside from the cost of providing a private education) is that in moving to a public school he has had trouble moving to a more formalized schedule, and the much more restrictive public school system ("They have so many rules!"). Of course, when you have 600 kids in a public school system, you have to be more structured and have rules. He's doing okay adjusting, just that was one thing we ran into. The other is the fact that math is x minutes long, then science, then art, or whaterver. But those are small things.

In general, I don't regret it for a second, and I don't regret a single penny we spent on it. It was one of the very best things we could have done for him. If your experience was even just half as good, you'd still be thrilled.

Answer 6

This is a diff style of teaching a child - is moer play orientated and allows a child to develop at an individual speed with caer and support rather than rigid timetables and worksheets. As too the effectiveness who knows ?? I do know that Wales aother parts of the UK are moving the National Curriculum for primary towards a more integrated approaching using this method in part in the receptin classes..

cheers

Answer 7

It's a pre kindergardten school