What is the benefits of sending my daughter to Montessori School?

Question

She just started Montessori School last week. She will be four years old in September. Just wondering if I should consider continue a Montessori education for kindergarten and beyond. Anyone have any experiences good or bad with these schools. Thanks for any advise.

Answer 1

Our son is going to be a 5th grader, and has been in Montessori since kindergarten. It has been incredibly positive and wonderful for him. The hands-on approach to learning, with manipulatives and such has been very effective, and the option to work ahead in areas of strength has been great to his self-esteem. Our son is dyslexic, and having the same teacher for 3 years has been fabulous - the teachers are familiar with his special needs and abilities, and we are not "retraining" every year. There is a great deal of consistency, and it allows for great relationship-building, both with teachers and peers. We have been very impressed and happy with the quality of education. I've included some links about Montessori education. Good luck!

Answer 2

WHAT NEXT? (after Montessori..)
This is what I thought, when my daughter started going to a Montessori School. Even me and my wife used to think, this is the best way of giving education to a child. Well, it all depends on how long your child going to be in a Montessori school..I mean till which standard.

Would like to point out major defect here, as all the advantages have already been mentioned by others.

Yes, I agree, its a free-environment, where child can learn at her own pace; no pressure; reasonably good relation between student-teacher; learning by experience not by reading, blindly etc.. But, what happens next.. As long as she is in Montessori till her graduation (sadly, no school is there till grad), she will be fine and happy. But, as soon as she enters a regular system of education, where we have more pressure than a montessori method and where the way of learning things is entirely different from that of montessori; she will find it very difficult to survive. Practically, everything is different in a regular school, when compared to Montessori school . Because, other students will have a diffrenent mindset about interacting with each other, learning things etc.., unless they are also from montessori background. The point is, Montessori method will not teach a child how to survive in the real world (in terms of education). At the end of it, child will assume that every other school/college is like this or atleast she will expect it to be that way. Problem will start, when she realize they are not. That can be very stressful, depressing for her. Most likely, the child may start loosing interest in studies, because of the suddent change of environment.

This can ONLY be avoided, if these Montessori schools arrange frequent interaction with other schools. By this, child will get to know how different she is (or the other schools are!) and in a way, she will be prepared to be compatible to any kind of environment, by not having any assumptions. But, as for as I know, there is no school which does this excercise.
If you could find a school, where they have both Montessori and regular method of teaching; then thats the best school. I did find a school like that (in Bangalore, India) atlast, for my daughter. She's happy there too and so are we.

Answer 3

My best friend's mom is a montessori school teacher and i went there every half day last year because i like kids so much! From my experience it seems like if your child can stay focused and do things for themselves then it is a perfect school to let them advance at their own pace and learn more than is required for that grade. The opposite is also true if your child is not very focused and needs to be reminded to do things then a montessori is not the right school...the teachers expect them to work and do not push them any harder than what they are willing to do! Also in my montessori middle school that i went to for one year before switcing back to public schools, the teachers didn't teach much....they wrote the work on the board and let you do it in whatever order you wanted! I didn't like this because i would lose track of time on one subject and never finish my others...i learned wayy less my 6th grade year there than any of my school years at a public school! The kindergarten programs are generally really good though, my little sister became so advanced from hers...by the time she switched to her new school in the middle of first grade she was reading chapter books, adding subtracting and multiplying, and writing in full sentences! So it may be good to keep your daughter in the kindergarten program and then depending on how she does decide if she has the attention span to stay in the montessori!

Another one of my good friends came to my school this year from a Montessori school and was a straight a student there but ended the school year with a 2.5 gpa! She said the transition was so hard, that she felt really behind because she was able to work at her own pace and never reached all the way she should have. Her mom now looks back at sending her there as the biggest mistake of her life because all of her other 3 kids who attended public schools are in great colleges and one is going to be a doctor!

Answer 4

My experience in Montessori school was great . I was there for 4 years. I started when i was three and finished with kindergarten when i was six. I am 15 now and i still consider that time of my life to be one of the best. If you enrolled your daughter at a good Montessori School, i would definitely keep her in it...AT LEAST until she finishes kindergarten. I am not sure how much Montessori schools can differ. But we were taught as a class but on our own level. No child was expected to catch up to the rest of the class. Or in my case, no child was expected to slow down at the speed of the class. I remember we were doing math once (in kindergarten) and a couple of kids and myself were able to go on to simple multiplication. The teachers could teach to suit the needs of each child. But it never felt like our class was separated. I truly believe that I had more oppuritunities and experiences than children that went to a regular school. I could go on and on about my days in Montessori school. As soon as i saw your question I just had to try and answer it. I hope I have helped a little. If you want to ask me any questions please do.

Answer 5

My son has been in Montessori since Kindergarten, he will be a 3rd grader this year. I have no idea where the person above got that they devalue imaginative play they have manipulatives all over the class room to hold and play with. The kids do not do all work on their own there are many times where they have a partner or a group. To me it is a more laid back setting than a direct education class. I would never take my son out of his school, but you know it is different for everyone.

Answer 6

I went to a Montessori school from kindergarten to 6th grade and though we had fun learning utilizing the lab filled with instructional materials from the founder as well having activities centered on her teaching, I don't think it made us any different in the long run.

The classes and sessions we had on Maria Montessori's teaching benefited us in terms of proper etiquettes and some more, but after a while, it was just forgotten and seen as more of an added burden to our schoolwork when we have to practice her teachings and ways on certain days of the week.

All in all, I would not say that going to a Montessori school for half of my school days life gave any negative impact in my learning abilities and capacities,as well as my ways of living. However, I cannot say either that it made a strong impact (or any impact at all) in my knowledge and values.

Good luck in choosing the best education for your kids! Kudos to you! ☺

Answer 7

I went to Montessori from the time I was very little to 6th grade. I made a lot of friends there,some of whom I'm still in touch with. I also enjoyed the fact that there was more room outside to run and play. You also met more people of different ages. I'm glad I had this education because it gave me some things that going to a public school wouldn't have given me, however, they did not teach me to type, which I learned in high school. I also think they need to work on transitioning students from a Montessori enviroment to a public school enviroment.

Answer 8

As you might already know, montessori learns to experience, the child feels like he is only playing while he is really acquiring some specific skill. Also each of the environments supports a specifi area. And each "exercise" has its own way to correct itself, so the children learn to think and problem solve, thru trial and error. It encourages independence too.
Most parents and children i know are very happy with the montessori method. My daugther goes to a Montessori School.

Answer 9

I went to Montessori school from kindergarten through part of 1st grade. I liked it alot and probably would have done better in school if we had stayed there. I think the only draw back, that I can remember, was they were teaching a lot of spanish and my mom thought they should teach more english so we quit going there.

Answer 10

Just reflecting on my own experience from years ago, but the time we visted a Montessori school it was very expensive. There were some enormous SUVs parked out front as I recall. It might be a good education, but it struck me as education for kids of the more well to do.

Answer 11

I went to a Montessori school for few years (5th grade to sophomore year high school) and it was the best! I did go to one in Asia so I'm not too sure if Montessori schools all around the world are exactly alike but in any case, I'm so grateful my mom put me in that school. I learned so much and you won't even believe how much I retained. I wished I had finished high school there and I was so much more advanced when I started junior year high school in the US.

I think going to a Montessori school when you're really young, such as for your daughter, would be VERY beneficial for her. Montessori schools are great! ...If I/When I have kids, that's where I'm sending them. hahaha