Montessori preschool?

tmhutch

We are looking into sending DS to preschool in the fall, and one of them we are looking at is a Montessory school.  I am unfamilar with them, so I guess I would like your opinions on them?  How are they different from traditional preschools or co-op preschools?

jnicks19

Do your research.  For one, any school can call themselves "montessori" without being certified from AMI or AMS.  If you are paying for a montessori school, you want montessori trained teachers.  Also, truthfully, if you don't know what montessori is, you'll want to research it and figure out if you really believe in that philosophy.  My girls go to a Montessori school that goes until 8th grade.  Many people bring there kids there because they hear it's a good school and don't really understand how montessori works. You have to be able to step back and let montessori do it's thing and a lot of people have a hard time doing that because it's not like traditional classrooms.

 Here's one article but I recommend reading much more about it than this!

https://mariamontessori.com/mm/?p=1453

Carol*Brady2

My DDs go to Montessori school.  One is in K & one in preschool.  They'll do Montessori until 5th grade when their school combines traditional & Montessori for middle school (5th-8th).  Obviously I am a fan.  They are different in that there is typically combined ages--for example DD's class has 7 preschool kids, 7 pre-k kids & 7 kindergarten kids.  I don't feel like typing it all out what the other differences are but I would HIGHLY recommend just going for a tour & class observation.  I'd do with all preschools you are considering & then you'll be able to see first hand the differences.  Good luck w/ your decision--I truly believe different methods/schools are better fits for others.