transition from montessori to PYP IB

[babymommy2]

Montessori elementary is not an option in my community so we are looking at PYP IB school , after 2 years in a montessori program. I am looking for info on
1: how similar /dissimilar do you feel these programs are

2: Anything in particular that would make the transition easier? Also going from half day to full day this year. I am most worried about math. I have a child that really loves math and I love the hands on physicalness of math in montessori, worried about how math will be approached.

[MartinT]

Hi babymommy2!

Came upon your (old) post in a web search as we are facing the same question: transition from Montessori to IB PYP. Given that a couple of years have passed, what has been your experience?

Grateful for your insights!

Thanks and best regards,

Martin (Hong Kong)

[babymommy2]

we moved to a new community where IB is not an option until high school, so in the end we are at a public school. Now  a few years in I can see that each year there is a bit of a different focus on method, based on the teacher. for example in g rade 1 the teacher is very into hands on science, so it was great! The class was full of animals all the time. Science incorporated into everything. Other teachers have been good too, but in different ways. The other thing I have learned is that IB probably was not the way to go anyways. I can see now that my oldest is not as self directed as I may have imagined he would be when he was 4. He would thrive in self direction with anything to do with science, but reading and writing, he dislikes! At school he writes the bare minimum he can get away. The only part of school we are really unhappy with is math, and it is not his teacher or school, but the whole western canadian cirriculum, and from what I hear eastern canada is not better. There is quite a movement against it developing. We supplement math at home.