Life after Montessori?

[mamadebug]

We have decided to take DS out of his Montessori school. He had a wonderful year at a different Montessori school last year - loved school and learned a ton. He started at a new Montessori school this year, in the lower elementary class, and it just hasn't gone well. He is starting a new school tomorrow, and while I am not totally confident in their academics, I think it will be a good fit socially and emotionally and that after a really rough start to this year, we need to prioritize that right now. While the new school seems like the best option right now, I don't know if it will be a good fit long term (DS is in 1st grade now - so we have a long way to go).

Once we decided to take him out of the Montessori school, I started touring schools and have seen public and private, Montessori and non-Montessori. I am continuing my search in case we decide to move him again (poor kid). At every school I have seen, I just keep thinking he would be bored. Even the Montessori elementary programs I have seen (including the one DS was a part of) seem to really veer away from what I understand Montessori to be and are seem much more like traditional schools and just not that interesting/challenging. I saw a school last week (a traditional school), and when we went in the 1st grade room, the teacher was explaining that in math they are working on breaking numbers down into 10s and 1s - 19 is 1 ten and 9 ones type of thing. In kindergarten (at Montessori), DS was doing all of the decimal system work with the golden beads - creating, or recognizing, numbers in quantity and symbol and then adding and subtracting them. We went on to the second grade, and the teacher was saying the kids were learning the continents and oceans. Last year as a kindergartner, DS learned the continents, oceans, seas, many countries on each continent, their flag, the symbolism of their flag.....

So for parents of kids who have left Montessori, what do you do afterwards?!? What kinds of schools or programs have worked? Do you find they are bored, and how do you keep them engaged if so? I am stumped and, short of finding a quality elementary Montessori program, I don't really know what to do with him for school.

[dbsam]

deleted...
I just re-read your post and see your son starts his new school tomorrow.
My negative experience will not be helpful to your situation.

Good luck at his new school.

[kittykat2481]

I'll be very curious to read others' responses. DS is not even 3 yet so we have a long way to go before we're to that point, but I see it as being an issue in our future. Despite DS being extremely mature for his age, due to his birthday he will have 4 years in primary before he would be eligible for public first grade. He already counts objects to 20 and beyond, knows all of his letter sounds (and is experimenting with decoding words, although mostly making it up), etc. Some of his friends in their "pre-k" year (meaning, still have 1 year of primary left) are already working on simple multiplication and nearly all are in the early stages of reading. I just cannot imaging a kindergarten or first grade anywhere, short of a great Montessori program, that could meet the needs of these children academically or socially. Obviously only time will tell what DS's needs will be in kindergarten or first grade, but I would be very surprised if he didn't regress once he gets to grade school.

That reminds me... My youngest sister is 5 and in kindergarten. She has been reading (self-taught) for about a year. She didn't even have the advantage of a Montessori early education, and her kindergarten teacher can't meet her needs academically. She says she just doesn't know what to do with her. (Obviously that's not the best answer to the situation, but it's just the luck of the draw with public school teachers. She's a very nice lady though.) If my sister had had 3 years of primary in a Montessori school, I can only imagine how surprised her teachers would be now!

[flightgoddess]

My son's not there yet...just relating my youth.

Look for a school or program that has a gifted and talented section/coordinator/teacher/whatever, or a magnet school, or a foreign language immersion school.

I was reading in Kindergarden, I often was the 'helper' to the teacher, or 'tutored' other kids, helping them with words, the teacher got extra/harder books for me, etc. I don't think it was everyday, but at least weekly I went with a group of gifted and talented kids in a different room with a different teacher, all through elementary. 2nd-4th grade there was even a mom who was fluent in Russian, would come and teach a small group of gifted kids (6-8 kids) Russian! Definately fueled my interest in languages Anyway, even though it wasn't a special gifted/talented school, they had a coordinator and teachers that worked to provide learning experiences for kids of all abilities.

I have worked in a Spanish Immersion school, and that is something I am definately considering for my son. Do you have any immersion programs in your area? It is something you should be in for the long haul though, up to or through middle school.

Good luck!

[tatermom]

I second the pp who mentioned language immersion programs as an option to explore. DS finished the K program at his Montessori school last year and came out of it a fluent reader, and doing about 2nd grade level math. He does not qualify for 1st grade in the public school system because of his age (which I'm glad about because socially he's definitely not a 1st grader), but he really had the potential to be very bored in the public school (we can't afford to continue with M elementary). Thankfully, the (public) French immersion program he just started looks like it will keep him busy for quite a while and will not require him to receive any kind of special differentiation in the classroom but instead gives him a new kind of challenge.

Edited to add: I had always thought that the hardest part about transferring from Montessori to a traditional public school would be dealing with the lack of independent movement around the classroom, more structured learning, etc, but DS had no problem with any of that, and actually found the social setting and extensive new rules to be interesting. I was very torn about taking him out of Montessori but I think the language immersion is, at least for us, the next best option.