Transitioning from homeschooling to Montessori at Upper Elem. Age

[OTMomma]

My oldest dd is in 3rd grade, and I am considering putting her in a local montessori school next year- so she would start in the Upper Elementary class.  As any homeschooler, she's been able to just progress at her own pace, has had a lot of time for self directed learning, and is ahead in some things, and probably behind in others.  Are there any skills you would suggest we work hard on making sure she has before fall?  Any advice about how to help her prepare?    Dd is very excited about the idea of this  school, and this is not a done deal right now, so advice about what to consider is appreciated.

[mattemma04]

My dd entered 3rd year lower el.. She was homeschooled and a few months public 2 times. I think learning cursive was useful.They write everything in cursive I also think learning the symbols used to break down the sentences was useful.

I think your dd will do fine.It was a bit of hard work the first few months learning all the basics,but after that it was like she had been there years.Ds is now in 3rd lower el and says a girl entered his level from public school.She seems to be doing fine.

You can look for info in Montessori homeschooling,but a lot is for the younger children.I left math alone.M has a different way of teaching math.

[OTMomma]

Thank you so much for the reply!  That is exactly the kind of info I needed. Dd has been working this year on learning to write cursive, so I'll make sure we continue with that.  Dd has had a rather eclectic math education so far, so I guess we'll just go with the flow there, since Montessori will do things their way.  You are right that a lot of the info out there is for younger kids- its kind of hard to learn about Montessori for the 8 and up crowd. 

[mattemma04]

I am sure she will do fine once she gets the basics under her belt. In upper they were doing research reports and a science project.I helped her with those. Hopefully the teachers will help your dd with any activites/lessons one on one. 

I find the one on one instruction from upper teachers to not occur as often as I would like.Sometimes dd has turned to classmates for help.  Hope she likes it.My dd liked lower better than upper,but I am guessing it was the added level of work and homework she disliked. The upper teachers are also far more strict with rules and chitchat.