Transitioning out of Elementary early

[highlandercoo]

Hello everyone, I'm new to this board and I'm happy to have found an online Montessori community.

My daughter has spent the last three years in a Montessori primary program and graduates this year.  Next year we are planning on sending her to the school's elementary program, however, she is probably only going to be there for two years.  Keeping her there through six grade is just not possible for us.

One of my concerns after observing the classroom yesterday is how her transition is going to be into a public (ugh) school for third grade.  I watched a lot of the children using the beads to do math work which clearly isn't how traditional classrooms teach math.

If she hasn't had time to "graduate" off of using these math materials, is it going to be very hard for her to pick up a new way of doing math?  I was positive in my decision to enroll her for a couple more years, but now I'm wondering if it will hinder her later on down the road as she tries to transition into a traditional classroom.

Any thoughts? 

[mattemma04]

 I have not done it,but wanted to recommend you find out what math curriculum they will be using in the public school she will be going too.Our local schools were trying out some new type math that was even a new way for the teachers. 

You could work with her over the summer so she is familiar with the new math method. Generally the first few weeks of school in public seemed to be a review,so she will have a chance to learn basics.

She will catch on to the new ways pretty fast. Hope she will like ps.

[physmom]

My question would be... how sure are you that she won't be able to continue on after two years?  A lot can change in that time period so I probably wouldn't make a decision like that so early on.  It sounds like she's happy at her school so it would seem to me that i makes the most sense to keep her in there as long as possible.  Also, from what I've read, most Montessori kids are actually ahead in math compared to public school kids so I really doubt she'll have any problems (I have no experience though being that my child is a lot younger!). 

[EAVice]

Hi,

I'm a mom of two boys (12 and 14) who began their Montessori education at 3 years of age.  I am also a Montessori Elementary guide.  

Over the years, I've watched children transition out of Montessori.  The challenges get easier the longer you leave your daughter in the program because the longer the child is in the environment the more abstract the child's thinking will become and the less reliant on materials she will be.  Also, the skills that she should be developing in the classroom are far above the expected math skills (and geometry, too) for her age.  She can draw from knowledge to help her in the transition.  All of that said, it takes Montessori children about six weeks (I would guess-ti-mate from my observations) to begin to fit in to the 1. requirements of being teacher directed, 2.  work not being perfect, 3.  the way questions are formed in class and in the tests, and 4. social dynamics with far less grace and courtesy.  

If your upper el guide is willing, you might see about scheduling a time over several weeks where over snacks she could show her work and get "see, this is similar to when we did this" or "here is the reason for this, you already know ...."

[Shaki]

I was just talking with another montessori parent about similar issues.

My DD was just offered a spot at an accelerated public school which would mean transitioning out of her absolutely wonderful private montessori. In anycase there is another Mom at our Montessori School whose older child is staying thru 8th grade but whose younger child moved to the same school that DD has been offered a spot at, last year. I knew the decision to move her child had been a tough one so I got in touch with her to hear her advice. We talked about a lot of different things but the thing that's relevant to your question, OP is that she felt it was best to either move to a more traditional setting for kindy or first grade, OR make the commitment to stay at Montessori thru 8th grade (or in your case 6th). Her reason for this is that the teaching methodology is so different that there are several middle years where the Montessori kids would appear to be "behind" in standardized testing simply because of the difference in how subjects like math are approached--which at least where we live, presents not only the problem of the child adjusting to a more traditional classroom, but the reality that poor standardized test scores make it difficult to move to a higher quality public school (because admission is based on these scores). She went on to say that by the later grades 6-8th the Montessori kids appear to have at least caught up with, if not surpassed, their more traditionally schooled peers on standardized testing. So her advice to me was either make the move now or stay for the long haul. Not saying you should absolutely follow this advice, but I found it helpful to look at the situation from that perspective.

[Melanie_7773]

Originally Posted by Shaki 

Her reason for this is that the teaching methodology is so different that there are several middle years where the Montessori kids would appear to be "behind" in standardized testing simply because of the difference in how subjects like math are approached--which at least where we live, presents not only the problem of the child adjusting to a more traditional classroom, but the reality that poor standardized test scores make it difficult to move to a higher quality public school (because admission is based on these scores).  

This is interesting, and probably very regional.  At our Montessori school the students in all grades regularly test about two years above grade level (on average) on standarized tests.  Not sure if the difference between our school and yours is the approach of the school, the tests, or a combination of the two.

That said, where I live there's no concept of admissions into public schools; the public school a child attends is based on geographic boundaries only.  The standardized testing is done only as a general measure of performance for the school, and also as feedback on individual performance for the parents who care.

[MomtoDandJ]

In talking with parents, it seems like it's best and least disruptive for children to finish each three-year block (meaning do all three years of 3-6 then, if they stay, all three years of 6-9). Parents of those who have been there before say a lot of learning really comes together during that last year. So would it be possible for you to keep your child there one more year? Might make the transition easier since she'd be moving to a new room after 6 anyway.

Hope this is helpful.

[mightymoo]

My daughter is in 2nd grade right now at a Montessori school, just to address your concern about things like the beads - they do eventually learn to do math on paper too :)   They learn with the bead frames, but they also do regular tests for addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc on paper as well.

I think you should talk with the teachers at the montessori school you'll be sending her to, what would she miss? At our school, many things are just moved through linearly (start at grade 1, then grade 2, etc) but they have some cyclical things too which the whole classroom participates in, so they expect the child will get the entire curriculum over the 3 year period.