After Montessori Kindergarten...

[Faither]

Hi Everyone. I have a 15 month old who we are thinking about putting in a Montessori program. If we like it (and so far we love the idea of Montessori education) we would like to continue through to the first grade. But then DD would be enrolled in her local public school because there aren't any nearby first grade Montessori programs. (We are still toying with the idea of homeschooling the first couple of grades.)

I've done a quick internet search and I still need to speak to the schools, but does anyone have any stories about how their LO transitioned from Montessori learning to regular American classroom setting? Good, bad, or indifferent any thoughts would be helpful. Thanks!

[physmom]

Originally Posted by Faither 

Hi Everyone. I have a 15 month old who we are thinking about putting in a Montessori program. If we like it (and so far we love the idea of Montessori education) we would like to continue through to the first grade. But then DD would be enrolled in her local public school because there aren't any nearby first grade Montessori programs. (We are still toying with the idea of homeschooling the first couple of grades.)

I've done a quick internet search and I still need to speak to the schools, but does anyone have any stories about how their LO transitioned from Montessori learning to regular American classroom setting? Good, bad, or indifferent any thoughts would be helpful. Thanks!

I don't have any personal experience because we're hoping to keep DD in Montessori up until high school.  However, if you check out the book "Montessori: The Science of Genius" they discuss studies of low-income students who did Montessori for preschool vs. those who were in typical American preschool and found that the Montessori students scored higher on tests years later (sorry I can't remember the exact stats but I think it was something like 2 grade levels higher?). 

I'm sure others will chime in with some actually real life experience, though. Also there are a number of families who homeschool Montessori  too.