I tried to send my then 3.5 yr old to Montessori preschool. He was definately not ready and I pulled him out. However, while he was there I was not happy with what I saw.
First: They would not let me in the classroom to drop off my ds. My ds would cry and hang on to me asking me to sit in the room. They said I would be a disruption to the children and the flow of the classroom. I had to drop him off at the front door of the school and they took him to his class. On the third day a lady we had never met before was meeting and escorting the children. My ds did not want to go with her. She was a stranger. I was sitting in the driver's seat of my van and ds jumped into my lap, clinging to me, screaming his head off. She actually got into my van and started pulling him off of me. She told me he had to go with her and I needed to just drive away. I wrapped my arms around him and firmly (almost violently
) told her to let him go and that no he did not have to go with her. Needless to say he went home with me. I got no apology from anybody.
Second: At one point I was observing through a window (I was allowed to do that) I saw a little girl approach the silverware and q-tips. She picked it up, looking at it. The teacher came over and told her to put it away because she had not yet been shown how to do that activity. Why not let her figure it out and use her imagination?
Third: I asked the teacher how my ds's day had been and she said "Fine." I asked for more detail and she said "oh, he spent some time sitting by himself." That was all I could get out of her. I asked if he played with the toys or children. Her response was,"We don't call it playing we call it work. They are not toys they are tools." Ok, I totally get the whole children's play is their work...I understand that. Let's not get caught up in a vocabulary debate.
Fourth: I arrived early to observe (through the window of course) and for an entire 15 minutes my ds was sitting on the ground by himself in the playground while the other kids were playing (oops sorry working). There were two women supervising. Not once did they approach my ds. I finally walked out there and his teacher just about jumped on me because I had "disrupted" the class. I asked why ds was sitting there and she said "oh he fell off the swing." He was not physically hurt. She said he had cried but when she saw that he was not hurt she told him to stop crying because he was ok. He then hung his head and walked over to the wall where he sat for the rest of the time.
Montessori focuses on independence but are these things common? Not comforting a child because he has no physical injury? Not allowing a child to play with an activity because she has not been shown the "proper" way to do it? Because of this school I am uncertain and hesitant about Montessori.
This is not how they are supposed to be is it?
First: They would not let me in the classroom to drop off my ds. My ds would cry and hang on to me asking me to sit in the room. They said I would be a disruption to the children and the flow of the classroom. I had to drop him off at the front door of the school and they took him to his class. On the third day a lady we had never met before was meeting and escorting the children. My ds did not want to go with her. She was a stranger. I was sitting in the driver's seat of my van and ds jumped into my lap, clinging to me, screaming his head off. She actually got into my van and started pulling him off of me. She told me he had to go with her and I needed to just drive away. I wrapped my arms around him and firmly (almost violently
) told her to let him go and that no he did not have to go with her. Needless to say he went home with me. I got no apology from anybody.Second: At one point I was observing through a window (I was allowed to do that) I saw a little girl approach the silverware and q-tips. She picked it up, looking at it. The teacher came over and told her to put it away because she had not yet been shown how to do that activity. Why not let her figure it out and use her imagination?
Third: I asked the teacher how my ds's day had been and she said "Fine." I asked for more detail and she said "oh, he spent some time sitting by himself." That was all I could get out of her. I asked if he played with the toys or children. Her response was,"We don't call it playing we call it work. They are not toys they are tools." Ok, I totally get the whole children's play is their work...I understand that. Let's not get caught up in a vocabulary debate.
Fourth: I arrived early to observe (through the window of course) and for an entire 15 minutes my ds was sitting on the ground by himself in the playground while the other kids were playing (oops sorry working). There were two women supervising. Not once did they approach my ds. I finally walked out there and his teacher just about jumped on me because I had "disrupted" the class. I asked why ds was sitting there and she said "oh he fell off the swing." He was not physically hurt. She said he had cried but when she saw that he was not hurt she told him to stop crying because he was ok. He then hung his head and walked over to the wall where he sat for the rest of the time.
Montessori focuses on independence but are these things common? Not comforting a child because he has no physical injury? Not allowing a child to play with an activity because she has not been shown the "proper" way to do it? Because of this school I am uncertain and hesitant about Montessori.
This is not how they are supposed to be is it?
no wonder it didn't work out.
