What DON'T you like about your child's Montessori School

[gamom]

Ds is three and has been in the primary class for about 9 weeks now. I am finding there are a few things about his school that I do NOT like. These are things that I wasn't aware of prior to enrolling him. I thought I would take sort of a "poll" and ask you all what you dont like about your child's school.

The thing that drives me crazy : more than anything is the lack of communication from the classroom. I feel like I need CIA clearence to know what is going on in there! I have been giving it a lot of thought, this is my son's first "school" experience he has been to daycare where you get to see and talk to the teacher everyday on an informal basis. But here, you really can not even come into the building in the mornings with your child and since I work I do not pick him up in the afternoons (he goes to a daycare and I get him from there). I do not come into contact with his teacher nor does she sends information home so I dont know what goes on during the course of the day. To give the teacher credit, she will respond to notes and phone calls and she has said I can schedule a formal conference whenever. I think I would like to get something from the school at least monthly (newsletter, email) on what is generally happening in the classroom.

Experienced montessori moms is this the norm?

What things have you found since your child has been enrolled in school that you do NOT like?

[wendyland]

I can't think of anything I didn't like about my dd's montessori school except the owner. She was very "in your business". Her school was very open. If I wanted to I could spend a morning with her once in a while and observe (as long as it wasn't disruptive). I loved it and I think it helped shape her into who she is today. She's now in second grade at a public school and is doing well, although it was a little bit of an adjustment. She wasn't used to kids getting in trouble.

[Flor]

I agree with the communication thing. I'dlove a monthly newletter. Like today, ds told me he's been in the other class so not even with the teacher I thought he was. I'm lucky that he's 3 and very verbal. If I had a 2-year-old I'd have NO CLUE. Even with all his talking, I wish I knew what he was working on, what themes they were studying, etc.

[Lousli]

I agree that more communication is needed. But also, from the Montessori perspective, the beginning of the year is considered time for students to get adjusted to the routine of school. Just the basic stuff, like how to move bodies through the classroom appropriately, how to take out jobs and put them away, how to sit in the circle, that type of thing. Until the class is settled in, they might not be working all that much. The teacher may feel uncomfortable communicating "today we learned how to correctly roll job rugs and sit in a circle"

OTOH, it has been 9 weeks, you should expect more feedback. Our daughter's teacher told us essentially that she conferences with parents twice a year and that is when she will let us know what her progress is academically and socially. But if we had questions or concerns she is always available to meet. So if you want more information, I think just approaching the teacher and asking for a meeting would be a great idea.

[Thalia the Muse]

My daughter's Montessori had HORRIBLE communication -- and we were even going in every morning to drop her off, but it was still pulling teeth to find out what was going on!

during afterschool care they were prone to have videos -- not all the time, but way more than I approved of.

One of her teachers was kind of nutty (but my daughter adored her, and I don't think she was nutty in a harmful way, just kind of weird when you interacted with her), and another I just personally disliked -- she was kind of snotty and unpleasant.

But there were many positives that more than balanced this stuff out, and my daughter thrived there so it's hard to argue with her experience overall.

[katydid6]

The communication thing has been an issue in the past for us as well. DD is 4 and in her second year in Montessori. We're at a new school this year as we moved out-of-state at the end of the school year.

At our old school, we also felt like we were pulling teeth to hear anything. At the orientation the director tried to prepare us for that, saying, "No news is good news." Still, you'd like to hear something every once in a while. We felt like we never heard anything unless your child was having problems, and then all you heard were negative things. We could observe the classroom, but it definitely wasn't encouraged. I'm not sure how natural that would have been anyhow. I don't know about you, but DD is always goofy when I'm in the classroom with her.

I've been extremely pleased with the communication system at her new school. Each student has a work folder. On Mondays the kids are sent home with their folder. They bring home the "work" they've done (so far it's been things like stamping, rubbings, collage, cuttings), any info/newletters from the school, and a sheet with a brief not from the teacher about the previous week. On that same sheet there's a space for you to send comments back to the teacher. You return the folder by the end of the week. It seems to be a good way to appease the parents without overwhelming the teacher. I also like that they have an observation window where you can see in the classroom but the kids (and teachers!) can't see you. You're encouraged to observe any time.

The one thing I'm not very pleased about is the use of videos. I don't have the exact scoop on this yet, but DD has said that they usually watch a video after lunch. I've never heard of this in Montessori. On the one hand, it kind of peeves me. BUT . . . we had major issues with the old school b/c they had a very strict nap policy and DD didn't nap. We had issues all year and it was very frustrating. This school doesn't require nap, so this is probably their version of nap/down time for the teachers and kids who stay for a full day. So I guess trading off a little TV for naptime hassles isn't too big of a deal. I just wish they used that time for another work cycle instead.

Anyone else's school use videos during the actual school day, not before or after care?

[Flor]

On Thursdays they watch a video. Not many kids are there that day, sometimes just ds. They watched Dora this week. Kinda weird, but they are working on Spanish.

[ebethmom]

This is an interesting thread. I would say that overall communication could be better at our school. Not just communication with parents, but the community as well.

Our school is small - two 3 -6 classrooms. This year, one room has 16 students and the other has 9. The larger classroom is for half-day and full-day, and the smaller classroom is a Spanish immersion half-day program.

Enrollment numbers are always a concern, yet the school has no website. I just don't understand that! How can you run a school and expect to advertise solely by word of mouth?

There is a monthly newsletter and a weekly update sheet. I do appreciate that. But I would love to have a website with pictures and updates.

I'm also not sure that this school meets our needs anymore. It's a 25 minute drive - dh takes ds in the morning, and I pick him up at noon. I also travel for my work, so there are days that an extra hour in the car makes my day really long. I'm also just ready to start our homeschool. We have our curriculum, and all we need are some mongo bookshelves now!

Ds's school discontinued their kindergarten program, so ds is one of 2 or 3 five year olds there this year. He doesn't love going to school like he did last year.

[Lillianna]

What I don't like about my dd's Montessori school is the changes/adaptations that have been made to accomodate "specialties" like gym class, music, art and foreign languages. All of these areas of study have their place in the Children's House and should be available all the time, not just for concentrated one hour periods per week. I would like to see them integrated into the work cycle. Also, we don't have the ideal free flow between indoors and outdoors that Dr. M felt was an essential freedom. We are in the process of reconstruction, so the new space is supposed to have an outdoor area for each class. I am hoping that her Directress makes outdoor work part of the morning work time.

The "communication between parents and staff" at our school has come a long way (the school is 40 years old). We do a parent introduction at the beginning of the school year and parent education evenings throughout the year. We also send home biweekly newsletters and hold conferences twice a year. To a certain extent, it is important for the parents to make the effort to attend these evenings and to seek out a comfortable level of understanding of the philosophy and structure of the environment for themselves.

Because the children are choosing work independently, there is a variety of materials in use at any moment of the day. It would be extremely difficult to track each child and send home a list of activities he was involved in because each child could potentially choose up to or more than 10 activities during the morning work cycle. Some activities are short and only last a few minutes, other materials take more time to complete. There is a prepared environment rather than a prepared curriculum so there are no monthly themes or planned activities. Also, each child's lessons should reflect his individual interests, having a preplanned theme does not reflect this aspect to the philosophy. It's better to educate parents about the theories of free choice/internal motivation, a 3 hour work cycle with time for practice and repetition and the wide variety of materials that are available. Also, the directress will keep detailed notes about what presentations the child has received and what he is practicing so she should be able to provide that information for you at your conference.
I do not feel that it is appropriate for a M school to show videos especially without the child having a choice between that and other activites. In our allday class of 3 to 6 year olds, children who are not napping join in the afternoon work cycle.

[LeAnnie]

Originally Posted by katydid6

The one thing I'm not very pleased about is the use of videos.

I think I'd have a cow if my dd's school showed a video! It's so expensive I couldn't handle thinking about paying for her to watch tv!

The communication is great at her school.

They do seem to have a structure built around some 'required' activities like physical education or 'PE'.
They segregate the 'kindergarden' children for "PE" twice a week. It must be a state reg or something, but I don't like the focus on it. It's all my dd talks about ' so and so goes to pe' or 'I can't wait until I can go to pe'. One of the reasons I liked Montessori was the avoidance of age based segregation.

[BeckiCNM]

Hmmm....we get weekly newsletters, both from the teachers and from the school as a whole. I think they do really well at communicating. I have never felt unwelcome walking into my child's classroom - I went today to drop some things off for the teachers, and my son's teacher talked to me for 5 or 10 minutes about what he was doing.

I think the thing I don't (really didn't) like was that we have work hours for the school that we need to do, and in the past, it's been like pulling teeth to get people to tell you what you can do to earn your hours. But they've really improved it this year - they had signup sheets at the beginning of school social, and sent notes home with the newsletters to help you find what you were interested in helping with. So even that's getting better this year.

[ksmeadowlark]

I don't like the high cost, but hey, we are all in that boat, right?

What I am most disappointed by is the inconsistencies between teachers and classrooms. I have heard all these great stories about these wonderful teachers who have been at DS's school for forever, so I had high expectations going in. DS got a newish teacher when he started last year and he didn't really like her at all, he said she yelled all the time and chose works for them. Now he has another new teacher, who seems to be the opposite extreme. She refuses to even make suggestions as far as I can tell when kids are choosing works, so DS seems to choose to do not much of anything but have a good old time with his buddies or draw. She is waiting for the kids to transition to her style, but GRRRR DS is in his last year and it seems like expensive babysitting right now.

[mightymoo]

At our school the teachers send home a weekly newsletter letting us know what's going on, we've already had a conference (quick here's how your child has transitioned) and they have email lists set up for the school. I see the teachers upon pickup (we pickup at the playground, so its easy to chat with the teacher while DD is finishing up) though I don't usually see them at drop off (the aide takes the kids in from the car). We also don't generally go into the classroom, but they said after September we are welcome to come observe, but I feel bad disrupting the flow.

The classroom DD is in has a hallway with a window, so I could go see her anytime if I wanted, but I feel that would also be disruptive, my biggest ask right now is I'd love it if they made part of the window 2 way mirror so we could just observe without causing a disruption. I mentioned it to DD's teacher and he said he's seen that at other montessori schools he's visited and agreed it would be nice.

Overall, I'm very happy with them.