Public Montessori School

[AmandasMom]

I HS'd my DD for preschool and kindergarden, and for a month in 1st grade. For lots of reasons, we as a family decided to put her in PS, she is very excited and likes it. She has been there for a week now. I'm not very happy with the PS. There is no science, no history, no geography, and a ton of homework. She is very artistic and loves to express herself through singing, and drawing. In PS she gets arts class once a week I'm afraid in this environment is going to wilt her desire to learn.

As much as I would love to put my daughter into the private Montessori acadamy, we don't have the $8000+ for that. The Public School system here has a wide variety of magnet schools that you can attend by lottery, from math and science elementary schools (2 of them) to Montessori. The Montessori school starts at PS (for 3 year olds) up to middle school grades then from there you can move on to other magnet schools, one of which is arts centered and has 3 art classes a day! Plus the public Montessori school has a "sibling preference" so my son will be able to enter the school without the lottery when he's old enough.

So I guess I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with public Montessori schools? Is there anything I should look out for or ask about?

[late-night nan]

I'm in an area with several public Montessori schools, so we visited a few and got advice from other families. Definitely visit and make sure the teachers have proper AMI or AMS training (as you may know, Montessori is not a licensed name so you have to make sure the school truly follows the Montessori method). Try to go to the Parent/Teacher organization meetings to get a feel for the school. Also, ask around among the parents, if you know any, to find out if any teachers are particularly recommended. You might be able to request placement in a specific classroom, and if your child will be in a room for 3 years, you really want to make sure (if possible) that you are comfortable with the teacher's approach/personality.

[smeep]

I went to a public Montessori school from 5th-8th grade. They're better than regular public schools most definitely, but they're not ideal at all because they're still under the requirements of the public school district (in the 8th grade my teacher was required to go over something we learned in 1st grade because it was a district requirement even though montessori does it much earlier).

Have you looked around to see if there are any cheaper/sliding scale private schools or any charter schools?

[Flor]

Originally Posted by smeep

Have you looked around to see if there are any cheaper/sliding scale private schools or any charter schools?

there is a public school here that calls itself Montessori, but I have no idea WHY. My nieces went there and it wasn't different from the other schools around here. I'd check it out. See "how Montessori" it really is. Many private schools (but not ours) have finacial assisstance. I went to private HS and my parents paid 100 dollars a month at first, and nothing a month eventually for a 12,000 a year school. It's worth asking about.

[smeep]

Yeah, my public Montessori school wasn't very Montessori by 7th and 8th grade. It was actually pretty disappointing. However, I had a couple teachers that would bring in Montessori as much as they could which was nice. I actually had a teacher in high school (public non-Montessori) who brought out some Montessori materials and I got soooo excited to see them! Everyone else was wondering what in the world it was. lol

[Tinas3muskateers]

I have one son that goes to a Private Montessori and one that goes to a Public Montessori and my sons are getting an equal education at this point. My toddler is in the private and my 7 year old in public. The 7 year old is allowed to excell and flourish, there is constant movment and exploration. The classrooms are set up in a Montessori setting, all of the staff are trained in Montessori and most of them have over 15 years of Montessori education under their belts. I am on the PTO at the public school and on the Board of directors at the private school. My younger son, like yours, gets "grandfathered" in because of his brother. I wouldnt send him to any other school. They do however have to take the state testing, and 81% of our students ranked at average or above average, and unlike the public schools, our kids do not "train" to take those test. They just love to learn. As they get into the higher grades 4-6 they do have homework but not nearly as much as a regular ps. They do have some testing, other then the state test, but again nothing like a regular ps.

One thing about our PS is it started as a private school and the private school created the Charter so ALL kids could have a chance at a Montessori education

[Drummer's Wife]

My dd went to a public Montessori school, though it was expensive as they charged a tuition until 1st grade and she was only in preschool. It was a magnet school, AMS but still under the public school realm. I really liked it, her 3-6 classroom was as true as any other M school I've ever observed in.

We also have several Public Charter Montessori schools in the are and they do vary by quality but for someone who cannot afford private M school they are much better than traditional public schools IMO.

I think you just have to check them out, I think a biggie is the Directress/Teacher and how she implements Montessori in the classroom.

[Finding Serenity]

I live in an area where there are Montesorri schools primarily for preschool/K age but not much available for older kids. The city I live in has a magnet Montessori and I was lucky enough to get my 3 boys that are in elementary in this year under the lottery & sibling preference system. I have been very impressed with the K and 2nd grade classes my younger boys are in. My oldest son is in 5th grade and they do very little Montessori learning in the classroom since the thrust is to prepare them for a typical middle school curriculum but evenso, the environment is far more stimulating, varied and intimate compared to the large PS he attended last year. All the teachers for all grades have been certified thru Montessori. I went to an open house last week and was really impressed by the overall program and felt that I hit the jackpot getting my 3 in there.

[AmandasMom]

Thank for everyone for the replies... imma2six, let some ofyour good luck rub off on me please!

I've done a ton of research on the public magnet schools, we have so many to chose from and I've narrowed it down to 3 schools, I can enter the lotter for all 3 schools. the first 2 are public certified Montessori schools with certified teachers. One of them even has a pilot "toddler" program for 2 year olds. in addition to the pre-k/k and grades 1-4 rooms. I'm excited about this because my son would love this. I would never have dreamed of this for my daughter because at 2 she was very attached and shy, whereas my son waves "bye bye mama" and goes out the dog door into the backyard without caring if I'm around or not.

the other school is a k-4 math/science school, and DD loves science. even the K classes get lab time ever day.

the open houses are in November, and applications for the lottery are to be in the 1st week in Dec, and the 3rd week of december is the lottery.

thanks again everyone! I really wish I had done my homework on this when DD was pre-k/k age. I didn't even know we had public montessori schools.

[mehndi mama]

My 7yo daughter goes to a Public Montessori Elementary school. It *is* certified, as are the teachers - that was what I was going to suggest checking, since ANY school can use the term Montessori, whether they comply with standards or not.
We're VERY pleased, as is she - she can use her artwork in much of what she does during the day, and thrives on the 1-on-1 lessons and peer-teaching.