My dd, 5.5 has been in preschool (not M) until last week and she is starting Public Montessori on Monday and I seriously feel like I'm going to puke.
I went in for a tour of the M school and the director was wonderful; so kind and soft speaking, you know...like Buddha....anyway, he took us on a tour of the classrooms and all intertwined through each other. All the children were quietly talking and working on the floor with their mats and he was sure to mention how the children learned the aspects of grace and courtesy and they didn't need to be reminded to clean up their materials, b/c they always put them away when they were done...and the children could choose what they wanted to work with for their work time and after the directress instructed them in how to use the materials. And of course, the M children were self-motivated and didn't rely on extrinsic motivation.
Then I was encouraged not to wait until next year to start dd, but to start her asap--as they had 1 spot left and it would work well for dd because it was a smaller classroom--only 14 students.
Well, I was so excited, I jumped on it and enrolled her immediately...and today I saw her classroom, met the teacher, and received the handbook.
Oh my freaking lord....the classroom was so frickin' small, it was on the OTHER side of the school from the other M classrooms (it's within a public school building) the teacher was not the loving and gentle mother goose I had expected--she only received her M accrediting a year ago, I watched her give the count down (you know...1..2..3) to a 3 year old who wasn't listening (how does that foster intrinsic motivation?) the classroom was much louder and brighter than the ones I had visited...in fact it didn't resemble the previous classrooms at all...it looked like a traditional school classroom!!! And she mentioned that the children could pick out their work within the framework of what she intended for them for the day...like "you have to do a science and a math work" (is it that way in other montessori's?)
Then I get home and I'm reading the handbook and their talking tardy slips, truancy, lock-down drills, sexual assult, theft, and of course appropriate ways of being on the bus/in the halls/in the bathroom/and in the classroom. (seated...hands to yourself...face forward...etc...) All I could picture were these freaked out child zombies who've lost their love of learning and were like little puppets to the system.
And of course....my dd is sooooooooo excited about her new school (and her new teacher). And as much as I want to rip her away from what we've committed ourselves to....I feel trapped and forced to keep her here for the rest of the school year...
I hope this adequately expressed all the question marks and anxieties in my head b/c I'm a mess over this....if there are any thread-killers out there please don't use them here...I'm just trying to get a grip on myself.
sarah
I went in for a tour of the M school and the director was wonderful; so kind and soft speaking, you know...like Buddha....anyway, he took us on a tour of the classrooms and all intertwined through each other. All the children were quietly talking and working on the floor with their mats and he was sure to mention how the children learned the aspects of grace and courtesy and they didn't need to be reminded to clean up their materials, b/c they always put them away when they were done...and the children could choose what they wanted to work with for their work time and after the directress instructed them in how to use the materials. And of course, the M children were self-motivated and didn't rely on extrinsic motivation.
Then I was encouraged not to wait until next year to start dd, but to start her asap--as they had 1 spot left and it would work well for dd because it was a smaller classroom--only 14 students.
Well, I was so excited, I jumped on it and enrolled her immediately...and today I saw her classroom, met the teacher, and received the handbook.
Oh my freaking lord....the classroom was so frickin' small, it was on the OTHER side of the school from the other M classrooms (it's within a public school building) the teacher was not the loving and gentle mother goose I had expected--she only received her M accrediting a year ago, I watched her give the count down (you know...1..2..3) to a 3 year old who wasn't listening (how does that foster intrinsic motivation?) the classroom was much louder and brighter than the ones I had visited...in fact it didn't resemble the previous classrooms at all...it looked like a traditional school classroom!!! And she mentioned that the children could pick out their work within the framework of what she intended for them for the day...like "you have to do a science and a math work" (is it that way in other montessori's?)
Then I get home and I'm reading the handbook and their talking tardy slips, truancy, lock-down drills, sexual assult, theft, and of course appropriate ways of being on the bus/in the halls/in the bathroom/and in the classroom. (seated...hands to yourself...face forward...etc...) All I could picture were these freaked out child zombies who've lost their love of learning and were like little puppets to the system.
And of course....my dd is sooooooooo excited about her new school (and her new teacher). And as much as I want to rip her away from what we've committed ourselves to....I feel trapped and forced to keep her here for the rest of the school year...
I hope this adequately expressed all the question marks and anxieties in my head b/c I'm a mess over this....if there are any thread-killers out there please don't use them here...I'm just trying to get a grip on myself.
sarah
