After touring 5 schools and narrowing it down to two, I thought I was confident in my choice for my 3 year old DD. Now I'm having second thoughts about one of the other schools because I really loved it, too. I know this is a long read, but i'd love some opinions. If you were choosing, which would you choose?
School A
*closer to home. Less than 1.5 miles.
*teachers are wonderful and appear to be very gentle and respectful (an ex-coworker's wife is there as a teacher, albeit probably temporary until the school hires more staff, and I really trust that if she is there it's a wonderful school. She's extremely picky who she works for and is trained and holds credentials in Montessori education)
*kids appeared to be really happy and friendly
*kids seemed busy and enjoying their work (didn't see too many children on work rugs because I wasn't in that particular room)
*didn't seem chaotic and the kids were all busy and pretty quiet.
*very cozy classroom (DD loved the cozy little reading area)
*sink and bathroom had a fantastic set up for the children (to be able to help themselves). This is important to me because I want DD to feel comfortable with being able to potty without help.
*DD was hesitant at first, but really warmed up and stayed busy doing a few jobs while I talked to the directress (and was out of her sight). My ex co-workers wife was there and was very nonchalant about it, like, "Mommy is right there, you wanna check out this pouring job?" She is awesome with kids and made DD feel very at ease.
*Montessori materials are in good condition and authentic (although I really need to take a second look around now that I know what I'm looking for)
*beautiful school grounds. I also believe they have a garden or it's in the works.
*great school security (lots of gates and there is even a gated driveway)
*tuition is a little cheaper (about $40/mo)
*change of ownership last year and enrollment is down, but I didn't feel like I was getting a huge sales pitch from the directress.
*school and staff felt very genuine and loving towards the children
*Smaller school with less children, but the day I was there they had the older kids (5 year olds and maybe 1 6 year old) with the younger kids (mostly 3 and 4) because they had a tree damage the roof in the elementary room.
School B
*farther from home, but still do-able and it's an easy drive (I'm willing to go a litter farther because this is such a great school)
*teachers were awesome (same as school A)
*kids appeared really happy and friendly
*kids were very focused doing their work and enjoying what they were involved in.
*classroom was quiet, however, students were still interacting and being respectful of work rug areas. The quietness was actually amazing to me!
*classroom is very peaceful and authentic Montessori with very high quality materials with a beautiful layout.
*didn't see toilet area (that reminds me: note to self to check it out
)
*outside play area is very nice
*great school security
*tuition is much more expensive and gets way more expensive than school A as the days per week increase
*my friend who works at school A thinks the director of school A's grandchildren go to/went to school B!!!
*didn't feel pressured, but there was a little nitpicking feeling that I was getting a sales pitch about the school. We went to a parent night that was about how they were starting a kindy program and why it's important to keep your child in a Mont kindy program. Even though we totally agree with this, DP said it felt "sales pitchy" to her, too.
*school and staff seems genuine and interested in children's well being
*DD would start off in a transition room of 8 children one day a week and eventually be introduced to the bigger class as days/slots open up in that room.
It's really a flip of the coin. I was 99.9% gung ho about school B, but now that I've had a few days to really think about school A I think I'm leaning more towards this school because they followed up with me with a phone call earlier this week to see what I thought and if I had any more questions. I called school B yesterday to arrange a 2nd visit on Tues. and have not heard back from them yet. I am not sure that this is really what is driving me towards school A, but I get a very good feeling from the staff there. They are personable and laid back with a sense of humor, yet professional. On the other hand, I got a good feeling about the staff at school B and they seem a bit more analytical/businesslike/by the book/methodized/deliberate, etc. and not quite as friendly during school hours. Now, that could just be a false observation on my point, which is why I think it's really important to have DP visit the schools. She has such a better judgement of character than I do. She is truly my voice of reason. She loved what she saw about school B during a parent night. Neither school is AMI or AMS affiliated, but school A's director is AMS trained and several of the teachers are currently enrolled at the Mont Teaching College here in Sacramento. I'm not hung up on affiliations at all. I'm not sure about school B's director (or teachers), but she was very impressive in her knowledge of Mont.
I called our local file review complaint dept. and both schools have very trivial complaints such as younger and older children co-mingling (hello, isn't that what is supposed to happen in a M school?), one of the schools self reported that a child was left inside when everybody went out to play, but it was corrected, there was a complaint that teachers were talking about a child in front of other children and it was corrected with sensitivity and personal rights training. Very minor stuff.
Of course to make matters worse, there is yet one more school that is close that I have been wanting to tour. Ugghh....how do you pick? What would you do given the above two choices? If you were really set that one of these 2 schools was definitely a good fit, would you bother to go look at this other school?
eta: I just looked on some paperwork and it says school A is a member of the AMS, but I can't find them on the AMS website. Hmm......
School A
*closer to home. Less than 1.5 miles.
*teachers are wonderful and appear to be very gentle and respectful (an ex-coworker's wife is there as a teacher, albeit probably temporary until the school hires more staff, and I really trust that if she is there it's a wonderful school. She's extremely picky who she works for and is trained and holds credentials in Montessori education)
*kids appeared to be really happy and friendly
*kids seemed busy and enjoying their work (didn't see too many children on work rugs because I wasn't in that particular room)
*didn't seem chaotic and the kids were all busy and pretty quiet.
*very cozy classroom (DD loved the cozy little reading area)
*sink and bathroom had a fantastic set up for the children (to be able to help themselves). This is important to me because I want DD to feel comfortable with being able to potty without help.
*DD was hesitant at first, but really warmed up and stayed busy doing a few jobs while I talked to the directress (and was out of her sight). My ex co-workers wife was there and was very nonchalant about it, like, "Mommy is right there, you wanna check out this pouring job?" She is awesome with kids and made DD feel very at ease.
*Montessori materials are in good condition and authentic (although I really need to take a second look around now that I know what I'm looking for)
*beautiful school grounds. I also believe they have a garden or it's in the works.
*great school security (lots of gates and there is even a gated driveway)
*tuition is a little cheaper (about $40/mo)
*change of ownership last year and enrollment is down, but I didn't feel like I was getting a huge sales pitch from the directress.
*school and staff felt very genuine and loving towards the children
*Smaller school with less children, but the day I was there they had the older kids (5 year olds and maybe 1 6 year old) with the younger kids (mostly 3 and 4) because they had a tree damage the roof in the elementary room.
School B
*farther from home, but still do-able and it's an easy drive (I'm willing to go a litter farther because this is such a great school)
*teachers were awesome (same as school A)
*kids appeared really happy and friendly
*kids were very focused doing their work and enjoying what they were involved in.
*classroom was quiet, however, students were still interacting and being respectful of work rug areas. The quietness was actually amazing to me!
*classroom is very peaceful and authentic Montessori with very high quality materials with a beautiful layout.
*didn't see toilet area (that reminds me: note to self to check it out
)*outside play area is very nice
*great school security
*tuition is much more expensive and gets way more expensive than school A as the days per week increase
*my friend who works at school A thinks the director of school A's grandchildren go to/went to school B!!!
*didn't feel pressured, but there was a little nitpicking feeling that I was getting a sales pitch about the school. We went to a parent night that was about how they were starting a kindy program and why it's important to keep your child in a Mont kindy program. Even though we totally agree with this, DP said it felt "sales pitchy" to her, too.
*school and staff seems genuine and interested in children's well being
*DD would start off in a transition room of 8 children one day a week and eventually be introduced to the bigger class as days/slots open up in that room.
It's really a flip of the coin. I was 99.9% gung ho about school B, but now that I've had a few days to really think about school A I think I'm leaning more towards this school because they followed up with me with a phone call earlier this week to see what I thought and if I had any more questions. I called school B yesterday to arrange a 2nd visit on Tues. and have not heard back from them yet. I am not sure that this is really what is driving me towards school A, but I get a very good feeling from the staff there. They are personable and laid back with a sense of humor, yet professional. On the other hand, I got a good feeling about the staff at school B and they seem a bit more analytical/businesslike/by the book/methodized/deliberate, etc. and not quite as friendly during school hours. Now, that could just be a false observation on my point, which is why I think it's really important to have DP visit the schools. She has such a better judgement of character than I do. She is truly my voice of reason. She loved what she saw about school B during a parent night. Neither school is AMI or AMS affiliated, but school A's director is AMS trained and several of the teachers are currently enrolled at the Mont Teaching College here in Sacramento. I'm not hung up on affiliations at all. I'm not sure about school B's director (or teachers), but she was very impressive in her knowledge of Mont.
I called our local file review complaint dept. and both schools have very trivial complaints such as younger and older children co-mingling (hello, isn't that what is supposed to happen in a M school?), one of the schools self reported that a child was left inside when everybody went out to play, but it was corrected, there was a complaint that teachers were talking about a child in front of other children and it was corrected with sensitivity and personal rights training. Very minor stuff.
Of course to make matters worse, there is yet one more school that is close that I have been wanting to tour. Ugghh....how do you pick? What would you do given the above two choices? If you were really set that one of these 2 schools was definitely a good fit, would you bother to go look at this other school?
eta: I just looked on some paperwork and it says school A is a member of the AMS, but I can't find them on the AMS website. Hmm......
