A little background: Teagan is almost 5 and is in a home-based private Montessori (licensed, top of the line materials, VERY Montessori, accredited teacher, etc) and is thriving. We have been very happy with the education she is receiving. Unfortunately, it only goes through the third primary year (Kindy year) and after that we are on our own. It sent me out on a quest of looking for an Elementary program since, in our area, things fill up fast.
So I went today and toured a Montessori school with the elementary program - not surprisingly, I totally fell in love with it. It's everything and more that I want for Teagan. It is grades 1-3, though they are getting ready to expand to 4 and 5 as well... this will 100% happen by the time she is ready for it. Their classroom is amazing, they have a nature preserve behind the school w/ an "outdoor classroom" that mainly consists of chopped up logs for the children to sit on, etc. They have Spanish, PE and Music 2x's a week and take many field trips.
ONLY there is a catch - they have now changed and typically only enroll children that have attended THEIR Kindergarten program into it for a few different reasons. One being they only take in 21 kids for the E program (and it's grades 1-3) and also to make sure the children are prepared correctly for the transition (since Montessori E is so much different). They are finding more of their K students move up into their E program and obviously the other children from previous years stay so there is only so much space.
That said, they do have space for Teagan to do the K program should we choose.... it's all day, 8:30 to 3:00 M-F. There are 6 to 7 Kindergartners in each class and when the younger children leave (at 11:45), they will combine two classes into 1 so there will be about 14 K students that are co-taught by the two teachers. Seems good. They have music, pe and Spanish 2x's a week. There really wasn't anything I didn't like about the school.
The only negatives are the cost is a bit more and I was hoping to not start paying so much so soon - the other being the feeling of commitment I have to Teagan's current teacher. I KNOW she'd understand but I can't help but feel terrible if we move her for next year.
With all that said, I did make an appt. for Teagan to go in next Tuesday for 2 hours to do the "assessment" of sorts... more or less her just going into a primary classroom and working - no worries there since she's done Montessori for three years now. The other is next Thursday afternoon for me to meet the Elementary teachers and hear more about their program and how they run.
So what would your feelings be????? DH has no input at all!
So I went today and toured a Montessori school with the elementary program - not surprisingly, I totally fell in love with it. It's everything and more that I want for Teagan. It is grades 1-3, though they are getting ready to expand to 4 and 5 as well... this will 100% happen by the time she is ready for it. Their classroom is amazing, they have a nature preserve behind the school w/ an "outdoor classroom" that mainly consists of chopped up logs for the children to sit on, etc. They have Spanish, PE and Music 2x's a week and take many field trips.
ONLY there is a catch - they have now changed and typically only enroll children that have attended THEIR Kindergarten program into it for a few different reasons. One being they only take in 21 kids for the E program (and it's grades 1-3) and also to make sure the children are prepared correctly for the transition (since Montessori E is so much different). They are finding more of their K students move up into their E program and obviously the other children from previous years stay so there is only so much space.
That said, they do have space for Teagan to do the K program should we choose.... it's all day, 8:30 to 3:00 M-F. There are 6 to 7 Kindergartners in each class and when the younger children leave (at 11:45), they will combine two classes into 1 so there will be about 14 K students that are co-taught by the two teachers. Seems good. They have music, pe and Spanish 2x's a week. There really wasn't anything I didn't like about the school.
The only negatives are the cost is a bit more and I was hoping to not start paying so much so soon - the other being the feeling of commitment I have to Teagan's current teacher. I KNOW she'd understand but I can't help but feel terrible if we move her for next year.
With all that said, I did make an appt. for Teagan to go in next Tuesday for 2 hours to do the "assessment" of sorts... more or less her just going into a primary classroom and working - no worries there since she's done Montessori for three years now. The other is next Thursday afternoon for me to meet the Elementary teachers and hear more about their program and how they run.
So what would your feelings be????? DH has no input at all!
