DS and Montessori

[MotherWillow]

We are considering Montessori for our DS. I have some questions/concerns that I am hoping someone can address for me. Some background first:

DS has been asking me quite often when he is going to get to go to school lately. He just turned 3 in January. I have serious reservations about public school and I really think we may home school. However, I think it would be lovely for him to attend pre-school since he wants to go so badly.

I researched and decided Montessori sounded wonderful. We went and visited an AMS Montessori school that is within walking distance of our house last week.

I loved the feel of it and DS begged to stay. We just observed last week. DS is scheduled to go in for his one hour evaluation tomorow.

I was amazed at how peaceful the environment was. The children were all working so nicely and it had such a loving good feeling to the classrooms.

Here is where my concerns come in though. DS is an absolute tornado of energy. He is incredibly high spirited. It is very difficult to get him to focus on a task when he is at home. It takes quite a bit of patience and creative redirection to prevent a meltdown around here. That being said he attends Sunday School at church every week. They say he is incredibly well behaved there and one of the better kids in the class.

I'm afraid he will be a real disruption in the classroom at the Montessori school. I'm not sure he will "fit in" to the environment because it seemed so mellow and he is anything but that.

Thoughts?

[nkm1968]

Ask the directress at his interview.....

In dd2's Montessori there are quite a few tornadoes in her 3-6 classroom, but they aren't disruptive, it seems to be acceptable in her class for children to have a lot of different temperaments and still be able to use the environment productively.....actually the rock-star guy in her extended day group, who is doing all the most advanced work and is also the most sophisticated socially, is the most tornado-ey kid in the entire school.It really doesn't seem to interfere at all, and a lot of the physical need for movement seems to be an especially good fit for her particular classroom....

[MattBronsil]

Originally Posted by MotherWillow

I was amazed at how peaceful the environment was. The children were all working so nicely and it had such a loving good feeling to the classrooms.

Here is where my concerns come in though. DS is an absolute tornado of energy. He is incredibly high spirited. It is very difficult to get him to focus on a task when he is at home. It takes quite a bit of patience and creative redirection to prevent a meltdown around here. That being said he attends Sunday School at church every week. They say he is incredibly well behaved there and one of the better kids in the class.

I'm afraid he will be a real disruption in the classroom at the Montessori school. I'm not sure he will "fit in" to the environment because it seemed so mellow and he is anything but that.

Thoughts?

The things you saw when you first visited the Montessori classroom were not special children that were placed there to act normalized. They were children that have been in the system for at least 7 months so far (some as many as almost 3 years) and were already settled into the classroom.

Your child will learn to focus at times and learn to let loose at others. The nice thing is, he won't do it by loosing what excitement he has for things and how he approaches them. He'll do it to still hold on to that, but also to still enjoy the benefits that come from concentrated work as well.

Trust your son. It sounds like he'll do a wonderful job.

Matt

[freistms]

I was worried about how my DD would do in an M classroom because she is very adult-oriented and needy at home and with her sitter. I think her classroom personality is very different from her home personality (and I remember being the same way), so it hasn't been a problem at all. She is able to work independently or with other kids very well.


Of course, I think at least some of it is the herd effect or group mentality aspect of institutional education. Anytime you get a group of kids together, they effect each other, but that would be the case in any classroom, Montessori or not. The big difference with M programs is they allow children to use their energy productively and purposefully. I suspect you will be surprised at how well he fits in.

[Flor]

Originally Posted by MotherWillow

Here is where my concerns come in though. DS is an absolute tornado of energy. He is incredibly high spirited. It is very difficult to get him to focus on a task when he is at home. It takes quite a bit of patience and creative redirection to prevent a meltdown around here. That being said he attends Sunday School at church every week. They say he is incredibly well behaved there and one of the better kids in the class.

I'm afraid he will be a real disruption in the classroom at the Montessori school. I'm not sure he will "fit in" to the environment because it seemed so mellow and he is anything but that.

Thoughts?

Kids are different at school. Ds is a little monster so often at home, I really have to work to keep things calm and happy at home. . ..he is apparently an angel at school. He's never had a meltdown in his 2 years there. He's never been in trouble or had an issue with kids or adults. Actually, his older brother is the same way, too. I would have never guessed!

[Mum2JocelynAngus]

I had the same concerns about my son who started in January at 2.5 yrs. Actually, one of my hopes for Montessori for him was that he would develop more focus & concentration. Well, guess who can sit & focus through the whole work cycle, & guess who can sit & focus on something at home now! His KinderMusik teacher last night was commenting on how much both of them (twins, both started M in January) was how much they have both "matured" in the last 2 months.

[DahliaRW]

You totally described my ds (who just turned 3 in January as well). I picked M largely because he IS a tornado and I think that the ability to self choose the activities, the less "busy" environment (compared to traditional preschools with TONS of clutter on the walls and such which tends to overstimulate my ds), and consistent schedule (5 days/week) will actually be to his advantage. When I observed, there were some "tornadoes" in the classroom, and they did great engaging in various activities and the teacher was fabulous at helping them redirect when they were just running around the classroom not doing any work. I'm super excited for ds to start. I think it'll be really beneficial in the long run.

[mightymoo]

We have had a boy that sounds a lot like your DS in our classroom the past 2 years, he's DD's best friend actually. I think montessori has been great for him. I remember him the first few months of the school year last year. We would all be sitting in circle and his mom was chasing him around the classroom next door! He would flit from work to work amazingly quickly. DD and him are and interesting pair since she is extremely focused and shy. They have definitely helped each other, she helps him focus and he helps her be more social and open up.

Anyway, I see him now and he's much much more focused than he used to be. Still energetic, but he channels it better. I think he would have had a much harder time in a more traditional classroom.

[bjorker]

Ah, I really appreciate this thread!

I've been trying to find a preschool for dd, who also turned 3 in January (geez, how many of us are there? And DahliaRW, aren't you the one that lived like across the street from me? heh, can't quite remember). Anyway, I didn't think we'd be able to afford Montessori, but I was recommended and given the info today about a M school nearby that is actually reasonably priced. I'm SO stoked that we might actually be able to put her in M. But my dd is the queen of meltdowns recently, and it totally scares the poo out of me that she might have an issue there. She doesn't like to listen to me anymore at ALL and while I know that "I'm her mother" and that often goes with the territory, it just makes me nervous.

Anyway, long story short, this is quite reassuring!

[MattBronsil]

Originally Posted by bjorker

But my dd is the queen of meltdowns recently, and it totally scares the poo out of me that she might have an issue there. She doesn't like to listen to me anymore at ALL and while I know that "I'm her mother" and that often goes with the territory, it just makes me nervous.

Trust me when I say....

...we've seen a lot of meltdowns.

Don't worry about it if it happens. We'll work our magic in time.

[DahliaRW]

Originally Posted by bjorker

Ah, I really appreciate this thread!

I've been trying to find a preschool for dd, who also turned 3 in January (geez, how many of us are there? And DahliaRW, aren't you the one that lived like across the street from me? heh, can't quite remember). Anyway, I didn't think we'd be able to afford Montessori, but I was recommended and given the info today about a M school nearby that is actually reasonably priced. I'm SO stoked that we might actually be able to put her in M. But my dd is the queen of meltdowns recently, and it totally scares the poo out of me that she might have an issue there. She doesn't like to listen to me anymore at ALL and while I know that "I'm her mother" and that often goes with the territory, it just makes me nervous.

Anyway, long story short, this is quite reassuring!

I think maybe I met you at Jen's for Chris' birthday a few years ago? But I'm sure I met you somewhere along the way.