[dara00]

I'm sure this kind of thing is asked a lot! Maybe you can help with some advice. We looked at a Montessori school this week for my dd who will be 4 in April. She is currently in preschool in a regular classroom.

She is very stubborn and does not like to do things for herself. For example, this weekend she would not take out her playdoh from its container and instead repeatedly asked me to do it for her. I know Montessori teaches kids to be independent. What do they do if a child refuses to do something on her own? I would love to see them teach her to dress herself, etc, and have it carry over to home. She also currently has a hard time entertaining herself or playing by herself without involving me in her play.

Another question I have is for the future - if Montessori goes through elementary school, do the children then continue to a regular high school in some cases? How does that work for them?

Thank you for any advice!

 

[MattBronsil]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dara00 She is very stubborn and does not like to do things for herself. For example, this weekend she would not take out her playdoh from its container and instead repeatedly asked me to do it for her. I know Montessori teaches kids to be independent. What do they do if a child refuses to do something on her own?

I let the child refuse. Then I watch them as they just sit there, bored to death because they aren't doing anything. They learn quickly

Quote:

I would love to see them teach her to dress herself, etc, and have it carry over to home. She also currently has a hard time entertaining herself or playing by herself without involving me in her play.

Just tell her it's OK to be bored and you hope she finds something fun to do.

Quote:

Another question I have is for the future - if Montessori goes through elementary school, do the children then continue to a regular high school in some cases? How does that work for them?

Really well. If you enter a good high school already interested in learning and knowing how to learn, it is a perfect situation

 

[dara00]

yeah I guess she would get bored if she wouldn't do anything but sit...or maybe she'd be happy just sitting and watching everyone else for awhile.

as for the way she is with playing, she knows how to find something fun to do, she just won't do it without me involved! and if I tell her to do something on her own she cries and whines.

thanks for answering!

 

[Rose-Roget]

I would also suggest that when she sees other children doing these things for themselves (some of them even younger than her!), then she might be pretty quick to decide that she can indeed do them.

 

[wrzos]

And another thing to remember is that sitting and observing in the M classroom IS learning. I can't begin to tell you for how many weeks/months my ds couldn't tell me what HE did that day at school, but could tell me exactly what every other child was doing - especially the older ones. This was how he came to ask me questions like what is infinity? Is 1000 bigger than 100? and to show me how to transpose items... At three years old that is.

He certainly wasn't involved in the math works at that point, obviously actually b/c he'd have seen the difference in the numbers! LOL But he was eavesdropping and becoming further intrigued by the older works....

 

[dara00]

do you think they would be willing to allow her to try out the classroom for an hour or something?

 

[Airmid03]

A class visit is part of the admission process at my dds school.