I am on the hunt for some stable childcare for my ds, but we really want a learning environment, and not just daycare for him. I've always loved the way Montessori is done and I feel like it would be a good fit for him.
However, the only place we can afford right now charges for part time what the other childcare centers charge for full time. They charge $235 every two weeks for part time, either three full days or five half days. I feel like we can afford to set aside $115 each week and we'd definitely do the 3 full days, but it would mean that the other two days ds would be subject to a variety of caregivers. If I happen to be off, he'd be with me....if my bf is off, he'd be with him. If we both had to work, he would stay with my friend (who he loves) or maybe his grandma. So that's one issue. I'd say 75% of the time we'd be able to work our schedules so that one of us can be off on T/Th but there may be times he's have to go to grandma's or our friend's house. I don't know if that's too much instability and change for one 2 yo.
The other issue, the one I'm really worried about, is whether his personality will be too challenging for his teachers. I understand that it is a "true" montessori environment. It is a 2-3 year old class with 14 children, 1 teacher, and 1 assistant. I'm trying to picture how that would work if even one child became disruptive. My ds has an amazing ability to be disruptive.
He's very smart, and I have seen him show incredible focus and concentration when I give him Montessori-type tasks at home, like folding, pouring, cutting, etc. However, if he doesn't get his way, or he gets bored, or gets overstimulated, or frustrated, or anything else, he can become very destructive/disruptive. He also tests limits to the extreme i.e. you compliment him ion how nicely he is pouring, so he takes the whole bucket and dumps it on the floor, as if to say, "well, NOW what do you think?"
He is in the process of an evaluation through the city for his slightly below level problem solving skills, which may be related to his issues with articulation and not being understood (although he has an excellent vocabulary), but he's not intellectually delayed or anything, in fact he may actually be gifted. It's so confusing
I really feel like with the right amount of time and attention he would flourish in the calm, organized structured environment of a montessori classroom, but I'm really worried he'll go into the class and just.....destroy it. Yell if he doesn't get his way, throw himself on the floor if hes frsutreated, knock things over etc.
I hate to make my ds sound so.....awful....because he's really not, but I see from a teacher's perspective where he could be a real handful in a classroom setting like that. I know from experience what it's like to have a child like that and how it can change the dynamic of the entire class,a nd I just wonder how that would work with only 2 adults for 14 children. Yet I feel like he's better off there than in a typical daycare/preschool where he'd be constantly overstimulated with kids running around, a zillion plastic toys, teachers having to raise their voice a lot and so forth.
Do you think it's worth pursuing this place? Is he just not cut out for montessori?
