Anyone have a bad experience with a Montessori school?

Question

Anyone have a bad experience with a Montessori school?

Answer 1

I have worked in many Montessori schools and have talked with countless parents and teachers about Montessori.  Generally speaking, in a well-run school, there are few problems.  That means, however, that the school has to do a very good job educating parents about what Montessori is to help the parents better understand what is happening, why it is happening, and what to expect.  

Often times, parents do not know much about Montessori and put their child in a Montessori school, just expecting some miracle to happen and their child become this great reader/math person/etc.  When they find Montessori is not really about competition to see who is the best, many parents feel dissatisfied with Montessori.

There is also the problem that there are many schools that claim to be Montessori and are not.  This is the biggest complaint I see.  I even see it from parents that do not realize they are not in a Montessori classroom.  I remember one lady in a message board saying she didn't like all the worksheets the Montessori school is giving her daughter.  When asked more in depth questions, it ends up the school barely even had any of the materials.  It said "Montessori" in their borchure, but clearly wasn't.  Or you might hear of teachers using poor discipline techniques that are counter to Montessori philosophy.

There also may be the fact of a wonderful teacher, a wonderful school, a parent that is on board with Montessori, the children like it, but there is just something not working well and it's just not meshing.  That just happens sometimes without a real reason that can be identified.

So there are a wide variety of situations that can be problems in a Montessori school.  The question of the methodology seems ideal if parents are supportive of it.  (It often contradicts many parent's philosophies, so it is not necessarily an ideal match for everyone).  Whether it's carried out perfectly is another question.

I hope I helped!  If you have a specific question about your school or about the philosophy, ask in here.  I do a search for "Montessori" on a regular basis and, if it's in the subject line, I'll likely see your question.

Matt

Answer 2

LOL Wow to nin edge. Great answer.....if she actually put the name of the school. Montessori is a type of preschool. Thier curriculum is a bit different than regular preschool. Lol maybe you should think about it before you anwser next time.

Anyway I work in a preschool and I have worked for a Montessori school before, and beside the boss being a total pain, it was a really good experience.

Answer 3

I'd research the particular school and go from there. there are good Montessoris and there are bad.. like everything else. My worst experience in a Montessori style school was in a 1-3 classroom. I took a Thurs-Fri job and the teacher had been out all week. There were no lesson plans and with three grades who were supposed to be "self-learners," they weren't...  I muddled through and came in with all kinds of fun things (I was a substitute teacher in a teacher ed program at the time... I had access to an awesome curriculum library) and we had a much better day on Friday... still not Montessori based, but FUN!

Answer 4

1. no.

2. you might need to ask at a more BROAD topic.

    I'm sure that you won't find many people on here who have gone to that same school, there's thousands of them.

3.Why don't you look it up on their website?

Look at their statistics, ranking, etc.

Answer 5

In montessori school, they dont teach the way like in traditional schools. They teach the concepts

through activities only. The child chooses the activity, the adult just helps him do it. No teaching like the way in other schools is done.Whether this

will enable the child to compete with the other children and regular curriculum, one has to find out.

savithri