Is Brookstone montessori in Acworth,ga good? I am thinking about enrolling my child who will be 3 .?

Question

The school is very expensive.(It will cost us $4,000 more than the pre school she was enrolled in last year. ) Is it worth the cost? Are kids learning tremendously at age 3? Or is it a good idea to send her next year when she will be 4 and may be able to learn more?

Answer 1

I could not find anything specific on that particular school.  I could not even find a web site for them.

The first thing you want to do to help decide if it's a Montessori program or not is to start to look at information on Montessori.  If you go to youtube and type in "Montessori," there are some good videos on there that show many classes in progress.  

Once you have a feel for it and you've looked at some of the philosophy, you will want to observe a classroom.  Be sure to write down a lot of questions and ask them when you get a chance to talk to the teacher again.  They can be anything from:

--How long is this free work period?  (It should be a long work time, approximately 2-3 hours)

--What does this material do? (THey should be able to explain it well)

--Why did the student do the material this way when it's easier to do it another way?

If you have done some research into the methods, you will likely already have a feel for how the teacher should answer and what to look for in the answer.

You will also want to find out what experience the teachers have with Montessori.  Since you're in America, there are 2 main groups that certify Montessori teachers:  AMS (American Montessori Society) and AMI (Association Montessori International).  If the teachers received their training through here, that is a good start.  If they did not, it might be a red flag.  The reason I point out where the training is done is because there are many courses offered that do not provide good training and just give out certificates that say people are a Montessori teacher.  There are other training programs that are good, so I don't want to say ONLY AMS or ONLY AMI.  

Before you visit the school, look at a Montessori materials web site.  An easy one to browse through is http://montessoriboard.com/m1.html  

Look through the math, sensorial, language, and geography materials.  See if they have the materials in the classroom.  

Your question about the value of the three year old year is one we get a lot.  Yes...to receive the full benefit of a Montessori classroom, you will need to have him in all 3 years.  A 4 year old still can come in and learn a lot, however, so it's not going to destroy your child's Montessori career if she comes in later.  The reason the first year is so important are for several reasons:

--It is a time when the practical life area of the classroom is at its strongest interest.  It is during this time that most of the child's concentration is built up.  If they miss the first year, most students spend most of their time when they do come in in the practical life area and sensorial area.  This is because children have a natural need to concentrate and this area provides them with the most opportunity for that.  Once they have built up their concentration, they explore other areas more vigorously.

--The materials actually connect better than most people realize.  The use of the pink tower, which is labelled a "sensorial" material is also a math material.  The child has a strong understanding of 1 and 1000 when he gets to the math of it because he's felt the same thing in his hands hundreds of times with the pink tower.  So it's an easier transition to the math.  This is just one example, but it goes to show that a child who has worked with the materials longer will have an easier time truly understanding other areas of the classroom.

--I don't have much research to back this up, but I think there's a strong sense of pride in the child who was in the classroom at age 3 and graduates at age 6.  They completed a 3 year cycle and can look back at what they have done and feel like they were a part of the whole process.  

--A four year old returning to the classroom also takes on a stronger leadership role early on in the environment than a child who is just coming in at age 4.  They immediately show younger children what to do and help them feel like a part of the community.  

Like I said, you can still get many benefits by starting at 4.  You will notice many more if you start early.

The only other thing I would suggest is reading over this checklist a mother made to see how well her school fit into a Montessori environment overall.  No school will necessarily be perfect, but this is a good guideline.  It is in this thread:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/sho...

Go about 1/3 of hte way down and look for a post by the user Sierra.  It is one of the best posts I have seen on what to look for in a Montessori school.

Matt