I am currently homeschooling, and it is going very well. The only down side at this point is the lack of social opportunities and the chance to be more physically active. My child is a very social creature, as am I, however, we aren't with friends and family on a weekly basis or anything. So, ds6 spends the majority of his time with adults. He enjoyes being with other children (older than him) so much, and I feel so guilty that he doesn't get the opportunity as often as he and I would like.

Dh and I have been researching other school options (just pulled him out of a rigid Catholic school), and Montessori seems to be the best fit so far (along with hs). Ds would prefer to continue homeschooling, and I'm enjoying it as well. However, we continue to consider the Montessori school option for social reasons. Also, I think it would do wonders for ds's confidence and independence.

So, in theory Montessori sure seems to be a good fit for gifted children, but in reality does it work? I'd love to hear others' experiences related to Montessori education for their gifted child. Is homeschool usually a better fit? Much of what I read about giftedness leads me back to homeschooling as the best plan, but I'd love to hear more about Montessori. It's very expensive, and you are locked in for a year's tuition once you begin. I want to be very sure before making any kind of change.

Thanks for your input!
Jen

We tried Montessori for Pre-K and it didn't work for us. The first school called me in the office after a week and told us that our DS had basically completed everything they had and they weren't sure what to do with him. This was a program that only went through 2nd grade. The second place we tried went through 6th so we knew they wouldn't run out of work. The problem we ran into there was the complete rigidity of the school. They wouldn't let my son move forward without taking every single calculated step in each exercise. DS doesn't work like that. You give him a basic concept and he gets it, he's able to leap forward without doing the incrementals. It drove him crazy!

If you can find a school that is Montessori based but allows some flexibility, it could work. We always thought that if we could just find the right one, he'd love it. But where we live the choices are limited.

You might be better off to find social outlets such as homeschool co-ops and clubs like boy scouts.

Best of Luck!

This particular Montessori school seems really wonderful. It goes through 6th grade, and they appear to be fairly flexible and extrememly family oriented. However, the director would like for ds6 to spend some time in the early childhood group (PK3-KG) to get some of the framework for Montessori. I am opposed to that, however, as I know ds would never mix well with that age group. We were there today for a visit. The children played together in one classroom, while the parents learned more about the Montessori process and curriculum. The other parents were new to the school; I was the only one who's still on the fence.

Ds wanted to know why he had to spend the whole time playing with babies. I think if I pushed it, they'd allow him to go into the 1st-3rd grade room. Right before we left, ds had a meltdown, crying his eyes out because another child broke his leggo creation. Ds said it was a "magnificent building," and he "worked very hard to build it. Oh, why did he have to do that?!" I'm sure they see that and think I'm crazy when I say he doesn't fit with the younger students. He's sooooo sensitive and dramatic. The thing is, when he's with older kids his behavior is more appropriate. Put him with the younger ones, and you see major inattention, breakdowns, etc. I think he just gets bored, frustrated, and stressed in situations where he feels he doesn't fit.

I am also concerned that he'll quickly move through the curriculum like your son, Shari. If that happens, what then? The tedium of going through every step in a process drives my ds crazy. He, too, seems to just get an entire concept without learning a step by step process. This school seems to focus more on learning broad concepts and allowing the students to explore those processes at their own pace.

Like anything else, we probably won't know for sure unless we try it. I'm just reluctant to change our current hs situation while it's working. Again, dh and I just want to explore all the options, so if anyone else could share their Montessori experience, I'd really appreciate it!

Warning- like everything I write, this is looooonnnnngggg (Sorry, I can't help myself!)

Our eldest DS attended a Montessori for two years. As with anything, it had some great aspects and some not-so-great aspects (particularly for gifties). Just for a bit of background, our Montessori was a small, beautiful school that is very well-respected in the area and nationally for Montessori education. It offered toddler, primary and K but no other elementary level classes.

Pros
-The Montessori method believes in the potential in children! (Wow!) They really embrace that children should not be limited by age and instead by ability.
-A Montessori education encourages the child to be independent and makes learning a self-fulfilling endeavor. (they seek intrinsic not extrinsic rewards)
-The Montessori method focuses on whole learning. The "work" that the children do in class has purpose! (How often do you hear that about a public school assignment?)
-Most Montessori schools espouse the behavior expectations that we have but that public schools are unable to enforce. Manners, citizenship, and responsibility are build into the work and constantly expected.
-Montessori schools, in general, are a pleasant, healthy place to be. They often encourage healthy habits.
-The Montessori method dictates the exact way in which the "work" is to be done. This is very regimented and exact. Despite the fact that the classroom allows a lot of choice on the type of work that is to be done, the way it is done, is not a choice. This is actually great for some kids and definitely not great for others. (Hence, this is on the pro and con list)
-Children learn from each other. They are expected to encourage and help each other.
-Classrooms are multi-age.
-Schools usually have gardens, animals and home-like atmospheres. They are warm and comforting.
-The classroom is designed for children. They work on the floor or standing. The materials are designed for children's fingers not small adult hands.
-Music and art are an important part of the curriculum.


Cons
-There a several different accrediting bodies for Montessori schools so it is hard to "measure" their level of Montessori-ness.
-The Montessori method dictates the exact way in which the "work" is to be done. This is very regimented and exact. Despite the fact that the classroom allows a lot of choice on the type of work that is to be done, the way it is done, is not a choice. This is actually great for some kids and definitely not great for others. (Hence, this is on the pro and con list)
-The "work" often requires a lot of manual dexterity so children need to have good fine motor skills to progress with the work intellectually. (This was a big issue for our non-so-coordinated DS)
-As with any school, a gifted child's intellectual needs may outpace the curriculum/materials available in a classroom or school. (Another big issue for our DS)
-The Montessori method believes that a child should be well-rounded in their abilities so if a child is grossly asynchronous, it indicates to them some level of discord in the child's life. They work to balance the child. (Keep in mind, most of Maria Montessori's research subjects were orphans in very impoverished areas of India. They suffered abuse, starvation, and horrid living conditions prior to being put in her care. Nevertheless, again another issue for DS)
-The Montessori method allows for a lot of independence but not necessarily a lot of creativity. Creative children may be stifled because they don't fit the desired norm.
-The Montessori method views "square pegs" as pegs that desire to be round. With enough work, they too can become round pegs and fit into the round hole.
-Montessori schools can be "soft" in their discipline strategies because they believe natural consequences will yield the desired behavior.


Other stuff to be aware of:
-Teachers exist to be a model/guide to the students. In an "ideal" situation (per Montessori standards), a teacher rarely speaks but instead just observes.
-All classrooms feature a variety of areas (i.e. subjects) for work, including Practical Life. Don't be surprised if your DC spends his afternoon sweeping, washing windows or making orange juice! Also, don't be surprised if your 5 year old is working with decimals and division.
-Children choose their own work. Each teacher/school will have a policy about how much they help to guide the child's choices. Some will not guide at all (just like unschooling), others will guide or require that the child completes some work.
-During work time, a Montessori classroom may appear chaotic. Typically, it is a controlled chaos (you should never see children running or yelling) since you have 30 children each doing their own thing. The classrooms can be loud and distracting for a sensitive child.
-Some Montessori schools will have some formal lessons to the group, others will not.
-The Montessori method does not mesh well with the standard educational model in the U.S. so a true Montessori student will face a major transition when leaving a Montessori school (i.e. learning to sit in a desk, not having choices, taking tests, etc.). Some non-traditional Montessori schools have some "transition" models that they follow to help a child acclimate to the non-Montessori version of education.
-Students entering a Montessori classroom for the first time (with other, established students) will need a considerable amount of time to adjust, learn the work and expectations. (Jen, this is why they want your DS in the younger class for a while)

Having read all of Maria Montessori's books available in English, I LOVE the concept of a Montessori education. I don't think the concept entirely translates into real life/real classrooms. We had a rough 6 months while DS adjusted to the method, a fabulous 12 months where DS blossomed followed by another rough 6 months where DS was bored and miserable.

Hope all this makes sense and hope it helped. Believe it or not, I actually tried to make this concise. So many other stories I could have shared . . .

Gotta agree with everything every one has posted so far...DS6 attended a Montessori preschool from age 2-5. As he got into the 3-5 yr old mixed classroom our problems started to go through the roof...he moved through the curriculum like lightning and was bored out of his mind...his teacher wouldn't let him advance until he showed each and every individual/single step in the activity- Montessori can be very rigid in this fact. A lot of gifted children aren't able to break down how they got to a certain answer - it just comes to them so it was difficult to explain how he broke down the steps. He has dyspraxia and it was difficult when he was younger to carry the required Montessori trays that they carry their work on down onto their work rugs. He would drop them or drop things off the tray and the teacher would focus on that and not the activity - he wasn't allowed to move on until he showed her that he could carry the items to the work area which was insane to me. She kept holding activities back from him so that she wouldn't run out of curriculum for him to do and he was bored, bored, bored which lead to a ton of issues. The thing that alarmed us the most at his Montessori school was just as the last poster stated...when they saw a child who was "uneven" they did everything in their power to "balance" them out. The old square peg and trying to shove them into a round hole...."ain't going to work" in my eyes! My son would get in trouble because with their earlier activities they included such things as taking 2 dishes with a spoon or scoop and some kind of colored sand/rice/material and the child was expected to spoon the item from one dish to another dish without dropping the material all over the place. My son instead made up games when he was doing his scooping such as pretending to make "special recipes" with giving different amount of scoops for different materials and his teacher would get upset at him and tell him to just spoon the material over to the other bowl. Another time he was completing a map assignment and they are required to color in different map pictures specific colors that match the Montessori puzzles of that continent. He got in trouble because he colored the "wrong" colors on some of the countries...when the teacher asked him why he did those particular colors he honestly had good answers as to why but in her mind the work was wrong because it didn't match the puzzle.

I did a lot of researching on Montessori and if you find a true Montessori program that is flexible then it could be an amazing fit...unfortunately we looked at the 2 Montessori elementary school choices around us and neither are what I would consider true Montessori. I can understand why they want him in the younger class to learn the "basics" for a short period of time...Montessori is all about steps and moving up through steps...if he was to go into a Montessori elementary program not ever having been in a Montessori prek/K program then he will not understand how to handle a lot of the materials the correct way. Some Montessori elementary programs won't take a child unless they have had some prek/K/preschool experience with Montessori since it can be so different from what a child is used to doing.

We had trouble because the Montessori preschool DS8 went to at age 4 refused to place him ahead on the curriculum. The moving through steps thing can be a problem if your child is already past those steps.

I told them he was reading well, gave examples of what he was reading, and they nodded and said all the right things...then ignored them completely. Before we put him in the school, I even specifically asked if he had to jump through all the hoops he was past doing--because I KNEW he would refuse!--and they said no. They didn't tell me the truth!

I asked about books, talked to the teachers about it regularly. They smiled and nodded and ignored me. For months!

Well, before our January conference, they sent home a note that indicated that DS had TROUBLE with pre-reading because he never spent any time in the language arts area. That was the last straw!

At the conference, DH told them STRONGLY to change their ways. They finally listened to him. (Frustrating!) They agreed (quite unhappily) to skip one step in the LA progression with DS and see how it went.

DS did a week's worth of LA work in a day or two, and they FINALLY got the message. (It was stuff he could do when he was 18mos. old, so I was not surprised that he blew through it.)

After that, things improved. He became the only kid in the school who was allowed to read a book once and have it checked off. So I felt like they understood that he really could read quite well, and they gave him things that challenged him better, so it all worked out. But it was a rough semester getting them to see him for what he was.

The moral of the story, I think, is that some teachers get it and some don't. I think the overarching philosophy of the school matters less than the teacher and whether she gets it or not. If they resist placing him where you think he needs to be, it could be a bad sign. Be wary.

Remember that they can tell you anything they want to get you in the door. If you worry that they might not deliver--as my "mom gut" had me worrying--that's a good sign that they might not. Trust yourself.

Thank you guys! I love the Montessori concept so much and could see how it would work really well if only they were experienced with educating gifted children. I think I'm going to take them up on all of their observation visits, get some ideas, and use them at home while I hs!

I learned so much today, but I kept thinking, "oh, that would drive ds nuts!" Most of those times I was thinking that the elementary classroom would be a better fit. My son is very sensitive (like many here) to being expected to do "baby work." It's insulting to him. The teachers are also very syrupy sweet and speak that way all the time, and I could see my ds thinking that's ridiculous. He doesn't like baby talk, and it sort of comes off as condescending. Having a coversation with him is like talking to an another adult most of the time.

He would abolutely love the independence and the ability to move around the room and talk as needed. He thinks aloud. I didn't realize they were so rigid with the step-by-step processes, though. I think my ds would have a hard time with that. He'd lose interest very quickly, and I don't want a repeat of what we just went through. I sure don't want to get locked in to paying thousands of dollars for something that has a high likelihood of not working.

Montessori is fascinating to me though b/c I've never seen this type of setting. All of my experience is with traditional public or private schools, and those are definitely not a good fit for my ds. Part of my problem is that I (even more than my ds) am missing the social connection of the other school, not to mention my job! I really need to find a way to connect with others though a homeschool coop or something similar, but that is so far from something I'd normally join. Of course, I also said I'd never homeschool, right? ; )

Thanks again for all for the advice and for sharing your experiences. I LOVE this forum!

Montessori is how we ended up on this board, DYS, and finally homeschooling. DS7 went there for K and it didn't work.

I must give the teachers some credit. They did told me within a week or two that they had never had a child like him. They also told me that the school wasn't for him. They meant it. The director disagreed though. She never really got it.

They did try, but honestly they did't know what to do. He was taught long division in K and then the teacher jumped from one topic to another without knowing what to do next. He got 2nd grade geography workbook, 2nd grade LA but then they still let him go through spelling cat, hat and other ridiculous words. All that done, it just wasn't enough.

I also got the pushy parent talk, which made us get him tested just to prove that we weren't crazy. They couldn't understand how come he could spell so well but his handwriting was so poor (his handwriting was age appropriate). By October I had a very angry child at home and had no idea why he was acting that way. In November he asked to be homeschooled, much to my shock.

Socially it didn't work at all. The group was too small, there were only 2 other girls in K and one other boy. The rest of the kids were in PreK. He didn't make friends there and I don't blame him. You need to realize that most of the activities are individual. The kids didn't even have snack together! There are not too many things the kids get to do together.

I could go on and on. The bottom line Montessori wasn't the answer for us.

We homeschool but DS5 and DS7 attend a small private school 2 afternoons per week. They have friends there, get to socialize on regular basis and I get a break. We did the same thing last year and it worked quite well. Would something like that be an option?

LMom-We are likely going to take ds6 to a small private school for one or two afternoons a week for art and science classes. The thing is, most of the kids are older than my son. I'm not sure if that matters, but I'd really like it if they were a little closer to his age. I think there is one 7 year old, and the rest are much older. We are continuing to look for other schools that have the part time option. I'd like to have the best of both worlds if we can find it. Thanks!

I also was in love with the Montessori method...it is such an AWESOME idea and done the right way could be such a great fit for gifted students. My husband used to laugh at me last year....I had looked at adding Montessori to my teaching certification because I had done so much research and just loved the whole idea....if we had enough money we would open up a private Montessori school for gifted and high achieving children. We really, really wanted it to be a good fit for our son but it just didn't turn out that way. We are on our 2nd year of homeschooling and we do combine some montessori lessons into our homeschooling curriculum...there are a lot of sites out there and videos you can find on the web showing how to adapt the lessons into homeschooling. For socializing, there are so many ways you can find things that allow your homeschooler to be able to be around others during the day...do you have any local or near zoo's, science museums, art museums? Many of these places offer homeschooling classes during the month. If you also do some websearches in your area you might be able to find some homeschool support groups that meet during the week to complete activities together :-) My little guy is more socially active than he has ever been in his whole life over the past 2 months of homeschooling :-)

hey all
i also LOVE the idea of montessori, read about it for years, have materials in my home, etc.. However both local montessori schools we tried were failures in different ways, in my opinion,.. some of the things that i concluded were that:
- some of the teachers weren't really that committed to the method, and would rather be teaching elsewhere.
- most of the parents weren't really taht into the method, and didn't understand much about it when they enrolled their kids.

So what ended up happening was that the montessori method was watered down so much due to parents who wanted things they expected out of typical school and teachers who didn't care that much to fight them on it. So we ended up with a lot of anti-montessori stuff going on. Such as making the kids do academics in the morning, and practical life only in the afternoon.. Lots of contingencies like "you can have snack if you do a challenging work". etc etc. Not a lot of "follow the child".

but i do agree in theory it is wonderful and if you can get a committed, strong teacher than it is great (1 out of 4 teachers we had fit that bill)

irene

My son is at a public Montessori school. The teachers there seem really wonderful but since the school is public they have to follow lots of state rules and curriculum requirements that make it not truly Montessori. I've talked to his teacher about it and I think that most of the people that work there aren't too happy about the un-Montessori things they have to do.

I think that at a truly Montessori school my son would do great and he's doing better here so far than he was at his normal school last year. I'm sure it depends on the teachers and the child though.

It is funny that I was just talking to dh if we should send dd4 to a public Montessori school next year. I have my doubt about Montessori even though this method sounds really good. Our public program uses Right Start Math and they also mention Singapore Math as supplement. I just don't see how these 2 curriculums can be part of the Montessori program.

This is very interesting to find out how Montessori program may not be a good fit for gifted kids after all.

With public Montessori schools I would be very careful to do your homework - as the last few posters have put it...the Montessori method ends up getting watered down because they HAVE to meet the requirements set by the state/county education system...so what ends up happening is that the Montessori lessons are kind of an after thought when the "main" public school based lessons are done for the day. Some of the public schools here in Florida in our county are "montessori" and I was really upset to hear that they are calling themselves Montessori but when I went in to tour the room there was the bare bones minimum of Montessori materials on shelves - most didn't have any bead chains/math manipulatives. When I asked how they did the curriculum many stated that they did traditional lessons in the morning and then after lunch the children were allowed to make Montessori lesson choices...one school actually said that they only did Montessori lessons 2 days out of the week while the rest of the week was traditional. Montessori just does NOT fit second with a traditional education...it is completely opposite to what Maria Montessori wanted out of her system. So if you do some research on what a true Montessori program should look like and what you should see in a classic montessori classroom, take your knowledge and then tour the schools to see how they mesh in and then the fun part of also seeing how your gifted child's needs will be met :-)

It depends a lot on the individual Montessori school. They can be very rigid, but not all are. We were lucky enough to find a school that met they child where he was. The head teacher (it was a very small school with only 3 teachers and a max of 23 students) told me after they first month there that he wanted to see how much ds could learn. I was okay with that, as he was a very good teacher and had already built a good relationship with ds. Ds was 2-almost-3 when he started the pre k program and went through pre k, k, and half of 1st grade in 2 years. Then they decided to retire and abandoned us. Now we homeschool, because public school wanted to put ds back in pre k due to his age.

All that was just to emphasize the point that it depends on the school.

Hi everyone-

My experience was very similar to Kriston's post- at least the first part. It didn't work for our girl and she was there for 2 years. I think it was okay until she reached 3.5 and then needed more guidance, support and challenge. Although they have a beautiful model of listening to the child, we missed a lot of what I would call "readiness windows" and without this support our DD starting giving up quickly not to mention all the behavioral issues that emerged then. After all the ignoring stuff, even after testing etc, we did decide to move her. It was really depressing for me because I had been committed to Montessori education since she was 18 months and was deeply invested in the philosophies behind it, but I realized my DD needed to learn in a different way.

Well, so far there hasn't been a resounding support of Montessori education for gifties! : (

That's too bad because in theory it could work so well if students were allowed to move at their own pace and bypass areas that are repetetive and unnecessary.

I guess I can't knock Montessori though; it's a great system in its own right, probably just not a great fit for our little ones.

We homeschool using many montessori methods at home for DD 2.5, but I don't think a montessori school would work well, she does not like th step by step, she usally just grasps it all at once, and if something is easy, she wont complete it more then one time, and usually even that frst time she does it halfway through, then stops because she could master it. But she loves the materials. I think it can be very good for gifted kids, but it can't be as rigid step by step as it is in most true montessori schools. They have a step by step, introduce each material in an order way, DD skipped rght through many things, that in a school they would have not let her.

As others have said, check out the credentials of the Montessori school and the teachers. The regulating agencies are not consistent. There are many "Montessori" schools which are only Montessori on the surface. We did not get into our public Montessori school (lottery) but it was a great fit for many gifted kids - but they were NEVER held back by the curriculum that I am aware of. Also, because the classes are 1-3 and 4-6 grades, there is not pres-school stuff in the building. My understanding of Maria Montessori's philosophy was that children should not be limited by the confines of the grade or the teachers' expectations.

I've heard parents who've had kids in Montessori pre-schools say things like, "that's great for pre-school but wouldn't work in elementary." These are kids who have been in schools that I believe are not truly Montessori in philosophy. There is one Montessori pre-school in town that is excellent and a friend with a daughter who just turned 4 showed me the writing that she had done at school. It was cool to look at because it looked sort of what an 8 year old might write, but then you could hear the four year old "voice" and the spelling was more 4 than 8. This program will let her go as far as she wants to before Kindergarten.

All that said, I think the philosophy and approach of the individual teacher is the key.

I am reading a book called "The Element" and there is a line in there: Great schools are filled with great teachers, but there are a lot of mediocre schools filled with curriculum and assessment. (paraphrase)

A bit of reassurance about the social fit at the private school:

We have had good luck matching DS8 with MG kids who are 1-3 years older than he is. It can be hard to find kids his own age who connect with an HG+ child, but a slightly older MG child is more common and seems a good fit.

So it may not matter if the kids are a couple years older. It might actually be a better fit that way.

Hi,

I like some of the concepts of Montessori, such as individualized pacing and the school setting being organized with materials that all have a point to them.

We tried a montessori at the age of 14 months (for 3-7 year olds this school is the most well regarded in our area) and it was terrible for that age, a small room with a few objects laid out where the children were just expected to "learn" something on their own by being truly ignored by the staff. The concept of "self-motivated exploration" gone wrong. The montessori philosophy was just a grandiose excuse for ignoring the kids. They even applied this to the infants where before they could reach for things or sit up they were just left to lie unhappy on the ground for long periods. The school ended their under-2 program not long after our short trial of it, so I think their directors realized also that it wasn't working.

My one experience with their program for 2s or it may have been 3s was a sneak look I got at the program when one teacher didn't realize I was watching. The kids were outdoors playing on play equipment for about 45 minutes, I was in the adjacent parking lot in my car waiting for DS to wake up from his nap before I took him into the infant/toddler room. The kids looked happy enough. The 3-5 year olds' teacher didn't realize I was there. She was on her cell the entire time, laughing, chatting etc, not involved with the kids in any way. My DS woke from his nap and I carried him up past her, as soon as she noticed me she put the phone behind her back and said in a voice made loud so that I would hear, "look children, look at the leaves, its fall and the leaves are falling...". A little show put on just for my benefit.

Its really tough to know how teachers behave with kids when you aren't there to watch, in any type of program, unless your child is old enough to really get into detail about what they did that day. The montessori philosophy especially can be so vague that I think that lazy teachers may find they get away with doing very little in a montessori, where in a traditional program they might be expected to send home a craft with each child, do a circle time each day, etc, keeping them actually doing something.

At the age when kids can act as reporters on their teachers then I think Montessori is a safer option. Perhaps next year when DS is 3 and could be in a mixed 3-5 classroom we'll consider it again.

My concerns at the 3-5 and kindergarten age are just as others have said, will he be made to use the materials only in the way he is "supposed" to. Will he be made to finish every activity and will he have to complete everything in the ordained order. Will his already perfectionistic tendencies be heightened by the teachers emphasizing not spilling, etc.

Polly

Whatever your take on Montessori, the simple fact is that Montessori is not a patented name. There are two institutions that make every effort to insure excellent Montessori teaching (the American and International Societies), but basically anyone can take the Montessori name and set up a 'Montessori' school without the slightest training or knowledge of the philosophy. I think this is the greatest issue that has dogged the public's understanding of Montessori for many a year. If you are looking to Montessori schools please be certain that the school you pick is accredited or at the very least has qualified Montessori teachers.

Two of my children (both assessed as GT), have attended excellent Montessori schools that did a tremendous job supporting their academic abilities as well as social and emotional needs. Now, having transitioned to public schools, the switch has been remarkably smooth.

Meh. Ours was accredited. It didn't help.

If anything, I think they might have been less lockstep about having to go through every step of the process even though he knew them if they hadn't been accredited.

I don't know that for sure, and there are certain things about the Montessori Method that are pretty important to be faithful to or else it really isn't Montessori at all. But I stand by my statement that the school philosophy--whether Montessori or anything else--matters significantly less than if the teacher gets your child or not.

Well, I certainly agree with the last part. Teacher rapport, support and understanding is undoubtedly the most important thing. All I was trying to say was that with a school that uses Montessori without Montessori training isn't likely to go well (nor would any school with untrained class teachers). There are good and bad Montessori and traditional schools, but the base line of requring qualifications does at least compare them fairly.

The particular Montessori school we were considering is Internationally accredited, and all teachers are specifically Montessori trained and certified. They follow the montessori model exactly from what I can tell from visiting. Although, I do think the teachers are involved with the students in that they help direct students when needed,and they do small group or one-on-one instruction throughout the day. I don't think the issue in our particular case is whether they are truly Montessori or not; the question is: does a true Montessori approach work well with gifted children? I do think this school is committed to the the step by step Montessori method, and I'd say that would be torture for my son. I love the school so much; I wish there was some way to spend part of the day there. Not an option for first KG or 1st grade.

OK, so posting from the perspective of a true Montessori school, I would say that it can work great for some gifted kids and be a disaster for others.

Overall, I think that the Montessori method works well, in general, for gifted kids when they are among the younger in their group. It is great when they are 6 or early 7 in the 6-9 class. The materials are set for them, up to 3 years ahead of their age level, they get to interact with older kids, etc. Then, when they get older (within the group), the material is less challenging or they might have finished it (some schools might be open to providing the child with the next level up materials, but some might not want it, or might not even have it); and then they are stuck with kids younger than them, who might be intellectually at a much lower level (due to asynchronous development).

Some PP mentioned the "chaos" of the Mont classroom. I think that, for the most part, Montessori preschools are much more quiet than play based and developmental preschools. Kids are supposed to be doing their work quietly. I think this is a plus for kids with some OE and too sensitive to noise, for example. This part was one that did NOT work for our rambuctious dd. She wanted to socialize more than anything else. Instead of choosing work that was appropriate and challenging for her (according to Maria Mont.'s theory), she'd choose works that she could do with a buddy or, as an alternative, works too hard for her to do on her own, so that the teacher would help. In short, socialization was driving her choices....

The other reason Mont. did NOT work for our dd (preschool), was that she is a very independent thinker, a divergent person. I take a look around in our family room right now and I see polly pockets sleeping in the Calico Critters house, and wooden furniture furnishing Lego creations. in Montessori, you can't combine materials from different things. You can't put the fuzzy balls with the cotton balls for pincer work. In the same sense, she always looks at novel ways of doing things. Montessori materials are self-correcting and are supposed to be used in a certain way.

We switched her to another preschool this year, more challenging in many ways, with a Reggio-Emilia base and constructivist base (among other things). The first thing we noticed in her is that now she talks about the exciting things she did or learned at school. Last year we only got reports of who sat with who, who held her hand, etc. We still get those, but now we get things like "wow! we are learning about germs, I am going to ask tomorrow if plants also get sick from germs!".

In my opinion there is no program that can hold a candle to montessori when it comes to academics.
Where else can a 3 yr old do multipication and division?
Where else can a 3 yr old be given any where near appropriate work.

My son went from doing Long division in Monessori in kindergarten to counting dots in a "gifted Public"

That's great, traceyqns! I wish our Montessori had been 1/4 that good.

Actually my DS5's church/play-based preschool did a lot better for him with math and reading than the Montessori school did with my older son. The teachers at the church preschool were AMAZING! I'd bet 3/4 of the class happened to be at least MG, and some were probably HG, and they just adjusted everything up to where the kids were. It worked amazingly well!

But we had another teacher at the exact same preschool who was pretty lousy with GT kids. <shrug> From what I can tell, the teacher matters more than the program.

Hi Kriston, Yeah guess that is really the truth it all depends on the teacher. They are probably few and far between right?

Sadly, I think that's more true than we would like. But thank goodness for the good teachers and programs, huh?

My son was doing long division in Montessori K as well but he still had a bad year there. DS7 was a happy child in his play based PreK the year before but in Montessori he was miserable, acted out at home, and wanted to be homeschooled. His perfectionism got out of control during the first few months there. I had an extremely unpleasant conversation with one of the teachers which finally prompted us to get him tested.

Our younger one (3 at that time) got to spend one year in the very same Montessori classroom where he had to count the dots again and again because he wasn't able to write the numbers yet. The teacher herself told me that they wouldn't move him to a different material till he learned to write numbers, but not to worry since none of the 3 year olds could write. It was a disaster for him, he refused to go there on countless occasions.

Next year he went to the play based PreK and was happy there. The teacher let him read to the entire class. She let him do as much or as little as he wanted. They might have not taught him anything new but they didn't make him repeat boring tasks over and over.

Trust me, long division in K isn't everything. That said I am glad I didn't have to teach it to DS7

I hardly post here but would like to share our experience. Sorry if I am duplicating any info as I am yet to go through previous posts.
DS4 has been going to montessori since last year. This year the school started on a rough note due to a teacher change hence new rules but given a month DS is adjusting well. In his first year he chose a lot of language and math work but this year he is not interested in them. He is spending his time in art, science and geography corner and seems happy with a few rough patches once in a while which we try to deal with as they come. He is definitely learning, not in math and language but in other areas. He is experimenting with different strokes in art, learning about weather, plant and human life cycles, people around the world, geometry etc. His school also offers a third language, lots of field trips, fun projects and computers.
At times we do feel that we are paying a lot that too for something, I could easily teach him but he loves the social aspect too, plays with older kids as well as his peers , ah well most of his peers are 5-6 year old too but most days he comes home being very proud of what he did at school and will introduce me to new kids as I go to pick him up. We are keeping our fingers crossed, hopefully each year he'll have something new to look forward to.

Montessori is not for every child though. A lot depends on the child's personality, drive to learn and how much\lesss guidance a child prefers. I have many friends who pulled their kids out of the school as they didn't like it. One friend as she put it, did not like it as all her child would do is to play with puzzles. DS's school however has a policy that each child has to choose at least one challenging work each day.

A montessori classroom is very quiet during work-time, the schools usually have a zero tolerance policy for any disruption, hence strict rules. Go visit a class and see if you can imagine your child doing well there. For us it is working well so far if not great. But we are skeptical how long its going to work but we will see:)

I am also completely in love with Montessori. I too have considered getting my Mont. certification. Some of the experiences that people have posted about sound horrible. This approach actually seems to completely contradict what I�ve learn about the philosophy. I have no experience with Montessori schools, however we do use tons of Mont. materials in homeschooling. The materials are very very versatile, much of what is used in preschool is used again in lower elementary. There are tons of extensions for the materials and so it doesn�t make sense that kids would be held back. If I was going to send my child to a Mont. school it definitely would be to a school that at least offers an elementary program. Also, I would ensure that the preschool teachers have a thorough knowledge of the 6-9 scope and sequence. There is division among �Montessorians�. Progressive Montessorians are open to presenting materials out of sequence which is important for all kids, not just gifted (IMO). Forcing kids to complete, repeat activities that they have mastered is ridiculous. If kids choose to repeat activities that they appear to have mastered that makes sense to some degree, but even then they should be encouraged to move on. As far as our homeschooling experience goes, we pick, choose and adapt as needed. We have a lot of fun with it. It is the only thing that works for us.

HI! Our DS went to Montessori at age three and loved it. Because he was reading, etc. he could do most of what the older children were doing, but the teacher usually would not let him.

Age age four...he completely lost his little spark. We finally figured out he had "been there/done that" at Montessori. Three years in the same classrom is NOT a good fit for him. He was bored out of his mine. I observed him just wandering around the room most of the time when he was supposed to be doing his "work" on several occasions. Thus, the "your child must have a special need that I must diagnose" phase of his early education began with the teacher.

Needless to say, we pulled him out and his little spark came back rather quickly.

That's frustrating about the ceiling. It would seem that Montessoris would find a way around that -- and I'm sure some good ones do, but I have heard that complaint before -- that the school was a good fit until the kid topped out. (Heck, I've even heard anecdotes that included the special need line before... like, Montessori = great; kid = not doing great; ergo, problem with the kid.) *sigh*

Ha -- I had a deliciously ironic thought. Not sure how well it translates into words: The problems with Montessori wouldn't be so bothersome if it weren't for the fact that it has great potential. Why won't it just live up to its potential?

This is exactly what happened to our DS7 - he was in the Montessori school for 3 years and by age 4.5 everything went downhill - he would come home saying he couldn't find anything to do and when I was in the room, I saw him wandering around during work time. The teacher would try to pull him into an activity but everything was "been there, done that" for him and he wanted more, more, more. His spark for learning went down the tube and we ended up pulling and we saw a huge change in him within a few months after taking him out - for the better!

You know it's all about implementation. Good teachers (Montessori or otherwise) find the materials they need to challenge the child. I think that the Montessori method is set up to succeed at this with the "follow the child" mantra. However it's still up to humans to implement it.

I've said it before, I think that Montessori is a great system. Our daughter did REALLY well there. Each child was met at their readiness level and introduced to plenty of things that many schools would consider out-of-level. Multiplication and fractions were part of the K curriculum, readily available to everyone who was ready for it.

It's also really hard to judge "Montessori" since many schools claim the name but are not accredited by AMI (Association Montessori Internationale) or AMS (American Montessori Society).

so true!

This is my biggest complaint about the Montessori schools in our area. It seems like anyone can open one and claim to be Montessori. Most are not accredited but try to get around it by claiming they have teachers accredited by the AMS and AMI. Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the school itself need to submit for accreditation?

You're right Katelyn's Mom. What the other schools are saying is that their staff have been trained and certified by one of these institutions. Some of these schools can be excellent - others quite dire. Even within an officially accredited school though, you can find huge disparities between the standards of teaching like in any other system.

Although I have many good things to say about Montessori (my two boys have both had great experiences), I am still conflicted regarding a system that has very little in the way of accountability. It's kind of a matter of 'faith' and whilst your kids are doing well that's easy enough, but when you have concerns it can be very difficult to get a straight answer.

Montessori is a word in the public domain. I could open up a Montessori Ice Cream Shop... Yes, there are Montessori accrediting agencies, and yes, some schools get accredited by them, but a school doesn't have to in order to use the word.

And it seems like even when a school is following the Montessori way, a problem that at least some gifted types have is that Montessori allows kids to learn more or less at their own pace, and then they ceiling out -- and that's when the problems begin. The school runs out of learning tools and activities for the kid, and a kid who was fully engaged, etc. suddenly becomes restless. It might be a case of the school's benefits bringing about its eventual failure.

Annaliisa,
I have similar feelings about Montessori. I'm planning to homeschool next year and have been looking at the materials that Montessori has to offer. But when I spoke to a friend who is preschool Montessori trained,surprise! She seems locked tight in the "Montessori is for the preschool crowd only" mentality. Somewhere along the line, some preschool teachers have forgotten the philosophy of it all.

Because my son is very tactile and loves patterns, I can see that he'll have a whale of a time with the math materials for upper elementary levels. He's very intuitive at math and is doing Olympiad level questions, although I sometimes feel his knowledge is too mental. He has pictures in his head but he'd love if he could actually see and play with them. I'm sure the materials can only add to his understanding of the real world.

Annaliisa and everyone else out here, I'd be grateful if you could point to blogs that have been helpful. I'm only in the start up phase but will need to jump in with both feet soon.

Yes please me too! I would also like some more info about Progressive Montessori, because I have found some pretty strong traditionalists.

I also have the problem of the kids going through the material faster than I can present/create it. Any ideas for that?

Blob and Geomamma -

Hands down the most useful online resource for me has been joining the Montessori Homeschool Group on Yahoo.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/playschool6/

Many of the Montessori homeschoolers with blogs post in this group regularly. It is a very supportive and generous group. Some are homeschooling at the elementary level and have years under their belt. I think that it's really important to hear about Montessori from a homeschool perspective because it can't work the same way as the classroom.


My response is, don't buy tons of materials (this is easier said than done). It's really expensive and painful when your child is not interested in a particular material or is beyond it to begin with. I console myself with the fact that my DS2 will use it all eventually, still this is wishful thinking. I found it really overwhelming in the beginning and I thought that I needed all the materials to homeschool using the 'Montessori Method'. I was really really wrong. For us it's the philosophy that works, not necessarily the materials. When started I did spend a lot of time in prep, but now I don't because DD6 'gets it' and is then ready to move on or even worse, is not interested. For example, I can't spend tons of money or time on nomenclature cards for a one time use. We just read books instead. Now I try to include my kids in the prep part and we all learn together. This is best for us because my DD is prone to perfectionism. She sees that I don't have all the answers and watches me figure things out. I do very little prep now and my 'presentations' are extremely casual. I try to keep with the philosophy as much as humanly possible and use concrete materials whenever possible. I hope this is helpful.

Annaliisa

Yes, thank you, that is where I am coming to now, so it very reassuring to hear it from someone else!

I'll also check out the yahoo group.

Do you have any suggestions for materials you think have lasted a long time? Any suggested starting place for learning to apply the method? Just picking brains as soon as I find them.

Tks Annaliisa! I'll definitely join the grp.

It's good advice about Montessori being different for homeschoolers than for schools. And it's so true- the philosophy of offering choices is fundamental. I saw the nomenclature cards as well - no way my son will sit there to affix names to pictures.

I have my eye on the algebraic board- that can double up for vision exercises too.

As for the materials, I'm probably not the best person to ask because we've only been using the materials for a year. The one thing that I have noticed with my DD is that the areas where she is ahead she has very little interest in the materials. I'm not sure if that is just our experience or if this is typical. My DD doesn't like math and using the math materials have been invaluable because we can create so many games based on the activities that are completely engaging. I would post this question to the group. It would be interesting to see what everyone has to say. I would also go through the scope and sequence, and albums to try and figure out where to place your child. You could then look ahead and see how much use you will get out of a particular material. With that said, some of the materials that my DD has not used all that much were still key to understanding a larger concept. So, even with my limited experience, I don't really regret buying some of the lesser used materials because they got her from point A to point B.

As for applying the method, I'm probably not the best person to ask because we've only been seriously attempting this for a year . For us it has been extremely hard to put this all into practice. I didn't realize how absolutely controlling I was until I started Montessori. When I was reading and reading and reading it all seemed so amazing and beautiful and peaceful. I didn't realize how hard it would be to truly let my DD to choose her own work. I still struggle, even though I know what I should do, I slip up... a lot. For the first 3 months we dropped everything 'academic' and just focused on behaviour, mostly my behaviour! I also spent serious amounts of time watching her while 'unschooling'. It really helped me to understand how she learns. At the same time we started with the practical life stuff. I think because DD was always so interested in academics we neglected to teach her how to do anything for herself. With my DS2 I am not making that same mistake. Preparing the environment was also key. I had to reorganize our entire house so that everything was accessible to DD6 and DS2.

I decided to go with Montessori because I don't think that anything else would work with my DD. She is strong and tough as nails. When we started homeschooling I quickly realized that she wasn't going to do ANYTHING that I asked of her or that any particular curriculum or gov't body expected of her. This is still really hard for me but I think that we've made progress. She now says things like, 'Maria wouldn't do that' and, she's always right. This helps me, mostly it makes me laugh, but on more than one occasion it has made me cry. Montessori is not for the faint of heart!

Thank you!

BTW, I am stealing that thread idea!