My DD 2.8 is in a montessori preschool. The school goes from 18 months through kindergarten. When we started it was just a few months old and they were not at capacity and did not have the kindergarten room open at first. When we started, DD 2.8 was 17 months and DD6 was 4.8. We came from a very good developmentally based preschool/daycare to this one after we moved and just had the girls do 2 days a week. It was very different. I do like the school though I was disappointed they couldn't do more for DD6 who was a bit bored. The academics weren't challenging enough and they did not have alot of art and dress up stuff like her old school to keep her happy. We moved to regular kinder last august and she was bored there too and the academics were lower than her preschool in retrospect. Socially though it was better to move her to the public school I think for kindergarten.
DD 2.8 will be moving up to the 4 year old class in a couple week. There was not as much blending of ages as I expected with montessori but they are planning to change that a little. I think their goal is to have a couple 3-4 year old classes. As a smaller school the kids are often brought together in mornings and later afternoons but their "montessori work" time was separate. My DD has stayed in the younger room partly because her teachers loved her so much that they just brought harder things for her to do to keep her there longer. It is a quiet, peaceful environment. DD likes to play (work) quietly on their activities which seem largely fine motor activities to me. It is hard for me to tell exactly what she learns there but I don't feel she is unhappy yet. She is already starting to read but she knew the alphabet and the sounds before she started there and I don't think they have been working on it with her specifically.
I think the most important thing to know about Montessori is that they are all VERY different.
Not sure the utility of testing at this age but others could speak to that better than I could. We have not done testing. I would like to in my DD6 but I don't know that it will open any doors for us.
