Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Did anyone not have success with Montessori?

For those of you with positive montessori experiences - I am jealous

For those with not so positive experiences, I can relate. We also had an AM Certified school for DS for 2 years ages 6-7. They would not allow DS to advance at his level of readiness. In fact in the 2 years that DS was in the school in addition to a multitude of other problems that we continue to work on with psychiatric help, he actually regressed in all of his educational levels.

My suggestion is to listen to your child. Mine was actually emotionally abused by the way the program was implemented at his school. If your parental warning system is going off - There is probably a good reason to explore and try to pinpoint the problem.

Grinity,

The Lower El teacher is the head directoress. She *IS* the chain of command. We've had lots of talks about what would help DS1. She just shakes her head and says "We've never had a kid like him. We don't know what to do with him." (I always have to bite my tongue. She's been teaching for 40 years and NEVER had a kid like DS1? Really?) She's placed this kid in the "bad kid" box (because it's easier than adapting the curriculum) and we're never getting out of it. Time to go.

We had similar poor experience with a Montessori. They kept my son in directoress' office almost everyday to make tecahers' life easier. We were told everyday that they've never had a kid like him and we'd better quit. We withdrew after 4 weeks. That was not the end of the world. My son has been doing great ever sine.

Mr W was in Montessori. And it worked fine for about 12 months.

A few weeks ago we noticed a change in his behavior after school. And he was no longer the happy kid when we dropped him off.

When the school shared its "eval" of him - they had stopped the testing at his age level when in fact he knew everything they had on their "eval" through K.

We also reviewed everything that they do with him and the older kids in his room and he has known it all for about a year now. I asked him what he did during the day and he said he thinks about being at home with his toys and books.

When we suggested that he might be bored, the teacher immediately said no. LOL.

Mr W is very extroverted and that is another issue. None of the kids talk at his level, nothing in the room is at his level, and the teachers work at a much lower level. So he just phases out into his own world and they let him.

So, like its been said on here before, let the kids tell you what they need by listening to them. One year its fine and the next it is not.

We did not have a positive experience at Montessori (3-6) either. It lasted about a term before we realised just how bad it was for him and took him out. It's taken over 6 months for him to start to move beyond it.

I just wanted to return to this thread again, my Ds has been out of school for 2 weeks, and is back to his old self.

We've pretty much decided on HSing for now, it just seems like the best fit.

Thanks for all of the advice everyone!

amber I am glad that your decision worked best of luck with the HSing

Hello Amber,
I discovered your post while doing a search for Montessori education. My son is going exactly thru the same issues you described about your son back in 2011. He doesn�t want to work much, he is very social and wants to �play� with his friends the whole time. He can work the materials with the teacher but once she leaves he is gone too to tour the room.
He is mainly doing Practical life and his teacher feels he can�t move up to other material because of his short attention or lack of focus and has mentioned also that maybe he would do best in a traditional school. Like you, I think his teacher is a wonderful person, but she just doesn't get him nor has found a way to captivate him.

Anyway, I saw you decided to take your son out of the Montessori school and I wonder how that worked for you? Did he go to a traditional school? Did he do better in that setting?

I hope everything is going well for you and your son. I would appreciate your answers.