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My DS5, who is now homeschooled, attended a Montessori for about 6 months. It taught him to sit and listen in a group setting (within a week) because the teacher was Mom-like (too much so in the long run). Mine sounds like Belle's. He would be shown something once, master it and would want a different lesson. He liked to combine as well, because he is uber-creative. This is frowned upon. They said that they couldn't keep giving him lessons. They believed in a lot of group lessons, which, and I am not an authority on Montessori, I do not believe Montessori is supposed to be about; so he was made to sit and sing his letter sounds with the younger kids when he was already reading. We had many other issues which have nothing to do with the Montessori itself, but the school itself... The biggest issue was NOT having agemates and older in his class. He was the oldest kid due to it being private and his agemates going to the state-funded portion of the pre-k program. The younger GT kids liked him being around though. One more thought, I would make sure that they actually know how to teach past several levels. Ours ended at the K level and I believe that they were just clueless at a higher level. It would help if the school were a pre-K through 3rd or 5th at least.

I would ask if they truly provided an individualized program, if they allowed your creative child to even touch things that he hadn't been shown a lesson yet because she is curious. And if she'd be forced to sit through academic lessons that she already understands, or if the group interactions were purely community/manners/mutual respect lessons.

Best of luck!

Well, DH, DD and I went and toured the school today. LOL! It was about as Montessori as my pinky toe!!! Although the name of the school says "Montessori" and all their brochures talk about the Montessori method... they certainly are not practicing it. It was nothing more than a glorified daycare!! So... it was a bust and I could tell from the start that it is NOT the place for her. I think I need to stick with my other plan... starting a home PreK for Tuesdays and Thursdays!

Sorry that it didn't work out; but good that you realized that it wasn't a good fit now! Best wishes for your pre-k!!!

Thank you so much to everyone for this wonderful information! I am really pondering Montessori for our little guy, and I'm in information collection mode!

I initially thought Montessori preschool would be best for my older DS because I thought it would be the one opportunity to mix with older ability-peers. Unfortunately, the only programs near us were 5 day a week/all-day programs. I gave up my career to be a SAHM, and it would've broken my heart to send him away all day. If I had still been working, it would've been perfect. (Turns out we put him in a mommy-and-me when he was 2 and Catholic preschool for 3 and 4, where the teacher was AMAZING in working with him!)

With my 26 month old, who seems to be following in his brother's GT footsteps, I'm pondering it again. Now that we're homeschooling, though, I can't decide if he actually needs a preschool. (I know, I can't even believe I'm thinking this way!) He is very social, works on "circle time" behavior at music, library, etc., can cut/paste/etc and knows all his letters/phonics/etc that they'll work on as 3s, and what he doesn't already have now will surely come in the next few months. He'll be tagging along with DS6's co-op groups for the music appreciation and Spanish segments, I'll be co-teaching his 2.5-3s preschool co-op class one day a week in the Fall(that will incorporate group sharing, etc), and he's in a weekly playgroup plus a great playcenter for an hour every day at our sports club. Will Montessori give them a lot more than we can when we're homeschoolers who have these types of outside activities?