sweetpeas, that is great that your kids enjoyed it! I hope that it continues to work out.
Sydness, thank you for responding to my questions. I am just trying to understand how it all works and whether it would work well for my ds. The issues I have, I guess, are that the teacher does not encourage play. I guess, I take a more "learning through play" kind of approach (at least for preschool) and that does not appear to be the case for Montessori. I love the idea that the activities should be child-led, but it seems like only certain kinds of child-led activities are acceptable? And I don't know that I believe learning necessarily needs to be a serious endeavor all the time.
And regarding social interaction with the teacher, I think they could definitely provide guidance as well as interaction, particularly when the class size is very small. So, for example, if my son gets really excited about a project or topic and wants to have a discussion with the teacher about it, will she/he engage with him, encourage and respond to his enthusiasm, and guide him to additional resources?
I guess I am just a little confused because the descriptions above seem overly structured to me, but this doesn't seem to mesh with the child-led philosophy. So, in sweetpeas example, I guess I would have liked to see the teacher smile and acknowledge the joke and then say something like, "you're right it does look like a necklace, but let me show you the really cool things you can do with them in this class!"
I remember when I visited the school, the director said Montessori is not for everyone. I guess it is still all about finding the right fit for your individual child. I just wish there was some kind of list I could get that would just tell me which ones would work for him! I am not satisfied with his public school experience either.
