Originally Posted by herenow
Originally Posted by HelloBaby
I have heard that Montessori are great for preschool & K, but transition to regular classroom could be difficult.
People love to use that line.

The only trouble that we had transitioning either of my two girls were:
1) They were ahead of the class they entered. Way ahead, but since Montessori is about YOUR child, not how they stack up against others, I was blissfully unaware just how far ahead they were.

2) Their expectations of their teachers was too high. The new schools just couldn't match the deep respect Montessori teachers have for their students.

I would agree with this.

Although we have not experienced the transition yet (dd is in 5th currently) my local friends who have said it was smooth. The kids from Montessori do just fine socially and academically tend to be at the top of their class. The only drawback is that they are not challenged enough here (there is really only one local ps option).

Re: an earlier post about executive function, imo this is one of the other great attributes of my daughter's experience. She has taken a great deal of responsibility for her own learning, she has the freedom to choose in what order to do her work and how deeply to delve into it. While I think she would be fairly responsible regardless, the opportunity to learn these skills at a young age is priceless. I on the other hand, got used to being told what to do and when to do it, whether it was challenging or not, and typically work that was not my best earned high grades anyway. I believe I would have benefitted greatly by being in an environment like the one at my childrens' Montessori school.