I think your description of the Montessori school to be hilarious! "my friend, is this peaceful? Why don't you hold on to this peace rock and see if you feel better."
We were in a full-on Montessori for 2 years and left for those reasons. It works for some kids and not for others.
Ha! When we first enrolled our son in the Montessori school we said, "ok, we might give this a shot, but we're not drinking the kool-aid." I recall a parent meeting that was "called to order" with the singing of "The More We Get Together, Together, Together...." There were no children in sight. My husband said quite loudly, "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," and I got a case of the giggles that I couldn't get rid of the entire meeting.
Before we could enroll, one of us (me!) had to attend a parent workshop. I had to sit and spoon beans into a bowl for about 15 minutes straight. I get why that might be a good skill for a child to work on, but a verbal explanation would have sufficed. One dad stood up and said, "Oh, this is ridiculous;" answered his cell phone, and left. Yep, that was another day I couldn't stop laughing.
Not a jab at Montessori. It definitely works for some, and it did, in fact, work for ds for a while. He has just reached the point, with his 2e issues, that it wasn't for him. He needs more structure and direction. Other students thrive in that environment; I wish my son was one of them! ; )
