Montessori? Yes, please!
I can't say enough great things about Jack's school and the Montessori curriculum they have there. He's flourished and matured, becoming so much more helpful and curious since school started in September.
I think for kids like Jack, who like to explore and figure things out and do activities on their own terms in their own time frames, it's an ideal program. For him, it's been a great fit. He adores both his teachers, loves art and gym class and is constantly asking us what the Spanish word is for things he encounters. The class he loves the most however? Drama. How ridiculously cute is THAT?
He's friends with both girls and boys, 5-year-olds as well as the 3- and 4-year-olds, and is in the diverse urban school setting we always imagined when we said we were raising our kids in the city.
In short, it's the perfect school. Made even more perfect by the fact it's a neighborhood school. And it's free. How ya like them apples? Free Montessori. I swear to God, it's better than winning the lottery. We'll send three kids there and pay nothing (well, except out insanely high property taxes, but still). The private Montessori schools in our area expect parents to cough up $15,000 per year. So we'd be looking at $45,000 PER YEAR just to educate our kids.
Tonight, Jack fed me this little tidbit he learned in school today.
"Mommy, Vincent Van Gogh is an artist and he paints flowers," he said proudly.
My 3.5-year-old just schooled me in some rudimentary art history. That's worth every penny we pay in taxes and then some. Seriously? I still can't believe our luck.
I think for kids like Jack, who like to explore and figure things out and do activities on their own terms in their own time frames, it's an ideal program. For him, it's been a great fit. He adores both his teachers, loves art and gym class and is constantly asking us what the Spanish word is for things he encounters. The class he loves the most however? Drama. How ridiculously cute is THAT?
He's friends with both girls and boys, 5-year-olds as well as the 3- and 4-year-olds, and is in the diverse urban school setting we always imagined when we said we were raising our kids in the city.
In short, it's the perfect school. Made even more perfect by the fact it's a neighborhood school. And it's free. How ya like them apples? Free Montessori. I swear to God, it's better than winning the lottery. We'll send three kids there and pay nothing (well, except out insanely high property taxes, but still). The private Montessori schools in our area expect parents to cough up $15,000 per year. So we'd be looking at $45,000 PER YEAR just to educate our kids.
Tonight, Jack fed me this little tidbit he learned in school today.
"Mommy, Vincent Van Gogh is an artist and he paints flowers," he said proudly.
My 3.5-year-old just schooled me in some rudimentary art history. That's worth every penny we pay in taxes and then some. Seriously? I still can't believe our luck.
posted by Amy at
7:02 PM
2 Comments:
I was in a Montessori school from the time I was 2 until I was almost 6, and I loved it. My mother also loved it because it really did encourage me to take my own initiative and learn the way I knew best. The problem then was when I went into a public school for first grade, my teacher repeatedly thought I was a nuisance. She thought I was slow (I was dyslexic) and had poor penmanship (originally left handed...no longer) and I spent most of the year in time-out because I didn't get the concept of sitting at desks. The turning point was when I went to a gifted private school and I stopped flunking everything. The point of that drab little story is that Montessori is AMAZING, and because of that sometimes things like dyslexia do unnoticed. But more importantly, if you ever take your kid out of it, make sure the school they go into it Montessori friendly, because that transition is killer for a lot of kids. On a lighter note, I'm glad Jack is so involved in school =0)
My kids both went to a Montessori public elementary school and I LOVED IT!!! Try hearing from your 5 year old that a roach is an arthropod. Blew my mind. My son had problems in other schools, but I think it was his ADHD and not the curriculum. However, Montessori worked wonders for my ADHD nephew. I'm so excited that all three of your kids get to experience it without forcing you to pay college tuition expenses in Pre-K. Good luck with Weebey. I love reading your blogs.
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