Montessori Schools

My wife and I did the research over the summer in Saint Charles and Batavia. We will definitely be sending our little girl to Montessori at 15 months. It was very impressive how they educate children on social responsibility at a young age. The 2-3 year olds were all around a small table having breakfast together drinking from glasses, and eating from bowls (dry cereal). They then washed their own dishes at a small sink (play modeling). The 5-6 year olds were playing in a room putting maps together - capitals of states, and there was one girl beating a nail with hammer in a block of wood. :) Kids were playing in the playground as well. The schools allow them to learn how to be an adult but it does not restrict them from playing. Kids will be kids no matter what. That's the beauty of it.

We have a friend that was a Montessori teacher for years (now a business owner of child learning products) and watching her little Benjamin grow up is incredbile. The kid is 4 and can do incredible feats. Speak bits of German, Russian, Chinese, Spanish and he understands the logic and rules of pronunciation. I have to admit. It freaked my wife and I out at first - this genius kid - but looking at it after a few days, we realize the potential a child has during the key education years of their lives. Kids are only sponges for so long.

A second aspect of this is child care. If you compare cost, Montessori and daycares cost about the same. Why not get some real value out of your money and educate your kids at the same time? Good luck. The real message is: visit one or 2 and get a feel for it. We liked 1 that we visited and loved the 2nd one.

A Montessori school is one of my clients (web shop) and in redoing their site I was privy to the full tour of the facility, tons of their literature, very long talks about what the concepts and methods are, etc. It was only a brief brush with them, but it was enough for me to know that it certainly wasn't for me or what I wanted for my child. On the surface it seemed very intriguing, but the more I heard and saw the more it seemed almost like.... well, I won't get into it too much because I understand there may be some fans of the concept on here and I don't want to offend. I'll stop at saying that I didn't want my child to become a zombie. "Rigid freedom" is probably how I would describe my impression of it best.

If you learn more and disagree with my opinions, I still wish you and your child the best with the program. Like I said, I just knew it wasn't for me.