The last Montessori school I visited is going to be our top choice. I didn't get that, "this is the one" feeling when I observed the classroom, though - I thought the kids were flailing about too much and the environment wasn't quite as attractive as one of the other 2 options on my list. But they do indeed respect the 3 hour work cycle, as advertised. Actually, it turns out to be more like 2 1/2 hours, but that time is uninterupted.
Another thing I noticed was that the older children at this school were using the math beads, the moveable alphabet, and other reading and math tasks. I didn't see much of that at any of the other schools.
I'm a bit concerned about the ideological garbage at this school: environmentalism, multiculturalism, religion, and volunteerism. They have one elementary class, and the kids "volunteer" at a soup kitchen or something. The administrator spoke about how they try to get the kids to see that "it's not all about them - that they are just a part of a community." This disturbs me, but I can't say it's any worse at this school than it would be anywhere.
Our backup school is the one I that said felt cramped, but I ruled out the one with the more attractive environment because the tuition was quite a bit higher.
Now I have to figure out how in the world we can afford this.
You haven't seen anything until you see the 'peace' education that comes in elementary school. I know you've got a while before you are in that time period, but it was serious in my kid's old school.
ReplyDeleteI agree that you will be dealing with all of that stuff at any school. Sometimes with private schools you can talk to the individual teachers and let them know where you stand. You might want to find out if they say 'grace' before lunch. Mine used to, and we talked to the teachers and found out that it was very secular (thanking the 'earth' for the food), and even though we didn't ask them to stop, they did eliminate it anyway.
My husband and I agreed that Montessori was the best option considering I was working. We just hoped that the great foundation that was laid would help my kids reason out the truth about the environmental stuff.
Kim - ha! Two of the schools I visited assured me that there was no religion in their schools. Nope, no way, we are not affiliated with any creed and we respect all views and we celebrate all holidays. No. No religion. Then I asked if they said a prayer before lunch and they said yes! (But, like your school, it is more like grace and it's not a show-stopper. Still, funny.)
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea that kids can reason out the errors in all the bad views in our culture. What we need to do is help them learn to think properly.