Traditional vs Montessori preschool

Hi Suga,

My son is in a montessori pre-school. this is his second year. i will list the way it functions in the way i best understand

montessori schooling is pretty much intense in the sense that it requires concentration from the child.

it is structured. the child gets to choose an activity - be it language based, motor skills based, reading, writing, basic practical skills like cutting, lace tying, cleaning etc., ofcourse the teacher guides the child to choose what is appropriate for his/her age.

the child learns working in a team, to do things in an order and also socialising skills like waiting for its turn, asking for things and respecting another child's working space.

basically it's a very logical way of learning via visual, touch and feel medium.

playing etc., depends on the pre-school itself, i suppose. my son's KG has playing time, circle time, quiet time etc., they either go to the nearby park or the small play area in the school premises itself.

it has helped my son a lot, who is quite an active child to become kind of structured. contrary to what many people think, montessori system isn't very strict or regimental. we had a parents' evening to learn about the system and we found it's in fact a very logical, practical way of learning things.

Latha

 

sorry for the delay in reply, Suga. There are many kids in my son's pre-school who either go to the german public school or the international school. I had the same question too before enrolling my son. But almost all parents said their kids in fact felt confident equipped with all the basic skills. I must add here that in German kindergarden reading, writing, maths etc., are not taught so much like the montessori pre-school my son is in. So I suppose kids get an added advantage. They're only 6 when they join school system so they'll adjust to the regular system without much trouble.

Latha

 

Montessori schooling is about early childhood development, so is applcable to children between the ages of 3 and 6. Which I guess is the age public schooling in the US starts. Experential leaning does make for happy children when it is a good school. Terrible montessoris will make for unhappy children. Most children do find that jump between experential learning to classroom learning a little tough initially; the aim of montessori education is to make children flexible and quick to learn. When the transition is complete children do adjust well. But before you have your child admitted in the montessori, do visit the place and have them explain to you how it will work.
We were looking for admission into a montessori school here in Chennai, but were not sure if that is the way for our child. So we decided to go through alternative schooling that is based on activity based learning, but not necessarily montessori.

 

Tikka is good! That's how my child pronounced my name good luck with the school

 

Suga, sorry to interrupt .... TIkka, will that mean that K will not be joining the classroom kind of school when he is in 1st Std? Sorry for being ignorant - But I thought whether montessori or whatever .... children will join normal school at 1st std.

 

K should be in lower kindergarten the next year - if the school will have him back that is. In montessori, there is one big classroom, not really different sections.Most montessori schools graduants go on to regular classroom based school when they enter grade school or class I or things like learning tree (I am told it is in Thiruvanmiyur, but is not a classroom set up). Kiran will be in a classroom based school, alas, till we find out about the legality of the compulsory education act viz homeschooling.