Q. What is the difference between Montessori and traditional education?
A. Montessori emphasizes learning through all five senses, not just through listening, watching, or reading. Children in Montessori classes learn at their own, individual pace and according to their own choice of activities from hundreds of possibilities. Learning is an exciting process of discovery, leading to concentration, motivation, self-discipline, and a love of learning. Montessori classes place children in three-year age groups (3-6, 6-9, 9-12, and so on), forming communities in which the older children spontaneously share their knowledge with the younger ones. Montessori represents an entirely different approach to education.
Q. Is Montessori good for children with learning disabilities? What about gifted children?
A. Montessori is designed to help all children reach their fullest potential at their own unique pace. A classroom whose children have varying abilities is a community in which everyone learns from one another and everyone contributes. Moreover, multi-age grouping allows each child to find his or her own pace without feeling "ahead" or "behind" in relation to peers.
Q. Are Montessori children successful later in life?
A. Research studies show that Montessori children are well prepared for later life academically, socially, and emotionally. In addition to scoring well on standardized tests, Montessori children are ranked above average on such criteria as following directions, turning in work on time, listening attentively, using basic skills, showing responsibility, asking provocative questions, showing enthusiasm for learning, and adapting to new situations.
Q. Why should I send my child to a Montessori school?
A. Confidence and the love of learning are the two most important goals for the elementary child. Montessori developed a three-period lesson which fosters confidence. The first lesson is a gift, rather than a rhetorical guess. The second lesson is a choice, i.e. "which of the following is correct", often using self-correcting materials. The third lesson is the direct question, "what is it?" With confidence and a sense of acquiring knowledge as an adventure in lifelong learning, children can reach a greater potential personally and as citizens of the world.
Q. What curriculum is in a Montessori class?
A. Basic subjects such as language, math, history, geography, biology, chemistry, geometry, music, physical education, and art are introduced in Montessori classes first in the 3-6 programs. Elementary students, by nature, want more answers to life's questions. The "how, where, what, when" questions are expanded into their environment and beyond. They want to classify, group, get control of their world. So the elementary curriculum developed by Maria, and later by her son and grandson, incorporates that explosion into knowledge from questions with materials that name, classify, and redefine the natural world in which the child has joined. Montessori thought less of her method of teaching as having a curriculum, as following the questions of the child to create individual and group lessons based on where the child is and where the group of children might go. That is not to say that her method is without curriculum, nor that the child does what she wants. Montessori directresses are arduously trained in methodically sequenced lessons, frequently broken into many passages for children who need that degree of gradual movement from concrete to abstract presentation. These sequences in each subject matter make up, but do not necessarily define, the curriculum. Each new group of students dictates which lessons will be given according to the needs of those individual and collective children.
Q. What happens when my child leaves Montessori?
A. This is the most frequently asked question of most people seeking information regarding Montessori learning. Changing from one environment to another takes self-confidence and patience. Different children respond differently to change. Most children adjust well to the transfer from Montessori to other private or public schools when their self esteems are high. Statistically, those who are in Montessori classrooms longest tend to make the adjustment more smoothly. They usually enter their new environments with a positive, flexible confidence following their experience with, and nurturing of, a real love of learning.
Q. Are children allowed to do whatever they want?
A. Montessori children are free to choose within limits, and have only as much freedom as they can handle with appropriate responsibility. The classroom teacher and assistant ensure that children do not interfere with each other, and that each child is progressing at her appropriate pace in all subjects.
Q. Are Montessori classroom rigorous?
A. Yes; Montessori classrooms encourage deep learning of the concepts behind academic skills rather than rote practice of abstract techniques. The success of our students appears in the experiences of our alumni, who compete successfully with traditionally educated students in a variety of high schools and universities.
Q. How do Montessori students fare in the world?
A. Increasingly, the world of modern education and business favors creative thinkers who combine personal initiative with strong collaborative skills: exactly the characteristics which Montessori education nurtures. Cultural movers and shakers from Julia Child to the founders of Google have spoken of how their childhood experiences in Montessori gave them not only the ability to work cooperatively in existing settings, but also the skills of confidence, creativity, and communication needed to make innovative and ground-breaking changes.
Q. How does the Montessori schedule lessons?
A. Under the age of six, there are one or two 3-hour, uninterrupted, work periods each day, not broken up by required group lessons. Older children schedule meetings or study groups with each other the teacher when necessary. Adults and children respect concentration and do not interrupt someone who is busy at a task. Groups form spontaneously or are arranged ahead by special appointment. They almost never take precedence over self-selected work.
Q. Why are there multi-age groupings?
A. Children are grouped in mixed ages and abilities in three to six year spans: 0-3, 3-6, 6-12 (sometimes temporarily 6-9 and 9-12), 12-15, 15-18. There is constant interaction, problem solving, child to child teaching, and socialization. Children are challenged according to their ability and never bored. The Montessori middle and high school teacher ideally has taken all three training courses plus graduate work in an academic area or areas.
Q. What is the teaching method – “Teach by teaching, not by correcting”
A. There are no papers turned back with red marks and corrections. Instead the child’s effort and work is respected as it is. The teacher, through extensive observation and record-keeping, plans individual projects to enable each child to learn what he needs in order to improve.
Q. What are the student-teacher ratios – 1:1 and 1:30+ ?
A. Except for infant/toddler groups (Ratio dictated by local social service regulations), the teaching ratio is one trained Montessori teacher and one non-teaching aide to 30+ children. Rather than lecturing to large or small groups of children, the teacher is trained to teach one child at a time, and to oversee thirty or more children working on a broad array of tasks. She is facile in the basic lessons of math, language, the arts and sciences, and in guiding a child's research and exploration, capitalizing on his interest in and excitement about a subject. The teacher does not make assignments or dictate what to study or read, nor does she set a limit as to how far a child follows an interest.
Q. Why are the classes larger than traditional classes?
A. Except for infant/toddler groups, the most successful classes are of 30-35 children to one teacher (who is very well trained for the level she is teaching), with one non-teaching assistant. This is possible because the children stay in the same group for three to six years and much of the teaching is a result of children interacting with other children and their environment.
Q. What are the requirements for ages 6-18?
A. The teacher remains alert to the interests of each child and facilitates individual research in following interests. There are no curriculum requirements except those set by the state, or college entrance requirements, for specific grade levels. These take a minimum amount of time. Frm age six on, students design contracts with the teacher to guide their required work, to balance their general work, and to teach them to become responsible for their own time management and education. The work of the 6+ class includes subjects usually not introduced until high school or college.