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FAQ'S Q. How does Montessori differ from traditional education? A. The prepared environment is the most visible difference and what parents notice first. Montessori environments are not typically institutional. They are beautiful, homelike places, where everything is child-sized and designed to allow the children to be independent. The curriculum is child-centered and multi-sensory. It parallels children's cognitive, emotional, social and physical development. Montessori classrooms are divided into three-year age groups. This is a natural arrangement, allowing children to learn from each other in an established community. Children also learn at their own pace using activities that are freely chosen based on their interests and skills. Q. Is Montessori for all children? A. Our program has been successful with children from all socio-economic levels, representing those in regular classes as well as the gifted, children with developmental delays, and children with physical and emotional disabilities. There is no one school that is right for all children, and certainly there are children who may do better in a more or less structured environment, with more or less individualized attention. We believe the best barometer for how happy a child is at a school is a positive reaction when going to school, an easy separation from the parent, and the strength of the relationship s/he forms with peers and adults in the classroom. We monitor a child's satisfaction with the program carefully not only when the child first enrolls, but throughout their time s/he is with us. Q. Why does Montessori group different age levels together? A. Sometimes parents worry that by having younger children in the same class as older ones, one group or the other will be shortchanged. They fear that the younger children will absorb the teachers' time and attention, or that the importance of covering the kindergarten curriculum for the five-year olds will prevent them from giving the three and four-year olds the emotional support and stimulation they need. While these concerns are understandable, our program is designed to address the developmental characteristics normal to children in each and every age category we serve. The classes are organized to encompass a two- or three-year age span, which allows younger students the stimulation of older children, who in turn benefit from serving as role-models. Each child learns at her own pace and will be ready for any given lesson in her own time, not on the teacher's schedule of lessons. In a mixed aged class, children can always find peers who are working at their current level. The age range also allows especially gifted children the stimulation of intellectual peers, without requiring that they skip a grade or feel emotionally out of place. Our practice in this area is validated by the latest academic research in the field of early childhood education as well as the fact that several elementary school districts in the United States are moving towards a mixed aged classroom model. Q. How do you handle discipline issues? A. Children in the pre-school years are asserting their independence. Sometimes this can inadvertently result in behaviors that are either unsafe for the child, for their peers, disruptive to classroom or simply socially inappropriate. Our teachers understand this and address discipline issues through positive redirection and offering logical/natural consequences to the child's action-never through punishment. A child who engages in inappropriate behavior will be told why the behavior is inappropriate, warned of what consequences that behavior may have, and if the behavior persists, will experience a logical outcome of the behavior s/he has chosen to continue. In all cases, the child will feel that he is control of the outcome of his/her actions. Q. How do children adjust to other schools after having been in a Montessori school? A. Research has shown that the children adapt well, have strong academic skills and stand out for their interest in learning, original thinking and confidence. Experience also shows that children achieve the best results in a Montessori school if they complete the three-year developmental cycle. The skills gained between the ages of birth and six are the foundation for all future learning. Montessori gives children a good start! |