Montessori Schools

[Heretic]

What the hell is a Montessori School? I come from a place where we only had one private highschool, it was Catholic and the only people that went there were the ones expelled from public schools.

About homeschooling I saw the final product of this when I taught classes in college. Some very intelligent students came my way that were home schooled. Out of about 10, 2 of them were total social rejects.

Reject 1 didnt shower on a regular basis and played with himself in class, he didnt realize he was doing it.

Reject 2 was an 18 year old male that rode a kids scooter to class and wore a power rangers backpack.

They had been homeschooled from a very early age, the first was because he got beat up in gradeschool and his mom was overprotective and took him right out of public schools. The second one never went to public school.

So basically Im torn on the homeschooling idea, I think some parents are too narrowminded to see their kid as any kind of a reject or they themselves are a reject and dont notice.

 

[SmallTown]

Originally posted by Heretic




It really irks me when someone moves here and then expects everything to follow their culture.

not follow their culture, just understand and respect it.


I'm sure the Native Americans would have something to say about that as well.

"Americans" need to get off their high horse. Kinda like the complaint someone had that the waiter at the Monterey mexican restaurant didn't speak English very well.. Well.. Duh.. I guess these are the same people who would cuss out the waiter at an elegant French restaurant because the menu is in French.

But back at the subject at hand. I had a thread earlier about the problems with the local public schools and the small percentages that go on to college after high school. What kind of numbers do we see out of the Montessori schools around here and the other private schools?

 

[Heretic]

Well if your primary customers dont speak spanish its pretty stupid to not communicate well with them. I sure as hell wouldnt open up an American resturant in mexico if I didnt speak spanish.

Funny thing is we have a spanish speaking coworker from Chile and he couldn't understand a damn word they said at Montery, I understood the waiter better LOL. I understood the waiter good enough to order and thats all that really mattered. Now if isomething that he didnt understand that may have been a different story.

Would you want a bank teller that didnt know how to count american money?

That muslim woman that wanted her driver liscense picture with her veil on because its required in her culture, well in her culture women dont drive cars or even sit in the front seat. So give me a damn break.

How come its always Americans that have to conform and accept other cultures but they won't budge to accept a culture different from their own?

 

[Christy]

What the hell is a Montessori School?

LOL! I wondered the same thing and was very leary about sending my kids there. I really did think it was some form of new age hippie school! It's really hard to explain what a Montessori school is. The biggest difference I've noticed in a Montessori School is that ALL the teachers seem to enjoy teaching. My kids actually look forward to going to school every day. Whatever it is they're doing, it's working very well for both my kids.

 

[Ken King]

Originally posted by Christy
It's really hard to explain what a Montessori school is. The biggest difference I've noticed in a Montessori School is that ALL the teachers seem to enjoy teaching. My kids actually look forward to going to school every day. Whatever it is they're doing, it's working very well for both my kids.

This is from their website: ( http://www.montessori.edu/ )

THE MONTESSORI "METHOD" of bringing up and educating children.

After years of expression mainly in pre-schools, Montessori philosophy is finally being used as originally intended, as a method of seeing children as they really are and of creating environments which foster the fulfillment of their highest potential - spiritual, emotional, physical, and intellectual - as members of a family, the world community and the Cosmos.

Dr. Montessori gave the world a scientific method, practical and tested, for bringing forth the very best in young human beings. She taught adults how to respect individual differences, and to emphasize social interaction and the education of the whole personality rather than the teaching of a specific body of knowledge.

Montessori practice is always up-to-date and dynamic because observation and the meeting of needs is continual and specific for each child. When physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional needs are met children glow with excitement and a drive to play and work with enthusiasm, to learn, and to create. They exhibit a desire to teach, help, and care for others and for their environment.

The high level of academic achievement so common in Montessori schools is a natural outcome of experience in such a supportive environment. The Montessori method of education is a model which serves the needs of children of all levels of mental and physical ability as they live and learn in a natural, mixed-age group which is very much like the society they will live in as adults.

Today Montessori teacher training centers and schools exist on all continents. There are Montessori parenting classes, "Nidos" ("nests" for infants), infant communities, "children's houses" (for age 3-6), and classes for children up to age eighteen in public and private schools. Montessori works in gifted and talented programs, and for children with developmental disabilities of all kinds. Many parents are using Dr. Montessori's discoveries to raise/educate their children at home.

The discoveries of Maria Montessori are valuable for anyone living and working with children in any situation.