[jasonkolb]

My kids go to a Montessori school as well. My wife and I were sold on the approach within the first five minutes we were in the classroom during the tour. These were not wild kids being controlled by adults, these were small adults being taught how to function in the world. They came up and shook my hand and introduced themselves, took out and put away their own work, asked for help, and were very polite when they needed a teacher's help. Once we started looking into how the materials were structured and built from basic concepts on up, we were hooked.

It's incredibly expensive but also well worth the sacrifice.

[ensignavenger]

"These were not wild kids being controlled by adults"

"It's incredibly expensive"

It is possible that the second obeservation has somthing to do with the first... and perhaps more than the Montessori method itself does.

[zerohm]

Having money does not make a good parent.

Also, where we are Montessori was no more expensive than a Catholic private school. But to my eyes, the Catholic school just looked like public school, but obviously more upscale (and also teachers have more freedom, small classrooms).

But I was attracted to to Montessori because of the methods. For example, if a child is focused on an activity, the teacher will not interrupt them just because 'geography hour is over' or some arbitrary boundary. Letting the kids develop focus and concentration at an early age was a big selling point for me.

[TheBeardKing]

Yeah I think I need to see a study controlled for income before I'm convinced.

[edwhitesell]

This is exactly why we started our son in Montessori. The difference in the way he handles himself (as a 4 year old) vs. kids who have not been in Montessori is usually a drastic difference.

> It's incredibly expensive

I suppose this depends on where you live. We're perfectly happy with what we spend in the Dallas area and would gladly spend more. However, the 18 months we lived in the Seattle area, Montessori was unfortunately not an option. On the low-end, it was 2.5x as much. To have similar quality facilities, it was easily 5x as much.

[sevensor]

Where I live, Montessori ends at Kindergarten, unfortunately. I have three kids in Montessori pre-K right now, and it costs more than the mortgage on my house. But as other commenters have said, it's worth every penny. Kids are calm, happy, and engaged. They love school and learning. I'm not looking forward to public primary school, which is our only realistic option.

[JoeAltmaier]

My first parent-teacher conference at Montessori began "Joseph is the ringleader". They were joking, but not entirely. He would wear his cape to school (Batman? Not sure). They had him hang it up in the cloakroom. But a couple of times a day, he'd go into the cloakroom, put on the cape, and run around the classroom "flying" until he had the whole class running after him. Took about 10 minutes to regain control each time.

So, no more wearing the cape to school!

[nkrisc]

> these were small adults being taught how to function in the world

That's so true. They taught us how to be functioning individuals who could take care of ourselves.