New Montessori Post-- How to Choose a Montessori Preschool

I'm a bit behind the times in posting this, but last week another one of my posts was published over at MariaMontessori.com.  I wrote about searching for a Montessori school for your child, and what sorts of things to look for to help you identify schools that are more true to the Montessori ideals and philosophy.

One unfortunate aspect of Montessori is that, since no one “owns” the name/title, anyone who wishes to can open up a preschool, put a pink tower in the corner, and call themselves “Montessori.”  There are many wonderful and amazing Montessori schools… and there are also quite a few not very good ones, and unfortunately it is these lesser schools that help spread confusion and misinformation of what Montessori is and how it works.... So how is a parent to know which schools as “good” and which ones are, well, not so true to the Montessori methodology?  It can be tough, especially if you yourself are new to Montessori.  I recently went through the process of visiting and observing various schools in the area while searching for the right preschool for my own toddler son.  As I compared schools to one another, some excellent and some very disappointing, here are a few things that came to mind as “markers” to look for.

Read the full post here.

We actually just got the acceptance letter recently for the Montessori preschool D will attend! I'm very excited about this school-- I was blown away when I visited and observed the classrooms. Their program also goes all the way up through elementary school, and they even started a junior high classroom this year. I don't know if we'll be able/willing to pay for private school for the kiddoes for that long, but it's so wonderful to know that the option is there if we want it (and if we stay in this area...).  His projected start date as of now is spring/summer, depending on how things go (space in the classroom, if he's potty trained yet, etc).  So it's still a ways away, but still very exciting. =)