This is the time of year when parents of our four- and five-year-old children are trying to make the decision of staying in a Montessori classroom for their child’s kindergarten year or transitioning to public school. This is a question that my husband and I debated with our first child. If you decide to send your child to a traditional kindergarten class, it will be like receiving a raise in your income. No more school tuition! This decision is many times based on the budget of our households, but it is a decision that needs to be based on far more than money.
In our Montessori environments the teacher knows your child’s strengths and weaknesses since your child has been in the same school for hopefully several years. If you move your child to a public school kindergarten you will be stalling their learning! The teachers in their new classroom will need time to get to know your child and in their curriculum, everyone learns the same thing at the same time starting with colors, shapes, numbers and sounds.
Kindergarten graduation
Why not stay in an environment where your child’s learning is individualized to meet their needs and interests? An environment with a teacher who will challenge your child’s intellect with such works as a Trinomial Cube, Constructive Triangles, Addition, Subtraction, Division and Multiplication with Golden Beads and the list is endless! This is an environment that is exciting and motivates children to have a love of learning.
This is the year that your child has been preparing for, very similar to his senior year in high school! This is the all-important 3rd year where they develop leadership skills. It is a year of maturing and developing an empathy and respect for others. Most of all they are developing self-confidence and an enthusiasm for school and learning.
Seriously consider leaving your child in a learning environment that is tailored to challenge your child on their own level! An environment where children are allowed and encouraged to learn and figure out things on their own. This is a gifted and talented program for all children!
My husband and I made a choice, we drove cars that were perhaps a little older and we have been in the same neighborhood for 20 years. It was a conscious choice that greatly benefitted our 3 children. It is a gift to give a child their kindergarten year in a Montessori classroom.
“Our care of the child should be governed, not by the desire to make him learn things, but by the endeavor always to keep burning within him that light which is called intelligence.” –Maria Montessori
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