A North American non-Montessori educator (director of daycare) said that Montessori is different in various parts of the world. I did not do more research into this, and obviously this comment can be easily biased and seen to have an agenda. However, based on this comment alone, I’m also interested in whether you (Gunnar_Zarncke) thought about putting your children through (European) Montessori.
I considered Montessori education but not in depth as it wasn’t really an option locally.
I think that the qualification/experience/dedication of the teachers/educators matter more than the specific concept and you should really visit the kindergarten/school during a normal day. My wife sat in class of local schools during her teacher training and recommended specific schools and teachers (and that does matter: the parallel class of my oldest has a teacher with a boy-prejudice). But even as a non-teacher you should be able to at least have a look and chat.
The Montessori teaching material is very good though and that is obviously independent of teachers.
For preschool I recommend forrest kindergarten. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_kindergarten (the picture is realistic) All our children visit(ed) forrest kindergarten but you have to consider that certain pre-school topics may be reduced (don’t need to; our kindergarten was awarded for its curriculum and is strong e.g. in math topics). Again it depends on the institution and people.
A North American non-Montessori educator (director of daycare) said that Montessori is different in various parts of the world. I did not do more research into this, and obviously this comment can be easily biased and seen to have an agenda. However, based on this comment alone, I’m also interested in whether you (Gunnar_Zarncke) thought about putting your children through (European) Montessori.
I considered Montessori education but not in depth as it wasn’t really an option locally.
I think that the qualification/experience/dedication of the teachers/educators matter more than the specific concept and you should really visit the kindergarten/school during a normal day. My wife sat in class of local schools during her teacher training and recommended specific schools and teachers (and that does matter: the parallel class of my oldest has a teacher with a boy-prejudice). But even as a non-teacher you should be able to at least have a look and chat.
The Montessori teaching material is very good though and that is obviously independent of teachers.
For preschool I recommend forrest kindergarten. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_kindergarten (the picture is realistic) All our children visit(ed) forrest kindergarten but you have to consider that certain pre-school topics may be reduced (don’t need to; our kindergarten was awarded for its curriculum and is strong e.g. in math topics). Again it depends on the institution and people.