Montessori schools in the east valley

This is all great advice. Tempe Montessori is a great school. It may be worth the drive. They have two toddler programs that I have observed and the smaller one is impressive - led by a master teacher.

I am always interested in other toddler programs. Just because a school is a Montessori school this does not imply that every classroom will have the same environment. I agree with many of the posters. Take the time and observe the teacher and staff of the classroom (not the school) you are interested in enrolling your child.

Questions to ask:

Adaptation policies - how the teacher handles a rough transition for your child. If the teacher minimizes this and tells you that your child will get over the culture shock eventually I would probe. There must be a parent involvement policy even to the degree the parent can stay until the child can individuate at his pace not the adults. I am with the poster who dislikes school for children under 2 1/2. Sometimes it takes time for certain children to adjust. If the Montessori school or any school for that matter does not have a flexible program for short stays and parental involvement I would choose another school.

There are too many long term psychological ramifications at stake if a child is pushed into a situation when attachment and detachment is an issue. Trust is earned and learned.

Even in Montessori schools there are children who cry all day. This is totally unacceptable. If you see anything like this - run!

How will the curriculum benefit your child? - Look for things like self-reliance, independence, and self care skills, and how is bathroom independence supported. Language development and community skill building should be of concern. Also, how the community models assertive respective boundary setting.

Observe, observe, observe - the best way to learn about a particular classroom style is to watch the teacher, staff, and children. The children should be singing, self-reliant, in charge of their community. They should be working independently or cooperatively in an organized manner - with an impressive array of materials to choose from. The physical environment beautiful and orderly - not a lot of junk on the walls, loud colors, voices, or music to distract and overstimulate. The environment should be busy but not chaotic. The goal is to educate the child's movement uniting the body and mind for normalization (learning how to focus). This is another good question to ask the teacher. The teacher and/or staff should always be monitoring all of the children. My assistant is continually doing the roundabout when I am instructing a child.

The adult is the living example and should not tolerate an unkind word. Nonassertive children should be empowered with words to assert themselves and vice versa - overpowering children will be guided to respect verbal, physical and emotional boundaries of others.

And of course - What will you serve my child and what are your thoughts on nutrition? Look for whole food answers. Ask the teacher's advice on what to serve your child before coming to school. There are definitely foods that support learning. Serious educators know...) And if they don't give them my web address.

I hope some of my parents see this to give you a parent's perspective.

Jan Katzen-Luchenta
Author - Nutrition for Learning:Feeding the Starving Brain - Foresight nutritional counselor- Montessori educator - www.nutritionforlearning.com

Isn't this site about sharing feedback about parenting experiences? That is MY point. I was asking other parents who HAVE children under 21/2 enrolled ina Montessori program what they thought. I realize that my child may or may not have a similar experience and that all educational sites are not considered equal. That wasn't the focus of my question. All of the moms on this site have different ways of achieving the same thing(happy healthy children), but it doesn't hurt to ask your community even if your experience is different from what they describe. That fact is, not a single parent on this site can do all the same things the same way because our children are all different little people. And yes, feedback from someone who is a mother means more to me in this situation. You can't possibly understand where I am coming from about leaving my child in someone else's care because you don't have that relationship with a child of your own. However, I do like to get different perspectives and recommendations for other parents and then I can take what I like and apply it and discard the rest.

Thanks, Miss Jan.

Thanks for your feedback. That was exactly the type of commentary I was looking for, ans one of my few concerns with choosing Montessori. I appreciate you taking the time to post!