r/Montessori

I have a pending interview with a Montessori school for an adolescent guide/teaching role, and I’m trying to realistically assess whether I’d be a good fit before moving further into the process.

My background is unusual compared to traditional education candidates - I come from intelligence analysis/research/policy work, with experience in writing, interdisciplinary research, communication, mentoring, and project-based work. I’m strongly drawn to the Montessori philosophy, especially the emphasis on independence, intrinsic motivation, mixed-age collaboration, and deeper learning over rote memorization.

However, I do NOT currently hold Montessori certification, and I’m aware that Montessori implementation can vary significantly between schools.

For those already working in Montessori education:
- How difficult is the transition into Montessori for someone coming from a nontraditional professional background?
- How essential is formal Montessori certification before beginning work with adolescents?
- What qualities tend to make someone successful (or unsuccessful) in adolescent Montessori environments?
- Are there “green flags” or “red flags” I should look for when evaluating whether a school is implementing Montessori well?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who work in middle school/high school/adolescent programs rather than early childhood.

Thank you!

I always thought id just speak English with the children but now that we have a baby I really want to speak the language I was raised with. my son is 7 months and I have found it difficult. I speak in Romanian but with my husband and friends we speak English. when I read books it’s in English. not to mention my Romanian vocabulary isn’t the best. i fear I am not going to give my child the most enriched language because Im not just constantly naming things in English.

how do I do it? do I say it in Romanian and English? my mom does soak Romanian with my son but even her vocab isn’t great. i also want him to have a rich english vocab but I am primarily with him. help please :)

Completely free. How to make a preschool garden (that works)
Growschoolgarden.org

Our very confident, independent three year old has been attending Montessori schools since she was about a year old. She’s currently at an AMI program that we generally love, and that she thrives in. We try to approach home life with a similar approach that she gets at school. I vaguely remember reading the Absorbent Mind during the fever dream that was pregnancy, and we read Montessori from the Start when she was an infant, so, we have a novice understanding.

We have recently hit a bit of a frustrating inflection point when it comes to mealtimes.

There are three interrelated things happening at home (last month-plus):

— She is snack crazy. She wants constant snacks between meals. So like, we’d have a regularly scheduled snack time, and then she would want a snack 10 minutes after that, and then 15 minutes after that, etc which we tried to have a balanced response to — like allowing fruit and vegetables, or stopping her from snacking right before or right after a meal.

— That transitioned into her exclusively wanting “snack” foods instead of meals, regardless of how much input she had in the meal choice or preparation. Basically a “snack” as anything that isn’t the meal. We say no to this, and there’s typically a small fit, and historically we’ve been able to move on with the meal, even just in part.
— Now here we are, as anyone could have predicted, with her taking 2 bites of a meal, announcing that she’s done, and wanting to help herself to a snack. No way!

To be clear, this is not a pickiness issue. Our daughter has always been more or less open when it comes to food, which we don’t take for granted — she eats most of what we make for meals, she is open to trying new foods, and we have recently been fairly successful with getting her to sit at the table for most of the duration of a meal rather than getting up to go do other things.

We usually offer her the choice of what to have at breakfast, from a fairly wide array of more or less nutritionally complete/substantial offerings, all of which are proven winners, and all of which she helps with the making of (smoothies, eggs, oatmeal, yogurt and toppings, etc). Wha we’re having for dinner is a conversation, and while it is rarely totally her choice, she usually has some sort of say in different elements, and always has the option to help prepare it.

We generally offer two snack times on weekdays: in the car on the way home from school, and during storytime, which is after bathtime and before bedtime. We keep most of the really high value pantry snacks out of reach, but she has long been able to help herself to berries or cherry tomatoes from the fridge.

In children’s house they are able to self serve themselves with snacks that have some element of work associated with them — peeling and slicing hardboiled eggs, spreading sun butter on rice cakes, etc. We know that they also get offered snacks at set times in the morning and afternoon, and that they eat lunches family-style.

From a household food culture lens, we’re not really believers in the free range approach to food, but we’re not trying to be our parents either. We are doing our best to have her be an active participant in family cooking and mealtimes, and to avoid traps like separate meals just for her. If this were the only consideration, I think we would feel pretty secure in moving forward with a tough snack approach.

However — as we enforced our rule of zero-free-snacks-if-you-don’t-eat-dinner this evening, she corrected us: “I can get my own snack, that’s what we do.” And I realized that at school, she absolutely gets to go make herself a snack.

So — is our more rigid / authoritative take inherently in conflict with Montessori philosophy? We don’t want to set rules that are totally at odds with the structure she has at school, which is where she spends the majority of her time, realistically. Is there a way of framing this with her where we can have expectations for mealtimes and she also gets to self-serve snacks? Should we just give all of our mealtime rigidity up, and trust that it will sort itself out with age?

I’m considering enrolling my 3-year-old in a Montessori school and I had a tour recently. What I saw was very different from traditional preschool—children are mostly working independently, and the teacher is more observing and guiding rather than leading group lessons. I’m trying to understand more from parents who have actually experienced Montessori long-term. If your child attended Montessori at age 3–6 What benefits did you notice long-term? Did it help or make the transition to public school was it difficult for them ? What you wished to knew before you entered ur child in Montessori school ?

Hey folks my son will be starting at a Montessori preschool in the fall when he'll be 3yo. We have toured the school and I'm very happy with the environment and the quality. One thing that I have hard time accepting is the 8 hours schedule. Is that something normal for kids this age? We have managed to have him with family members until now but I understand it is time to expand his horizon and enter the school phase but I'm struggling with the thought that somehow as a parent I'm failing him because now he has to have an 8 hour "work day" because I have to have one. Sorry if I'm not making full sense. My brain and my emotions battle hard on this topic so it's hard to get straight thoughts.

My soon to be 4 year old has struggled a great deal at his current (and first ever school experience) private preschool. He’s needing a shadow to help with not knocking stuff over, transitions, etc. Some of the school expectations feel a bit developmentally unrealistic but my son does genuinely struggle. He has rigidity in play. He’s working with developmental pediatrician on being evaluated for autism but she thinks he has adhd at least. He’s very bright and is teaching himself to read, loves math, has a ginormous (albeit very nerdy sounding) vocabulary. He loves learning, though sharing is really hard for him. We are not able to take him back to his current school next year. We are looking at a mixed age Montessori class instead as he does generally a lot better socially with older kids. Plus, he could work at his ability level that way. He is getting an IEP evaluation through the public school system currently but that’s a process.

I’m wondering, what should we ask the Montessori school about the implementation of an IEP within their program? What should I be thinking about here? How do I find out if they take scholarships for kids with IEPs, ADHD, or Autism? It’s all new to me so insight would be helpful.

We just want him to have a socially positive year surrounded by people who don’t label him as a “problem child” and who genuinely enjoy him and value his strengths and abilities (he’s a wonderful kid).

My son will be 2 at the end of the month and starting a Montessori program. He’ll be going two full days a week. There’s children there that he knows, I’ve seen incredible growth in these kiddos, and I think he’s ready and will truly benefit so much from all this.

My biggest anxiety right now is how to help prepare him for the napping environment. I’m a full-time SAHM, so currently I give him about 3oz of milk in a little sippy cup and rock my sweet baby to sleep while I sing to him then transition him to his bed. He’s sleeping in a crib currently (not tall enough to climb out but getting close) and his bedroom is dark but not completely blacked-out, and I also run a fan in his room for some white noise. So that’s all very different to napping surrounded by other kids and toys in a cot with a blanket and a pillow in a new environment. The one consistency is that nap time is the same there as it is at home.

He already has trouble napping at my parents house when he visit - this bed is a full-sized mattress with a mesh toddler gate around it in the room with all the toys.

He is fully sleep trained for bed time but nap time has been another story.

Anyways. How can I help start preparing him for this transition? Do I convert the crib to a toddler bed? Do I cut out the cup of milk? Do I need to stop rocking him (which would honestly kill me but whatever is best for him is what I’ll do). I’ll take any and all advice pretty please

I want to share our experience in OB Montessori. My daughter has been there since Casa, and now we’re facing a huge learning gap that leaves us feeling guilty and heartbroken for our child.

I recently had a meeting with the guidance adviser and department head, where they suggested having my daughter assessed for “underlying learning conditions.” Honestly, I was shocked. She has been in the same school for years, and now that she is struggling, it feels like the blame is being placed on the student and the parents instead of looking at how the school can help.

My daughter is passing her other subjects, including Science and English. Her main struggle is Math. We reached out asking for support, but instead of solutions, the department head even said, “We need a miracle.”

It’s painful because we trusted the school for so many years. Many of the strong teachers are gone, and the new Math teacher seems disengaged and not supportive of the students.

Now we are left wondering what to do next. Has anyone else experienced this? How did you help your child recover academically and emotionally after losing trust in a school?

Our 2 year old daughter got accepted into an AMI Montessori school. We need to finalize asap if we are sending her or not. When she starts she will be just under 3 years old.
I wanted to ask if it is worth it to send her to Montessori given the following factors:
- financially, it will be a little tough but we can make it work
- it's almost a 30 min drive each way (I will likely be taking my then 1.5 year old back and forth as I end up solo parenting a lot)
- my daughter has not been to daycare or anywhere else, always been at home- heavy on attachment parenting style

We've toured the facility, and we definitely can see the benefits of it. But, from those who have sent their kids, or are Montessori educated, is it worth it?

Thank you everyone in advance!

hi!! I’ve been researching and excited about Montessori and now that my LO is here I’m trying to apply things.

my 7 month old has an area with a cushion and some cushion tiles. I have a mini pikler triangle, object permanence ball rolling, basket of things, and wooden rattles. I switch things out but I need a shelf to organize better. right now they’re in a row. anyways I’ll show him a toy and he ends up chewing or banging the item instead putting the ball in hole for example. he also just keeps leaving the mat to explore the kitchen table. I know that is normal but just curious if it means he doesn’t have interest in the toys?

EDIT TO ADD: yes I just observe him as he does bang and chew and explore. I am asking and trying to learn if that’s normal or if i need to tweak anything. I’m a FTM and new to Montessori so just asking for help

many of my friends of play yards and they say their kids play better in there. I don’t want one because it’s massive and it seems like baby jail.

advice?

My daughter (2 years and 9 months old) is suspected to have ADHD but is too young to be diagnosed.

She’s super smart and speaks in clear full sentences, but has trouble with emotional regulation, boundaries, other people’s personal space and belongings, just to name a few things. She recently qualified for Early Intervention due to poor social emotional skills, and she’s very sensory seeking (ie. likes to push her body onto her friends at school, crash onto her baby sibling etc)

She’s currently enrolled in a Montessori preschool part-time and for the most part she seems to be doing okay there. They do prioritize focus, order, routines etc and I think that has helped her to some extent, but my gut also tells me it may not be the right environment for her to truly thrive.

There’s another preschool (co-op) that is primarily play based. My girl loves being active and requires a lot of sensory input, so I’ve been leaning towards pulling her out of Montessori and enrolling her there. It would also involve way more group play, which might help improve her social skills.

My husband is against changing what’s working (since my daughter isn’t complaining about her school), and also thinks play-based won’t help her in the areas she needs to develop (like better focus, organization etc).

What are your experiences and which method seems best for an ADHD child?

Just discovered it and I find it fascinating. It’s a sister school of Alpha School—in the news for teaching kids with AI…spoiler alert they’re actually not really it’s kind of clickbait although they do use 2-3 hours of screentime a day for gamified academics that produce very good results for motivated learners— located in Austin, TX.

The guy who brought it online is Matt Bateman. He’s described as a Montessori “expert” although it seems he has no practical experience he’s just read all of Montessori’s books and is well-versed in theory. He was also involved in guidepost but no indication that he’s to blame for that giant bankruptcy mess.

Has anyone heard of it? Toured it? It seems impossible to find actual tuition costs online (people who tweet Matt for tuition costs don’t get a response). The teachers they hired seem great (they’re probably getting paid very well) and the elementary class size is 15 kids I think. Lots of tech integration (kids have laptops and headsets that they use to do some academic drilling/revision). Here’s a tweet with an example of lesson plans in a day: https://x.com/mbateman/status/1965423562308944290?s=46

I am currently reading „Montessori from the Start” because I wanted to learn more about how to apply the philosophy specifically to the younger age group (my training focused mainly on 3-6 years), yet I am a bit disappointed with the lack of suggestions specifically for the age between 6-15 months.

I am currently on the chapter of „practical life” and it jumps straight to 15 month olds and over. I assume the focus on this is because before that age, babies focus a lot on movement and mastering crawling and walking specifically, however that’s not the only area they develop.

I struggle coming up with my own ideas for my 7 month old. I do often offer her safe objects from around the house to explore which is recommended in the book. Otherwise, there was only one activity with a ball and cube mentioned for ages 6-8 months but I am curious about any others. Are there going to be any more mentioned later in the book? Apart from this book, do you have any specific ideas on how to prepare the environment for this younger stage?

We have three options in our town. Montessori, Waldorf and a play based non profit through the hospital.

I really like the food that the Waldorf serves but I’ve heard mixed things about Waldorf academically. However I would rather our guy focus on play and socialization than academics until he’s in kindergarten/first grade and I’m happy to help him catch up on reading.

And everyone loves that woman that runs the Montessori and the program.

Open to any and all help

My 18 month old just started Montessori this week after being at home with a nanny since 16 weeks. The transition has been rough: tears at drop off (although those stop after a few minutes and he is very social with the kids), reduced appetite, sleep regression, meltdowns over the smallest things. I’m feeling all the emotions including mom guilt of being a working mom and anxiety over his anxieties. My husband says I need to give myself grace since it’s only been 4 days. We were planning on doing full day but his guides (teachers) think half day is more appropriate right now as he adjusts, which my husband and I agree with but it has definitely been more stressful as he and I juggle mid day pick up and arrange for his nanny to come in for half days. How long did the transition take for your LO? What things can we do at home to make this easier on all parties?

I thought that my 7 month old loves books… until I realised it’s mostly lift the flap books (or sliding elements, basically anything that moves in the book). When we read books without those, she loses attention much quicker.

I studied Montessori but it was mostly about 3-6 years so finding myself a bit lost sometimes with this younger age. I am torn between wondering whether those „interactive” books are still beneficial for babies or if I am building a bad habit for her. I worry that the more interactive the book, the more it turns into plain entertainment and more passive play. On the other hand, I guess even the most interactive book wouldn’t be as passive as the tv for example. What are your thoughts? I doubt that books like this existed in Montessori’s time so not sure if she was able to comment on this in any of her books.

My daughter (24m) recently joined the Montessori house and our very close friend who lives just next door is planning on joining their almost 3yr old in the same school as well.

For context though us adults are good long time friends, their parenting approach is very different from us, punctuality.

Their kid isn't well disciplined/ isn't used to taking instructions and other age appropriate behaviour.

The kids enjoy time together in general.

I'm worried that having both of them in the same class school would restrict my daughter from making new friends, We chose Montessori to give her a more diverse exposure compared to other day cares.