All About Montessori

[buds]

smurf:

No lah, my budget is really low...less than $450.

If u can afford $500 and above, chances are your search is quite easy.

Agree with smurf... 500 per mth is relatively reali good budget.

However smurf... less than 450 dunno whether you can get daily
Montessori playgroup or workgroup classes. Enrichment centres
that offer flexi-days Montessori pgrm oredi like 400 for like 3X
weekly... thereabouts?

[Kabby]

buds:

smurf:

No lah, my budget is really low...less than $450.

If u can afford $500 and above, chances are your search is quite easy.

Agree with smurf... 500 per mth is relatively reali good budget.

However smurf... less than 450 dunno whether you can get daily
Montessori playgroup or workgroup classes. Enrichment centres
that offer flexi-days Montessori pgrm oredi like 400 for like 3X
weekly... thereabouts?

ya, unless like MMI.
The Sat playgroup is 1x a week. 1 month $100.
The weekday playgroup meets 2x a week. 1 month $150.

[buds]

jul04:

Cheerful Students


The children I see at Montessori For Children aren't cheerful either. They look.. well, intense. They're concentrating on their work & they're all quite well-behaved. Not running ard, no shouting/screaming, no fighting. Is this \"normal\"? :?

Do you prefer them shouting or running around kinda cheerful? :evil:

Intense uh? D'ya mean that if they had at least smiled while at work
then they'd be seen as cheerful students? :lol: That my fren is the power
of concentration. The power of children at work. In relevance to primary
school life thereafter... the children can be oblivious to distractions of
say... errmm.. :idea: ... adults chatter in the background... or tv... or
generally noise lar.. they can block out distractions and concentrate on
work at hand. Consider good anot?

Yes, generally Montessorian children are well behaved as they learn to
respect everyone's work space within the classroom environment so
that wud mean no running as they may cross over someone's work
mat... or worse drop materials on a fren while running. They learn
to appreciate the prepared environment and help to care for school
property plus ensure materials are used for their intended purposes.

There isn't a need to shout for someone you can invite to work with
you is just a whisper away.

That said however, come story time, music & movement session plus
theme based lessons everyone comes alive with ideas and their own
self-expressions. In my classes, i also get my students to do gross
motor activities like inter group bean bag races, ring the hoop or
even egg-in-spoon races which is a helluva hit! We'd do musical
chairs during music session too! Variation of activities make the
lessons interesting and we get to see all the fun children have
being the children that they really are. :love:

I suppose it's reali the directress that plays a part? :oops:

I mean i don't wanna spoil market ya know..
Though i've been told to just spoil it, as it IS for good reasons. :laugh:

[buds]

kabalevsky:

buds:

[quote=\"smurf\"]No lah, my budget is really low...less than $450.

If u can afford $500 and above, chances are your search is quite easy.

Agree with smurf... 500 per mth is relatively reali good budget.

However smurf... less than 450 dunno whether you can get daily
Montessori playgroup or workgroup classes. Enrichment centres
that offer flexi-days Montessori pgrm oredi like 400 for like 3X
weekly... thereabouts?

ya, unless like MMI.
The Sat playgroup is 1x a week. 1 month $100.
The weekday playgroup meets 2x a week. 1 month $150.[/quote]Enrichment setting probably...? Cos of the shorter session durations?
Not childcare kind, right? Childcare set up can do 3 to 4 hours
kinda PG / WG sessions.

[smurf]

Erm, some of the not bad workgroup has less than $500 budget, eg, totsville, SG Montessori. They are good, but you can tell that they didn't change their teaching apparatus for quite some time.


But all these aren't important. Most important is the teachers and the method they use, I guess.

[Kabby]

[quote]Enrichment setting probably...? Cos of the shorter session durations?

Not childcare kind, right? Childcare set up can do 3 to 4 hours
kinda PG / WG sessions.[/quote][/quote]

ya enrichment kind.
i think it's 2 hrs for weekday sessions, and 2.5hrs for sat one.
not 3-4hrs.

[buds]

smurf:

Erm, some of the not bad workgroup has less than $500 budget, eg, totsville, SG Montessori. They are good, but you can tell that they didn't change their teaching apparatus for quite some time.


But all these aren't important. Most important is the teachers and the method they use, I guess.

Since you've already shortlisted the good ones why haven't you gone for it?
Not a trial lesson even? When you say they didn't change teaching apparatus
for a long time, i am not sure if you meant the Montessori apparatus like the pink
tower, knobbed cylinders (etc) or if you meant the practical life activities..:?

[buds]

kabalevsky:

ya enrichment kind. i think it's 2 hrs for weekday sessions, and 2.5hrs for sat one. not 3-4hrs.

And these are drop off programmes or parent and child programmes?

Parent & child sessions are usually either an hour which is too short in
my opinion or 1.5 hours which is fine for starters provided that is the
group taken in is small, bearing in mind that for each child enrolled
ya gotta count two (with parent) and a big group can be rather
claustrophobic for a small classroom.

[smurf]

The reason why I didn't go for it is because of the price tag lah...no point going for the trial if I'm not going to sign up mah... :lol:


Erm, actually I mean some of the materials...quite worn out, but didn't change... :oops:

[jul04]

buds:

jul04:

Cheerful Students


The children I see at Montessori For Children aren't cheerful either. They look.. well, intense. They're concentrating on their work & they're all quite well-behaved. Not running ard, no shouting/screaming, no fighting. Is this \"normal\"? :?

Do you prefer them shouting or running around kinda cheerful? :evil:

Er.. I dunno.. Maybe coz I'm so used to seeing 'rowdy' kids that I'm just not used to them being so quiet :shock: It's strange, you know?
[quote]Intense uh? D'ya mean that if they had at least smiled while at work
then they'd be seen as cheerful students? :lol: That my fren is the power
of concentration. The power of children at work. In relevance to primary
school life thereafter... the children can be oblivious to distractions of
say... errmm.. :idea: ... adults chatter in the background... or tv... or
generally noise lar.. they can block out distractions and concentrate on
work at hand. Consider good anot? [/quote]Wow, if my boy can concentrate like that, I'll be very very very happy. Coz right now, he's distracted by everything! :frustrated: And I can't concentrate very well myself either. So hopefully, my boy will be better than moi. That's what all parents want, isn't it? For our beloved offspring to have it better than us? :love:

[quote]Yes, generally Montessorian children are well behaved as they learn to
respect everyone's work space within the classroom environment so
that wud mean no running as they may cross over someone's work
mat... or worse drop materials on a fren while running. They learn
to appreciate the prepared environment and help to care for school
property plus ensure materials are used for their intended purposes.

There isn't a need to shout for someone you can invite to work with
you is just a whisper away. [/quote]So they really are CONCENTRATING & not being voodoo-ed or something huh? :scared:
[quote]That said however, come story time, music & movement session plus
theme based lessons everyone comes alive with ideas and their own
self-expressions. In my classes, i also get my students to do gross
motor activities like inter group bean bag races, ring the hoop or
even egg-in-spoon races which is a helluva hit! We'd do musical
chairs during music session too! Variation of activities make the
lessons interesting and we get to see all the fun children have
being the children that they really are. :love:

I suppose it's reali the directress that plays a part? :oops:

I mean i don't wanna spoil market ya know..
Though i've been told to just spoil it, as it IS for good reasons. :laugh:[/quote]One thing I was a bit worried about was that with all this concentration, proper way of using the materials, silence, .. I'm not sure about freedom of creativity. So they do have times when they laugh madly & run about, play sand, giggle, play dress up, etc? I'm greedy I know! I say I want Montessori, yet I'd like boy boy to have firneds, mix ard, play, be a child, ... I think so much until I :siao: liao