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BLOB_CASTLE  ·  4307 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: A Child Left Behind

Oh yeah, people seek them out all of the time. It's more than intelligent homeschooling though, although if it were an individual student, I can see how this is applicable.

In Montessori schools, the teacher only provides a guide line as to what the students should learn. They have a curriculum, but it only states what the students should learn by the end of the section as opposed to how to try to get then to learn a concept. So, if the students need to memorize the state capitals, the teacher will allow the students to do it in whatever way they want. In this situation, students often collaborate and work together by their own accord. They aren't forced to, but frequently they'll do it on their own. When students no longer feel motivated to work on one assignment, they move to the next and could return to the first whenever they like. How often have we been in math and thought, "Man, I'm really not in the mood for this. I could do some Bio homework though" or vise versa. In these schools, the students are allowed to do that. While it is "intelligent homeschooling," Montessori schools provide a deeper learning. Because it's a school there are more resources/learning tools than a parent would probably want to buy on their own. And also having peers is an important aspect of it as kids learn to interact with one another in a mature way, even from a young age. The only downfall that I know of is when students leave. They aren't accustomed to the severely stricter guidelines of other institutions and have a difficult time adjusting. In Montessori schools for example, students don't have to ask permission to use the restroom, they just go when they need to (similar to a college classroom). So when their Montessori schooling ends and they enter the public school realm, teachers become very upset with this because they feel as if the students are acting insubordinate. If prices go down by the time I have kids, I intend to have them go to a Montessori school as opposed to public school.