Jake's Conference

mctex · Guru

RE: Jake's Conference

mctex · Guru

Jo wrote:

mctex wrote:

Erin wrote:

April, Kiera went to a Montessori school, which I frequently refer to as "Montessori lite", before public Kinder and Rhys is there now. I call it Montessori Lite because copmpared to the school up the street it is less intense in their expectations of us and of the kids. However, it follows many of the same principles of montessori, just not as hard core. Not trying to start a "what is real montessori" debate, but just wanted to encourage you to look around to find a program that fits you and your family. Its been awhile since I did the research, but if I recall there were sort of two branches, one that follow the founder to the letter, and the other is a bit more freeform? Do a bit of research regarding the accreditation and what they need to meet to officially call themseves "Montessori."

All that is a preface to say that I actually found our school to have a lot of structure, within which they have choices and are free to develop, explore and learn at their pace. There is a schedule pretty common to montessori schools - that includes group time to start the day, go over the calendar, etc, followed by a couple hours of "work"time, which is choice time for activities they get to choose activities and work on them, then lunch, etc. Its how they approach those times that are a bit different.

I found it to transition really well to public K, which follow a similar schedule. It keeps them busy, and not just wandering around "playing."

-- Edited by Erin on Saturday 19th of February 2011 11:56:03 AM

It's AMI vs. AMS.
http://www.montessorianswers.com/ami-or-ams.html
The two Montessori schools we've had the girls in are AMS.
Alexandra had a little difficulty transitioning from her Spanish IB program back to the Montessori environment, but it was resolved within a matter of weeks.
One strong benefit of Montessori: they teach the kids how to clean up after themselves.
We are going back to IB next year for Alexandra (I hope; we've applied for an out-of-district transfer and we'll find out if we got it the first week of April), and I'm anticipating another very brief transitional period. We'll see.

Now if only my boys would apply this at home! :)

Is it just my boys?

April - you've got great feedback already, and I agree that he's probably bored and just being an energetic boy.

I had (have?) the same concern about Montessori students transitioning, but all of the parents we talked to who had students move on to public/private schools in 4th/5th grade at the boys' old school in Tucson said good things. They didn't report their students having any problems making the switch. I'm hoping that will be the case for us here, as the boys will likely transition at least after 3rd grade and possibly after 5th if the program continues to grow that much.

It's funny, they clean up some things -- like their plates -- instinctively.

Toys... not so much, unless I remind them to clean up before getting something new out. (Which I rarely do.)

So you're thinking you're going to leave them where they are until 3rd or 5th grade? I don't know what to do with our girls. We like the school they're in now, and it goes until 6th grade... but it's just so small.

Corey · Guru

melissa, i actually only just read the other responses now, so i said that without knowing anyone here had mentioned it.

that was something many irl friends and family members said to me when i was considering bringing this up to his doctor this past summer. even if we got a confirmation i didn't intend to medicate him for half day k unless he was really really struggling and many of my friends said if you don't want meds, then why are you even asking for the evalution. i really just wanted to know that i wasn't crazy or imagining this or that it wasn't something i did/didn't do. i also wanted to be able to let his teacher know.

Corey · Guru

ita michelle. it is very sad that we need to feel like we need a diagnosis on file to ensure that people don't assume something about our children.

for example, connor is the very last bus stop. his bus ride is 45 minutes long. the bus driver told me the first week of school that if he fidgeted again or looked over his seat she would send him to the principal. imagine my horror at the idea of my kindergartener being sent to the principal the first week of school. i was embarassed to say "he has adhd" because i feel like people think i am excusing his behavior, but, i did it. that is a ridiculous bus ride for a "regular" five year old, never mind a kid with adhd. now she knows he needs to sit in one of the first seats and she will usually give him a task like telling her how many kids are left on the bus to keep him busy.

Cuppycake · Guru

This is one of those areas where I feel like your intuition may be your biggest friend. In the general population, I'd say there's just as big of a chance of it being bored or even just active boy behavior, as it is that there is an actual issue, so if your gut is telling you that he's fine, for now I'd stick with that until you see something that flags your concern.

Corey · Guru

Cuppycake wrote:

This is one of those areas where I feel like your intuition may be your biggest friend. In the general population, I'd say there's just as big of a chance of it being bored or even just active boy behavior, as it is that there is an actual issue, so if your gut is telling you that he's fine, for now I'd stick with that until you see something that flags your concern.

i agree. 110%. i haven't met anyone yet with an adhd kid that hasn't been able to say that looking back they didn't always had a little inkling that something was up.

apies · Guru

wow, thanks for all this input.

corey, jake does have some of the behaviors that you're describing - like wanting to run across 3 aisles in target to get to a toy.

but if you want to involve our gut feelings - i feel like he's active, inquisitive and smart. that's it.

but, time will tell. i'll bring it up at his 4 year appt in april and see what she says. but for now, i'm just going to see how he handles school and other life situations.

if we ever sell our f'n house, my plan is to move him to montessori and i already have some calls in. unfortunately, none of them do a mid-year transfer, so the soonest i could move him is june. it's still a very strong possibility so we will see how it goes.

(for those who are considering sending your kiddos to montessori through part of all of elementary, what is the tuition like? here it would run us around $1100 per month to keep him there and i'm not completely convinced that it's worth it over our very very very strong school system.)

Jo · Guru

mctex wrote:

Jo wrote:

mctex wrote:

Erin wrote:

April, Kiera went to a Montessori school, which I frequently refer to as "Montessori lite", before public Kinder and Rhys is there now. I call it Montessori Lite because copmpared to the school up the street it is less intense in their expectations of us and of the kids. However, it follows many of the same principles of montessori, just not as hard core. Not trying to start a "what is real montessori" debate, but just wanted to encourage you to look around to find a program that fits you and your family. Its been awhile since I did the research, but if I recall there were sort of two branches, one that follow the founder to the letter, and the other is a bit more freeform? Do a bit of research regarding the accreditation and what they need to meet to officially call themseves "Montessori."

All that is a preface to say that I actually found our school to have a lot of structure, within which they have choices and are free to develop, explore and learn at their pace. There is a schedule pretty common to montessori schools - that includes group time to start the day, go over the calendar, etc, followed by a couple hours of "work"time, which is choice time for activities they get to choose activities and work on them, then lunch, etc. Its how they approach those times that are a bit different.

I found it to transition really well to public K, which follow a similar schedule. It keeps them busy, and not just wandering around "playing."

-- Edited by Erin on Saturday 19th of February 2011 11:56:03 AM

It's AMI vs. AMS.
http://www.montessorianswers.com/ami-or-ams.html
The two Montessori schools we've had the girls in are AMS.
Alexandra had a little difficulty transitioning from her Spanish IB program back to the Montessori environment, but it was resolved within a matter of weeks.
One strong benefit of Montessori: they teach the kids how to clean up after themselves.
We are going back to IB next year for Alexandra (I hope; we've applied for an out-of-district transfer and we'll find out if we got it the first week of April), and I'm anticipating another very brief transitional period. We'll see.

Now if only my boys would apply this at home! :)

Is it just my boys?

April - you've got great feedback already, and I agree that he's probably bored and just being an energetic boy.

I had (have?) the same concern about Montessori students transitioning, but all of the parents we talked to who had students move on to public/private schools in 4th/5th grade at the boys' old school in Tucson said good things. They didn't report their students having any problems making the switch. I'm hoping that will be the case for us here, as the boys will likely transition at least after 3rd grade and possibly after 5th if the program continues to grow that much.

It's funny, they clean up some things -- like their plates -- instinctively.

Toys... not so much, unless I remind them to clean up before getting something new out. (Which I rarely do.)

So you're thinking you're going to leave them where they are until 3rd or 5th grade? I don't know what to do with our girls. We like the school they're in now, and it goes until 6th grade... but it's just so small.

I need to be more consistent about reinforcing what they learn at school, but I've been horrible about that. I hold on to too much control, and I really need to let them do way more than I allow right now.

Yes, as long as we continue to be happy with the program we plan to leave them there. Right now it goes up through 3rd grade, but as long as the interest (and funding) is there they want to continue to expand through 5th grade.

Jo · Guru

apies wrote:

wow, thanks for all this input.

corey, jake does have some of the behaviors that you're describing - like wanting to run across 3 aisles in target to get to a toy.

but if you want to involve our gut feelings - i feel like he's active, inquisitive and smart. that's it.

but, time will tell. i'll bring it up at his 4 year appt in april and see what she says. but for now, i'm just going to see how he handles school and other life situations.

if we ever sell our f'n house, my plan is to move him to montessori and i already have some calls in. unfortunately, none of them do a mid-year transfer, so the soonest i could move him is june. it's still a very strong possibility so we will see how it goes.

(for those who are considering sending your kiddos to montessori through part of all of elementary, what is the tuition like? here it would run us around $1100 per month to keep him there and i'm not completely convinced that it's worth it over our very very very strong school system.)

that's alot! we were paying a little more than that per month for BOTH boys at the school in Tucson.

we're very fortunate here that the public school has this montessori program. they only charge for those under 5 years old, and that is $600/mo

CoffeeQueen · Guru

April, has his behavior changed since the move? I wonder with living in an apt and combined with being indoors more for winter are not making it a perfect storm for him?

apies · Guru

CoffeeQueen wrote:

April, has his behavior changed since the move? I wonder with living in an apt and combined with being indoors more for winter are not making it a perfect storm for him?

oh, i definitely think the past 6 months have been challenging for him. between the move, living in 3 (soon to be 4) places, being without his dad for 3 months, changing schools, etc etc, he's definitely been up against a lot.

but, i don't know what is changing as a result of this, versus changing b/c he's getting older.

he's definitely one to test us.