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The only thing I know for sure about Montessori, is that she was a woman
who helped (learning-disabled?) children make wonderful progress. Every
"Montessori" school will be different, based on what they think is
important about M's work.

I do have a neighbor whose son attended a "good" local M preschool. She
thought it was good that the school made sure that the kids knew when
something that were being told was fantasy. Her 5 year old had a huge
argument one day with mine, because mine was playing a magic game and
said magic was real. He was insistent that magic isn't real and was
really getting mad about it. He is a very analytical boy anyway, and
maybe it had nothing to do with the school's policy on "realness".

I took my oldest dd to a cooperative preschool. What I liked was that
the kids were allowed to choose their own activities for all but the
first few minutes, last few minutes, and snack time. (Now I would even
see that part different - why should a kid HAVE to participate in snack
time? Oh, I just remembered why. Because before snack time, everyone
helped pick up so we didn't want anyone getting toys back out then.
Anyway...) But in between the child could do ALL art or NO art or any
other variation of the activities that there were to choose from. Also,
all the parents were allowed to stay and the parents took turns as
classroom aids, so there was a high adult/child ratio.

Once I had a second child, getting one to preschool seemed like too much
effort for me! Then I started learning about homeschooling, then
unschooling.

Mary Ellen
Give plenty of time to your children.
Be patient with your spouse, coworkers, and friends.
Everywhere, take your time.