有冇讀Montessori school家長

jolalee

fifipanda 發表於 14-9-11 13:19
I am looking for a Montessori school in Kowloon ...

I heard that Best Concept on the Kowloon side is pretty good. Mandarin run as well which is great.

jolalee

Jayelle 發表於 14-9-4 21:54
分享下，我女剛返full time nursery，學校係casa dei bambini...
大家點喺屋企reinforce Montessori environment？姐姐偏縱我女，頭痛

I've visited casa dei bambini when i was pregnant with my son and yes, it was an impressive Montessori school and Joanna is an amazing lady. Would've joined if we live closer. We ended up choosing Discovery Montessori School in DB (since it's the closest one to us) and we had no regrets whatsoever (although my son is now older and has moved on). My friend's son had been in CDB before they move to BJ, and he developed quite well while he was there. Do take note that Joanna is quite Spartan in her approach, even to the parents, so do expect the occasional scold, "DON'T put a jacket on your daughter! Let her develop her immune system!" (This really happened, after the kid sneezed and a parent was putting a jacket on her) Depending on how a parent look at it, this could be good.

What are your plans after CDB? (which goes up to age 6) Would you consider IMS as a continuation of the Montessori education, or will you opt for mainstream IS? How's the Mandarin program in CDB? (During my time i heard she was hiring Mandarin teachers)

My son was basically Montessori bred until recently when we switched back to mainstream. We still hang the towels where he could reach it and expect him to wash up, dress up and somewhat make the bed himself at age 3.5 (recently he can button his own shirt). He pour his own juice and put his (breakable) dishes away himself after every meal since age 2.5, and recently made (very loose) sushi [cut the cucumber, spread the rice on the seaweed, rolled it up and cut the sushi roll with a real knife] (not yet age 4).

For my helper, i always emphasized two key points:
1. Do not do anything for him which he can (more or less) do himself.
2. If she missed doing something, she can always go back to doing it (say cleaning a table); but if you over do something, there is no turning back!! (cleaned the table when the kids was supposed to clean up their own mess; it'd be ridiculous to mess up the table again so that the kid can clean it, and that won't be his own mess anymore anyhow)

Let your helper know you understand it is faster and easier for the grown up to it themselves, and appreciate that it is a much harder job by letting/training the child to be independent. (Many helpers are afraid that if they don't do everything for the child then they are not doing their job) Compliment HER as well when the child can finally do something independently (my helper let my son button his own shirt and actually made it into a game too! I beamed at her and said great job! to them both).

My helper was not always like this though. When my son was two years old, my husband and i took at 4-day trip away to celebrate our big anniversary. When i returned (after JUST 4 days), he suddenly could not feed himself or put on his own shoes (which he previously was able to do independently). I find that it is much harder to train a helper than a child, but if that turns out to be successful (after many repetition, reassessment, communication, strategies), the benefit is immense for the family. Of course, you must decide first if the helper is trainable in that sense, and if you are willing to put in that effort. All in all, this is possible, so keep at it and good luck with your existing / new helper!!

jolalee

回覆 happyhealthymin 的帖子
[sorry about the previous large font size; just switched to a new phone. no idea why it did it...]

You have some good insights in comparing the systems. Here's my take on the points you made above:

1) yes, Montessori has more individual 'work' time, much like how most grown ups work (at least used to work before we are so connected)

2) Montessori KG students has up to 3 hours of uninterrupted work slots. They take their own snack break as the child see fit, and continue to work afterwards. Montessori research has shown that students would experience a long period of constructive concentration thereafter, and learn a lot in the process. The teacher would go around the class and direct the students in accordance to what benefits the individual child.

3) Montessori emphasizes independence, self motivation, life long learner. The IB program pursuit similar missions, using methods based on the latest research on child development.

4) every education system uses slightly different methods: Montessori has more physically constructed materials/tools catered for early childhood, UK and traditional mainstream schools rely more on textbooks whereas IB do away with text book and has a much more fluid (and often hard to track) approach. In the end, all IS produce independent open-minded kids.  

5) "for a normally developing child attention does not need special training". I must disagree with you on that. What children do on a regular basis does effect their neural & habitual development, otherwise the American pediatric society would not recommend kids under age2 should have 0hour of daily screen time, and that experts advise limited TV exposure for children under age 5. Part of the reason for such warnings are due to young kids who watch a lot of TV does have a lower concentration span (amongst other things). Children who are allowed to work without interruptions every 1/2 hour would probably learn to solve problems on their own, stay focused, amongst other benefits.

6) "In Montessori pretend play is not encouraged". I think this is true, and played an interesting role when I picked Montessori education for my boy. Like me, my son turned out to be quite a creative kid with a huge imagination. What Montessori lacked we more than made up after class with our crazy pretend plays & wacky inventions. After I switched him over to a through-train school, which happens to be full-IB, he was likes fish in water. I miss the stronger discipline & serious learning back then though (in Montessori he learned words like "primary & secondary colors", now in IB he learned "jolly & groovy". sigh!)

7) "IMS the most established Montessori school in HK offers very limited after school activities." This is probably due to the lack of space IMS previously experienced. With their new Stanley campus I am sure this will change.

Although many families like mine and yours end up going mainstream after a short stay at Montessori, we must not undermine its effectiveness and uniqueness in early childhood development. It is no coincidence that the Montessori method withstood the test of time and continues to thrive for over a century ;) There are methods and ideals that Montessori held onto which cannot be replaced in mainstream schools, even IB. In certain ways i find IB & Montessori are similar, esp in philosophy, but in execution they are the complete opposite.

jolalee

回覆 happyhealthymin 的帖子

Both systems strive for independence and self-driven learning. IB also teach individual child in accordance to their own development, much like montessori; at least this is what the school said in terms of the IB approach. In practice, IB has a lot more group interactions and verbal communication. I'd say Montessori is suitable for a kinesitic learner and IB an audio learner (which my son definitely is). Traditional schools (including UK & LS) systems, caters better for visual learners. (You can google on learner type in regards to which category you child falls under).
IB (during early childhood) is play based and they would use a variety of materials to do so. It is so fluid that it can differ greatly from school to school and even teacher to teacher. Montessori, on the other hand uses the same material and methodology throughout, that two classrooms on the opposite ends of the globe can look very similar. (That's why expats who has to move around a lot from country to country prefer montessori; their kids can jump right back in without missing a beat). Anyhow, both systems do have similar end goal in mind; it is a matter of approach,but methodology can often shape a person's habits and even character.

jolalee

回覆 himmamme 的帖子

I think it depends on how much Montessori exposure the child has previously. Since Montessori is most suitable for kids age 3-6, there area number of IMS students moving onto main stream IS by primary, there's be sufficient openings to be filled by Montessori KG students around Hong Kong.
However, if the child cannot pass their interview, I don't think the school would accept the child.

jolalee

http://www.edu-kingdom.com/forum ... 0&highlight=IMS

jolalee

回覆 Jayelle 的帖子

I was notified that you posted, but I do not see you post. How strange!

jolalee

回覆 aucarmen 的帖子

Maria Montessori created the approach for kindergarten age children and the observations & methodology applies to this age group as well. She later adapted and modified her appoarch for primary school kids, and the structure of Montessori may not be the most optimum for upper primary kids. Yes, that may be the reason most Montessori student continue their primary education in mainstream IS instead.

Beside IMS, Discovery Montessori school in DBay (DMS-DB) will also provide Montessori primary education in HK starting next year. This means the fight for primary Montessori teachers will become fierce as they are rare, although DMS does train teachers to qualify them (meaning, they may have less Montessori experience).


For papers or journals on how Montessori approach affect students above aged 6, i am sure you can google it. Personally, i do not recommend Montessori high school simply because the approach was not originally made for that and the founder did very little research on high school education. (plus there isn't any in HK anyway).

jolalee

回覆 elmostoney 的帖子

"我個導師講: 佢話好多家長, 見到小朋友邊科唔好就補邊科, 總之要科科都掂.  佢話點解唔集中, 比小朋友係有興趣方面發展?  等佢用多d時間做一樣佢鍾意嘅事, 會事半功倍....我要求佢唔鍾意嘅主科要學得有個底 (數學同中文), 總之起碼都普普通通, 但佢鍾意嘅就可以做多好多."  
It is important to find one's own passion and strengths, but it is also true that for a student to get somewhere, his core subjects has to have at least a passing grade. I know another Montessori mom with two kids (12 years of age apart) who regrets not giving her son foundation in mathematics when he was young. He is now struggling in high school although his other subjects are doing well, as it'd very likely affect his chances for University entrance. (Whether a child really need to go to college in order to succeed, of course, is another subject of debate) The mom is now giving her kindergarten age daughter extra math tuition due to her experience with her elder son, and the little girl is quite well rounded. I agree with you, 就算唔鍾意嘅主科，起碼要學得有個底. Depending on the Montessori teacher a student has, if the child is not self-motivated in all subjects, it is possible for the child to slack off in some areas.

As to whether to find an education system to suit the child's strengths or to complement his weaknesses, that has always been the biggest question in my mind. Thank you for your vote of confidence in the "strength" pool, because that's what i chose to do in the end as well. We ended up choosing a full IB school, since my son is an audio learner and i find that the IB program suits his character and learning style better. Not sure if i should give him any math tuition yet though...

"如果你相信MONTESSORI, 請不要讓孩子看電視. 我個大女8.5歲, 到而家都好少好少睇電視 (一星期有時連一次都未必有), 所以佢非常鍾意睇書, 天文地埋歷史小說物都睇."
I think it's not only Montessori that say so. Many studies has shown too much screen time has negative effects on children. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dbtg5w87yU&feature=share  My son too has very little screen exposure, and being a boy he spends his time making models, playing with legos and playing outdoors a lot instead. It does my kid a world of good :) I hope when he is older he will read more too. At the moment he loves it when i read to him, but would turn away if i ask him to try to figure words out himself :(  (age 4)