tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255877501892467740.post4744497466087524227..comments2024-03-28T14:54:43.134-04:00Comments on Craft Knife: Two Very Different Schools of Thoughtjuliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18141123092139829629noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255877501892467740.post-13985621682116996252009-04-29T22:00:00.000-04:002009-04-29T22:00:00.000-04:00I am really glad that I read this post tonight. We...I am really glad that I read this post tonight. We have an AMAZING montessori school 4 minutes from our house which I am really hoping to get my 4 year old into. But it is so expensive that I am afraid we would be eating saltines to get her in. Well, we'd at least be sacrificing any vacations or extras to send her there. Then there is the added financial stress of my 2 year old (who I wouldn't enroll until she was 4) and the third baby who is still growing inside me. How can we afford that? <br /><br />But the alternatives are sending my daughter to the public school, which since we live in the inner city is not an option I'd even begin to consider. We chose our neighborhood because it is so ethnically diverse, but the schools are not. You either go to the all white school, or the all black school. Neither of which is an option for us. The Montessori school was so diverse I couldn't even name a majority or minority race and only one of the teachers was white. And that's just the cultural differences.<br /><br />There are no tests at the M school, the public school is all tests and rewards. No child learns well under bribery and threats, which is all that testing and rewards are when they are so blatantly pushed on kids as they are in our school system. 2 hours of homework a night? In elementary school? Nuts.<br /><br />The only hope I have is to earn the tuition in advance and pay it all up front so that we get the 5% break and be glad that there is a local public satellite school for visual and performing arts that starts in 4th grade so that we can put our children in an excellent school that aligns with our educational philosophies and doesn't cost anything. Our kids will just have to pass the audition.<br /><br />Ack. So my comment has become nothing but a whine-fest, but this is keeping me up at night. And your last paragraph explained me putting my kids in public school to a T and I had to comment. I want to homeschool in theory, but my kids are really really social and even though I know that "socialization" is not a concern to homeschooling families (I am married to a well socialized former homeschool student) I know my daughter really loves her class mates and her friends at her current lame-o preschool and would miss that very much.<br /><br />Thanks for letting me vent. If nothing else, your post has encouraged me to start saving this summer so we can get our girl into this school.Devonahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17768505492952325016noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255877501892467740.post-73677431176963418102009-04-07T20:17:00.000-04:002009-04-07T20:17:00.000-04:00That site is AWESOME!!!Oh, and guys, we haven't ev...That site is AWESOME!!!<BR/><BR/>Oh, and guys, we haven't even begun to talk about The Project School! It's a whole other kettle of fish.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18141123092139829629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255877501892467740.post-83437227404353114202009-04-05T22:20:00.000-04:002009-04-05T22:20:00.000-04:00It's late and I'm exhausted but I just want to say...It's late and I'm exhausted but I just want to say I LOVE Despair.com (have for years)...and dh even has a couple of their posters especially framed for his chair's office. ;)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255877501892467740.post-90915071204247479962009-04-05T13:05:00.000-04:002009-04-05T13:05:00.000-04:00Yeah, Montessori does have its problems--our schoo...Yeah, Montessori does have its problems--our school tends to be pretty white upper class on account of they offer no scholarships or income-based payment, which I have a big problem with, for the obvious reasons, and because I think it's inspired a weird mindset among the parents of the school, who are all at different degrees on an income continuum, you know? <BR/><BR/>For instance, last month for Teacher Appreciation Week the staff solicited parent/child quotes about the school, which they had printed really big and posted around. One of the quotes that's posted right by the entrance reads, "We love Montessori so much that we'd send our kids here even if we had to live on Saltines!"<BR/><BR/>Um, no. No school is worth sacrificing proper nutrition for. It's just this mindset, like we're so special because we're making this happen for our kids, not like, you know, this is a choice we made and our priority and so we're working to make it happen, but we recognize that not everybody could make it happen and also? It's not the biggest priority in the whole entire universe. <BR/><BR/>There's also, yeah, the "normalization" philosophy, which is very good citizen-y, and this is actually emphasized in the later years when the kids basically make all major decisions as a "community"--I haven't seen that in action yet, and I'd have to before I could figure out how exactly it plays out in the child's development. But I know for a fact that the normalization model doesn't work for every kid--mind you, Will's particular teacher has a pretty strict mindset about the application of the Montessori procedures, but every semester there's a three-year-old or two who doesn't make it through the first week in her class. The goodbye procedure is pretty strict, and on the second day of Will throwing an hour-long tantrum in her first week of school, the teacher actually tried to expel her because she "wasn't normalizing". Matt was so furious when I called him crying from the car because "our baby got kicked out of school!" that he left work to go scream at people, and they agreed to let her stay on for another couple of weeks. After Will had a complete turnaround two days later, though, the teacher did apologize and admit she was wrong, but there you go.<BR/><BR/>So, you know, no system is perfect, and to get into all the stuff we really love about Montessori, we consciously had to just make our peace with the stuff we didn't love. I guess with public school, I can't make my peace with the stuff I don't love about it.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18141123092139829629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255877501892467740.post-12229029207224834832009-04-04T21:36:00.000-04:002009-04-04T21:36:00.000-04:00this is a great post. i want to go put cosmo's nam...this is a great post. i want to go put cosmo's name on a waiting list at montessori, right this minute.but...well, it's saturday, and they are closed. <BR/><BR/>i too, am sad about public school. for so many reasons.<BR/><BR/>i really like matt's response to the different ways in which the same thing can be expressed. and, i love that you wrote about that.<BR/><BR/>good friends of ours had their little one in a great montessori program in houston, at a rather young age. we would hear regular reports about what went on there, and i was always so impressed. but our friends are also very critical thinkers, and would point out that what montessori is really good at is producing "good citizens." but we all agreed that the stuff they do is awesome, and we all wished we'd had that growing up. and i wish we had all those special kid-sized tools and "works." the montessori supply catalog/website is one of my guilty pleasures.<BR/><BR/>i agree that we can do better at home. and we always will, no matter what school cosmo attends. like abby, i haven't decided what we'll do when the time comes.cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18022650911172987454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255877501892467740.post-44715121879581150852009-04-04T10:42:00.000-04:002009-04-04T10:42:00.000-04:00this is absolutly why i moved to atlanta to teach ...this is absolutly why i moved to atlanta to teach at a progressive/private school. after doing my student teaching in a public school system i was completely freaked out. no way in hell i was going to jump through stupid hoops and be around a bunch of people who didn't even like kids anymore. now, my mom is a public school principal and works her ass off, has some great teachers, and cares deeply about her kids and community - who are mostly low income families. but she has the same reservations.<BR/><BR/>i have great regret about not putting avery in montessori when i had the chance. now i think it's too late, and don't think we could afford it for elementary school anyway. i don't know what the hell we're gonna do with him! i still have a year to think about it, but i just don't know. i have a lot of concerns. i would anyway, and with his specific learning needs, i have even more. i dunno that i'd be great at homeschooling, though. i thought i would, but i'm not as creative as you - and my patience with my own child is not what it is with someone elses child. it's something i think a lot about.<BR/><BR/>you are really lucky to have will in such a great environment, and you will be such a great homeschooling mama. can i send avery over to you? :)Abbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10520357124259599970noreply@blogger.com