My children are both going to Montessori schools in Netherland. One to primary school, the other to secondary. And not because we absolutely need to have our kids in a Montessori school, but simply because the primary school is very close to our home and seems like a decent school (though they've had a few issues a couple of years ago), and the secondary school is the only one in Amsterdam that offers 4 hours of programming per week.
I do sometimes worry that the freedom might not work well for my kids; maybe they need a bit more guidance. The youngest (7) simply refuses to do his work, and while the oldest (now 13) skipped a grade when he was 7, he failed last year because he was not doing any homework and not turning in his assignments. Stricter guidance might help them both. Or maybe not. It's hard to tell.
My parents apparently did consider Montessori for me, but I've only gone to regular schools, never did my homework, always passed, and in university discovered I had no work discipline at all, so it seems like everybody in our family is going to run into that problem at some point. Maybe it's better to learn it early.
I'd be curious how the Montesorri is implemented in Netherlands vs North America. As mentioned it does come down to how each school runs their program with some consistencies across the board.
I have no idea how it's implemented in North America, but from what I can tell, there's a big emphasis on kids making their own planning. My kids are terrible at planning (no surprise to me), so they receive help with that.
Of course being part of the Dutch educational system, they have to follow the same rules, meet the same criteria and receive the same funding as other schools. I've been told that their approach is somewhere halfway between true Montessori and a regular school.
I do sometimes worry that the freedom might not work well for my kids; maybe they need a bit more guidance. The youngest (7) simply refuses to do his work, and while the oldest (now 13) skipped a grade when he was 7, he failed last year because he was not doing any homework and not turning in his assignments. Stricter guidance might help them both. Or maybe not. It's hard to tell.
My parents apparently did consider Montessori for me, but I've only gone to regular schools, never did my homework, always passed, and in university discovered I had no work discipline at all, so it seems like everybody in our family is going to run into that problem at some point. Maybe it's better to learn it early.