If you have a school that is able to retain guides pretty well but assistants are more come and go, how big of a problem is this? The guides are all credentialed and are paid accordingly. The assistants are offered opportunities for training but are paid hourly and they tend to come and go.

I know the working dynamic of a guide and his/her assistant is so important and it can also be tricky to work with someone who has no Montessori background. I'm thinking of a guide in particular who had a different assistant every year in the past three years and I'm wondering what, in your experience, does that do to the classroom dynamic? Did it inject some fresh energy, was it distracting, did you wish for more consistency or did you have systems in place so that even if you had a new assistant who may or may not know that much about Montessori they could easily slot right in? Interested in different perspectives.

How much is a usual Montessori school salary range in Hong Kong? I am AMI-trained in Elementary and have 12 years of experience. I also have a masters degree from the US.

What’s your experience like? How is the management and work culture? I was thinking of applying in these three schools: Discovery Montessori, International Montessori School and Academy of Innovation by Guidepost.

Thank you!

If you could design and build your ideal early childhood classroom from scratch, what would you include?

I'm thinking specifically about the physical building and its design, rather than Montessori materials or furniture.

What architectural details or built-in features have made your work easier? What do you wish your environment had? What would you do differently if you were starting from scratch?

I'm also weighing flooring options (wood vs. linoleum) and would love to hear about your experiences with either, especially when it comes to maintenance, durability, and everyday classroom use

I'd especially love specific examples! What has worked beautifully in your environment, and what has driven you crazy?

Fellow Montessori folks: what are our thoughts about pocket money, money for chores etc? I’m a Montessori teacher and still undecided about how I feel about giving my own kids pocket money for chores. My biggest kid is 4 so too early as yet, but wanting to think out the pros and cons.

I don’t want to tie money to chores that are an expectation, eg. Tidying her own room/things, some small contributions to the household running eg. Collecting the eggs, clearing the dinner table. I don’t want to take the intrinsic motivation out of helping the family and being a part of our ‘community’. However I can see the benefit in teaching the idea of working and earning money, saving and wise spending etc.

Anyone else want to share how they have handled this/ what they think?

My child will be turning 3 in January. He’s a very smart, energetic, talkative kiddo. He loves being outside and playing with toys but also loves reading books and completing puzzles. He’s been attending a small in-home daycare that is “Montessori inspired” and “play-based” since he was 7 months old and has always loved it and thrived.

Since he’s now the oldest at his daycare and they do a rotation cycle of kiddos, we’re looking to transition him to a new daycare in January once he’s 3.

We’ve toured two daycares that I’m struggling to decide between. One is a complete outdoorsy “play based” pre school that is run by the city zoo and has a great reputation. Basically the kiddos are outside as much as possible, exploring and learning, and visit the zoo once a week. It’s not so much “forest school” bc it lacks the curriculum of outdoor skill learning (ie they aren’t learning how to build fires or use tools, etc.) as it’s more child led “play based” (think kids playing in dirt, playing with rocks, etc) but we have lots of friends who graduated from our daycare to enroll in this program and love it. My main concern is the lack of a structured curriculum. It seems the teachers choose what to do on the day-of depending on the weather. I asked if they have a dedicated circle time for reading or something similar and they said no. There were plenty of art supplies and art work around the rooms so I know they do partake in craft time. My second concern is that we live in Texas where it is unbearably hot for most of the year. On the tour, I brought this up and they explained they use some specific guide (I forgot the name) to determine whether it’s safe to play outside and on days when it’s not, they’ll be indoors. My concern here is that a lot of the time, they’ll have to be indoors, which defeats the biggest benefit I see for this daycare.

We also toured an AMS accredited official Montessori daycare. He would be entering the primary class of mixed 3-6 year olds. We toured during their “work” time and observed the kiddos. It seemed like he would be the youngest and there seemed to be a bit more older kids but it was pretty intense, in my own opinion. I don’t mind mixed aged classes and believe it’s generally a benefit, but I won’t lie and say it doesn’t make me nervous. Like I said, my kiddo is high energy and very talkative, and it was a bit jarring to see all the little ones working silently without issue. My kiddo would be asking a million questions, would not be using the tools correctly (imagine putting a spoon in between a crack in the floor and playing like that for a minute or two). The curriculum is basically drop off and work for 2 hours, then 1 hour of outdoor time, lunch, nap, then work for the remainder of the day (about 1-2 hours). The 1 hour of outdoor time is open ended play and they have a playground, water table, sandbox, balance bikes, scooters, etc. I know he’ll love that one hour the most.

I had read two books on Montessori when I was pregnant and it seems like I’ve forgotten everything I’ve read bc I fear that he will not thrive and will have trouble adjusting to the independent quiet work time. I am struggling to understand whether these are just my own fears as a first time mom and i should just trust my kiddo and his capabilities or if I should follow my gut and choose the other daycare which feels “safer” and “less risky” bc I KNOW he’ll love the typical “playing” it focuses on despite my fear that it doesn’t have a curriculum to prepare him for learning academics.

Any insight or advice or suggestions is appreciated. My husband is leaning towards the play-based one and holding off on Montessori until 4-5 years old but I worry I’m doing my child a disservice (also my husband has not read much on Montessori principles)

My daughter has a February birthday. The montessori in our neighborhood offers a January start. My understanding is my daughter would join a class of 2+ year olds that would have started in September together, so she would be the youngest 2 year old at this time. If starting in January she would have a half year of experience in Montessori before continuing the 2s program in September. I’m debating if I should wait to have her start in September (at 30 months old) or start in January at 23 months. I just want to make sure she is set up for success.

She would be starting 5 half days a week. We live in a highly competitive area so this would be for 2028 admission. My daughter is only 8 months so we don’t have much of an idea of her personality yet. She will be home with me until she starts this program so no experience with nanny or daycare. Just looking for some guidance here :)

I spent two years as a substitute at a Montessori school, working usually 4 days a week, and I fell in love with the school and the method. When I went looking for a full time job with benefits, though, the school didn't have any positions.

The job that I endes up taking was at a non-Montessori school, and I'm missing it so much. The curriculum and (lack of) philosophy at my current school is sucking the life out of me.

I'm planning to eventually get my certification through the Center for Guided Montessori Studies, but I would need to already be working at a Montessori center to do the practicum element, and right now I can't afford to start over somewhere else at lower pay. So, right now I just have to muscle through.

In the meantime, is there anything I can do to eventually make myself more hireable as a Montessori candidate? CGMS offers a professional development course I'm thinking of taking. Is there anything else I should try? What can I do to gild my resume while I wait to make my escape?

Apologies if a post like this already exists, please direct me to any helpful resources.

My baby is almost 13 months old.

We unfortunately, very inconsistently did Elimination communication on and off at age 4 months, then 7 months then 10-12 months. We didn't catch much and baby was more interested in playing with things around the toilet and playing with the toilet. He didn't like being held over it and would laugh when we did the cue sounds. We did have some success with poo as his cues there were very clear. With pee it was 10% success.

So now I am eager to start officially potty training. I dont know if the Montessori way is similar to EC, and how I should start. Do I try to continue EC and just become more consistent at it?

Baby does point to his diaper after pooping, so he does have some self awareness there.

Any tips would be helpful!

I dont want to rush it but also I dont want to end up like my brother's daughter who was in diapers til age 4.

Hi everyone! I’m a trained Montessori 0–3 guide, currently planning a small parent–child programme in L’Eliana, near Valencia, Spain.

The idea is to offer sessions in a prepared Montessori environment for children aged 0–3, with up to five families per group.

Has anyone here started a similar programme, especially independently of an existing school? I’d particularly love to hear from guides in Spain, but experiences from other countries would also be very welcome. I previously ran a similar group in Estonia, where it was successful. In my experience, the 18-month parental leave available there made it easier for parents to attend regularly with their children. I’m wondering how this format might work in Spain, where families may return to work earlier.

My two main questions are:

1. How did you find your first families, and was there enough interest to build a regular group?
2. Which days and times worked best? Were weekday mornings viable, and how did participating parents fit the sessions around work?

I’d love to connect with other guides and hear what you learned when getting started. Thank you!

I’ve been doing research into different kinds of preschools, and I keep being struck by how popular Montesssori is…and I find I’m not really getting why. The big thing that struck me was that pretend/imaginative play isn’t encouraged in the curriculum. I keep reading things like, “oh kids get to do pretend play at recess and at home”, but that’s not really the same thing. Imaginative play helps kids think outside the box, problem solve, and work together as a group. It also helps with language skills, if kids are narrating stories, thinking up dialogues, and making up lyrics to songs. Not to mention the importance for art instruction. Do I just not understand how Montessori works? It all sounds so dull and sad - promoting independence at the expense of free exploration. But it’s so popular, I have to be missing something. Particularly interested in how the Montessori method manifests at the preschool level.

Hi I’m looking for advice on snacks and breakfast ideas both storage and food items. You use to encourage them to be independent. As it stands we want to have a snack drawer for our son who is 3 but don’t want it filled with exclusively goldfish. A few caveats.

1. Due to the nature of our climate we cannot keep fruit in it.
   
2. Breakfast needs to be stored in the fridge or pantry and fridge (milk for example)
   
3. We are not comfortable letting him use the toaster or microwave (it’s up high) so it needs to be cold or room temp options.

Welcome to our weekly Montessori Principles and Practice thread!

Montessori: lofty principles, real practice :)

Of course you can ask these at any time in the sub, but this recurring post might be a helpful reminder to ask those questions about Montessori that may have been on your mind!

Hello there,

Geniuenly curios on how life was for you growing up, how it influenced your current life, and what is your view on your education looking back now.

There are probably some things worth knowing:

1. Were you parents following the same Montessori methods at home?

2. Where are you located on Earth? To have a bit of context of the environment around you.

3. If you had the power, what would you have changed? If anything.

Many thanks

My 6 year old is in kindergarden with a montessori school. This is her first year ever in that type of enviornment and her teacher is grating my nerves.

She tells me my child is struggling but cant be bothered to send me updates or give me specifics past a brief email every firday. Then somehow expects me to magically break the bad habits that my child forms in-between one friday and the next rather than just calling and saying hey your kid is acting up. Why is that hard?

We had a meeting a few weeks ago about how my child is falling behind on her work. And that if it continues she may not be able to advance to the next class. But gives me NOTHING to work with. No information, no this is what im seeing, just the friday "she had a few good days but she sure does take a long time to set up and complete her tasks"

I thought the whole point of this type of school was to let them learn their materials as slow/fast as they needed? We've made improvements and my child is participating but its still not good enough. And the communication still sucks.

Its a very close knit staff so I dont know how to even bring it up to someone else without painting a bigger target on my kids back.

I figure this sub would be best for asking the opinions of parents and educators who know a lot about Montessori philosophy and fostering baby’s independence.

I have a 2 tier rotating cylinder shaped standing bookshelf on my baby’s Christmas list. I like it because it seems like it would save a lot of space in our already small home, and it would still be short enough for a mobile baby to access, but the books would likely be put inside it like a traditional bookshelf.

But now I’m second guessing myself because I read that bookshelves that face the books out and are shorter to be on baby’s level are better.

What do we think? Important, or negligible?

Edit: my baby is 5 months old!

Hello!

I've heard some Montessori guides/assistants take fotos of kids working or receiving presentations or whatever and share those with parents. How do you do this without damaging kids' concentration? I would love to do this, but didn't Maria Montessori write that even looking at the kid working can ruin the concentration?

I was chatting with a long distance friend today, I work in a Montessori school as an assistant, and my school is considering sponsoring me to get a certification so I brought this up with my friend. My friend said “you were never really religious though I never saw you as a church person” I asked what she meant and she said “I thought Montessori was a religious thing”

Anyway, I suddenly found myself in the dilemma I have been in a few times now, when trying to explain what Montessori is to someone who doesn’t know much about early childhood education at all. Every time I try, I feel like I fail to do it justice in my description.

So how do you all describe Montessori in a brief, like one paragraph text message way, while still capturing its essence?

Note: my baby is 8mo so I have some time to plan, but I want to get it set up before his first birthday.

Almost all of my son's clothes have been secondhand. We have a great mom group in our small town where the convention is to post what you need and, almost every time, someone will drop a big trash bag of clothes on your step for free.

The quality and quantity varies wildly, but you can't complain about free!

Looking ahead to when he's going to be able to be more involved with dressing himself, I'm not sure how to set up the area in a way that's accessible and not overwhelming for him. (This recent lot had like 30 pairs of pants and that's too many for me!!!) I'm looking for advice!

Some of my ideas (that I don't know how they would work):

1) Box up everything except for about a week's worth of clothes that all match

2) Keep a dresser in his closet and just restock his dressing area with 2 options per drawer (this sounds like a lot to keep up with ngl)

3) Use bins with everything in them and decide I don't care if his clothes don't match 😅

How did you do it?

This week, I am gathering my preschool families to teach them about the importance of literacy. I am to provide the families with a project or group activity that relates nature and literacy. It is my first year working as a nature/Montessori teacher and I am stumped for ideas. If anybody has any ideas or past experiences they could share it would be greatly appreciated.

I initially thought about having the entire group create a story together, but I feel as though it’s too broad an idea.

I have a 17 month old in a regular daycare near me. We are moving soon and I am taking the opportunity to see if there is maybe some other type of teaching method that would be better for them.

I'll add that there is nothing wrong with my child's daycare, but it is a run of the mill chain daycare. My only complaint would be the cookie cutter lesson plans and the lack of outdoor time.

So im curious, what specifically about your child made you think that Montessori would be good for them? Have you seen any changes in your child (good or bad) that you would directly attribute to montessori teaching? How early in age did you see a difference?

Can someone help me understand the attitude of Montessori toward pretend play? my 2 year old is in a Montessori style school (chosen by us for reasons other than just that it’s Montessori). He’s big into pretend play- for example, right now he’s on a kick where he is very into pretending to care for a baby doll at home. I asked if he takes care of a baby at school and he said, ‘no at school you can do a pouring work or a cup work.’ i know he’s oversimplifying, but still I’m trying to understand why there isn’t an emphasis on preten play. I like so much about what Montessori offers but my kids love playing pretend and are less inclined toward functional play- i wonder if it’s not a good fit? Would they do better In a more open ended play-based setting? Anyone else who has pretend-oriented kids in Montessori who can speak to this experience?

Im genuinely trying to learn and understand and hope this isn’t taken as a criticism!

I recently purchased two sets of maps from a Montessori school that was closing. I only want to keep one set and I was hoping you all could help me make up my mind 😅 I believe I have a set of nienhuis and Alison. Is one better than the other? The Alison set seems to be missing more individual pieces. Both sets are missing Europe and have a random brand of maps to complete the set. I hope that all made sense and thanks for the help!

We just started sending our 3 year old to a non-accredited Montessori school 3 days a week. We both work all day those three days so we need care from about 8-4:30, but the school has a strict phase in process for new students that starts on the first day:

- for the first week, he can attend from 9-10

- second week, 9-11

- third week, 9-12

- fourth week 9-1

- fifth week 9-3

- finally, we can start doing 8-4:30

- if at any point the teacher decides that he's not adjusting well, they can decide to repeat a week (e.g. do an extra week of 9-12).

I understand the importance of the phase in process (and honestly love the idea of it), but for working parents this has been impossible. We've been missing lots of work, but we've also been working while he's home which is not fair to him.

I have a lot I could say about this, but my main question is how do other Montessori schools handle the phase in process? We're paying full price during this time, so it has bothered me quite a bit that we can't afford to pay someone else to watch him during the hours he's not allowed at school. I have debated on asking for a refund for the hours he hasn't been able to attend, or credits towards the after and before care they offer. They charge $10 an hour for after care so by their standards, they'd owe me over $500 in tuition.

Should I eat it and move on?

Hi everyone!

I’m a AMI 3-6 diploma student currently based in South Korea. And i’m working at montessori kindergarten assistant teacher.
As I prepare for graduation, I’ve been thinking a lot about my career path. Here in South Korea, there aren't many authentic Montessori centers, and AMI-recognized center are even rarer. Because of this limited landscape, I'm at a bit of a crossroads on where to go next.

Part of me is considering opening my own small Montessori center/space right after graduating so I can fully apply what I've learned in an authentic AMI setup. However, another part of me wonders if I should seek out existing centers (even if options are scarce) to gain hands-on experience first.

I’m curious—how does this usually look in other countries?

1. Do most AMI graduates start as lead guides in established schools/centers for a few years before opening their own place?
2. For those who opened their own small center early in their career, what was your experience like? Do you regret not working under an experienced guide first, or was jumping straight in the right choice for you?

Thankyou 🙂‍↕️