I love that you did a lesson on giving compliments alongside math, language and science. Thanks for your thoughts.

today we had a lesson on giving compliments as well as math, language, and science. children need grace and courtesy lessons. as a montessori 6-9 year old teacher, i see many benefits. but i agree with you, janine, one method is not for everyone. parents know their children best. thanks for a thoughtful message.

Pleasure Louisa. I keep thinking of things to add in but I don’t want to come across too obsessive compulsive on this subject! Some other points that were benefits for me in the kindy were the number of staff/pupil ratio. It was quite high. When Hippie Child started there her speech was very delayed from constant ear infections. She was basically unintelligible. But staff worked with her quite closely (when she was assessed by a speech pathologist they said she was speaking with an asian accent – the assistant teacher who worked with her was asian). The set up of the room and the activities allow teachers to work individually with children and cater for differences.

Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for stopping by.

Glad you enjoyed it. I think a great teacher can be the difference in any system of education. I’m only now just seeing how big an impact some of Hippie Child’s early teachers (particularly in Primary school) have impacted on what she does now, eg deciding to study Ancient History because of a unit of work on Ancient Rome in Year 4 presented by an enthusiastic teacher.

I agree with you that a passionate teacher makes all the difference. We have been fortunate to have had the same wonderful teacher for three years (Prep for my oldest and Prep and Year 1 for my youngest). Now that we no longer have her, I see how lucky we really were. Actually I always knew.

It does seem to be a very practical system, so many facets of it can be implemented at home. I think my kids benefited from the interaction with other children and the equipment at the kindy, which I wouldn’t have been able to replicate at home.

I guess it’s how the program is implemented and the connection the child makes with the teachers. My eldest was very arty as well, and she in her own quiet way rebelled sometimes against the structure, as a five year old she hated the language lessons and kept heading back to the practical life area (with the three-year-olds). However, she did like the maths activities, so the teachers focused on those for a while. They did do painting and drawing which she loved and the specialised music program which she thought was fantastic. It is sometimes a matter of trial-and-error with our kids though isn’t it? I’m glad your daughter found her place in the public system.