montessori vs traditional schooling? (18 mo old)

Hi

I know these posts are quite old but I am trying to decide whether to put my 3yr old into Montessori or not. Since I am sure Emmas has made a decision I was wondering what that decision was and if you are happy with it. I am in the Tableview/Blouberg area and there is not a lot of choice here so any recommendations are welcome.

At the moment my son is not very happy with his school and neither am I. I have a feeling that he is not going to fit into a mainstream school so am considering Montessori.

Any advice from anyone?

He was 26 months, but this school takes from as young as 3 months, obviously they don't "teach" them that young, but as they start getting older, they slowly introduce them to the montessori curriculum...

Hi kjmom, how old was Kieran when you enrolled him? some montessoris start at 18 months, some at 2.5yrs - just wondering if they do truly benefit from montessori as young as 18 months

My lb kieran was in a "traditional creche" until the end of last year. This year i enrolled him in a montessori....the difference in him was day and night...his speech improved, his learning improved in a huge leap...his understanding of things so much sharper and clearer...

not saying traditional creches are not good, it just never worked for kieran. he found himself at the montessori...

Thanks Lori - I was thinking the same thing! the montessoris only seem to accept from 2 yrs old anyway. There are only really 2 in our area so its waiting lists for both so prob have to apply now anyway! Good to know you have had a positive experience

Emmas my experience with Montesorri has been very positive. I enrolled Ethan when he was 2. From my observations though I would say that its better to wait until they are about 2 and before that rather place her in an environment where she could get more one to one care. The classes at Montessori ARE big and the small ones get lost a bit, I think.

Hi Juno - thanks so much for your reply and pointing out the other thread. I knew there would be something in this forum but the search kept returning no results even when i searched for 'montessori'!! Obviously something very broken! Great to see the replies - I am in the table view area and there seem to be a few montessoris around - heard some good things but then also found some bad comments - I guess my baby would probably be ok in either - I just do not want her to get 'lost' in a big class and i think montessori classes are generally quite big. Will visit a few and see. Thanks!