Montessori schools

I think the equipment and montessori activities are quite pricey.
My LG goes to a very small montessori. Only 24 kids aged 2-6 years old, and we pay R1100 a month. 5 days a week from 730am - 1230pm.
But we do live in a very small town

Hi ladies

Thank you for the responses. I have scheduled an appointment for DH and I to go & see the school next week.

@GW & Flowergirl. I'm not sure what the non-refundable deposit is at Buccleuch Montessori but the monthly fee is R2600 for half day! After care is an additional R990 per month!

I was also wondering why it is that the Montessori schools tend to be so expensive?

GW, that is about right. The one I am looking at asks for a R5000 nonrefundable deposit and charges R2035 per month (also halfday).

I really wish I could send my LO to a montessori school. The non refundable deposit is R9000 and then the montly fee R2000...for halfday. Is this the going rate?

My LG is at a Montessori school and although I wasnt completely wild about the idea to start off with, it is an amazing approach and she has "grown" so much in the year that she has been there.

Anyway, Ive got this brochure about Montessori that I thought Id try re-type a few interesting points.

THE PURPOSE OF MONTESSORI EDUCATION
Dr. Maria Montessori believed that no human being is educated by another person. She must do it herself or it will never be done. A truly educated individual continues learning long after the hours and yeas she spends in the classroom because she is motivated from within by a natural curiosity and love for knowledge. Dr. Montessori felt, therefore, that the goal of early childhood education should not be to fill the child with facts from a pre-selected course of studies, but rather to cultivate her own natural desire to learn.
In Montessori classroom this objective is approached in two ways: first, by allowing each child o experience the excitement of learning by her own choice rather than being forced; and second, by helping her to perfect all her natural tools for learning, so that her ability will be at a maximum in future learning situations. The Montessori materials have this dual long-range purpose in addtion to their immediate purpose of giving specific information to the child.

HOW CHILDREN LEARN
The use of the materials is based on the young childs unique aptitude for learning that Dr. Montessori identified as the "absorbent mind" In her writings she frquently compared he young mind to a sponge. It literally absorbs information from the environment. The process is particularly evident in the way in which a two year old learns his native language, without any formal instruction and without the conscious, tedious effort that an adult must make to master a foreign tongue. Aquiring information in this way is a natural and delightful activity for the young child who employs all his senses to investigate his interesting surroundings.
Since the child retains this ability to learn by absorbing until he is almost seven years old, Dr. Montessori reasoned that his experience could be enriched in a classroom where he could handle materials that introduce basic educational information. Over 100 years of experience have proven her theory that a young child can learn to read, write and calculate in the same natural way that he learns to walk and talk. In a Montessori classroom the equipment invites him to do this during his periods of interest and readiness.

AT WHAT AGES?
Between the ages of 2 and half and 4 depending on when she can be happy and comfortable in a classroom situation. She will begin with simplest exercises based on activities that all children enjoy. The equipment she uses at 3 and 4yrs will help her develop the concentration,coordination and working habits necessary for the more advanced exercises she will perform at five and six. The entire program of learning is purposefully structured. Therfore, optimum results cannot be expected either for a child who misses the early years of the cycle or for one who is withdrawn before she finished the basic materials.

I have no idea if its co-ed. My friends all have boys lol. Maybe try googling.

Hi Yoza & Demi

Thank you for responding. You ladies are helping to ease my mind about the decision to take her to a Montessori.

Demi, thanks for recommending the actual school I wanna send her to cos apparently, not all Montessori's work in the same way and often the principal applies her OWN interpretation of the Montessori principles.

I've heard great things about Buccleuch Montessori and apparently kids come from as far as Bryanston, Dainfern, even Centurion. We're thinking of moving her there from Jan 2013. she'll be almost 3.

St Peters in S'hill, is it co-ed or boys only? I can't remember now but I have looked at it as an option for high school.