Why we decided to move our son to a Montessori School

This month we enrolled our 4-year-old son into a Montessori School in Milan.

This we decided to do after spending 3 months watching our son mis thriving in his previous kindergarten. Not because of the lack of friends but because of the teaching methods which were far from our values. The tone was hard, and I experienced teachers yelling at the children. The children were in a mixed class with 3-5-year-olds but still most activities were divided into age groups strongly encouraged by the teachers. As a result, some of the oldest were bullying the youngest and the youngest either cried more or toughened up.

The written above should be read as my personal opinion about this type of teaching methods.

During those 3 months we experienced our son getting more aggressive, throwing tantrums, and not wanting to go to kindergarten.

Today only a few weeks into the new kindergarten life we see a beautiful change in our son's behaviour and mood.

He laughs more, and he is also naughtier, he seems freer in his way of acting and when I pick him up, he greets me with a big hug. He is happy.

An important lesson for me and my husband has been learned; Always trust your instinct as a parent and act on it.

About Montessori

Given my background of growing up in Denmark I did not know about the Montessori school until 6 months ago where I met a woman during my holidays who referred to her time in a Montessori kindergarten as one of her best childhood memories.

Later I have learned that there are more than 20,000 Montessori schools all over the World (including Denmark)

Montessori is a method of education developed by Maria Montessori in the early 1900s that is based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play.

I have visited 2 Montessori schools in Milan and what I noticed was that even though all children were occupied with things to do there was a sense of tranquillity.

In Montessori classrooms children make creative choices in their learning, while the classroom and the trained teacher offer age-appropriate activities to guide the process.

The children become fascinated by what other children are doing. Montessori groups children of different ages together in the same learning environments. Most Montessori classrooms are mixed-age and intended to foster peer-to-peer learning. This arrangement can naturally lead to growth that might not occur in a more uniformly-aged classroom.

People who attended the Montessori School

Beyoncé Knowles - Singer & songwriter
Will Wright -Creator of some of the most top-rated, famous games ever, such as Sim City, The Sims and Spore
Larry Page & Sergey Brin - Founders of Google
Taylor Swift
Jimmy Wales - Wikipedia Founder
Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former U.S. President Bill Clinton
Helen Hunt

His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge