Good news,Crisc

What a horror story. Yes, if the teacher doesn't get it, it doesn't matter how good the program is or the quality of the materials.

But we did hire a consultant who told us who the good teachers were for gifted. Now I have to strategize for K through next fall as I fill out applications upon applications.

Ren

Ren, I think this is very specific to NYC. I sincerely doubt there are consultants in 99% towns/cities in this country. NYC for sure offers lots of different options and lots of opportunities for gifted children unlike most of the other places where one is limited to a few schools.

I agree that having consultants to advise you on the quality of a preschool may be specific to NYC, but there are posts about some wonderful schools out there.

People post about HG high schools that their kids attend. It sounds terrific though I do not know where that is. Toronto has an incredible school that starts in 6th grade but just one school and the G&T is spotty before that. Hence, why we moved back to NYC (and DH was not ready to move to Canada yet).

But, like I have posted about my AGATE participation, the K process is a nightmare in NYC despite 200 K spots for gifted children each year, in accelerated programs. They are using OLSAT and HG+ don't always do well on OLSAT. They do not take anything else, they do not look at IEPs, it is strictly scores.

Options are good when you have the options. Though better than no options.

And, returning to topic, if we lost out head teacher, who will probably move on soon (she is slowly finishing a doctorate and wondering next steps) then the program would be much different.

Like any posts here, sometimes you get the right teacher, sometimes you don't despite a good program. No teacher trained in Montessori should keep a child on a task they have mastered. That is not Montessori. And that is not how DD's class is run and her head teacher could be a Montessori cult member, she loves the Montessori method.

Ren

I don't have time to say much right now but just wanted to emphasize how important the particular school, and individual teacher, are with regard to how adaptable the montessori environment is to a particular GT kid. We've been very lucky so far (knock on wood!!) in terms of teachers - three of my kids are in montessori at the moment, only one of whom has been tested (ironically, that's the teacher I expect to have the most trouble with down the road; DD7 is so "good" in class that I'm not sure how things sit with works she wants to try vs. works she is allowed to try). Both my DS5s have teachers that happen to be perfectly suited to their personalities - one is more 2E, and his teacher is thrilled to be able to show the other kids that in spite of his other difficulties, he does more advanced math works, etc. and most importantly, when he struggled with simple works she let him try a more complex work and he could do it. She's very open minded. And my other DS5's teacher figured out that he is underachieving for his ability, in spite of the fact that she thought he met her requirements for starting K last fall, and she is working at fixing that (especially next year in K); a component of her plan involves the fact that there are apparently other bright boys in the class, including at least one who is very bright (not that I have any way of knowing how bright, but they are all working above grade level, and she is aware that if the class was entirely mediocre, DS5's perfectionism issues would have him sink down to a mediocre level).

Plus, two of my kids are visual-spatial learners, and the montessori materials, as well as the manner of receiving lessons, is far superior to a more traditional classroom for their current situations.

When DD7 was tested about a year ago, the professional advice we recieved was that full-time gifted programming was the way to go, montessori was a close second, and a pull-out program a far distant third. They also advised us to reconsider the educational situation on an annual basis. And we'll continue to do that.

All right, I'm at the end of my rope here, gotta run; hope at least some of this is coherent...

I just wanted to add a personal reflexion:

everybody seems to think that a 'real' (i.e. certificate) Montessori is better than a school labelled Montessori but not certificated. Very often when I say that in our case it is not working I get the question/suggestion that this is because maybe it is not true Montessori.

I do not think this is the case at all, it is more down to the teacher. A teacher who understands the kid and his/her needs is the key, not if the lessons are given to a certain prescription.

And by the way, I am reading the book that Maria Montessori wrote herself and up to now there is not a singel provision for HG+ children. It is assumed that children will follow their own pace, but with the same step-step by step way of learning. She insistes a lot that step 1 MUST be finished and mastered before doing step 2 because stpe 2 uses step 1 as foundation.
I am not finished with it so maybe I am wrong, but up to now this is what I found.

I still think that for most of the children this is one of the best methods of teaching.

The problem is that ours are not 'most' children....

I attended a Montessori school from 3rd thru 8th grade as a child. The relaxed non-competitive learning atmosphere was really great in most respects.

I did spurt far ahead in many areas because the curriculum was individually tailored so each child determined their own pace.

Unfortunately, I had no idea where I was in respect to the ability level of other students from other schools. When I tested into a really competitive high school, students from more traditional schools knew from the start how to pace themsleves, how to decode what was important for non-indivualized testing, and how to clump together for academic viability.

I might have been a senior before I grasped class rank. It felt an awful lot like lining up for a 800m race every morning.

The best thing about Montessori (in my experience)is that there is no upper limit for a child. If you're going to use the Montessori method be aware that your child might have to attempt a traditional school setting at some point so you'll have to prepare.

There is just a big difference from group education and custom education.

...unless the teacher sets one. In many pre-K situations, this is (sadly) a pretty common problem.

I think with a greater age range than 3-6yos or whatever, a teacher-imposed ceiling is less likely to exist. Certainly the Montessori method suggests that ceilings shouldn't be set for kids, as each should achieve at his/her own pace.