Montessori Class

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vivianchung

Registered User
My son is going to 3 in coming Feb. I'm looking for a 'real' Montessori training/playgroup. Anyone can give me recommendations? Best location is in Kowloon side. Alternately, I will also consider Montessori House or Little Montessorian in Causeway Bay. What do you think?
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My little one goes to Discovery Montessori. He seems happy there. We're happy with his progress. The teachers there seem caring and loving
 
Same with my boy, who is attending toddler playgroup at Discovery Montessori (Discovery Bay branch). He has learned so much in the past year he's been there. Now the trouble for me is to get him a spot in the AM Little Casa (2 years old class). jojojo which DMS is your little one attending- DB or Sheung Wan?

Vivian if you are looking for one on Kowloon side, you can try Best Concept. Their website is very weak and often it's hard to find them on the phone, but i have only heard good things about them from friends who have had / are having their kids there. The other thing is that i think they do it in Mandarin (stronger) or English (weaker), but i guess that's all the better if you want to add Mando to your child's language ability. The queue is quite long though, from what i learned...
 
Thank you so much. I think I have more confident on Discovery Montessori after all, at the same time, I have registered the Parent Class in Infinity Children World in Kowloon Tong. My younger daughter will be put into there for Playgroup. I love the environment as there is an outdoor playground. Have you heard this school before? Any comment? Thanks again.
 
Jomama,

My little one is at Sheung Wan. When he started school he was only exactly 2. He cried for 2 weeks non stop but the teachers and the staff were very supportive and they kept in contact with me to let me know how he was and 2 weeks later, he stopped. Now, he loves school. To me at this stage, his academic progress is not that important. I'm more concern with his life skills, motor skills and his social skills. If you're really looking for an academic driven kindy, then Montessori might not be the way. The kids learn through discovery and play.
 
Sorry Vivian, I haven't heard of Infinity Children World before. I searched for that school on the other education forum (mainly in Chinese) and this is what i found:
http://www.edu-kingdom.com/search.p...rderby=lastpost&ascdesc=desc&searchsubmit=yes
There's quite a bit of mixed review, mainly on the attitude of the admin staff and that the teachers are passive (perhaps commented by parents who doesn't understand about Montessori), but the children seem to like it there. Anyhow if you can read Chinese there's more than enough comments there :) Feel free to PM me if you need some help. [Also, from the forum I learned that Best Concept does have both English & Mandarin native speakers as teachers, so forget about what I said in my previous post.]

Jojojo, yes, I have friends whose kids are in Little Casa [DB] and they assured me that the teachers keep in contact with them on the phone often to let them know about the children's progress. I am happy to learn that, and hope they'll have a spot for my boy (he just turned 2 this November, and by then all the spaces are filled up already). What I meant by "He has learned so much in the past year he's been there" is exactly what you've described: physical, emotional and internal developments. Although being in the playgroup with my child, I do find DMS to be quite academic during circle time as well (the current teacher was teaching the kids the difference between an oval and an ellipse; even I wasn't clear about the two before I attended her class, hee hee), but as you said it correctly, academic progress at this stage is not a priority. Good to know your son is doing well.
 
Thanks a lot jomama. I found that the comments for the English teachers are all negative, I decided to join the Cantonese class. Anyway, thanks again for your details information.
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You're welcomed, Vivian. It's great that ICW has training course for parents, which maybe useful for myself in the future too. If things doesn't work out or if you want some options, you may want to check out Best Concept. I don't have any affiliation with the school, but having seen the abilities of friend's child due to BC, I do highly recommend it.
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Hi Vivianchung,

I am a first time mom, son is 13mos right now..im looking around for the right playgroup for him around mid-levels and i came across this thread, i noticed you were quite sure you want montesorri for your son...may i know why?

Hope you don't mind me asking as i am also comparing diff. methods of teaching...i have been exposed to a teaching method called EYFS lately, which is supposed to be a more structured learning environ., and classes are composed of children of the same ages...and i am still pondering which style to go for....i know he will only be 18mos when he starts, but i hope to see what factors you would consider when deciding to go for montesorri, as i hear montesorri encourages very independent learning/less structure....

Would any moms have any advise on this issue of choosing the style of teaching for their child?
 
Hi hm88,

From what i googled, EYFS is not exactly a 'teaching method', but a set of welfare and learning/development requirements which must be followed by childcare providers required by the UK government (parents please correct me if i'm wrong). Most kindergartens do have a more structured learning environment with children born in the same year range. I'm guessing that if you are planning to send your child to a UK school (here in hk or uk in the future), then i think schools that follow the EYFS would be suitable for your family.

Kids taught with the Montessori method are encouraged to be more independent and use self control/self direction, instead of having a teacher dictate to an entire class most of the time, but the environment is highly structured and require more discipline in certain ways (My son has been to both so i know). However any school can be use/claim to use the Montessori method, so it is best to look at each school individually and make sure you like what they're teaching how they are teaching it. Some schools like Woodlands do incorporate Montessori but also cater for transition into 'regular' schools, so you can ask the schools you are looking into about any transitional provision into future Primary education.
 
I like montessori because it encourages the child to be independent and to us, that's important. Our son who is 28 months now, he can feed himself at meals almost independent. He started feeding himself probably at 14 months. Well, montessori didn't teach him that but it reinforces the idea of being independent. He likes to help around the house and he comes and asks if he can help. Like I've mentioned, to me academic is not that important at this stage. I'm a trained and qualified teacher and I'm sure I'll be able to help him if he really lags behind in the future. But at this stage, I'm more concern with his social, mental and physical development.
 
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