Waldorf school? Anyone?

[akmiss]

I have been considering enrolling my youngest son in a Waldorf school. Any Waldorf families out there? Yay or Nay? or any other thoughts appreciated

 

[PinkTower]

I''ll share.
I''m a Montessori teacher. Once or twice, when my own child was in Montessori school, the local Waldorf school allowed us to use their facility for student art shows. If this school was indicative of most Waldorf schools, they emphasize the arts, and they are willing to share with other schools in the community. The gallery space was so nice, and you could see that they had lots of studio space.
I recall that when I was investigating where to send my own child, I read that the children remain with their teachers for many, many years. I am not sure I understand how that works, because I don''t know how the teacher can become familiiar with so much subject matter and periods of child development. You will need to check on it for yourself.

 

[Octavia]

How much do you know about Waldorf methods? If you aren''t very familiar, I highly recommend that you do a lot of reading and research, because it''s definitely not for everyone but could be great for the right type of child. If you don''t think that your child would benefit from Waldorf methodology, I don''t think it would be a good idea to force it, though.

Mainly, I say this because a good friend of DH''s went to a Waldorf school, and it has become kind of a running joke because he admits he didn''t learn anything of substance there. In his case, the emphasis on the arts was a good thing (he is a concert violinist) but most of his useful training was at conservatory, not at the Waldorf school. Otherwise, he says that he needed more structure and that he found the visual/pictoral method of learning pretty useless. He feels like he never really "went to school," and regrets not having some basic academic skills that most of us take for granted (particularly in math). Others might have a very different experience, but obviously a Waldorf education wasn''t the right thing for him and his learning style.

Another friend of mine used to teach at a Montessori school and has sent her son to Montessori schools for his whole life, and he is a remarkable child. Personally, I like the Montessori philosophy and methods much better than Waldorf and would happily send my future child to a Montessori school for his or her early education, but DH is turned off of "alternative" schools because of his friend''s experience so I''ll have to work on him when the time comes.

 

[Rachel9]

Hi all, my little ones went to Montessori for a while, twice a month they had Waldorf field day meaning the whole day they would be doing arts. I actually picked up my children from there and got a good feel of the school for 4 years. My take: Beautiful buildings, great athmosphere but I honestly, just a bit worried about their method at times, spending a whole day doing art? Math seemed secondary. Beware Waldorf approach may not be the same as a true Waldorf and the same goes for Montessori. They are modern-soft methods of teaching but DH wasn''t sold on, he wanted ''traditional'' so we found another option. I still think Mont was a great early experience for my kids!

I would ask around friends or relatives who had their children there even if it means doing a trial time of say 2 months and then decide, best of luck.

 

[vespergirl]

I have several friends who sent their kids to Waldorf schools and nearly all of them ended up regretting it. When two of the families ended up moving to areas where they had to send their children to traditional schools, the children were not able to read or do math as well as the other students, and felt dumb and isolated. I know of only one family that really likes the Waldorf education, but that is because the dad is on the board of the school, and they plan to send their children there as long as possible. They are happy having the children focus on the arts (both are talented musicians) but neither are very accomplished at anything else.

I have several friends who have sent their children to Montessori schools with much better results. I would recommend that learning method instead.

 

[Haven]

My experience with Waldorf schools is limited, but this is what I have to share:

- We have a few friends who send their kids to the Waldorf School here. One couple chose to put their kids back into public school when they were in grades 3 and 6. When they switched they were told (by the public school) that their kids had serious reading deficiencies. I''m a reading specialist, so they asked me to help their kids. I did. The 6th grader was reading at a 3rd grade level, and the 3rd grader was reading at a pre-primer level. Both children are intelligent, and we were able to develop their reading skills to grade level within a year and a half, so in my opinion their deficiencies were from their formal education and not their ability.

- I''ve worked a four other children (as a private reading instructor) who were in similar situations as above. (We live near a Waldorf school.) They all had serious reading needs.

I can''t say whether this is a coincidence or not, but I can tell you that I''ve never seen another school put out this many capable students with serious reading deficiencies.

I am not familiar with the Waldorf methods for teaching reading, so I can''t comment on that, specifically. What I can say is that regardless of where you send your child to school, it is of the utmost importance to be absolutely certain that he is given quality reading instruction, and is not allowed to fall behind in developing his reading and writing skills. I would ask some serious questions about how they teach reading, and how or what makes their teachers qualified to teach emergent literacy skills. The research shows a strong link between low reading skills in elementary school and under-performance and risk of failure at the high school level.

 

[zoebartlett]

I'm an elementary teacher in a traditional school, and I don't have experience with Waldorf schools. Have you checked out this site? http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/ It might help to browse through it.

I'm very interested in child-centered learning/teaching, and the Montessori method intrigues me. Here's a link: http://www.montessori.org/

I've heard from a few friends of mine who have their kids in pre-school that they looked into both Waldorf and Montessori schools. They preferred Montessori because, in part, they felt that their kids would transition better into a traditional school later on down the road if they went that way for elementary school. They worried that the Waldorf school wouldn't prepare their children for high academic standards of a mainstream school if they chose a more traditional school later on. I know this is personal preference and one's experience/opinions aren't necessarily another's though.

ETA: I just read Haven's reply and I totally agree that asking lots of questions regarding their teaching of reading is so important. I'd ask a ton of questions about how they teach the essential skills of literacy (reading and writing) and math. I'd also ask about science and social studies too because they're important also, but I'd focus more on the others.

 

[zoebartlett]

Pink Tower -- would you mind describing your experience as a Montessori teacher and what a Montessori education is like?

 

[CNOS128]

I have experience similar to Haven''s -- I''m a trained reading specialist and worked as a reading/learning specialist for several years. I''ve tutored several kids who attended Waldorf schools - and some who had attended Waldorf schools and transitioned to more standard private prep schools.

The thing about Waldorf schools, in my experience, is that they are great for really motivated, independent, organized and highly intelligent kids. Children with delays or learning disabilities of any kind really seem to struggle in that setting, as do children who don''t have an innate sense of structure/organization.

I remember one high school student I worked with who was quite smart (and his reading and math skills were excellent) - but he was totally disorganized. His curriculum consisted of lots of long-term and creative projects, yet he had no sense of how to structure his time or plan to complete his work in small segments, so he was totally lost. Still, he knew a ton about art, science and literature, and he was one of the happiest and most creative high school students I''ve ever known.

If I had a child who had any kind of reading, attentional or "executive functioning" difficulties, I would probably not send him to a Waldorf school.

If you''re considering a particular school, I''d recommend visiting for a few hours and watching a couple of classes to see what it''s like!

 

[LtlFirecracker]

I went to a Waldorf school through 5th grade. Have not had a chance to read the other posts, but I would be willing to share my experience as an adult looking back if it will help you.

ETA: I went to a Montessori school for preschool and from 6th to 8th grade. I was also a teachers aide in my college years. So I could talk a lot about that as well.

 

[lulu]

So this has nothing to do with the salad?

 

[akmiss]

Thanks for all the input. Both a Montessori and a "Waldorf inspired" school are offered through our school district. There is also a private Waldorf school in our area. To be honest, I know very little about Waldorf methods and even less about Montessori... Guess I should do some research

I am a little concerned about posters mentioning reading deficiencies in Waldorf kids. I am wondering if the same applies to math and science. The "Waldorf inspired" school I am considering is public and their standardized test scores are higher than the district averages. Here is a link http://www.winterberryschool.org/.

I would love to hear how ltlfirecracker feels about Waldorf methods. The ceremonies, traditions, storytelling, art, and music makes it seem magical for younger children. My son still has a year until he starts kindergarden so that gives me some time to think it over.

Thanks again to everyone and I will be researching Montessori also

 

[Blenheim]

I don''t have personal experience with Waldorf schools, but I did a bit of reading about them at one point. Waldorf students often do have math and science deficiencies as well as the reading deficiencies previously mentioned. I personally disagree with many points of their underlying philosophy and idea of child development, and would recommend doing your research on those areas before deciding to send a child to a Waldorf school just to make sure that they mesh well with your own ideas.

I''m not sure if a Waldorf inspired school offered through a school district would be closer to a typical public school in teaching style and philosophy though - if it''s something that you''re thinking about, I''d definitely want to interview teachers, sit in on some classes, etc.

Personally, I''d be a lot more comfortable with a Montessori teaching style.

 

[ladypirate]

Our neighbors send their children to a Waldorf school and I was really surprised to find out that their oldest child (7 and a half or so?) cannot read. When I asked about it, she said that they are teaching reading and writing at the same time so he is just now learning, which I found surprising.

 

[akmiss]

Date: 11/30/2009 12:08:19 PM
Author: Blenheim
I don''t have personal experience with Waldorf schools, but I did a bit of reading about them at one point. Waldorf students often do have math and science deficiencies as well as the reading deficiencies previously mentioned. I personally disagree with many points of their underlying philosophy and idea of child development, and would recommend doing your research on those areas before deciding to send a child to a Waldorf school just to make sure that they mesh well with your own ideas.

I''m not sure if a Waldorf inspired school offered through a school district would be closer to a typical public school in teaching style and philosophy though - if it''s something that you''re thinking about, I''d definitely want to interview teachers, sit in on some classes, etc.

Personally, I''d be a lot more comfortable with a Montessori teaching style.

thats what I am thinking

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Hey,

Hoping to do this earlier, but had a really hard day at work.

I loved my early years at Waldorf. I think that the varied education was really good for me. Here was a typical day

AM - "main lession" which is academics that is done by your teacher who follows you from 1st -8th grade. They do the storytelling, reading, writing, grammar, and math. My teacher was capable of doing all that.

Each year main lesson had a different theme. Some of these were religious based. 3rd grade was the Old Testament, 4th was the Nortic God, 5th was Greek Mythology, 6th was the New Testement. I don''t know from there. However, it was more like a class in comparative religion and learning about the stories than it was about pushing one belief over the other. I think having that knowledge has helped me in the other areas such as creative writing, and critical reading (a lot of novels allude to these stories). Even the math and grammar would tie into the theme, however, as you got older, and the math and grammar got more complicated, that was less and less of the case. The rest of the day was done by "periods" that was done by teachers who specialized in those areas. I describe them below.

All the math was the same as the other grades for public schools. They do teach you how to read differently. They told my parents that if they needed to pull us not to do so until 4th grade or else there will be reading issues. I got pulled before 6th grade, and my reading was well above grade average. My sister got pulled in 2nd grade and she had problems. She caught up quickly.

They also thought 2 languages, Spanish and German. Those were thought all grades. In 6th grade they separate you out based on skill into 2 groups. Th

My favorite part about the Waldorf education was that arts, crafts, and music were of equal importance as academic skills. At age 8 I could read music, at age 6 I was learning formal watercolor techniques. I also learned how to knit, do embroidery, and cross stitch among several other skills. All of this led to development of my right brain skills, which would have probably been very weak without this education. I know a lot of other nations stress arts and music, because children with these skills have been found to do better academically. We did one play a year where we put on full costumes (which were very well made) and acted in front of all the other classes and our parents. We also did a lot of singing and would preform that frequently.

But there is some stuff that I took issue with

1) They do have some beliefs that they will impose on you (at least at the private school). I was told my first day I should not watch TV. All makeup and jewelry (except for pierced ears) were banned until 8th grade. You were not allowed to bring any products with advertisements on them. That meant no shirts with Disney characters, no food with cartoons, no lunch boxes with any character or product. As a kid I hated that, looking back, I love that I had that. I feel I have an awareness of the influence media has on our lives that I never would have had.

2) I think if you read my other posts you will find out I have some learning disabilities. They picked them up really quickly. Much quicker than a public school would have. But the way they were dealt with was very non-conventional. They diagnosed me with something that is a controversial diagnosis in the medical field. It was not until a few years ago, when I got the proper names put to my problems did I realize I had them all along, but that they were being called the wrong name.

3) Many of the families there lived by a certain lifestyle that the Waldorf school promoted. Most of the families lived very simple lives. If you like natural/organic foods, you will find a lot of other like minded people. I remember those families getting preferential treatment for financial aide and we got denied. One mother got it and told us she didn''t even need it because they had enough money. Our parents pulled us because they could no longer afford it.

4) I loved my education there, but I would not have gotten into a top state university or gone to medical school if I would have stayed. Now who knows maybe that would have been a good thing. Most of my class who stayed all 12 years went into the arts or other creative fields. They lead very exciting lives. I know one is going to college in Hawaii, she scuba dives, runs, hikes, takes the best photographs, and seems truly happy. The lead singer of the band Cake got his education at the same Waldorf school I went to from what others have told me. If you listen to his music, you hear the influences from the school. While I find that wonderful, I am not sure I want to channel my kids in that direction. I am kind of conflicted in that since.

5) I guess my class was the ''good class.'' That is what the other classes called them when they hit junior high because they were clean (I kept a few friends though high school and that is how I know all this). In first grade my teachers husband died of lung cancer and she made up some stores about nicotine and alcohol. She was able to explain the concept of addiction in 6 year old language better than anyone I know. Maybe that influenced us. But very few smoked in high school. However, I was told that most of the other classes did a lot of experimenting with drugs, smoking, and alcohol. I can''t confirm that.

Bottom line - if it were my kid. I probably would not do the private school. I would look at the public school and see it would be an effective merge of the Waldorf and public school or too watered down for the good things about Waldorf to be effective.

Hope this helped and didn''t confuse you too much.

 

[PinkTower]

Sure, Zoe! I can talk about Montessori until I put you to sleep. I love Montessori, if it is as Maria Montessori developed the method. You need to be careful there, as Montessori is a name in the public domain, so check the credentials of the school very closely.
The main thing I like about Montessori is that each child has their own lesson plan, and that everyone is seen as an individual. A lot of observation is done to see what lesson a child should be presented, and the child is not moved on until the material is mastered.

Most of our children read between the age of 4 1/2 and 5 1/2, though I have some of my 3 and 4 year olds reading already this year. A child stays within the class for a three year cycle. This varies, but my children are taught to write in cursive from the beginning, although the also are capable of printing. Our National Test scores are extremely high.

My favorite part of the curriculum is the math. The children love it, and the material enables the child to do remarkable work in all four operations in kindergarten.

Some may criticize our method as being rigid, overly academic and structured, but the children are very happy. They are kind to each other. They love to work, and they love purposeful activity. Lunch is a big production; we use cloth napkins, real glassware, silverware, breakable plates, etc. The children take ownership of the classroom. If something breaks, such is life, and they clean it up. We have an organic garden. Children know they are capable of doing so much from the age of 2 and a half or three that they have a quiet inner strength about them that serves them throughout school.

As a Montessori parent for nine years, and a Montessori teacher, I recommend the method without qualification.

p.s. If you google Montessori Pink Tower, you will understand what my name means

 

[akmiss]

Date: 11/30/2009 9:26:07 PM
Author: LtlFirecracker
Hey,

Hoping to do this earlier, but had a really hard day at work.

I loved my early years at Waldorf. I think that the varied education was really good for me. Here was a typical day

AM - ''main lession'' which is academics that is done by your teacher who follows you from 1st -8th grade. They do the storytelling, reading, writing, grammar, and math. My teacher was capable of doing all that.

Each year main lesson had a different theme. Some of these were religious based. 3rd grade was the Old Testament, 4th was the Nortic God, 5th was Greek Mythology, 6th was the New Testement. I don''t know from there. However, it was more like a class in comparative religion and learning about the stories than it was about pushing one belief over the other. I think having that knowledge has helped me in the other areas such as creative writing, and critical reading (a lot of novels allude to these stories). Even the math and grammar would tie into the theme, however, as you got older, and the math and grammar got more complicated, that was less and less of the case. The rest of the day was done by ''periods'' that was done by teachers who specialized in those areas. I describe them below.

All the math was the same as the other grades for public schools. They do teach you how to read differently. They told my parents that if they needed to pull us not to do so until 4th grade or else there will be reading issues. I got pulled before 6th grade, and my reading was well above grade average. My sister got pulled in 2nd grade and she had problems. She caught up quickly.

They also thought 2 languages, Spanish and German. Those were thought all grades. In 6th grade they separate you out based on skill into 2 groups. Th

My favorite part about the Waldorf education was that arts, crafts, and music were of equal importance as academic skills. At age 8 I could read music, at age 6 I was learning formal watercolor techniques. I also learned how to knit, do embroidery, and cross stitch among several other skills. All of this led to development of my right brain skills, which would have probably been very weak without this education. I know a lot of other nations stress arts and music, because children with these skills have been found to do better academically. We did one play a year where we put on full costumes (which were very well made) and acted in front of all the other classes and our parents. We also did a lot of singing and would preform that frequently.

But there is some stuff that I took issue with

1) They do have some beliefs that they will impose on you (at least at the private school). I was told my first day I should not watch TV. All makeup and jewelry (except for pierced ears) were banned until 8th grade. You were not allowed to bring any products with advertisements on them. That meant no shirts with Disney characters, no food with cartoons, no lunch boxes with any character or product. As a kid I hated that, looking back, I love that I had that. I feel I have an awareness of the influence media has on our lives that I never would have had.

2) I think if you read my other posts you will find out I have some learning disabilities. They picked them up really quickly. Much quicker than a public school would have. But the way they were dealt with was very non-conventional. They diagnosed me with something that is a controversial diagnosis in the medical field. It was not until a few years ago, when I got the proper names put to my problems did I realize I had them all along, but that they were being called the wrong name.

3) Many of the families there lived by a certain lifestyle that the Waldorf school promoted. Most of the families lived very simple lives. If you like natural/organic foods, you will find a lot of other like minded people. I remember those families getting preferential treatment for financial aide and we got denied. One mother got it and told us she didn''t even need it because they had enough money. Our parents pulled us because they could no longer afford it.

4) I loved my education there, but I would not have gotten into a top state university or gone to medical school if I would have stayed. Now who knows maybe that would have been a good thing. Most of my class who stayed all 12 years went into the arts or other creative fields. They lead very exciting lives. I know one is going to college in Hawaii, she scuba dives, runs, hikes, takes the best photographs, and seems truly happy. The lead singer of the band Cake got his education at the same Waldorf school I went to from what others have told me. If you listen to his music, you hear the influences from the school. While I find that wonderful, I am not sure I want to channel my kids in that direction. I am kind of conflicted in that since.

5) I guess my class was the ''good class.'' That is what the other classes called them when they hit junior high because they were clean (I kept a few friends though high school and that is how I know all this). In first grade my teachers husband died of lung cancer and she made up some stores about nicotine and alcohol. She was able to explain the concept of addiction in 6 year old language better than anyone I know. Maybe that influenced us. But very few smoked in high school. However, I was told that most of the other classes did a lot of experimenting with drugs, smoking, and alcohol. I can''t confirm that.

Bottom line - if it were my kid. I probably would not do the private school. I would look at the public school and see it would be an effective merge of the Waldorf and public school or too watered down for the good things about Waldorf to be effective.

Hope this helped and didn''t confuse you too much.

ltlfirecracker, thanks for sharing your experience. Growing up I had similar experiences raised in rural Alaska with hippie parents. It may seem odd now but I attended a two room school house with the same teacher for the first six years. Our classroom seems so different from those offered today. I want Troy (my son) to find the world magical and beautiful. My stepsons are 9 and 11 and I swear they have been little adults since about the age of 4. I cannot put my finger on it but it is very different from what I knew as a child.
At any rate, I do think that the public Waldorf option is probably more like a public school with a little Waldorf mixed but than that may be what I am looking for

and funny you should mention Cake because I love their music! I believe that band came to Alaska a couple times too.

 

[akmiss]

Date: 11/30/2009 10:35:58 PM
Author: Pink Tower
Sure, Zoe! I can talk about Montessori until I put you to sleep. I love Montessori, if it is as Maria Montessori developed the method. You need to be careful there, as Montessori is a name in the public domain, so check the credentials of the school very closely.
The main thing I like about Montessori is that each child has their own lesson plan, and that everyone is seen as an individual. A lot of observation is done to see what lesson a child should be presented, and the child is not moved on until the material is mastered.

Most of our children read between the age of 4 1/2 and 5 1/2, though I have some of my 3 and 4 year olds reading already this year. A child stays within the class for a three year cycle. This varies, but my children are taught to write in cursive from the beginning, although the also are capable of printing. Our National Test scores are extremely high.

My favorite part of the curriculum is the math. The children love it, and the material enables the child to do remarkable work in all four operations in kindergarten.

Some may criticize our method as being rigid, overly academic and structured, but the children are very happy. They are kind to each other. They love to work, and they love purposeful activity. Lunch is a big production; we use cloth napkins, real glassware, silverware, breakable plates, etc. The children take ownership of the classroom. If something breaks, such is life, and they clean it up. We have an organic garden. Children know they are capable of doing so much from the age of 2 and a half or three that they have a quiet inner strength about them that serves them throughout school.

As a Montessori parent for nine years, and a Montessori teacher, I recommend the method without qualification.

p.s. If you google Montessori Pink Tower, you will understand what my name means

pinktower, I really need to google Montessori! Sounds worth looking into.

 

[zoebartlett]

Thanks Pink Tower! I''ve always wondered what your "name" meant.

I hope Akmiss doesn''t mind me asking a few questions in this thread, but I thought the answers might help her too (if she ends up considering Montessori).

1. What curricula do you use to teach math, science, reading, social studies? In the traditional schools, we need to follow the state guidelines.

2. If I''m understanding you correctly, some kids may be in your class for one year, two, or three, depending on when they''re ready to move up (to another grade?). You mentioned that kids stay within the class for a three year cycle but you also wrote about how they are moved on when material is mastered. Please correct me if I''m wrong.

3. What do you mean that each child has his/her own lesson plan? Is it similar to Sylvia Ashton Warner''s work in her book, Teacher (in that they set the tone for what they want to learn?)? How does this work with a full class of X number of students?

I''m not sure why, but it seems as though some parents choose Montessori schools for pre-school and maybe Kindergarten, and then move their child on to a more traditional school for elementary. I wonder why that is.

Sorry for thread jacking, Akmiss! This is just a very interesting topic!

Of course, I''d love to hear more positives about Waldorf schools, but unfortunately, it seems as though the negatives outweigh the positives (at least here on PS).

 

[akmiss]

Date: 12/1/2009 7:11:36 AM
Author: ZoeBartlett
Thanks Pink Tower! I''ve always wondered what your ''name'' meant.

I hope Akmiss doesn''t mind me asking a few questions in this thread, but I thought the answers might help her too (if she ends up considering Montessori).

1. What curricula do you use to teach math, science, reading, social studies? In the traditional schools, we need to follow the state guidelines.

2. If I''m understanding you correctly, some kids may be in your class for one year, two, or three, depending on when they''re ready to move up (to another grade?). You mentioned that kids stay within the class for a three year cycle but you also wrote about how they are moved on when material is mastered. Please correct me if I''m wrong.

3. What do you mean that each child has his/her own lesson plan? Is it similar to Sylvia Ashton Warner''s work in her book, Teacher (in that they set the tone for what they want to learn?)? How does this work with a full class of X number of students?

I''m not sure why, but it seems as though some parents choose Montessori schools for pre-school and maybe Kindergarten, and then move their child on to a more traditional school for elementary. I wonder why that is.

Sorry for thread jacking, Akmiss! This is just a very interesting topic!

Of course, I''d love to hear more positives about Waldorf schools, but unfortunately, it seems as though the negatives outweigh the positives (at least here on PS).

No problem! I am very interested too.

 

[PinkTower]

Dear Zoe,

The website for the method I am trained in can be found at: montessori-ami.org.
You can spend hours on there and use it for a springboard for further info.

The method we use for all subjects follows a scope and sequence. We have objectives to be met and keep detailed records on each child.
We are on a three year cycle at each level. Primary is for ages 3 to 6, lower elementary is ages 6-9, upper elementary is ages 9-12.

When I stated that the child does not move on until they have mastered material, I meant within the confines of the classroom.
Most of the materials are self correcting in the control of error. The child "owns" a work before I give the child another more difficult lesson. For example, if a child is learning their addition facts, there are many exercises and charts for the child to work with for practice and memorization to give variety while memorizing facts. Finally, there is a blank chart used to check to make sure the child actually has mastered the material. Until the child understands the material, he will not be given more difficult material. Every child is different, unique, and is valued for that.

We also keenly observe each child to see what they are interested in and use these observations to offer lessons that pique the child''s love of learning. None of us can learn everything, so I like that the child is able to be given the tools to enjoy a lifelong love of reading, and learning. Montessori called these tools, "The Keys to the Universe>" I love that.

Pink

 

[Haven]

Pink Tower and LtlFirecracker--Thank you for sharing your experiences with these different teaching methods. I''ve really enjoyed reading your posts.

 

[zoebartlett]

Thank you so much for going into detail. Eduational philosophies really intrigue me, and I enjoy reading as much as I can about them.

 

[PinkTower]

Zoe, Haven, and all,

Thanks for giving me a chance to share!
I'm glad to answer any questions; I believe in the Method.
If any of you want to read more, go online to Project Gutenberg. There are two of Maria Montessori's books there for free reading, and they are out of print, at that. That site is a great free resource for anyone who wants to read educational philosophy books.

Pink