https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 11 Apr 2026 09:16:32 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-lo-attends-a-montessori-preschool-and-you-plan-to-transition-to-public-school#post-2260169 Mon, 10 Aug 2015 17:58:18 +0000 BandDmommy 2260169@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would transition 1st grade. Kindergarten is 1/2 day here so we will be sending LOs to private kindergarten. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-lo-attends-a-montessori-preschool-and-you-plan-to-transition-to-public-school#post-2260125 Mon, 10 Aug 2015 16:52:49 +0000 sunny 2260125@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@T-Mom: @Freckles: @mrsrain: @Sparkler: @JoyfulKiwi: Thank you all for your responses! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-lo-attends-a-montessori-preschool-and-you-plan-to-transition-to-public-school#post-2255993 Wed, 05 Aug 2015 21:02:21 +0000 JoyfulKiwi 2255993@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I couldn't vote - we're planning on the full 3 years of Montessori and starting public school at Kindergarten (he's an on-the-cusp fall birthday, so that would be Kinder at age 6). Although, if his Montessori teacher says she thinks he's ready for 1st and would be bored with K, we'd have him transition into 1st with no worries. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-lo-attends-a-montessori-preschool-and-you-plan-to-transition-to-public-school#post-2255783 Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:37:29 +0000 Sparkler 2255783@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our montessori school really pressures you to stay for 3 years of preschool. My state has a Sept 1 cut off and my daughter has a fall birthday and preschools can start at 2 years, 9 months so she is starting just before she turns 3 and will do 3 years off montessori before she begins kindergarten. My son has a summer birthday and he is going to do 3 years of montessori and start kinder a month after he turns 6. Since we decided on montessori preschool we also decided to move to a suburb that had full day kindergarten so they wouldn't be too bored after 3 years of preschool! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-lo-attends-a-montessori-preschool-and-you-plan-to-transition-to-public-school#post-2255763 Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:20:01 +0000 mrsrain 2255763@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My daughter is just over a year old, but right now we are leaning towards putting her into the local Montessori program for 2 years or preschool and 1 year of kindergarten. I prefer this to the public kindergarten programs, which were recently increased to all-day because they were trying to cram too much into the day. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-lo-attends-a-montessori-preschool-and-you-plan-to-transition-to-public-school#post-2255662 Wed, 05 Aug 2015 14:27:54 +0000 daniellemybelle 2255662@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've thought about this a lot. No personal experience but I'd like to do a Montessori preschool.</p> <p>One thing I've considered is since LO is an October birthday, so she will miss the Kindergarten cutoff by about two months, seeing if we can do Kindergarten at Montessori and then start her in Kindergarten the following year when she's nearly 6. But I guess it depends on how different Montessori schools do age cut-offs. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-lo-attends-a-montessori-preschool-and-you-plan-to-transition-to-public-school#post-2255245 Wed, 05 Aug 2015 09:47:10 +0000 erwoo 2255245@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Fortunately, where we live in Asia, preschool is considered from 3-5 years old which includes what Americans call Kindergarten. My oldest just graduated from his Montessori school. He will start 1st grade in a month at a new school who will also have kids coming from that school's kinder class. Personally, I like the idea of having them finish the full three years. My son went to a bilingual school (English/Chinese) but mostly taught in Chinese. But he loves English so he made lots of efforts learning with my guidance as well. His English is the best in his class and he is the only child who can read time. He can tell you the pronunciation of the Chinese word (bo po mo fo for those who are Taiwanese) if you ask him. He can also do addition and multiplication. I have to say he is weak in subtraction; but, overall, he will be more advanced in both English and Chinese when he enters 1st grade because he went to Montessori school here. My husband thinks it sucks he has to start over with English (ABCs) and Chinese (bo po mo fo), but they supposedly will challenge kids who are more advanced as well. Their English class is split into beginner and advanced so at least he, hopefully, won't be completely starting from the ABCs.</p> <p>IMO, I think it also depends on your child and how he/she learns. My son LOVES to learn. In his spare time before school he will voluntarily sit at his little table and practice writing (either in Chinese or English). Tonight, he happily agreed to doing some math after dinner. Seriously, I could not have been happier. Now, my youngest... he is the total opposite. :P But I do wonder if it's because of the Montessori style of learning?? He really has grown up a lot in his last year and has become more reasonable as well. Such a 180 from when we moved here two years ago. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-lo-attends-a-montessori-preschool-and-you-plan-to-transition-to-public-school#post-2255223 Wed, 05 Aug 2015 09:23:36 +0000 Freckles 2255223@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DD starts Montessori this September (3.5 years old) and will start public school (French imm) in first grade. We would probably only save $300 by putting her in public school early bc of the OSC costs. But I think it is worth it because the kindergarten class sizes are huge, like 30 kids! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-lo-attends-a-montessori-preschool-and-you-plan-to-transition-to-public-school#post-2255197 Wed, 05 Aug 2015 09:06:57 +0000 T-Mom 2255197@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I just finished going through this with my DD. We kept her for Kinder in Montessori, and she just finished her 1st grade year in public school this past year. Staying for Kinder was an easy decision for me. We love the school and wanted her to finish out the 3 year program. Also, she only makes the cutoff date by 3 days, so giving her an extra year to "marinate" in the Montessori environment seemed like a good idea. I was concerned about the transition to public, but not too much. In reality, the transition was not too bad. She did great, and the way her 1st grade was taught was kind of reminiscent of Montessori. A lot of "stations" to work at and rotate through. The biggest transition was for me. A lot of parents already knew each other from Kinder and I was a little late to the game. Our public school is huge and there were so many "processes" for me to learn. But over all, we did great. DD made lots of new friends and so did I. I don't think it will be a bad choice at all to do that. The only thing I don't know is, whether it made a big difference at all to have done it this way. I'm sure she would have done fine at public Kinder anyway, you know, and I could have saved some $$ :-) Good luck!<br /> ETA: After thinking about it more, I think the extra Kinder year was really good for my DD. She was having a lot of tantrums and behavior problems at home that year, and I remember now how grateful I was that I wasn't having to deal with that and a more "rigid" environment at school. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-lo-attends-a-montessori-preschool-and-you-plan-to-transition-to-public-school#post-2255187 Wed, 05 Aug 2015 08:55:43 +0000 sunny 2255187@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>If your LO attends a Montessori preschool and you plan to transition them to public school at some point, are you planning to transition at Kindergarden or 1st Grade (or other)?</p> <p>I'm considering enrolling my LO in a Montessori preschool, but I'm concerned that if don't take advantage of the 3 year program (pre-school, pre-K, Kindergarden) she won't obtain the full benefits of learning to be a leader. </p> <p>However, if we do stay for Kindergarden and then transition at 1st grade, I'm concerned it may be a tougher transition since she will be new (and most of the kids will have done Kindergarden there). </p> <p>If your child has already transitioned, how did they do at the transition? What were your pain points? </p>