[quote author="bkshopr" date=1244602607]Before sending your kids to Montessori I would seriously think about it first. The school teaches children based on repetition and memorization on both songs and learning. The one by UCI and Northwood are excellent.
My daughter went there from toddler through Kindergarden. The teaching technique are very verbal, social and interactive. Many children follow the pattern of learning. When she transitioned from Montessori to public school it was a huge adjustment. She was not getting the attention, social interaction, repetition, pattern and drills. For the first 3 years in public school the teachers noted her having mood and personality issues.
Her learning environment was no longer fun and festive like the Montessori setting catered to showing off to parents who pay tuition. It took many years to de-program her that learning is not totally based on repetitive exercise and memorization. Critical and analytical thinking create leadership. She is at the top of her class today and a leader in student council.
Anyone know about the dirty laundry of the founding Montessori family and OC ?</blockquote>
Your experience, while valid and definitely significant, is anecdotal evidence. What we need is high quality evidence from adequately powered controlled studies. I did a quick search on PubMed (not necessarily the best place for papers on this issue) and pulled a study published in Science. May worth a quick look. It seems to support the assertion that Montessori schools have some value.
<a href="http://www.montessori-science.org/montessori_science_journal.htm">Lillard A, Else-Quest N. The early years. Evaluating Montessori education. Science. 2006 Sep 29;313(5795):1893-4</a>
I have the full-text pdf, but since it's copyrighted, don't think I can post it here. If you follow the link above, you can get the full-text paper through Montessori website.
(Disclaimer: I don't own any interests in Montessori schools and my kids do not currently attend a Montessori school either. Also, while this paper is published in a peer-reviewed journal, I cannot rule out the possibility of potential conflicts of interest by the authors.)