[quote author="davenlei" date=1248408483]My son goes to WP Montessori and I absolutely love it. They do have a very long waiting list (3+ years) so you need to get on the list as soon as you find out you are pregnant (earliest they will put you on the list). Don't give up and call them once every 3-4 months for status.
While waiting to get my son in, he went to various schools such as WP Tutor Time (now LePort), Oak Creek Kindercare and the KinderCare on Bear Paw. If outside of the Montessori schools, I liked the Bear paw Kindercare. It is a smaller (family like) facility which is older but clean. The head administrator is great.
Back to WP Montessori. All the teachers/instructors/admin there are wonderful. They are very involved with the kids and my son LOVES it there. From an education standpoint, I have to say my son showed a sudden and rapid knowledge growth when he started there and it has never stopped. He talks to me about a very wide range of topics including parts of the body (including details such as parts of the skull bones), insect anatomy, astromony, conservation, nutrition, and some off the wall stuff I never thought to teach him. His math and reading is very advanced. When he was four years old, he was reading books meant for kids 6-7 years old. He can do math with double digit numbers easily. We took a look at the Irvine School District curriculum for what is expected from the kids at grades 1 and 2 and he can do everything in grade 1 and pretty much do all of grade 2 already so he is way ahead of his peers. WP Montessori's learning requirements seem to outclass even Irvine Unified.
They also have a lot of optional activities and field trips for the kids to keep things interesting.
The other parents there are very nice and you can tell are very education focused (Doctors, engineers, IT professionals, etc.)
The only negative thing I have to say about the place is that sometimes my son will get a bump or bruise and there will be no accident report. I just ask my son and it just a boy doing boy things like falling, etc.
All my children will go to this school. That is how much I love it.</blockquote>
I am a teacher, our union President's son goes to this school. She is a 100% advocate for public schools but couldn't bring herself to separate her son from this school. She absolutely loves it. Montessori's have the ability to teach kids at the level there are at, something the public school system is unable to do for a variety of reasons.