Ok, so single-handedly the saddest thing about leaving Colorado to come to VT was the fact there is no Montessori community in the area. It leaves me emptier than leaving the city, the weather, the burritos (lol), the people- even my own friends...most of them, anyway.
To VT's defense, I understand there are a handful of schools- one in brattleboro & one in Jericho (which is beautiful...but too far!) and a couple in between. Still, that's not doing my sons any good! Likewise, it is not doing the entire Burlington VT area any good. I know there was a woman in SB who closed shop the week we moved here :(.... but that's a different story....anyway...
(BACKGROUND: If you are unfamiliar with Montessori, it's a style of teaching that promotes independence, peace, solid basic skills, practical life skills, and a thousand other things. The curriculum was developed by an amazing scholar, anthropologist, and doctor, Dr. Maria Montessori during the first decade of the 20th C. To sum it up, it is a designed environment that teaches rather than a teacher doing all the teaching. The materials are presented on shelves, there is always something to "work" on, and the children work peacefully and contently, particularly for the first three hours of the morning. They use wooden, natural, sensory-pleasing materials and the curriculum covers phonics to math units through geography....all presented in a HANDS on, child pleasing way. Her methods have taken both a lot of criticism and acclaim. Her methods are now being found to coordinate with contemporary research based learning. They refer to everything they do as "work" and they are taught to take great care with their "work" (which is why I say Montessorri "Works!" as a silly pun har har... )anyway, I am biased but I loved it for my oldest son. He attended Montessori from 2.5 yrs all the way through first grade (in a free charter school).
In Colorado (and other states...CA- you'll know what I am talking about) there were Montessori schools everywhere. It may have been because there are two training centers in CO, still, they were all over- everywhere from plazas to parkways, public magnets to charter schools. Infant rooms through middle school- I just miss the entire lifestyle. Here in VT, I think the Waldorf community is similar to what I miss in my Montessori community. People love their Waldorf here, which is fine, I just don't know why, if Waldorf can thrive SO well, why Montessori isn't here...
I miss the eclectic Montessori moms & dads who chose to drive their kids everyday to the school they loved. I miss the poised teachers who taught them SO MUCH, I miss the materials, I miss the peacefulness of going into my son's school. I miss the dove cooing in the corner of the old farmshouse planted in the middle of the city...But most of all, I miss seeing my son happy at school. He LOVED working at Montessori school. We moved a year ago- he cried until December and asked to go back to his old school to "work" in his old classroom. The first day he left the Montessori classroom for public school, my heart broke when he walked in looked literally stressed, turned to me and said, "mom, there is no work here, what I am I going to do?" I just knew right then that he'd struggle. And he did. And he cried and he ripped up papers and he felt stupid because he had never worked on paper, only in units and with representations of concepts and all that...we both miss his old school....I can't believe I still feel this sad, even with 11 months gone by.
