She did not attend a Montessori school. She attended a progressive, public school in NYC. Her experience is quite different from the Montessori method.

I agree, I had a friend who went to a Montessori school when she was younger. She was a whiz at math and science

I might have just used “finances” in the wrong context whoops

Mine was a public school!

Hey there - hope I can give my side of things as a 25 year old who went to Montessori through 1st grade. I'm still not entirely shocked by the amount I can remember, but for me, I re-did 1st grade when I was switched to public school. I remember at the time though, there was an update happening to the math and science aspect of the 2nd/3rd grade section of the school room. That section wasn't taboo per say, but there were activities for them that we weren't really allowed to mess around with or if we did, and someone who needed it wanted to use it, they had first dibs automatically. I never experienced it, but I have to say they had the 2nd and 3rd grade sections parked out with students so you had 1st -3rd kind of learning together in the same room. Each person had their own binder of things/topics/activies they had to do with some of them lasting a whole day or an hour or so, but I remember reading with one of the older students who I'd always thought was a bully. After that, I don't know the long-term effect the experience had or what had happened to lead me to think of that, probably a rough confrontation, but I was surprised at how nice he actually was at least in the moment. I thought he was cool and looked up to him in that way little kids look up to others in their age group as being smarter and somehow wiser. They probably have made strong updates to the sections since then, but that's my take.

Hey there - hope I can give my side of things as a 25 year old who went to Montessori through 1st grade. I'm still not entirely shocked by the amount I can remember, but for me, I re-did 1st grade when I was switched to public school. >> I remember at the time though, there was an update happening to the math and science aspect of the 2nd/3rd grade section of the school room which is why my dad, a math professor at Purdue at the time, and my mom, also a math teacher with her masters, made the switch. She and I are probably from around the same time which would explain the lack therof. From my experience, the only "cons," would be that at the time, my science and math skills weren't exactly up to par with the West Lafayette district I was moving to, hence why I re-did 1st grade, but for the experience, I wouldn't have changed a thing. The long-term effects of the cons would be possibly more prominent when placed in slower educational systems or tracts, I found my ADHD self partially drifting off and doing more independent study deeper into the topics than just showing up in high school and answering the questions on the worksheet. When we were reading Shakespeare, I was learning on the side the history of the English language as well as learning the original pronunciation still exists and when read in said "OP," 2/3 of the sonnets actually rhyme vs the modern RP of London. With words in those pronunciations actually meaning two things at a time, including the histories of the English dialects. I found myself integrating a lot of independent study onto related topics beyond just the school work. Granted, I moved from West Lafayette public schools to Olathe Public Schools after 4th grade. I don't mean to bash, the teachers do their best, but you can see the different rankings between the districts online. As an adult however and even in the higher education scene though, I am thankful for this type of independent stuff. Not just doing the minimum, but looking into these topics as well. That was something she mentioned in the video that really struck me at least, the independent bit and also being more mature and somehow feeling more level with adults in some aspects.

Hey there - hope I can give my side of things as a 25 year old who went to Montessori through 1st grade. I'm still not entirely shocked by the amount I can remember, but for me, I re-did 1st grade when I was switched to public school. >> I remember at the time though, there was an update happening to the math and science aspect of the 2nd/3rd grade section of the school room which is why my dad, a math professor at Purdue at the time, and my mom, also a math teacher with her masters, made the switch. She and I are probably from around the same time which could explain the general lack therof. My mom later on though made sure that we were doing mental math flashcards and keeping up with skills during the summer too. As for private school or public school, as someone who went into the West Lafayette public schools, one of the districts in the top 5% percentile (trust me. I say it with gratitude on my parents who made a conscious effort for that), I would say the biggest thing would be to ensure that type of independence learned from ground up is able to be fostered. When we moved to Kansas, the public school system was noticeably something. I felt kind of like I'd gone back a grade, felt babied, and idk. Don't get me wrong, I liked my teaches, but something about it felt sterile. Starting in 3rd grade in WL, we were allowed to walk to lunch on our own as a privilege. Moving to Kansas though, 4-6th had to line up. The jungle gym for the WL system, obviously changed given that there was a school for pre-K - 3rd, and another for another set of upper grades including middle school, but in Kansas where it was all smooshed together Pre-K- 6th, it just felt really sterile and like some of that independence was hampered. I remember it actually really well. We had a gym gym at WL with the glossy floor and it felt like we were treated as adults, but in Kansas, the floor was carpeted. Please don't get me wrong, I respect and would love to see those teachers again, but that type of difference is the biggest thing I would suggest taking into consideration.

I’m not interested, but I was also never taught

@@sarahstrings12 that is weird because those things are taught in montessori. You get lessons about everything in small groups

@@sarahstrings12 Thanks a lot for sharing your experience .Why were you never taught math and multiplication while Montessori includes amazing math teaching strategies and tool?

Yes. My best friend ended up going to Michigan and majoring in a science. But he was super motivated before hand. His mom also did a lot of work with him outside of school to compensate

Alon, the title of this video is very misleading. Sarah attended a progressive, public school, not Montessori. Hence, she cannot properly address your question .Maria Montessori, in her writings, often refers to the development of the Mathematical Mind. “Children display a universal love of mathematics,” she said, “which is par excellence the science of precision, order, and intelligence.” We have found this to be true for the youngest children in our classroom. In a Montessori (AMI) school, children as young as 24 months are introduced to math. By age 5, they are working with the decimal system and doing addition, subtraction and multiplication. Hope this helps.

@@Maronite2 the irony of your comment is that Maria Montessori wanted her method to be meant for everyone especially the poor and underprivileged. Somehow snobs took it and turned it into some private school standard.

@@andrimarbi What a classist, negative thing to say. What's stopping public schools from adopting her methods? NOTHING. As the young lady herself said, she attended PUBLIC school all her life. Just happened to be fortunate to attend one that took a lot of elements from the Montessori method.

@@d3w3yd3c1m4l what’s stopping publicly funded schools? Likely the same reason teachers are so underpaid? Are you trying to imply there isn’t a disparity in public vs private education? My comment was in response to someone pointing out that this isn’t the “real” Montessori method because it’s a public school curriculum so maybe re-read who the classist comment came from?

As I stated in the video at around the 3 minute mark, it was a progressive education that was Montessori BASED. It follows a lot of the same principles and design, not identical

@@sarahstrings12 Yes, I saw that. Unfortunately, the title of this video says otherwise. It is misleading. Parents considering a Montessori education for their children are drawn to this video by its title and may not have paid attention to the analogy you attempted to draw. You may think or have been told that the education you received at the progressive school follows the same principles of Montessori. Based on the descriptions of your experience, it does not. Please change the title to better reflect the content of your video.

I agree. Math is a big part of the Montessori curriculum. My kid was doing math at a Montessori pre school doing stuff that you could consider pretty advanced given his age. It seems the issue came from that specific school’s curriculum and not from a Montessori program in general.

​@@monakelly1720 Hey, (sorry sarah for harrassing your video aha), one thing I want to point out, the math and sciences sector of the Montessori system wasn't always what it now is. After 1st grade at Montessori, I had to redo 1st grade when I moved to the local public system primarily for that purpose. They were updating the math and sciences part which was a part for why my parents wanted to make the switch. I'm 25, so what they have now, may not have existed then. :)

I think it is dependent on the person

Look at, can’t imagine not knowing your timetables does that mean you’re probably weren’t in any advanced placement classes or took your SATs seems like you’re just limited

I was in IB classes all of high school and have a 3.81 GPA in college but thanks for the concern! I’d check the grammar on your comment before you call someone else “illiterate”

@@sarahstrings12 touché, i’m a little bit more concerned about these schools let alone the academic, problems I think that’s pretty clear. I see with the schools I’m scared that these are the places that can hide the abused kids you come from the schools of a child coming from abusive home.

Sorry, I use the microphone text typing feature, and the dictation throws a lot of my grammar off but I do have terrible grammar ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Like I mentioned, mine was free. It was public school. But I agree.

Maria Montessori actually wanted her method to be available for all children. She specifically focused on teaching poor and underprivileged sectors. It’s sad what it became.

Montessori can be integrated at home as well, by parents. Just simply start exploring. No need to buy every so called Montessori toy.

I went to Public school. It was a joke. Was offered drugs by 7th grade. Fights, gangs, clicks, bulked, drugs, guns, over crowded, underfunded, underpaid stressed out teachers. . Ya private schools are missing out on all the fun