With so many options available today, the process of choosing a school can be exhausting. That’s why I am excited to announce the beginning of a new series here at Global Mama, designed to help you choose the right preschool for your family. Each post in this series will profile a different type of school, giving you key information about the background and philosophy, curriculum, strengths and critiques, a typical “day in the life”, as well as a list of further resources. When possible, I will include interviews with teachers, parents, or school directors for an inside look. The series focuses on preschools, but some of the schools I will be covering (Montessori and Waldorf, for instance) continue on through elementary school and beyond.
“First Day of School” by Bruno De Regge
I am passionate about education, and I can see good things and room for improvement in many types of schools. This series is meant to give you a balanced look at the options out there so that you can decide for yourself what would make the best fit for your child and your family. That being said, individual schools can vary widely even if they call themselves by the same name, so at the end of the series I will provide a list of things to think about when you are visiting any school. It is just as important for you as a parent to feel comfortable with the school and philosophy as it is for your child!
Don’t hesitate to contact me at any time if there is a particular type of school that you are curious about – I would love to be able to include it in the series. This is meant to be helpful to you! Likewise, if a particular post doesn’t address something that you would like to know, leave your questions in the comments section and I will do my best to answer them. Happy school hunting!
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I love both Montessori and homeschooling – done them both, as well as Scottish preschool. I keep hearing about people doing Forest School and I want to do an interview for my blog about it… sometime
I’m starting to look for preschools now for my daughter and it sure is filled with a lot of options. Thanks for offering some insight into what can sometimes be a stressful and overwhelming situation.
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This is an excellent resource. My children started in a Reggio-inspired school, but have now moved to Montessori. I found that my older daughter, who is shy, was getting lost in the class-led learning of Reggio. We love the ordered and thoughtful Montessori classroom and I am constantly blown away by the math curriculum, but your image from the Reggio school makes me miss that messy art!
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I’m late finding your blog and joining in on this conversation, Global Mama, but I love it! I am a Montessori teacher by training, but throughout the past few years, I have fallen in love with many aspects of Waldorf. My new dream is to have a beautiful, peaceful, child-centered classroom that incorporates the Montessori philosophy with more open-ended, Waldorf-inspired dramatic play areas. In my opinion, both philosophies are missing something; I think that developmentally appropriate reading, writing, and math activities should be available for children who are interested and ready for that kind of work, and I also think that creative, dramatic play is essential for early childhood and should also be available to children. Both approaches value attractive,orderly environments, exploring and honoring the natural world, cultivating peacefulness, nurturing creativity and the arts, respecting folklore and culture, teaching children handicrafts and practical living skills; I think there is so much in common that they could be blended beautifully. I think it is all about finding balance and not getting to dogmatic about any one approach; we need to truly observe and follow the lead of the child.