We are very excited that our oldest will be starting school this fall. After much consideration she will be attending a Montessori Yeshiva (One of only two that I know of). The question of course is how did we come to this decision? Well thank God we have a number of options in our community so we actually had the ability to decide on which course was best for our daughter. In our community we have essentially three options.
1) A standard MO day school. co ed attendance but separate classes. Basically a community school
2) A more yeshivish school which is actually two separate schools one for boys and one for girls.
3) A Montessori Yeshiva.
There are a few schools in nearby communities but those require some travel which we felt was too much for a three year old.
So back to the question, why the Montessori school? There are in fact several reasons:
1) I personally grew up going to pretty much standard Jewish Day schools, and I found (for myself) that in order to succeed one had to fit into a specific mold (which I do not). I did not want to place this burden on my child who is already showing signs of chafing at the bit and wanting to do her own thing.
2) After learning about the Montessori Method and observing the classes at the school I have come to the realization that there are great benefits to a Montessori education. It encourages independence, learning and growth in children. It also focuses on the whole person rather than just academics and therefore imbues the students with good middot (traits) without force.
3) While the yeshivish school has an excellent reputation, our religious views do not lie that far to the right and decided that since we have this third option we should take it.
At some point in the future as i get more comfortable with my blog I will perhaps share some of my opinions regarding standard Jewish Day schools, but for now we are simply looking forward to a great year of learning and growing!
No comments:
Post a Comment