[blodkorv]

I went to a Montessori school during my childhood.

It really was the worst option for a kid like me. They let my ADD run loose and there was no real organization or dicipline at all. I remember i could spend weeks just walking around in the school and do "montissori tasks" every now and then. For regular school work they asked me every other week what i wanted to learn and let me write it down in a schedule and expected me to just learn it on my own and if i needed help i could ask a teacher for help. This led me to do the absolute minimum or pretty much nothing.

I was so behind on everything in school that i had to repeat school years several times and then before finishing cram everything i was behind on during the last year in a separate summer school.

For the kids with natural dicipline and organization it was really benefitial. But for a kid like me that needed to learn dicipline and organization it was truly the worst.

My parents insisted on keeping me there because they really beleived in the montissori way and thought i would do worse in a traditional school.

[nkrisc]

I think it depends on the individual school and teachers.

I went to a Montessori school K-8 and also have ADD. It made some things harder but because of the flexible nature of things the teachers could spend more time with me on planning and organizing and less time on that with the kids who didn’t need it. Looking back I think they also made sure to pair me with kids who had better executive function.

Once I graduated and went to a traditional high school I found the rigid structure made everything harder for me.

[anon291]

Schooling is difficult. As an example, I went to a normal school, with very good discipline (private), and I had the same problems. Why? Because my parents were immigrants and were shocked at how slowly the American education curriculum progressed, so constantly tutored me at home to bring us up to where they thought we should be. Thus, by the time I was in each grade, I was already several grades ahead in each subject. So I sat in class, completed all my work in a few minutes, including homework. eventually, I realized I could just wait until the last minute to do everything, which basically meant I had to 'relearn' how to properly manage time later on in life.

Ultimately, the entire way schooling is set up towards particular philosophies and particular structures is just an ideological battle that ignores the needs of individual children. Montessori is no different in this regard.

[boringg]

In case anyone wants to read a broader array of examples (instead of sample of 1) - I asked this question 23 days ago and got a fairly large cross section:

Ask HN: Anyone go through Montessori education until age 12 (end of grade 6)? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33622295

Not discounting your experience but adding in other perspectives.

[byecomputer]

> I remember i could spend weeks just walking around in the school and do "montissori tasks" every now and then. For regular school work they asked me every other week what i wanted to learn and let me write it down in a schedule and expected me to just learn it on my own and if i needed help i could ask a teacher for help. This led me to do the absolute minimum or pretty much nothing.

[15 years later]

> I remember i could spend weeks just walking around in the office and do "action items" every now and then. For regular user stories they asked me every other week what I could finish and let me write it down in a schedule and expected me to just learn it on my own and if i needed help i could ask around for help. This led me to do the absolute minimum or pretty much nothing.

[karmakurtisaani]

Amazing how well school sometimes prepares you for life.

[overlisted]

Same experience here, although I only did one year of Montessori before my parents luckily realized its ineffectiveness. I would quickly find all materials "boring" and didn't want to do them anymore. I guess it could get me to hyperfocus occasionally, but definitely not enough.

[danvoell]

Same experience from having a kid in Montessori. It's definitely a method that works for some. We all want our children to be able to "choose their own path" but as a parent don't feel awkward asking the question, does my kid need more structure at this point?

[coolbreezetft22]

My kid was in a montessori preschool for most of 4 years old and it was a big disaster for him as well due to his ADHD (which we suspected at the time but was not yet confirmed). He was kicked out of the school before the year was up and the next fall we put in him in a French immersion school for Pre-K (mostly out of necessity as we could not find any other full-time care option near us with availability). He still had some minor behavioral issues but overall it was a massive improvement, I think due to the increased and more rigid structure compared to the Montessori system.

We ended up opting for the French immersion school again for kindergarten over free public school just because he was doing well there and we didn't want to "rock the boat" any further. He's definitely not the best student in the class but I'm just happy that he likes it and is participating for the most part.

I don't think the Montessori system is bad or anything as I noticed the more organized and independently-minded kids in the class seemed to be really thriving - as you mentioned above. Just not for everyone

[wehtuer]

When I was 4 years old I was trying to be be alive and just goofing and playing around. I went to school when I was 7 (no preschool) and spent the next 16 years in various institutions fortunately graduating quickly from the uni, it was definitely enough school for me. It baffles me that there is something other than kindergarten with no expectations than decent behaviour towards others for that young kids. Kicking 4-years out of "school" sounds "losing all hope for humanity" bad in every way.

[andrewmutz]

My kids go to a montessori elementary school. We haven't seen those particular challenges, but I think a lot depends on the particular student and particular school.

There's not a lot of research on the outcomes for students who go to montessori, but what is available is mildly positive.

There is a survey of the literature published in Nature that concluded that the effects are somewhat positive, but since different schools apply the Montessori method in different ways, it's hard to say:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41539-017-0012-7

There's also a study from last year that says Montessori education is associated with positive well-being in later life. They control for a bunch of factors, but it's just association (not claiming causal):

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34899465/

[boringg]

Thanks for your perspective - I have a couple questions since it is definitely a program unique to each child

(1) Was it an accredited Montesorri school? There is a wide range of quality within the Montesorri programs and the quality of the teachers is a real difference marker (in terms of them helping guide childrens desire to learn).

(2) What is your comparative benchmark (ie how do you know you would have done better at another school?) and what is your metric for success (how you performed for tests at school or how you developed as a human? Do you find you have a natural curiosity in the world/learn?)

(3) What type of school did you transition into and at what age?

[blodkorv]

1. I have no idea sadly.

2. I have a guess that i would perform a bit better in a regular and more disciplined school, since i did much better when i moved to "gymnasiet"(late highschool). This school had a much more traditional way of teaching.

3. When i was 16 i moved on to gymnasiet(later highschool) and did okay there. After that i tried to get into university but i did not have good enough grades to get accepted. So i went to a diploma school, much like a coding boot-camp, which i dropped out of to start my company which is what i do now.