stigskog Posted January 13, 2013 Posted January 13, 2013 We live in sweden. We have 2 boys. Our eldest is 2years and 8months. He goes to a Montessori preschool on 3 days per week for 5 hours each day. Normally when i take him, he just wanders in and starts joining in with the other kids, but after having a couple of weeks break over Christmas he wasn't so keen. The first day he wasn't keen, but after joining in an activity with him for a few minutes he was happy to stay. On the second day he also wasn't keen and clung to me a bit more, so after trying to persuade him, I gave him the choice and he chose to go home, which was fine. The interesting thing was that on the way home he was so much more articulate than usual .. maybe he understood that his opinion is valued. It was quite a change in a few minutes. When we got home his mum asked him why he didnt want to go and he answered with a sentance about 12 words long.. i wish i could remember it verbatim , it was really amazing. When our sons reach 6 or 7 years old, they have to (as in get kidnapped if not) go to school. We want to find a school that treats them with the respect they deserve. We have to look in to this now, because it is very likely we have to move house and may have to emigrate to a freer country. We like the Montessori style and how it should work in theory, but the Swedish government have a very detailed school plan dictating what so called 'free' schools have to do. This makes it hard for schools to stick to the Montessori approach and still get good grades or government approval... i have even found myself looking for schools with poor grades, but i don't think this is the way. We are planning to visit a few small schools on our shortlist and are trying to work out the right questions to ask the person in charge. So far i have the following, but we would appreciate more ideas and criticism. 1 - What happens when a child doesn't want to do something a teacher asks him to do ?2 - How do you deal with the contradiction betweem the government school plan and the Montessori methods ?3 - If a child wants to learn something that is not part of the curriculum, how will you help him ?4 - How much of the day is spent with people who are not the same age ? Thanks for reading. Paul
Ruben Zandstra Posted January 13, 2013 Posted January 13, 2013 Hi Paul, Kudos to you for investigating the matter on beforehand. I wish we had done so. We recently moved our children to a very small school nearby with combined classes: the school has only three different groups, and a total sum of pupils of 34. We're extremely happy we finally made the decision for this change (kids included!) Great questions! I have two more that might be of help: 1) what are a child's options are when his workload is finished for the day. Does he/she have a say in what's up next or not? 2) what position does the school take in matters of medical research in school, medication / ADHD issues etc. At the former school of my children I found out it's not unusual for teachers to actually call a families' medical practitioner in order to plea for psychiatric research / medication. In the netherlands a school can get additional funding for pupils that have been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders. As to emigration to a freer country: you might want to check out Belgium. From what I know it's the only west-european country where you can legally homeschool your children without facing massive amounts of trouble.
stigskog Posted January 13, 2013 Author Posted January 13, 2013 Hi Ruben, Thanks very much for taking the time to reply. 2 excellent questions to add to our list, and that is interesting and a bit surprising to hear about Belgium, i hadn't considered it before. The good news here is that the drugging of children issue has been the top story in Sweden's biggest newspaper for the last 4 days. The strange thing about the story however, and there is a lot of text so maybe i missed it, is that they don't say who is suggesting the drugs in the first place.. i.e. the teachers, parents or doctors , or whether the schools are getting money for "difficult" kids. My wife and me have asked for school recommendations from friends and in forums, but it is amazing how most people haven't really thought about it. The common response is that all schools are about the same standard so it isn't something to worry about ! I've been shocked to discover how happy most people are to let the Swedish state raise their kids.
Ruben Zandstra Posted January 13, 2013 Posted January 13, 2013 Interesting, are any of those articles available in English? So there's a couple of other questions you could consider to ask, or do a local google for. Even if you know the answer, having a school-official tell you the obvious on these matters (or fog the issue) might be interesting. how much does the state pay the school annually per pupil? (brace yourself) (how) does the school accomodate children with mental and physical disorders / disabilities? are there extra subsidies for children with diagnosed disorders?
stigskog Posted January 13, 2013 Author Posted January 13, 2013 Google does a fantastic job of turning Swedish in to English because the languages are so similar. http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.svd.se%2Fnyheter%2Finrikes%2Fbarnens-pillerkarta-ritas-om_7806908.svd&act=url We were just googling around looking for answers and have left a post on facebook to see if anyone else can help Our eldest is at a cooperative daycare, so we can see the accounts, (actually i will be the accountant next year!) and it works out around £10,000 per child per year. 34 kids are full time and 4 go for 15 hours per week. (age range 1-6) We only pay £240 per year! The state pays the rest... and yes that does bother me. 34 kids sounds great, is that across a large age range ? i.e. do your kids get to mix with older and younger children ?
Ruben Zandstra Posted January 13, 2013 Posted January 13, 2013 yes, that's what made us decide for this school in the end ( along with personal talks to the teachers): driven by necessity it's more montessori than most montessori ( we visited a montessori school while weighing our options). There's three classrooms here, each representing three normal school-years. Classroomdoors are open, at times the groups are mixed up further according to need ( during gym etc). The feel of the school is that of a large livingroom ( at least when you come from a 400 + pupil school). The children all have lunch together with their teachers on a half-hour break at noon, and they're off at 2 pm every day (except ages 4,5,6: those are off at noon). My eldest son (8) is now in a class made up of 8 pupils in the age range of 6,7 and 8. Thanks for the articles.
stigskog Posted January 14, 2013 Author Posted January 14, 2013 a couple more to add to my list.... * How are things organised so that children have lots of opportunities to teach and learn from each other, especially those younger or older than themselves ? * Who decides what homework there is if any ?
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