Montessori vs Traditional

Parents often wonder how the Montessori method differs from traditional schools. Below, we provide a comparison for parents considering our school.

Montessori Method	Traditional Teaching
Emphasis is on cognitive, social and emotional development	Emphasis is on cognitive development
Multi-sensory materials for physical exploration	Few materials for sensory development
Environment and method encourage self-discipline	Teacher is primary enforcer of discipline
Mixed age grouping	Same age grouping
Grouping encourages children to teach and help each other	Most teaching is done by the teacher Working together is discouraged
Teacher has a facilitator role in classroom	Teacher is focus of classroom
Mainly individual instruction	Mainly group instruction
Child chooses own work, with input from teacher	Set curriculum is structured for the child
Child can work where he chooses, move around and talk at will without disturbing the work of others	Child usually assigned own chair
Child discovers own concepts from self teaching materials	Child is guided to concepts by the teacher
Child may work at own learning pace	Instruction pace is usually set by group norm
Child works as long as he needs on a chosen project	Child is generally allotted specific time for work on a specific project or assignment Projects usually chosen by the teacher
Child reinforces own learning by repetition of work with internal feelings of success. Learning is its own reward	Learning is reinforced externally by repetition and rewards
Materials are self correcting Child spots own errors from feedback of material	If work is corrected, errors usually are pointed out by the teacher
Organized program for learning care of self and environment in order to develop independence	Less Emphasis on self-care instruction
Organized program for parents to understand the Montessori philosophy and participate in the learning process	Voluntary parent involvement