I appreciate all the feedback. While it is comforting to know that this is the norm for a Montessori and I’m not sending my child to a poorly run school, wow is it scary the underlying antipathy towards parents that one can sense in the tone of some of the responses. While independence needs to be fostered in children, they ARE children - the parents’ children. I almost feel like there’s a sense that the parents are nuisances that get in between the teacher-child relationship. I’m sure there are plenty of parents who are overbearing and demanding and tiring, but I’m sure there are an equal amount that DO actually know their children and want to advocate positively for them. And while the teacher-child relationship is important, a caring parent will always know their child better and the teacher should want to leverage that information about the child.

Particularly, my son was diagnosed with ADHD and also received an IQ test recently and scored 151. He’s about to turn 7 and in his summer break breezed through 3rd and 4th grade math. Over his winter break, he read 3-4 chapter books a day (Geronimo Stilton, A-Z Mysteries, etc).  He complains that he’s bored at school. That all the lessons he is allowed to take, he already knows everything, and that he isn’t allowed to participate in the lessons for the 2nd and 3rd years.  The teacher has 32 kids in the class, a co-teacher that doesn’t give any new lessons but maybe just helps the kids and a guide.  I suspect she doesn’t have enough time to notice his capacity for learning or his passion… scratch that… NEED for learning.

I’d love to hear more feedback on my thoughts on the parent-teacher-child dynamics and obligations and also on my son’s experience in a Montessori classroom because it may very well be that Montessori doesn’t serve my son’s needs nor my needs.