montessori School Recommendation

Hi everyone,

Can you recommend a Montessori school in the Ashburn / Broadlands area?

thanks,

Mike

 

My daughter goes to The Boyd School over on Waxpool across from the Sunoco. She loves it and it's been a wonderful experience for her (also, my husband works there). I believe there are two Montessori schools in the Ashburn area and, as an educational method, it's great for kids. I do know that the Boyd School is one of the only ones in the area (possibly the only) that is actually accredited.

 

I'd be glad to talk with you about the Boyd School offline. A lot of parents are unhappy with the management and the teacher turnover is high.

 

Don't they also mix 3 age groups together?

 

The Boyd School has some serious issues, I'd be glad to share our experience with you offline as well. We switched our daughters to Willow Montessori (over near Partlows in old Ashburn). A lot of the great teachers from Boyd moved to that school. It's not as "fancy" as Boyd, but it has a lot of heart and fabulous teachers (and if you ask me, the teachers make or break the school anyway). I've also heard, though I don't have personal experience, that the Belmont Green Montessori is pretty good as well.

 

Hey guys,

thanks for comments. I had a couple of people message me about their bad experiences with Boyd so no Boyd for my children. I met with the director of Blemont Green Montessori, and I do like them. and now I will call Willow and see what they offer.

thanks again!

Mike

 

Our daughter went to Children's Montessori House for pre-school through K. We were quite happy with it. At the time (2000-2003), it was the closest (Leesburg and Herndon were the other choices) and it worked out well. It is located on corner of Waxpool and Cascades Pkwy (on the way to Target). It was quite a drive back then trying to get through the light at Rt 28, but worth it.

-Jim

 

Montessori is a type of philosophy that is wonderful for most children; the global mission is to teach children at their individual level and make education fun and hands on. Peace and community is important as is teaching respect for others, the environment and self.

Some Montessori schools do not follow Montessori education correctly, as the concept is not copyrighted. The philosophy was created by the first woman Dr. in Italy; created by studying children and their needs.

Be careful when choosing to rate a school on extraneous circumstances. Each school will have turnover. Early childhood education is very demanding and if a teacher is not going to perform up to par wouldn't you want one that will? I do have to admit a five-time turnover in one year is very concerning, both for the parents and the child. Optimally the child will have the same teacher for the three-year cycle. Using the facility on weekends is not a big deal. Don't you want the most resources for your child? If renting out the school means more money for more resources that sounds good.

Be careful when choosing a school also; make sure it is accredited. I researched the American Montessori Society (AMS) website and found that Boyd is not only accredited but one of the only schools in our area that is. See link http://www.amshq.org/schools_Membership.htm for more. For American Montessori Internationale (AMI) see website http://www.montessori-ami.org/. Unfortunately it was down when I looked last. When I started researching Belmont Montessori, Boyd Montessori and Leesburg Montessori were the only accredited choices. To our family one was not an option because of the location and condition of the building, one was only OK and the one that stood out to us was Boyd. We will see how it is after the school year begins.

One word to the wise, a forum like this can be a dangerous place to gossip, as one person's experience may not affect another person but may fog the opinion of the school unfairly. On the other hand the experience may help others to clarify the situation at hand, hopefully to prevent the same situation from happening to another family.

 

Jburrow,

thanks! Very wise words.

Mike

 

So, jburrowshr. I assume you are the husband of jb10 who works there? That was a nice infomercial

 

Nope - he's not my husband.

In all honesty, The Boyd School has had some growing pains, but has a wonderful campus and great people who work there. They are uncommon for Montessori schools because of their size - the Broadlands campus alone has about 12 classrooms, an auditorium for plays and large events, a pond and outdoor classroom, a swimming pool, and lots of outdoor space.

Like someone in a previous post mentioned, most of the Montessori schools in the area are small. What people (owners) generally do is have as the Director (or management) a former teacher. Well, managing a classroom of 15-20 kids does NOT translate well to suddenly managing a staff of 30, around 200 students, and coping with all of their parents well. The Boyd school at Broadlands has had two Directors - the first seemed a former hippie who was all "peace, love, & joy" but couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag. The second was a very intelligent and organized woman (polar opposite of the first guy) but was very assertive and unbending and offended a number of parents and staff. Neither of these two is coming back as Director next year.

What most schools are very happy to do is give you a tour at almost any time throughout the year. Montessori really is a great philosphy for educating children. While you may go with a smaller school early on, if you find that your kids do well, you might consider a larger school later that has the capacity for kids of older ages.

The Boyd school is getting its footing in terms of management and are realizing that they need administration staff who have more management skills in addition to classroom skills. Maybe check it out in the future. Good luck.

 

echo that homer! jburrowshr must work there or know someone who does.

jburrowshr, i think (well i hope anyway) that most people who are willing to pay the cost of college tuition to send their kids to montessori have an understanding and respect for the philosophy. I can promise you that a majority of people who have had problems with Boyd, including myself, have very good and justifiable reasons beyond a standard teacher turnover rate. You are correct, Montessori as a name is not copyrighted. I could open a ‘school’ tomorrow where kids do nothing but blow bubbles all day long and call it ABC Montessori; but give parents some credit here! The Montessori Academy at Belmont Green and the Willow Montessori School both are in fact AMS accredited, Belmont Green is also a teaching school, and they train and certify Montessori teachers there. So I am not sure where you got your information, but it is not accurate. I’m glad your research has put you at ease to enroll your child at Boyd. Perhaps your experience will be better than the rest of us; but please don’t make it your duty to assume the experiences of others are based on inconsequential reasons.

 

I would say accreditation is what it is but does not translate to quality in all cases. Boyd is not the only school accredited in this area. You are speaking stictly of a Montessori accreditation and not other education accreditations.

 

Sorry...what age child(ren) are you looking for? Young/Preschool?
For that kind of money you may want to take a peek at Bean Tree (near Home Depot). Do not have personal experience with it but have heard good things? Good Luck.

 

yes, the original poster asked for Montessori school recommendations, so these posts are speaking of Montessori accreditations. Montessori seems to be something people either love or hate, and those that love it are quite loyal, but that's another fourm topic entirely. AMS is the "golden standard" in Montessori accreditations. Yes, being accredited certainly does not translate to quality in all cases. People that put 100% faith in something or someone just because they have a piece of paper with a gold seal on it can be in for a rude awakening. I had a bad experience with an OB that was an FACOG (a fancy and rigid OB organization), but that didn't make her a good doctor, in fact she had several malpractice suits on her record (wish I knew that before I went to her) and could have had one more from me! A lot of these "societies" are good old boys clubs, one hand greases the other, as the saying goes. Membership has its privileges, your quality can go way down and often times they will stand behind their members anyway.

Personally, for Montessori, I put a lot less weight on accrediations, and more weight on: teachers being montessori certified (you can have good teachers that aren't certified and bad teachers that are, but certification at least shows they've completed training in the philosophy and can present accordingly), feedback from other parents, feedback from teachers in the school (if they enjoy working there, if they plan to return the next year, etc.), a conversation with the director or owner, and also feedback from the children, after all, if they're not enjoying the school and having positive experiences, what's the point? it's preschool!

 

Nope, I am not the wife of the husband who works there. I am a previous Montessori teacher, current stay-at-home mom who has done her homework. As you can tell I am very passionate about the Montessori method. I can recommend books to those who want to learn more.

 

Hey guys,

I appreciate everyone's input and messages.

How about we just end this thread.

thanks!

Mike

 

Now let's not let anyone get testy about messages posted here. I tried to be very neutral not to step on any toes. For those of you wondering where I got my information it was from the websites I listed in my previous message. I did not pull it from the air. Before our family moved here from IL I researched AMS and AMI to see what accredited schools were here. I have not heard of Willow and did not see it on any accredited websites. Yes accreditation has to do with quality. One level of low accreditation means a head teacher can be in the room without her certification. I am not comfortable with that. Again there are different levels of accreditation and two different types - AMS and AMI. Yes Belmont is a teaching school but that does not mean they are above all the rest. I liked Belmont but I liked Boyd better.

Parents want what is best for their children no matter what. Although the teachers can help make an experience great this is not always the case. There are many factors involved. Personality mix of children, etc.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Montessori yes there are three age groups mixed in a classroom for modeling purposes. Hope that helps and answers questions raised in this thread.

 

Yes let's end this thread. We all have hot buttons, this may be one for me. I wanted to share and I did. Thanks everyone for adding more information.

 

Wow, this thread didn't even get hot and you are surrendering like France already . Stay out of the hospital thread or you may get burnt by the flames if your skin is that thin, lol.