Wondering if anyone has some current feedback to share about Growing Light Montessori in Oakland

Hi there,

Wondering if people would be willing to share their recent experiences with Growing Light Montessori.  We are considering sending our son there after he has been in a play-based program, and wanted specifically to know how Montessori their approach is?  I've seen it referred to as "modified-Montessori" and I'm not really sure what that means.  I also note that someone posted in this thread that there was a lack of imaginative play, and I would like to see whether current families echo that sentiment as play is pretty important for our son.

Thanks,

Laura

Parent Replies

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We're a happy current GLM family. It is a Montessori school, so I guess yes, there isn't a particular time set aside during the day dedicated to imaginative play. But there is lots of unstructured outdoor time, dance classes, mindfulness, singing, arts, etc. Kids have no trouble using their imaginations during free play time, so even if it's not baked into the schedule, they have no trouble inventing stories and characters for themselves out on the playground. We've been really pleased with the school. I toured a few Montessoris that seemed overly rigid and formal. GLM isn't like that. My son comes home with beautiful weavings, drawings and sculptures that he's made, and he is a passionate early reader. We feel that he is more than prepared to begin kindergarten next month. Most importantly, he's always happy and sometimes doesn't want to leave when we pick him up, because he's too busy with a project!