I have been in the Montessori system since preschool, and I haven't regretted a single second of it….
I have been in the Montessori system since preschool, and I haven't regretted a single second of it. My first years in Bridgeview were amazing because the teachers made all our counting to 100 or spelling projects fun and in a way that made me want to come back in the morning. The school goes from preschool to 6th Year [grade] and when 1st Year rolled around, I shot up in confidence from level 10 to level 1000. I walked in on the first day, and I thought I was going to be the best at everything and not have to do the work other kids did. Boy was I wrong! By the end of the first week, my confidence dropped to a five out of ten. The 3rd Years were doing division, and I was stuck on subtraction and addition. That's what made me try in school. I was inspired to be the best at whatever another kid in class, older or younger, could do better than me. I wanted to be the best not because I wanted to take pride in saying, “I can do this” or “I can do that,” I wanted to teach others and that was what stuck with me through my Elementary I years and on to Elementary II.
By the end of 2rd Year I was on top of things and feeling great about the new year until... I'm not going to call anyone out, but there was this girl ok. I always had a red nose, and it was always runny, no matter what season. The girl would tell the people in the Purple Room to call me Rudolph, and they did except for Nicholas and a few other kids. But, most of them did. I would walk into class and kids would full on replace my name with Rudolph. That all went on until one day. I was in the Science Room, and Margaret was there to. The girl and I had an argument, and she got a little mad at me. She took a book of the Science shelf and whacked it into my back. Margaret was secretly watching the whole thing and tried to play it like she didn't see anything that happened when she walked in. The girl started to randomly cry and handed the book to me and said I whacked her. “I would never do that,” I told Margaret and she gave me a nod and took the girl to Sandy's office, and that was the end of that. I recognized the way teachers in Montessori assess a situation, talk about the way it came about, and then take action.
I got to 4th Year with no problems to think of (besides my hand writing). Elementary II was where my challenge really began. The assignments were getting harder, but my knowledge was growing. Every day I walked up the stairs and felt I had more freedom than before. I came up from Elementary I with the sarcasm of a 6 year-old in a 10 year-old body. It was sort of like a car wash: each section or year I would have a different trait and by the end of 5th grade, my act had been polished like a car at the end of its wash. In 6th Year I was very mature and ready for the challenges that awaited me like our senior project.
Bridgeview Montessori definitely prepared me, and all the other 6th Years, to the best of our abilities.
I hope to teach all my schools to come the Montessori way and be successful in everything I do. I don't think I have gone a day without smiling, or having a good time, or without an uplifting moment thanks to Bridgeview Montessori.