Overall the Montessori was overpriced and they catered to the families who can afford their over-rated "tuition", which was no problem for me. They offer half rate to one needy family per year. My experience was appalling. If your kid is brown, or your kid is energetic, creative, a mover and shaker this place is not for you. They love the catatonic kids. So if you can put your 3 year old down on a rug and he's there 5 hours later without a peep out of him, then you are in! For the rest of the world, which is 99%, they will make your life hell until you take your child out of there. They kept a diary of "bad" behaviors for my child. In it were typical things kids get themselves into, spilling drinks on themselves, laughing out of turn, speaking out of turn, (we're talking about a 3 to 4 year old!), touching 5 and 6 year old manipulative types, talking to loud, and dancing on top of the twister game. They punished my daughter daily for touching the ABC sandpaper board cards when only 5 year olds can touch them. The Director (who never had children of her own at the time) harassed me until she got what she wanted: we left. During that time though, they locked my daughter out of the building and forgot her. She cried pounding on the door to let her in. Then they lost track of her and left her in the cloak room for a half hour. Found her eating goodies out of the lunch boxes and called me to tell me my child needed a shrink. One teacher who refused to get her throat diagnosed spread Strep throat repeatedly. My girl & others got it 6 times that year in that place! The Director called me in to tell me my daughter HAD to be the carrier, that it couldn't be anyone else! Why target us? Then the class teacher was found to be the carrier. I paid over $10,000 for my child to learn how to pour beans and cut bananas everyday Mon-Fri for 12 months. These people are not in touch with Maria Montessori, not in touch with her initial mission and philosophy. These women are empty of warmth, love, and nurturing. And that is what Maria used as a catalyst for studying children and finding their learning style. I pulled my daughter out and sent her to a multi-cultural child development center where there were Caucasian, Hispanic, and African teachers. Suddenly she was no problem at all. In fact, I never got a call on her behavior for a year and a half. Then she went into Kindergarten, where many of the "graduates" of the Child's Garden programs also attend and so they carry on the Child's Garden philosophies. If you want your child to have a real life experience where warmth and love and difference are embraced, don't bother with A Child's Garden Montessori in Stonington, CT. Also, the $850 monthly tab is nothing compared to the 4 times a year you re hounded to donate your time and money to their "not for profit" school.
