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Got offer from Hawthorn. Curious thoughts if it is worth to make a change for kid? Currently in 1st grade at Mayer.
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SO curious if anyone has an opinion on this as we are also eyeing the same switch, but for 4th grade. Having done lower elementary at Mayer, my child had a really great experience in the Montessori program. We wouldn’t even be in the lottery except that Montessori ends at the end of 3rd and IB alone isn’t really special enough to be a compelling reason to stay there vs. see what else is out there.
Speaking for Mayer, I’ve loved the Montessori program for the fact that my child can progress at their own pace and be self-directed. I have been a little concerned at times that they could have been more challenged–they went to a private Montessori preK with smaller class sizes and there was definitely kind of a stall-out for awhile where they were being given stuff below what they were doing there because it just can’t be as personalized in a class of 28 as it was in a class of 12. However, I’ve also been so impressed with how self-motivated they are, how they’ve learned to organize their own work plan to make sure they get what they need to do done and have room for works they want to do as well, and how they’ve learned to ask for help from the teachers as needed (I work with university students who, as a group, are severely lacking all these skills). Probably my biggest concern with Mayer going forward towards tween/middle grades is social because the student body is just SO high SES and we are not and I’m thinking a more demographically diverse school might be a little easier socially through the middle grades.
Going to try to make one of the tours this week.
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We really liked the Mayer Montessori system. Our kids always had a teacher assistant in their homeroom from 1-3rd grade so the teacher student ration was 14:1 or lower which is why we wanted to get into Mayer in the first place. The teacher assistants are highly experienced and played a crucial role in the classroom, especially for my daughter. My kids enjoyed the mentoring role they played in Montessori but they were also relieved to be in a classroom with just 4th graders when the time came.
My 6th grader was just admitted into our preferred Academic Center (we also applied for accelerated placement for Math in case that didn’t work out) and we really hope the younger sib will also test into the same AC. I don’t know anything about Hawthorne but their ranking is impressive — is this a selective enrollment school where students have to test in?
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