Transitioning into or out of a school can sometimes feel scary for parents and children alike, especially when they aren’t sure what to expect. We reached out to our community of families to get a feel for what that process was like for them, whether they were coming to Heartwood for the first time or transitioning into a traditional school environment after being immersed in the Montessori world. Our hope is that by sharing these experiences we can offer some peace to our current and prospective families during their decision making process.
Hoda offered to share her family’s experience transitioning her oldest child from Heartwood to a public Montessori charter school.
“My son, Kian, spent his Kindergarten year in the K/El class at Heartwood and I couldn’t be more grateful to all his teachers. Kian loved his environment, his teachers, and his friends and truly thrived. He learned how to read and his teachers instilled a love of reading in him. He started doing lots of research on different animals towards the end of the year and also loved writing his own stories.
This year Kian is a 1st grader at Sterling Montessori and he couldn’t have been more prepared when entering the class. All the cursive and math lessons were mainly reviews for Kian up until the end of December. Just last week when I picked him up he said, “Mommy, 1st grade is starting to feel like 2nd grade, especially in Math.”
I would also like to add that Kian had no issues with transitioning. Although he was sad at the end of last year to know he was changing schools, he was happy to enter his new classroom at his new school this year. He has made new friends and is in a great place academically. Of course we still keep close contact with his Heartwood friends. Heartwood friends are lifelong friends, no one can argue with that. “
For more transitions experiences, check out these families’ stories: