I sent Gavin for a 3-hour trial lesson at the Montessori school yesterday. It has been four months since he went to school and I was worried that he would exhibit some separation anxiety. But he ended up liking the place a lot and that prompted me to want to sign him up for a longer term programme. But guess what? I was told he wasn’t quite ready for the school yet and it would be better to sign him up next year! Oh, what a shame!

Well, they have their reservations after observing him for three hours.

First, he was rather aggressive with some of the other children, grabbing them by their necks. I am surprised because he has never acted this way with us but he does get overly excited with other kids sometimes.

Second, he was disruptive and did not want to gather with the other children when the teacher was telling stories. Well..restless maybe?

Third, he needs to be with someone constantly and they don’t have enough teachers at this moment. Ok, granted.

Fourth, he was going around drinking from other’s mugs. Hehe…He does have this problem and I really believe it’s a matter of curiosity.

Finally, they were very alarmed because he tried to run outside the classroom twice when the door was left open. ???

But they did mentioned that he is neat and even helped out laying out the plates properly.

Anyway, I was initially quite upset to hear those negative comments because it sounded like Gavin has some behavioural problem and he’s abnormal. I was also annoyed that they only seem to want to take in kids who are extremely well-behaved. But on second thoughts, I supposed their concerns are valid because this is afterall a school and they need to consider the welfare of the other children. Anyway, I am very certain my child is really quite normal and my guess is that he is just not emotionally ready to fit into that environment. Afterall, it was only a 3-hour trial!!!

Personally, I like the school because the place is clean and child friendly, the teachers are nice and he was genuinely having a good time there. A far cry from the Tots House he was at in the early half of the year. I also like the way they use play and practical life exercises to teach the kids. So I was hoping to start him on a thrice-a-week programme and subsequently to progress into a daily programme next year.

Well, it’s okay. I am still very open-minded about the school. So for now, I will just sign him up for the once-a-week programme to get him used to the place and teachers. More important, to have the opportunity to interact with the other children and hopefully, he can become more sociable sooner.