Montessori Garden

Our son has been in Montessori schools since he was a toddler. We were relocating so with all was going on we had to look for a new school for him. Before we arrived Seattle, I called this school and was greeted over the phone by one of the owners /​directors. She said we have to pay a application fee before they can give us a tour, because their school tours & observation are reserved for people who are «serious in applying for their school» and she said it was because they’ve learned this is «the best way to maximize their time». Well, how would we know we want to spend the $ 75 or $ 95 registration before we even step our feet in the school? That was pretty arrogant, we thought, or maybe the school is so bad so they try to squeeze in some $$ before people even apply for it? Anyway, no thanks. I’m sure they have a beautiful facility, but if that’s how they run their school we don’t really want to send our child there.

Our son attended Montessori Garden for two years before kindergarten. We looked at several Montessori schools in the area before choosing this one and it was a great place. There was no teacher turn-​over and the teachers were professionals who had been at the school for a long time. The school ran smoothly with the teachers putting a ton of effort into working with the kids to produce winter and year-​end plays, which was one of the highlights of my son’s time there. The hours that they provide are very friendly to working parents, and the provided lunch was very convenient. My son made great friends at the school and grew tenfold in his ability to focus. His math skills are a year ahead going into kindergarten. The spring teas were also a highlight – the kids learned lessons in decorum and courtesy. There are also Spanish, music, dance, and art programs. The teachers complement each other well and we felt it was a well-​run school that benefited our son quite a bit. The kids did get to see Frozen once during the school year as part of the winter party, but that was it as far as Disney movies. If you are looking for a Montessori preschool, I’d definitely recommend checking out Montessori Garden.

Picking a pre-​school for your child requires a lot of contemplation and you just have to take a leap. I can say without hesitation that we made the right decision when we selected Montessori Garden. They have provided the right blend of comfort, support and guidance for our daughter. They have properly weened her from a little toddler into a well behaved little lady. She has become more curious and is kind towards others, which is exactly what we were hoping for. The room is bright, clean and welcoming. She enjoys her work time and loves all the extras like dancing, spanish, music and art.

This is a great school, and you should visit it if considering preschools in the area.

My son is now in his 2^nd year at Montessori Garden. I was a bit skeptical on the virtues of Montessori education, but my husband was a Montessori kid (and loved it) so I went along.
We have had a great experience with Montessori Garden. Amy and Megan have been great with helping our son transition to MG and to Seattle. If there were ever any issues we got an email or phone call immediately. I love that there is discipline in the school as most preschools seem chaotic, which is not the case at Montessori Garden. My son has learned to clean up after himself, be independent and pay attention, which is all on top of the things he is learning in the classroom.
I love that the kids play outside twice a day, eat lunch family style, have music and drama and Spanish. The building is beautiful and makes me think of my old elementary school (with pull down blackboards and everything!)
There are optional speakers in the evenings once or twice a year. I attended one last year about how to speak with preschoolers about their bodies and answer any questions they may have about those sorts of topics. It was extremely helpful.
The only area of opportunity I can see and the reason I gave a 4 out of 5 is on overall school communication. More regular communication would be helpful, but I do know they are working on this.
I notice one extremely negative review posted June 2014 which was shocking to me as I had a completely different take on the same exact situations. Please take any extreme reviews with the grain of salt they deserve.

We have had our daughter at MG for three years. She has grown tremendously as a child as the teachers and school have fostered an environment of learning and development. This summer on vacation we watched our daughter’s patience, inquisitiveness and confidence come out as she engaged other children, showed patience and amazing growth from both am educational and personal standpoint.
As a parent you have many choices and you invest a lot of resources in your child’s development and we have continued to choose MG as we have seen our daughter get the skills necessary to take the big step to K-​12 next year. MG has a curriculum that empowers a child and their family to grow through innovative educational principles.
The staff had been professional, patient and always puts the children first.
Would point out that Ryan’s review is not in any way in line with our or the many parents we talk with regularly. I think the criticism is unfair and offline of anything we have experienced.
Would give MG an A+ and advise you to consider it if you are looking for a nurturing learning environment for your child.

I love MG! My son attended 3 years here and was so well prepared he could have easily skipped Kindergarten. The teaches are very knowledgeable and friendly and have the best interest of all at heart. Megan and Amy are long time teachers with great insight into the learning process. Elsa is just the best art teacher in the world and Eric totally gets the kids involved in music. The rooms are bright and totally charming and child friendly.
I know not every kid is a perfect fit for the Montessori program but for us it was a dream. Our son loved it and was never ready to come home when I arrived to pick him up.
I have highly recommended MG to friends and clients and they have all had good experiences as well. I’ll continue to recommend this great school.

Initially, I was very pleased with the school. Everything seemed in order, and the classroom visit went fine. This changed in a few months when the staff wanted to dramatically reduce my child’s hours there based on «repeated disciplinary problems».
I was very surprised. Up until this point, zero disciplinary problems had been brought to our attention and zero documentation existed of these problem. Amy and Megan were extremely combative during the parent meeting and reduced my partner to tears. They were frequently screaming at us both. I found their approach very unprofessional.
I asked other teachers in passing about my child’s behavior, and they told me that he did not have any problems that they were aware of. This was a very different story than the one the administration told me. However, since I had spoken to other teachers without the permission of the administration, they kicked us out of the school.
These are my main issues:
1) The school provides ZERO documentation of disciplinary incidents
2) Watching Disney movies is a part of their curriculum
3) Parents are not allowed to observe key ceremonies in their child’s lives (birthday, welcome circle, etc.)
4) The administration invites over a «sex ed» teacher to help educate parents so they can protect children from sexual abuse, this is usually fine, but this teacher is very anti-​Male in her words and actions, and ignores the fact that the CDC reports female caregivers are culprits in 40% of sexual abuse cases against children.
5) I attempted to use the parents’ email list to organize after school and summer play groups and received a very harshly worded letter about the inappropriateness of emailing other parents.
6) Speaking with other teachers was discouraged
7) Organizing activities with other parents was discouraged
8) I’m don’t think the school has a Montessori accreditation. I could not find it in any of the documentation, and I could not find it listed with any of the accrediting bodies list them. Further research is required here, but it is worth asking them if you choose to investigate further. Perhaps they do, and I overlooked it.
9) The administration is highly combative and passive aggressive.
If you want to be an active part of your child’s development and build a community with other parents and teachers, this may not be the school for you.

When you read the words «the teachers are strict» it should make you ask more questions. We attended this school and if you visit or observe, keep your eyes and ears open. All the rules here are to serve the teachers. It’s a very staff-​centric vs. child-​centric environment. When the children come in in the morning, there are no greetings to the child, and maybe to the parent. The staff walks around like hall monitors making sure all are following the rules. No more than three children play together at a time in the kids club. When children gather for circle time, listen to the banter of the teachers among themselves rather than welcoming the kids. All children must sit cross legged with hands in their lap… and so on. Listen for the teacher showing contempt for a child wandering around and «disrupting» others — watch for the eye roll.
There is no emotional intelligence here, there are no problem solving skills here. If your child «misbehaves» or breaks the rules or simply acts like a three year old, they are sent away. We picked up our child early one day to find them in the teachers office alone sitting in a chair (???).
We are now at the most loving, child centric school and it’s only NOW that I see what a difference a patient staff who truly love children and feel if a child «misbehaves» that it is their job to crack the code and find out what that child needs. Not to mention the community and parent involvement.
Montessori Garden does not invite parents except the tea and a parent night or two. Only a handful of parents even attend, and then it’s mostly Amy talking at you about Montessori. No introductions, no connections.
One mom told me the teacher literally yelled at her to get out of the classroom when she was coming up to use some scissors for a project downstairs.
The school is beautiful, my child did learn to prep for kindergarten, but there is no community or real love of children. The teachers should tour other schools, it doesn’t have to be this way — it could be great, but their arrogance and attitude of «these are our rules, and it may not be for everyone» puts a pit in my stomach that my children were here for too long. Now that I know what is possible, I felt compelled to write a review. It’s not that hard — children just want to feel Iike they belong and are valued. And don’t be fooled by the Positive Discipline reading recommendation on their website, I don’t think any of the staff has actually read it… at least in the last five years.

We started our son here a few months ago. He is 4 and was thirsty for learning. Megan and Amy are warm and friendly. My son adores them! My son responds well to the well-​organized environment. I fond the entire staff to be loving toward the kids. That joy of kids was lacking at our previous school. My son is loving this school and adjusted so fast! The only downside is that there are numerous numerous holidays where I’m left without care (more days than public school.) But its worth it! I love the consistency here. These kids are having fun and learning to be independant, high achieving, empathetic people. I love it!

Montessori Garden has been fantastic for my children. Our children have been attending MG for several years and we are pleased with the staff, the activities and the environment. Like all children, my kids (a girl and a boy) have their own unique personalities and the staff at MG have created a safe environment where both can enjoy learning new things, gaining confidence and building social interaction skills.
In my experience, all of the teachers and staff have been open and available to discuss any questions or concerns that I might have. Amy (now one of the owners) has been generous with her time in discussing concerns and offering potential solutions. Else and Eric have been great too.
Most important — my children look forward to going to MG and they are excited about learning new things. This schooling option has been the right fit for my children and our family.

I love Montessori Garden! The deciding factor for sending our daughter there this fall was the passionate teachers, and this continued passion is ultimately what inspired me to give a 5-​star review here. They care about what they do. They believe in the Montessori Method. They are committed to providing the absolute best in childcare. I trust them, I talk with them often. I feel listened to by the teachers and I respect them all. Some (many?) of the teachers are parents.
I know next to zero about the Montessori Method, and I haven’t read about Waldorf or other methods or investigated many schools. My daughter likes this school, and so do I.
Montessori Garden are very steeped in structure and routine. I suppose one could fault them for being too tight in this regard, but it seems to work for them. Meaning, the kids seem happy and healthy, and the teachers seem passionate, caring, consistent, and happy.
One criticism I have of the school is the lack of parent involvement. For instance, I’d like to play music in class, but I’m not welcome to. This didn’t affect my review because it just inspired me to do music with my daughter at home and with friends. Another suggestion: say one parent is a botanist: why not have them in to talk about plants for 15 minutes?
Update 2012-​05-​25: I sat in and played music, and was welcomed to return.
As for amenities… sure, the school could have a lot more: swings, garden, farm animals, caves, corn maze, pool, lazy river, trapeze… but the teachers would still have to be passionate!
One reviewer mentioned a television. As far as I know, there’s no TV.
Another reviewer mentioned the administration was too harsh. Was that misinterpreted passion? Did they directly attempt to resolve differences with the administration?
I respond to and appreciate passion/​directness/​bluntness, but not everyone does. I sometimes hear the phrase «Seattle nice», describing a cultural tendency around here towards indirectness and passive aggressiveness. Not so at Montessori Garden. The administration is open, honest, direct, and again, passionate.
Update 2012-​03-​06: be sure to check out the «filtered» reviews. As of today, 7 positive reviews and 1 negative reviews are filtered, no idea why. They all look like legitimate, helpful reviews.

Young children need a warm, friendly, safe environment. Montessori Garden fails to provide that. Their discipline is too harsh and the administration is defensive and unresponsive to families and children. Could be a fabulous school — facilities are mostly nice (except for the paved playground) and a couple of the teachers are gentle and kind, but overall this was the harshest place I’ve had the misfortune of leaving my child. Parents make mistakes, but we’ve learned from this one. Hopefully schools can learn from their mistakes, too (hint hint…). Btw, have heard from parents of Orca, the school that shares the building, that when MG parents aren’t there, the teachers talk quite harshly to the children. Give me a break… the kids start at 3 years of age!!!

Our son has been attending Montessori Garden since July, just after he turned 3. Prior to this, he attended another local daycare. We spent time researching pre-​schools and the various school «methodologies» around. Our son is very energetic and plays hard (and physical), but he likes to know the «how» and «why» behind most anything. After learning more about the Montessori approach, we started researching local schools. Ultimately, we decided on Montessori Garden for the following reasons:
1. The teachers/​staff are strict but respectful of the kids as people. Amy and Megan (the new owners) believe in the Montessori approach and educate the parents about it (there are actual parent education nights that are fantastic). They have been supportive of the challenges we have had with our son and have helped coach us through them.
2. The «curriculum» is Montessori but it also includes music, art, and drama. I love singing songs with my son that I had completely forgotten existed.
3. The location is now in the brick building at the Phinney Neighborhood Association. The build is an historic school building, but the MG team spent a ton of effort to make the space bright and inviting. The only downside to this location is the lack of a grassy play area. But during the summer term, MG occasionally did a walking field trip to Woodland Park.
Overall, I would recommend the school. We have been beyond happy with MG.
(A note about the review from 10/​11/​2009 — ownership of MG has changed. In our experience, we haven’t seen any of things noted by the reviewer)

Unfortunately I had a similar experience here, the learning environment is a little too sterile for me. I understand the concept of Montessori and it is a very committed Montessori school, however if you are looking for any sort of «warm & fuzzy» you are not going to get it here. I was in fact reprimanded one day after giving my son a «second hug» on his second day of summer preschool. We promptly removed him and looked into other schools. Lastly, I did not enjoy being talked to by the staff as if I was a child myself, not the best approach for me.

Our entire family was turned off by this school. My kids –both lifelong Montessori students– chronically complained they had insufficient time with the Montessori works. The administration is prickly and not in a cute little hedgehog way. Our experience with them was one of an almost imperial administrative self-​importance, in my opinion even at the expense of their mission. Kids who dread going to school are going to be ill motivated to learn there.
I was shocked to discover Friday afternoons the kids were shown Disney-​style movies on television. Really? TV? They can do that at home for free. What part does ‘Lady and the Tramp’ play in self-​directed learning?
In fairness, a couple of the teachers really seemed to get it. One new hire late in the summer was a particular bright spot, but not enough to overcome the systemic problems we were having.
A final note of irony, at Montessori Garden the garden is a big, hot, fenced blacktop. You can’t blame them because someone paved paradise to put up a parking lot, but it provides a worthy simile for our entire experience.