Why Montessori for school aged children?

As I have mentioned before Montessori Education has always been in my life since I went to a montessori nursery as a child. As an adult I choose montessori as my career for many reasons as well as my strong belief that it is the way to facilitate children's learning. I wont go into my whys for Montessori, but instead whys for Montessori for school aged children.

I have been an Montessori teacher for the 2.5 - 6 yr olds since 2002. I have worked in the UK and in Egypt. I also used Montessori to homeschool Little-N and to give private lessons to various other children I knew. The children learn so much when using the montessori materials and as a parent/ teacher you know that through the materials every child will be laying down a solid foundation on which to base further knowledge. In the normal scenario your child will do very well working with the materials up to the age of 5 - 6 and then go to school and redo all the lovely learning you have already taught them. Its extremely frustrating for the child and a waste. In the UK we don't have many good Montessori schools that go up to the age of 12 and as Little-N is growing I feel the need to I further my training so that I can facilitate for his and other children's educational needs all the way up.

Recently I mapped the 5 year olds in my class to the Reception National curriculum, I found that all of them have completed the national curriculum and gone beyond it. Not Just the 5 year olds, but some of my 4 year olds who are due to start reception in September have already completed the curriculum. Its sad, to know that these children will spend a whole school year, re-learning what they already know. Imagine, a child who can read spending weeks and weeks learning letter sounds!! Or a child who can do addition learning 1, 2 ,3. Its a waste and its not fair for the child. So why? Why put your child through that when instead you can give your child the chance to reach their full potential?

Here are two online videos about Montessori for 6- 12 age, watch them and you will know what i am talking about.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RTpAILazPnM
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GGFYVRSWokg

In a normal school children are taught. In a Montessori school children learn!!