Montessori Elementary Homeschool Blog - with documentation of our infant Montessori, toddler Montessori, and primary Montessori experiences; as well as preparation for the upcoming adolescent Montessori homeschool years.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

The Real Cost of Montessori Training


Costs of Montessori Trainings --- Only my personal experience:

Primary Montessori Training - 1 academic year format - 1:00-5:30 every week day:

  • $9000 - training center itself - in the form of a 1.76-3.8% variable rate loan
  • $1000 - Rental truck to move across country, including gas
  • $3000 - ultimate out-of-pocket cost for 9 months of full-day childcare after state assistance kicked in (Montessori school)
  • $300 - incidentals (paper, ink, binders, etc.)
  • can't measure - the cost of closing a profitable in-home childcare, working part-time (3-5 hours a morning as an aide with hours added as the year went on) only in the last 7 months (the original aide was a single woman, not a mother, responsible, also in the training with me - she continually called me to sub for her the morning that the weekly assignments were due since hers weren't done; when she finally put in two weeks notice because she couldn't work and do the training, the directress/guide wanted to hire me, but the school board wondered how a single MOTHER could manage to work and go to school if a single WOMAN couldn't; they ultimately hired me and more hours were slowly added because I COULD do it.)
  • Not included: expenses we would have had anyway (food, etc.). Although food costs went up because I was purchasing bulk food and receiving money from the Federal Food Program for the daycare I had; now we were on our own and buying in smaller quantities - the prices goes up per person.

Elementary Montessori Training - 3 summer format - 8-hours each day:

  • $9000 - training center itself - in the form of a graduate loan through Loyola in Maryland - 6.8%
  • $20,000 - graduate credit at Loyola towards a Master's in Education-Montessori - in the form of same graduate loan - 6.8%
  • $5,250 - housing for all summers combined
  • $750 - materials available on-site at a steep discount (or unavailable elsewhere)
  • $400 - incidentals (paper, ink, binders, etc.) - cost went up due to twice as much paper, and they wanted it re-printed a few more times.
  • $900 - summer camp cost for the weeks my son was with me
  • Not included: two weekend seminars (I did not attend); travel expenses between training center, where my son was a portion of each summer and where we live/d, other living expenses we would have had anyway.
  • can't measure: time away from my son. With primary we were together every day, if not every hour of the day. With elementary, he went to family for weeks at a time. 
  • also can't measure: the emotional impact of the severe discrimination faced as a practicing/believing Christian (and a Catholic to boot!), a homeschooler (egads) and a woman who can get things done without whining about everyone else in the room (about 1/3 the group was constantly picking on everyone else). The constant re-writes of album pages because I kept Christian statements in the stories where they said "you can modify this to suit your own beliefs" - well, I am a Christian, so I will "modify" by keeping the Christian statements, thank you. Nope, that was apparently the wrong thing to do. And the constant apologies for the Christianity of Montessori were beyond just rolling one's eyes and ignoring it - it was downright cruel to Maria Montessori. Another training center may have been more respectful. (all those re-writes, and they couldn't catch actual safety typos - like typing the wrong chemical name for a demonstration).
I ended up sick during both trainings. In primary, our heat was accidentally "swiffered up", drying out my lungs in those few hours before we figured out what was going on, ended up in a severe coughing spell for weeks that caused me to almost pass out, cough up blood, and the doctors couldn't do anything. A friend gave me an old-fashioned humidifier and voila! Two days later I was fine. No amounts of boiling water on the stove took care of it as well as that cold-water humidifier.
 

In elementary, I was bit by either a tic or a spider - severe bulls-eye rash that wrapped around my leg. The doctor gave me a strong antibiotic for it - that I ended up sensitive to. Unable to focus while on it, severely motion sick (threw up several times on the way to the training center from the place we were staying), and unable to eat well within the first few hours of taking the twice daily dose. I had tiny windows of opportunity to get something in that would stay down. Finished the 10-day run and am hoping it wasn't a tic, so I don't have to worry about Lyme's Disease (so far, so good!).



6 comments:

  1. My own thoughts only here, but I feel in my heart, it is a wonder that a strong soul like yours was able to endure through all of this and still shine so brightly for so many of us around you. This is a testament to your true strength, faith, and courage. God gives us just a little more than we can handle...I believe. But He only gives what each is intended. It is a miracle that those who endure this treatment, training, and experience are able to come out on the other side and gift to children the wonder, excitement, optimism, and encouragement that I believe Maria Montessori intended.

    ReplyDelete
  2. And this is precisely why the training you offer is invaluable! I can't relocate, and even in looking at the summer training option that is 4 hours from me, I quickly realized that it was not practical. Your sacrifice to get the training and your willingness to train others "illegally" :) is very much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! I really wanted to do these trainings eventually but it seems I have no choice but wait until I'm a grandma...lol. Thanks Jessica for all you provide for us. This is a very thorough breakdown and I can appreciate even more what you provide!

    As for all the negativity towards Christians/Catholics, how can they get away with that? It really does seem illogical when you explain what you did about modifying to your own beliefs...did you end up arguing with them or did you bite your tongue?What could they possibly say that would defend it? What DID they say? My personality is to totally confront things like that, especially if it can be argued very logically to make the point. I'd probably get thrown out of there! It's hard to argue "feelings" or something just perceived, but something blatant like that, seems doable...lol. This is probaby why God is not providing this opportunity for me aytime soon! I need some humbling perhaps.

    Jenn

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't want to scare anyone off from training - just sharing my experience because of some recent private e-mail questions and conversations.

    I DO have a strong discrimination lawsuit against the training center, should I choose to pursue it. I don't choose to do so. I have more important things: my son and my internal peace.

    However, I am more than happy to publicly state, my experiences in elementary training are exactly what prompted me to share my albums and my training and my teaching experiences with the homeschooling world and with those teachers in schools where training is simply not accessible.

    Final thought (for now ;) ) - I went into training with a clear, if multi-faceted, goal in my mind. I chose Montessori before I had children, with the idea of opening a Catholic Montessori if I did not marry and have children; and with the idea of homeschooling if I did have children and my husband were also homeschool-minded. I KNEW this is what I wanted to offer my children and other children - years before I had a child. I had been in a wonderful Montessori school, saw/experienced normalization, wonderful children without attitudes, etc.
    -
    By the time I did primary training, I already had CGS level 1 formation (3-6) and level 2 (6-9). When I started the second summer of elementary training, I had already started CGS level 3 formation (ages 9-12) and finished it before the 3rd summer. So I had the faith-based foundation, I'd read Montessori's original works (the ones I could access at the time), as well as "The Child in the Church,"

    This, despite anything they said/did in training, I had a solid foundation in Montessori's faith, personal history, the reality of a normalized (non-religious) Montessori environment, reality/experience of the religious environment, and had a goal/use/purpose for this training besides just for my own personal development (which is great too, but would not have held me to the training the way the other goals did).

    ReplyDelete
  5. I absoutely enjoyed reading this! You rock!! Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Why does everything have to be so hard :) Way to be tough!

    ReplyDelete