Horace Mann Elementary School

This is long but please read it all!I wasn't really on board with private school education. My wife and I did public schools as kids and turned out fine, and I hadn't known a ton of people growing up who went to private school. It honestly felt like a huge gamble (financially and...developmentally?) on our kids' futures. Still, my wife, the devoted mother that she is, did loads of research on the topic and felt private (specifically Montessori) school was best for our kids for a variety of reasons - I trust her infinitely more than myself on these matters, and followed her lead in spite of my skepticism. I can safely and proudly say that I am extremely grateful for my wife's decision :).The first day we dropped our daughter, Ana (1.9 at the time), off at Walnut Park was bittersweet - her brother also started school elsewhere, so the house wound up noticeably and unfortunately more quiet; Ana is a social butterfly, so it was great for her to get to spend a few hours with more kids; drop off was tough at first, so we were anxious about how the kids were doing. She adjusted quickly, giving us the impression that it was the right thing. I'll never forget the moment where it really crystallized for me that Montessori and Walnut Park specifically was something special.The next month we got to observe her class over zoom. Ana is...high spirited and vocal with her opinions. She tends to do what she wants on her own terms, though to her credit she generally can be reasoned with. She was doing some work with a teacher, and at the end of it the teacher, who was with a different student by now, looked over to Ana, said "Ana, please put your mat away," and went back to the other student. After maybe 10 seconds of pondering the instruction, she quietly stood up and put her mat away without any further instruction. WHAT?!?! WHO'S CHILD IS THIS?! My mouth dropped open, and stayed that way for a while. The rest of the class was equally shocking, from all of the kids. From peeling oranges to connecting the tables for snack time to cleaning the floors, the toddler room teachers (saints that they are) had these kids no older than 3 behaving in objectively perfect order (not just considering their age). I was convinced that this was IT.That’s how I felt last year, and we’ve only grown now satisfied with our daughter’s development here. Her ability to communicate has always been strong, but now we’re seeing a greater clarity and thought with how she talks with us.