Montessori or Not?

In my over 14 years of experience teaching and owning a Montessori school, I have only found a handful of children who did not thrive in our environment--usually because the parents were not a good fit with the school's goals and method but a couple of the children had problems/issues that were beyond our training.
There are those in the Montessori field who do not understand what Montessori is and how to apply it to a variety of children. A true Montessori teacher never blames the child but looks to the environment including activities available, the teachers and even the parents.
We do not have a great deal of make believe in a Montessori classroom as at the young age we teach, reality should come first. Any child with a well developed background in all areas will develop their own make believe and imagination rather than mimicing (spelling, sorry) what they see on tv.

A new student should be introduced to the classroom and shown several activities to spark their interest. In our school the teachers and the students are very welcoming and make the new ones feel at home.

Sometimes there is an adjustment period, depending on the home environment as ours is a classroom of great freedom, but within limits. The classroom is set up to allow the chidlren to be very independent but we do expect them to follow the classroom rules--it is not a free for all. They are taught to treat each other as they want to be treated, clean up their works when they are finished and such.

Like any school, there are good ones and bad ones.

I've had my child in both traditional and montessori-- we took him out of montessori after about 2 weeks, absolutely was NOT the right atmosphere for him! I was furious after watching behind the 2 way mirror on a couple of occasions that not only was he not being given ANY direction, but was just handed a book to look at and sat there with it in his little hands just staring at it and looking around like "what am I supposed to do, I can't read!" for over an hour!!! Then, when discussed with the teacher (who was "late" that day-- yes over an hour and a half "late")and the head of the school-- both of whom blamed my 3 year old at the time b/c he just "didn't want to do anything" at that time, thus they didn't want to "make" him do anything! What a lame excuse, my husband & I both had a phone conference with them and they continued to blame my child-- so we pulled him immediately, AFTER explaining that they, as the adults, are supposed to try to get him involved and participating NOT just leave him sitting for an hour! I also have several friends who have had not so good montessori experiences, as the teachers seem to use "its the montessori way" as an excuse for ANY problem that arises.
That being said, I would certainly NOT advise placing your child at North Dallas Montessori.
On the other hand I also have a friend who has 2 children in montessori and really likes it... for the most part.

Montessori is good. Hands on approach and free choice are good for kids. But also check the curriculum and how it corresponds to your elementary. Also, although free choice is good, how free choice is it? A little discretion in free choice goes a long way, otherwise your child may never experience certain activities. There are good Montessori's and bad ones. Are the adults highly qualified? What is the ratio? Doesd the curriculum closely align with what comes next? Do they do cursive before print and sounds before letters? Most elementaries do print before cursive and letters before sounds. Again, Montessori is fine, but does it align with what is next in your area, and is it a good Montessori.

I look forward to seeing the other answers you get to your question. I plan to start my son in a Montessori program in the fall. I know my son thrives on consistency and routine, and I'm hoping Montessori will provide him with that. I'm also hoping it will help foster some much needed independence in him. Who knows though...