IMR: Places: Montessori Community School

Montessori Community School 1239 Nehoa Street Honolulu, Hawaii 96822-3071 Web: None

Montessori Community School is the first school Katie attended, beginning in November 2000. It came highly recommended, and the name is known nationwide for its strong focus on its independence-oriented educational philosophy. In all honesty, though, we would have gone with any school or daycare center at the time, as Jen was about to return to work, nabbing a 'floater' position at local retailer Liberty House. In fact, we didn't realize we were looking at a school per se until we got the bill. The fact that there are winter and summer breaks also posed a problem. It didn't take long to realize that the place was way too expensive. Jen's monthly income was coming out to barely two-thirds of Katie's tuition, and the school's two-week Winter Break alone created a nightmare of schedule shuffling between Jen, my mom, and myself. By the time the new year rolled around, we decided to withdraw Katie from the program. Jen returned to stay-at-home parenthood, while we waited for an opening for Katie at one of a handful of other, more affordable nursery schools.

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