Did you know that our 3–6 (Primary) teachers regularly visit the local public schools? We don’t go because we’re preparing our children for traditional kindergarten—we aren’t. We go because we want to understand what parents believe they are choosing when they consider leaving Montessori early, and equally, what their children may lose by stepping out before the cycle is complete.

Year after year, when families decide to leave the 3–6 program early, many return to share similar experiences:
“They’re bored.”
“They already know the material.”
“They miss the independence.”
“They’re struggling with the group teaching format and missing the one-to-one attention.”

And none of this surprises us.

A child who leaves at the end of year two is going right before the most transformative part of the entire program. The third year is when everything comes together—leadership, mastery, confidence, and a deep sense of pride in their own abilities. Traditional kindergarten classrooms, through no fault of their own, simply aren’t built to support the independence, self-direction, or pace of learning that Montessori children are used to.

This is why we often say:
Montessori is not a head start.
It’s not preparation for something else.

It is the program.

The three-year cycle was designed with the intention to give children time to absorb, practice, and finally master what they’ve been working toward. Ending that journey early doesn’t give them a better opportunity—it interrupts the one they’ve already built.

Our goal isn’t to convince families through pressure, but through clarity. We want parents to truly understand what they have now, what their child is about to step into as a third-year leader, and what they may unintentionally give up by leaving too soon. Because the truth is simple: When children stay, they thrive.

And when they complete the 3–6 cycle, they carry that confidence with them for years.