All a teacher can really do in this type of situation is to continue to give information to the parents — in many different forms – about all the experiences a Montessori school offers a family. This is an issue not for teachers alone, but this information should be given when parents first express interest in the school, in a family interview to determine if what the Montessori school is offering is enough in alignment with the family’s values to make a good “fit.” In most Montessori schools the family does not enter an elementary class unless they have been in the Casa. Even in the Casa though many parents do not see the benefits of practical life; they want their child to focus on language and math. This requires a teacher to inform parents of the foundations laid with practical life and sensorial for the language and math which follow or are concurrently experienced.
One approach that many Montessori schools use for parents of elementary children is to organise an information evening during which graduates from the Montessori programme meet with the parents to discuss how prepared they were for the school (usually more traditional) they were transitioning to and to answer questions about their proficiencies.
![Montessori class in outdoor environment showing fish in bucket](https://montessori-ami.org/sites/default/files/images/questions/elementary-outdoor-fish.jpg)