Montessori no good?

I need to rant. Please let me.

My in laws are here for a visit and boy its been sweet bitter. But this is not about the sweet part of course.

My MIL has big issue about me sending N to Montessori school. She went to visit him once and quickly made the assumption that he is 'miserable'. Which is rather puzzling because, he has NEVER cried when we bring him to school, he has never displayed any anxiety. If anything, he always looks forward to school, smiling at his teachers and staff there. Anyway, she assumed that ALL because there are only 2 students in the class. Her theory of a 'happy' school is where the class is full of kids. She also puts down Montessori because she does not believe in one on one attention. She prefers the old tradditional way of a class setting (she was a teacher, you see).

And here is a shocker, she has issues that N is 'too smart'. While other grandparents would be so proud of this, she finds it a problem. She INSIST that smart children are troublemakers. She wants me to slow N down. She was NEVER impressed when N learnt to read, count and now add & subtract. Instead, she sees them all as PROBLEMS.

Because of her, i asked N if he prefers school or church. He chose school over church even though the latter has more playmates. I can understand why. N has such a quiet personality and its easy to pass him by in a sea of children. In school, he gets his teachers full attention & because of that they have learnt to understand him (his speech is 60% unclear) which build up his confidence. Today, the teachers say he is talking to them more than before. But his church teacher could not comment much about him because...just because he didn't stand out. So no brainer why he prefers school!

Anyway, i am frustrated that she complains over and over about my choice for N, claiming she knows better because of years of being a teacher. Hey, she has retired for over 20 years now and she knows nuts about Singapore education system (she's lives in Malaysia). The hardest thing is to convince her about why my choice is the best for N. She of course, has her old thinking buried deep in her head and she just cannot accept new ways. I hope she understands that i am his mother and i, of all people, should know what is best for N, when he is miserable, when he is happy. I am very clear, the teachers too, that N is happy in school.

It's going to be another 2 more weeks of this. Wish me luck.