There was a time when parents didn't start properly worrying about their kids' education careers until they enrolled them at least in elementary school. Kindergarden meant playtime, above all. These days, when many people begin thinking about education while their kids are still in the embryonic state, parents face a growing array of traditional and alternative preschools catering to the ever-increasing demands.

The Montessori teaching method may have been around for nearly 100 years, but its popularity is still going strong. Favored by parents who want to give their kids a head start in social development or those who have become fed up with traditional schooling, the Montessori system is beginning to attract another group: parents who travel a lot and must therefore move their children from school to school. At Global Concepts, a Montessori preschool in Nebusice, Prague 6, the children of such globetrotters make up over 30 percent of the class.

"Moving is difficult [for children] at all schools. But the Montessori system teaches them how to adapt," says Global Concepts director Stan Corbett.

Sandy Girkin, an American teacher whose family moved here from Bolivia, agrees. Girkin's 3-year-old daughter Nina, who had attended a Bolivian Montessori daycare center, didn't have any problems adjusting to a Montessori school in a new environment. "The system is flexible enough that children can adapt at their own pace. They're not pushed to do anything," says Girkin.

Developed by Maria Montessori, the first female physician in Italy, the Montessori system is a teaching method that tries to work with the natural development of each individual child. Rather than presenting students with structured lessons, Montessori schools encourage kids to discover the world around them, using specially prepared tools. The system is very flexible but falls within a definite structure. For instance, children choose when to do what activity, but they must master one task before moving to the next level. One of the key elements of the Montessori teaching method is the focus on learning through direct experience.

"Dr. Montessori said that the hands are the extension of the mind," says Corbett. "Having children do hands-on activities helps them gain self-confidence."

Another important element in helping build self-esteem, according to Corbett, is role-playing. Children interact with kids of various age groups and this way have the opportunity to try out many different roles. In some instances they might become leaders and at other times team members. "The younger ones learn from the older children. They get into the habit of helping each other out," says Corbett.

Robert Chelberg, whose 6-year-old son Robert was very shy when he started out at Global Concepts, credits the role-playing with helping his son become more self-assured. "After going through the Montessori system, Robert has become much more expressive and outgoing," says Chelberg, who transferred his son to Global Concepts from another English-language preschool, where he says his son wasn't making very much progress.

Although the majority of children at Corbett's school have come from abroad, an increasing number of Czech parents are becoming interested in sending their kids there too. In some cases, the first impulse is to give their children a head start in English. Eventually, though, they become Montessori converts. This was the case of Pavla Vancová, who sent her two younger children to Global Concepts so they would pick up English quickly.

"I soon realized that the instruction in English was secondary to the Montessori concept," says Vancová. One of the things that Vancová most appreciates about the Montessori method is the emphasis on learning through experience. "There aren't toys there. There are activities, and all of them are tools the child can use to learn something," says Vancová, who finds that kids coming from traditional preschools don't have very much general knowledge.

"Toys can sometimes be a waste of time," she says. "In traditional preschools, children often don't use their full potential."

"The key difference between our school and traditional Czech schools is the noncompetitive environment," says Jana Pesková, who is the administrator at Global Concepts. "In the Montessori program, the competition is with yourself," adds Corbett. Children learn individually rather than in large groups, and each child is encouraged to follow his or her own interests. Girkin's daughter Nina, for instance, loves learning about water at the school's interactive "water table" where children can pour, sieve and generally get guided hands-on experience with Earth's major surface element. So that's the first thing she does every morning, says Girkin. As a result, Girkin says, her daughter doesn't look at education as a chore. "Nina wants to go to school even when it's a Saturday," she says.

Being able to focus on their own interests means that children learn how to concentrate for prolonged periods, according to Dorte Bayer, originally from Germany, whose 3-year-old daughter Edda started at Global Concepts after moving here from Turkey. "It's kind of a Buddhist approach. If they're eating, they focus just on eating. You can't push too many activities at once on a young child."

As with most alternative educational systems, the Montessori method has its fair share of detractors. "Some people say that [the Montessori system] is too strict," says Corbett. "Others complain that there's too much chaos." But with the right balance, Corbett argues, "You give the children the freedom, and they end up disciplining themselves," he says. "They grow up to be very independent people."