<Laughing> Oh my goodness, I'm sorry...I was reading a few of the posts on Montessori and my sides hurt(I'm not going to quote, poking fun at ignorance isn't really very nice). I don't have personal experience with Waldorf...so I'll give you our personal experience with Montessori & homeschooling:
1) The big reason we chose Montessori is that I have 3 adult friends who went through Montessori as children. 1 is an Ambassador, 1 is a professional photographer in NY, & 1 is an officer in the USMC's Force Recon. 3 verrrry different careers...but one uniquely suited to each of them. They were taught to follow their passion and back it up with hardwork and drive. And they've all got more then their fair share of common sense and great senses of humor. While undoubtedly some of that is personality, none of them are related by blood or geography, and all of them laud their education as to why they are so good at what they do...whatever it is.
2) Montessori programs are all slightly different. We visited nearly 50 to get a short list of 6 programs we really liked, and one that was our favorite. We were in Seattle at the time, so giving out the name wouldn't really help. LOVE that school, though. If you ever move to seattle I'll give you their contact info. Here's a list of the "major" themes (ie took up a quarter) that were the "background" for two years at my son's school.
Botany
Archeology
Human Anatomy & Physiology
Astronomy
Paleontology
World Geography & Cultures (Modern Day)
My son used to come home virtually EXPLODING with excitement, and would spend at least half an hour every day telling me everything he'd learned(or anyone he could beg or borrow an ear from). Blew my mind.
Keep in mind, this was preschool.
Some of my favorite quotes & activities:
(while indicative, this list is just touching the ice berg)
"Mom! Mom!!! Did you KNOW that the brain has a big crack in it??? Well it has lots and lots of little fishies (fissures), but the BIG one is called the Longitudinal Fishier (ahem, Fissure) and it splits our whole brain right in HALF! (Pause for demonstration of "in half") but don't you worry...neural pulses (impulses), like electricity, mom travel reeeally fast (pause for demonstration of what really fast looks like, if you're a 4 year old running through the house)...so both sides still talk to each other. Good thing..."
..."Mom? Why ARE the cracks and folds called 'fishies'? Is it because the brain is always wet? Waters a good conductor, you know, for all of the electricity. So the brain is wet wet wet. But, I mean, I know there's a parrot lobe (parietal), but I wasn't paying attention at the time to WHY it's called a parrot lobe..."
"Mom? Could I dig a big hole in the backyard to see how many stratas (levels of stratification) I can find? I won't go any deeper the the crust. No volcanos in OUR backyard, I promise!...Although...maybe nana would like a volcano in HER back yard. Her backyard might be big enough."
They also weighed the all the different kinds of gasses that make up gas giants, like Jupiter...studied the differences between pollination, cross-pollination, & hybrids...geology, geography, the chemistry involved with cooking, goodness the list could go on and on. So, too, all the kids were reading and doing simple +-/x.
ALL the kids were doing this stuff, and they all loved it...because it was all fun. They all had desks, and time was segmented, etc. The downside, of course, was that all of them tested into 1st or 2nd grade...and some into 3rd. Which is a downside, because it's inhumane to put a 5/6 year old in with 8/9 year olds.
Our background is that we did Montessori for 3 years, public school for one, and are now homeschooling. So we're running the gamut. While I love HS'ing, I ALSO wish that I could send him away to get the same quality of education he was getting with Montessori.
Barbara L is right on as to what a good Montessori school looks like. We would go back in a heartbeat if we could.