Posts Tagged ‘school’

This is the time of year when the parents of many preschoolers must decide where their child will attend school in the fall. I wanted to take this opportunity to share my experience with Montessori preschool education.

My son is completing his second year in a Montessori preschool program and attended from the age of 3 1/2.

I chose Montessori for several reasons. First, my son is a bright, inquisitive child who already had a sound grounding in recognition of his alphabet, numbers, shapes, and colors before he started preschool. I was worried that he might be bored in a more traditional preschool. Montessori’s highly individual program means he is always challenged and interested. In addition, my son is a very active child and the Montessori program gives him lots of opportunity for free play outdoors and indoors as well as more freedom to move about, stand, or even lie on the ground while working on his lessons in the classroom.

In my opinion one of Montessori’s great advantages is the fact that the child drives the educational experience. My son’s interests and abilities determine his unique educational program and so his lessons may overlap but are not identical to those of his classmates. This makes him an eager and motivated student.

The education program offered by Montessori also includes many advantages. My son’s experience includes the arts, math and science, language, and life skills. He regularly impresses our friends and family with his knowledge of science, sign language, and other areas not traditionally included in preschool programs.

I also like the fact that his classroom includes a wider range of ages so he has friends who are both younger and older. In addition, he really enjoys having regular contact with the elementary-age students who serve as both role models and friends.

Finally, as a parent, I cannot stress enough the benefits that a program like Montessori offers in terms of life skills. All students are expected to be responsible for their own personal hygiene as well as maintenance and cleaning of the classroom and food areas. While support is offered by adults and older children, even young children can learn to clean up after themselves. It has certainly had an impact on my son’s willingness and ability to help out at home.

Recently I compared preschool experiences with a friend whose child is completing her second year in what most people consider to be the top preschool program in our community. We compared our children’s skills to the checklist provided by our school district of 60 skills (including cognitive skills, listening and sequencing skills, language skills, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and social/emotional skills) that will help children transition into kindergarten. My son has all 60 skills while her daughter lacked skills in each of the areas.

I recommend every parent at least consider Montessori for their child as it is a child-centered learning approach that can provide an excellent foundation for a child’s future growth and learning.

Children think what they have is cool! The truth is you can use this to fact to inspire your children intellectually and artistically.

For example I am currently teaching my 6 year old niece to read, skipping back I have not seen her since she was a baby as I lived in another state. She knew her abc’s and her phonics fairly well but could not read. Straight to the point I had her reading in days and everyone was so impressed especially my niece. But how did I do it is the real question, I changed the environment in her house, and we removed the TV because TV damages the developmental process of neurological developmental process. Then I used TV as a reward for reading. I replaced the TV with books in a fun way. I bought computer programs with games, DVD’s, books, logged on to internet reading sites… basically her and I together made her life letter, words, books and reading; in a very light hearted way. The point is, is that she is a child she will do what is provided in her environment as long as it fun (So Make it Fun!!) so we made her environment fun reading. Therefore she now reads. This can be done for any subject, and the arts saturate the environment and the child will regurgitate what is shown.

The hardest thing for most parents to admit is that children are only a product of their environment… mainly. So when we see our children failing in school, or being a nuisance around the house, it’s hard for us to except that the child was once a blank slate and is only what we helped them to become. All that being said, change the environment around your child and you will change your child’s future, many people over complicate this matter, meaning their environment is your house so change your house into what you desire your child to become. Children think what they have is cool! So if what they have is books, they won’t know the difference between that and a video game.