All About Montessori

[buds]

Hi phankao, yep.. ya noe me.. no names on the board.

Aniwaes, you're right about a more individualised or so to
speak more tailor made curriculum with less children to
directress ration will be better for your son. From your
shared observation abt him, i think he should be pretty
advanced for his age. A smaller group environment will
definitely help escalate his potential. :celebrate:

[buds]

Heyya Tika! You are very right... i AM busy. :lol:

I just shifted to my new place, am abt 6mths preggie
and still sending my girls to school daily... one in the AM
session and one in PM session. So, yep.. pretty occupied
everyday, but i like it. I always get to be around my gals
and i have my own quiet time to come here to chat with
you guys in the forum. What a life! Now also quite
busy with their semestral exams and also sch hunting.

Yes, i've received your PM. I took some time to comb thru'
this thread cos i remember someone else asking me for a
couple of book recommendations as well, hence i wasn't
able to reply you earlier as much as i wanted to. Aniwaes,
here is the link on the book recommendations i made some
time ago. Hope it gives you some headstart..

> http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=906&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=70

Psst... you're not just another parent sweetie.
Just like how each child is special and unique, you are
a special and unique parent yourself! Oh... and also a
kiasu parent too, of course. Or else we wudn be having
this conversation right now, right? :lol: Great to have your
acquaintance! Welcome to Montessori thread! If you need
further assistance just gimme a tinkle here.

I'm also over at a few threads if you're keen to read up..

Cheerios.

Regards, buds.

> http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1748

> http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3962

> http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5768

> http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1927

[buds]

Heyya MLJ! YES! I am indeed a very fun and bubbly person even in real life!

And YES too! I am a SAHM and i'm lovin' it! :celebrate:

As for personal coaching these recent couple of years, the recommendations
come to me from tutor friends teaching primary school with reading & writing
difficulties, from pre-school buddies who have parent-friends sourcing for 1-1
Phonics & Maths coaching and yes a few special cases as well.

I have limited time to offer lessons since my girls are in different sessions,
so i try to take on assignments that give me a boost... a challenge... parents
who hv exhausted means of external help... children whom other teachers
have given up on... it just gives me motivation to get outta bed and DO IT! I
also have foreign students who are only here for a coupla months
requesting for ultra intensive personal coaching. So, the students i take do
vary... mostly their lessons are tailor-made to their level until they are ready
to take off and adjust to the level of children the same age.

To answer your question...
With 1-1 coaching, the chances of stretching and expanding a child's
potential further are better due to the special attention given to each.
More so if the children are under-achievers, the motivation for them is
that they CAN do it. As for already high-achievers (some who can be
distinguished even during pre-school age)... they get to scale their potential
to greater heights, as Montessori teaching is individualized to cater to the
children's pace and ability.

I've not seen the materials for ICR hence i am afraid i am unable to make a
fair comparison. As for Montessori Phonics, i love it that it is a hands-on
approach and the appratus designed for children to work with encourages
reading without the stress. In fact, in traditional Montessori ways... they do
not do any worksheets at all.

[isabella.026990zola]

buds:

As for how to tell if it is a good Montessori centre... hmmm... :idea:

Teachers are lively.. children are happy at work.. children are
allowed freedom within limits as much as possible.. a good
curriculum to follow up all the hands-on activities.. and of
course... preferably somewhere not too pricey. :lol:

My Muslim friends like Hanis Montessori. They cover the standard
Montessori teachings on top of Islamic teachings. Fees are also
quite reasonable last i heard. Like $200 per mth for 3hrs daily
lessons. I say that is really a steal for quality Montessori
education.

Oh Hanis? Never heard of it..where is it?

[buds]

Heyya isabella.zola, i have PM-ed you the link.

[soomum]

buds:

Letter names or the alphabets must come first.

Then comes letter sounds to make connection
or to be of relation to the letter names.

ie. This letter b makes the sound /b/... (b-uh).

If you learn the sounds first, especially for young
children... they will get confused and WILL slow
down the progress of writing efficiently.

Cannot possibly say, /b/ makes this letter b, right?
ie. b-uh makes this letter b-(ee), tio-bo?

In Phonics enrichment classes especially, they don't
do both. They only focus on the sounds. Not letters.
So ensure that your kids are equipped with knowledge
and recognition of the alphabets prior to attending a
Phonics enrichment class. This will ensure that your
child does not require to go back to basics when he
or she has difficulty making connection/relation with
the alphabets during the course of the programme.
Imagine a child who already can read well with the
Phonics decoding but yet doesn't know the abc's...
I have personally encountered this problem. And
i tell you, the child was very demoralized.



The parents? Confused and lost. They didn't realize
it cud be THAT detrimental to his progress.


This is due to the fact that the process was not done
systematically/in order and also not age appropriate...
Children should be allowed to grow and learn at their
specific age range. For example, we cannot possibly
make a three month old crawl when they're just
learning to turn their bodies, right...?

....

So, i truly honestly encourage parents to please introduce the
alphabets first, just like how we did when we were little... Dun
need to advance teach reading when cognitively there are many
other things that the child has to learn in his time.... at his age.

Unless of course, child is gifted. Okie?

Hi Buds!
I've been following your thread and can say a fan pf yours . Was reading the thread and got a shock :!: when i read this post. I have been having the understanding that i should only introduce letter sounds first to the child and not letter names. As such you are right that my child is starting to get confused when she is being introduced to letter names. Its really tricky to be teaching letter names after she had learned the letter sounds. How can i help her to learn the letter names now??? I am now at a lost as to how to proceed or maybe should i even proceed on with her. i.e. has taught her letter sounds - introducing letter names *now made her confused * - next step is building words is it? this to teach in conjunction with learning to write the letters or need to already be able to write?

You are absolutely right! :? I am super confused and also very very worried that I have done it wrongly. Please HELP us :?:

[phankao]

buds:

Letter names or the alphabets must come first. Then comes letter sounds to make connection or to be of relation to the letter names. ie. This letter b makes the sound /b/... (b-uh).


If you learn the sounds first, especially for young children... they will get confused and WILL slow down the progress of writing efficiently.

<snip>

So, i truly honestly encourage parents to please introduce the alphabets first, just like how we did when we were little... Dun need to advance teach reading when cognitively there are many other things that the child has to learn in his time.... at his age.

Hmmm... my youngest ds3 was taught reading by sight only. He wasn't taught alphabets, but he certainly knows them (how? I don't know). And he figured out phonetic sounds himself too. I realised he could recognise words by 10mths old and that he could read phonetically by the time he was around 15months' old, I think.

So how can it be detrimental not to start with alphabets?

[dimsum]

phankao, your boy is waaaay advanced for his age (i think he's gifted!). Thus, the normal way of teaching normal kids of course doesn't apply to him because somehow, he can figure out all by himself!

[phankao]

dimsum:

phankao, your boy is waaaay advanced for his age (i think he's gifted!). Thus, the normal way of teaching normal kids of course doesn't apply to him because somehow, he can figure out all by himself!

actually from my own observation, I don't find him gifted. Just that he's been exposed to way more. So in a way, it's a form of nurture as opposed to nature.

[MLJ]

buds:

Heyya MLJ! YES! I am indeed a very fun and bubbly person even in real life!

And YES too! I am a SAHM and i'm lovin' it. :celebrate:

Although I dont know you, you feel like a friend, can imagine your 'bubbliness' in real life!

Its a privilege to be able to stay at home, ya?

I think you should start something with all your knowledge about preschool phonics and education. Sayang to only have 1 or 2 benefit.
I myself am a bit loss when it comes to this. We just came back from france and there, the parents are not too 'on'. So we happily cruised along and then came back here and found that dd has difficulty coping. Older one, ds, is ok but his chinese is quite a nightmare! :!:

Was thinking of ICR for dd but now may check out Montessori.

Btw, do you know anything about Eton school vs Pats schoolhouse?

Would appreciate any feedback. I heard that Eton is not as academic as Pats but they give the kids more exposure to things outside the normal curriculum?