Do you believe children love to learn?

What happen to the years when they are so curious about things around them? From birth to the time before they start school, they have already acquired so many knowledge and skills. They learn to crawl, walk, run, speak, sing, cry, read, write, draw... etc. They have this light in their eyes, the burning desire to discover things, the motivation to find out more, to read, to acquire knowledge, the awe in nature and curiosity. I see this in all my children, and in every child. However this light.. this desire to learn slowly disappear as they attend primary school. Year after year, I see the kids getting bound down by longer hours of school, more homework, more tuition to learn the things they didn't learn in the long hours in school. They are exhausted and literally have no time!

Why is this so? What happened to our children over the years? It seems like there is nothing wrong.. and everyone is sending their children to school and the school should be doing the best for the kids. And teachers are professional who knows how to teach our kids. But no... not all teachers know how to teach or care about our kids. There is seriously something wrong in our educational system.

Why are we as adults, as parents, as school, as teachers, as a society putting out the fire to learn in our children?

I have been pondering on this for many years now, ever since I had kids, ever since my eldest started Primary 1. I had no answer, I made the best choice possible at that point of time. But now... I am beginning to see some light in my questions...

Our children need to be free to achieve their innate potentials. Not bound down by set curriculum, test, exams, homework. We need to set them free! Each child is so unique, we can't put them all in the classroom and teach the same thing and expect all to absorb everything.

We start asking the kids to shut up and listen, no talking in class, no talking and playing after class and at home. And  because learning is serious, there will be no playing because the kids need to complete their homework and study and revise for test the next day. Rush them to sleep and rush them to wake to be in school on time to study.

I can't sleep. I do not have time to edit this blog, I hope I made some sense and I hope we all start asking question and not accept the norm. For the norm may not be the best for our children.

A new year! New challenges! New uncertainties! Keeping hope.

Its the new year! I'm trying to keep positive and driven but it's getting off on a rocky start with doubts and uncertainty.

For many years now, I have been 'obsessed' as so to speak about education as I believe that the only way to make this world a better place is to educate the young minds in the 'right way'. I hope to do my part amongst all these chaos... bitterness.. injustice...inequality... prejudice...

The 'right way' seem very far fetched.. and sometimes I feel like I am not moving any closer to my dream...

I met Montessori, fell in love with the beautiful phillosophy of respecting the little beings, believing in the nobility of the spirit, and that the hope for a peaceful world begins at birth.

Dived into the world of nature with Wardolf. Forest Kindergarten. Green School in Bali. So much reverence and respect given to mother earth... connecting back to where we came from... immersing in the forest.. the sea... the moutain... preserving our earth for generations to come, growing new aspirations.

Inspired by Reggio Emilia, bringing out the creative being in us, freedom to create and build, propelling a forward looking, ever advancing civilisation.

I am a Bahai. Bahais believe in Oneness of God, Oneness of Religion,Oneness of Man,  The truth is but one, ignorance have multiplied it. Search and we will see that we all seek the same thing in life. Peace... Happiness... Unity... Love... Family... Laughter... Health... Shelter... Food...
Human is essentially a spiritual being and all knowledge comes from our Creator God. An education is only complete when we unite all these truths and with our heart and soul turning towards God.



I hope that in my lifetime I will be able to find a true path.. true education. One that is universal and one that is for everyone regardless of wealth or status, one that unites all, one that brings out the latent potentials and virtues in all of us, one that will strive for excellence in every field and most importantly one that will help bring about wonderful selfless beings to serve and make the world a better place.

Reflecting in my 'world' now...
I am currently home with my 3 boys. Despite all the above ideals I have in my head... sadly my boys ( 2 elder ones graduated from a Montessori preschool a few years back ) are not enrolled into any Montessori/Waldolf/Reggio/Bahai school. And I am beginning to feel very frustrated and pushing my kids to meet the ideals of our traditional school. I dont want to... but if I dont push them.. they will fall behind in the rat race. I am at war with my inner self... I feel that my world is in turmoil. It is said that turmoil and out of equilibrium is a good thing. It pushes oneself to discover new truths and find the new equilibrium.

I have contemplated homeschooling for a long time. But never had the confidence that I can do it. Schools are not perfect but it is what it is for now. It gives the children a sense of the 'real' world out there. I dont think we are meant to homeschool our kids, humans are social beings and we need to interact and socialise to survive. It is also a 'waste' of resource I feel, all the work that a parent does just to teach your own?  ( I am looking at it from a point of what type of education society needs.)

I did homeschool my kids. Basically learning begins at home and a child's first educator is the parent. I taught and guided Tristan with whatever I knew, I did it at a more 'formal' level for Trevor and Tyler with my Montessori training and took in students to create the social environment for sharing, caring and interactions to occur. However at this point of life, I am not able to commit and take in student as I am swarmed with housework and managing the kids.

Tristan is independent and is doing well academically and thriving in our traditional school system. Trevor I am getting worried as he prefers moving about and working with his hands, fixing things and building things. He is not sensitive to language, reading... I am finding a hard time teaching him. Pushing him to meet the standards set for him to meet. It is hard to decide which path to take...1- Push him to meet the standards but suffer all the way... 2-Let him be and let him do his best... but getting his self esteem crushed with standardise test...

I hope I find the balance soon... I really do...

Starting Language activities with Trevor :)

Trevor is 2.5 yrs now. I decided that since he is not going to school yet, I better start teaching him at home. So here's us learning phonic sounds at home. I am doing an adapted, integrated Montessori phonics way & got ideas from a website call totallytots. Blogspot.com- great website where a couple of home school mummies share what they do at home. Great great ideas;).

Sensorial Impressions of the shape of the letters before learning to hold a pencil and writing.
Ok so I started Trevor with tracing on 'a' cut out from felt- Montessori way is to use sensorial impression for the 2-3 yr olds. Actual Montessori material would be the sandpaper letters buy I just adapted a little. Still using the same concept I used other materials instead. Haven't got time to get the sandpapers and cut them into letters of the alphabets yet. So here is our little creation;)




double click to see it in another window or tab.

Ants on the apple 'a','a','a'!- we did a letter craft with felt and cut a real apple and did printings with it.Result- an apple tree."

Big Brush Painting:
Started a scrap book on phonic sounds " We did big brush writing where i printed a big 'a' using wordart in words font size about size250. This is a pre-writing exercise where Trevor used different crayons and colour pencil and paint brush to trace and practice writing the formation of the letter 'a'. I must say he is pretty good at it. Didn't need much of my help at all. The sensorial impression did work;)

Pegging:
After painting it, I get Trevor to run outside and peg the paper on the line(practical life integrated- pegging uses 1st 3 fingers of the hand- the pincer grip which is essential for preparation for writing.

Writing on our sand pit.
Then we traced 'a' in our little sand pit. Where I bought some fine sand from a nursery and put it in a container. I showed Trevor how to write the letters on the sand with his hands and I got Trevor to 'erase' it with his favourite digger and he writes again.

Intergrate Cultural: Science & Mathematics
After that we took out and dried the apple seeds from the apple that we uses for printing and did counting with them.

We ended the activity with some apples for snack. ;)


We did the same for the other phonic sounds:
For 'b' we did a craft tracing the bowl and using different balls to print and make patterns.
"Using crayons- "balls are bouncing b b b""

Currently we are on schedule- one phonic sound a week. And another we do is mystery bag. I collected items whig begins with the sound for example, for 'b' we have ball, barrel, boat, bear, banana, bell, bag...

Mystery Bag
"Learning vocabulary of sounds beginning with b"
I place all the items into a drawstring bag and we take turns putting our hands in to feel and touh an object saying "I spy with my little eye, a ...." we try to guess it before pulling it out. ( integrating sensorial exercise- stereonogstic bag) Language is all about talking, communicating and relating to the environment and the experiences of a child. After pulling the object we talk about it , where have we seen this before, what does it do, sing songs relates to it. We then place the items from left to right-encouraging left to right concept, preparing the eyes for reading left to right and the hands to write from left to right.

Sound like a lot?I try to keep it simple and it's just a half hour daily activity and we repeat the
mystery bag exercise and tracing the letter as revision for the other days of the week. moat importantly is we have fun learning;)

Check out the photographs that I have taken and if you are a parent try it yourself. Learning should not only be in school by it should begin at home as early as possible :) Have fun!

Practical Life Activities at home.

I just wrote a blog in Picasa but the page was expired and there goes my LOOONGG blog... Never write a blog in Picasa!

Anyway here's the blog again. :)

Threading Beads

Threading is one of the Pratical Life exercises of Montessori.
In Montessori, there's a reason and purpose behind every exercises.
For example: Why use a table mat to place the material?
Ans: To protect the material, to protect the table, to mark a work area, care of environment - care and respect another child's work space, rolling and unrolling a mat exercises fine motor skills and we are instilling a sense of order in the child.

Why threading?

Aims of threading: Eye-hand coordination, development of fine motor skills,preparing the child for future art and craft, learning patience, independence and concentration.
Age: Suitable for about 3 yrs onwards. (For younger children, get bigger beads with bigger holes and the bigger string)

First we introduce the material to the child. This is a mat, a basket, some beads with holes and a string.

Place the string horizontally and show the child how to thread the beads. Movement should be clear and easy for child to follow step by step.

Remove one bead at a time and place the other hand on the rest of the beads to isolate them.

In my course we have to demonstrate the whole process then let the child have his turn. But in reality that's probably not going to happen. So we can ask the child to wait and you show a few first and let him or her continue.

Cross Stitch

Why Cross Stitch?

Aims: Further refining fine motor skills, eye hand coordination, lengthening attention span, concentration, indirectly preparing child for mathematics (patterns) and preparing for future art and craft.
Age: The lecturer mentioned that it was suitable for 4 yrs old onwards, I was like- 'are you sure? you mean my 4.5 yr old can do it? I did cross stitch when I was 10!'

 I had to make one sample for my file (my homework). I went over to Tristan and asked him if he would like to learn how to do it? Then, he was playing with his Lego, and his reply was 'no thankyou'. Fine, I went thinking it's probably too difficult for him anyway.

After a few minutes he finished with his toys and came look for me. Saw me still with that piece of cloth and the needle. He asked me what I was doing. I told him cross stitch. I asked him if he like to try, he said '...ok.' I showed him how to make X on the cloth and how to go in and out of the tiny holes in between the squares. Then he did it. He made about 7-8 'X' and ran away to continue playing with other toys. SOooooooo.. it's true, a 4 yr old can do it if he was shown how and given the chance to do it. This is what we made together. nice? :)

Matching & Threading smaller beads
 
This is not exactly montessori, this is an idea that came up while clearing my storeroom. I found a lot of paper bags that I collected over the years and decided it was time to clear them. Seeing the strings still in tact, I remove them and recycle the rest.
 

I then realised that the string came in pairs and they were mostly different coloured. I could do a matching colour activity with Trevor.

And so I did, I ask him to lay the strings out neatly row by row. I chose a Black string and put it on top, I then ask him to find the other Black string and place it together with the first one. He enjoyed laying out the strings neatly and he repeated the colours after me. The colours were not exactly all correct but it was ok for a first try. :)

I then realised that there are knots on the strings and hey... I could do some threading.
I found a box of beads from my school days. and ask Tristan to sort them out according to they size and type. Then ask him to thread them. He did a pattern of Big bead and Small bead. There you go: he's ready for mathematics! AND they are kept occupied for some time!:)

My 2 boys occupied and I had a peaceful few minutes... :)

Will try to update more soon. :)

Montessori @ Home : ) 1st Attempt.

I've attended 4 lessons of the module titled: 'Practical Life' for the past 2 weeks. Practical Life is one of the 6 main components of Montessori.

The class started with our lecturer Ms Pooja asking: " What does the word 'Practical' mean?" I paused for a second and thought, hhmmm.. something useful? something that we do everyday. She then continued to ask "What about 'Life'?" What is Life? I found myself quite lost for words to describe life in words as Life means different things to everyone. Someone in class answered ' the way we go about doing things daily'. Sounds right, sounds like a reasonable answer.

"So when we put the 2 words together, what does 'Practical Life' mean?" We get "Useful way of living or Purposeful way of living." Very interesting, how many of us live our lives with purpose? And I thought to myself, it does feel good to have a purpose, a reason to live.

Practical life exercises comprise of activities that we do daily such as the use of the spoon, carrying trays, pouring from a jug, pegging clothes, etc. These activities may seem like it's not of much importance to a child, and they should be concentrating on the 'more important' academic subjects. However as I have learnt from Montessori and my own experience, I know how much practical life forms an important part of a child's life. If a child as young as 1 or 2 years old can feed himself, pour himself some juice, clean up if there's any spillage, wear his own shoes, etc. The child is confident, independent and overall a happy and satisfied child.

Well I did my own little experience at home today. Since I'll need to practice my practical life presentation on how to introduce an exercise to a child, I bought some bowls and cups, dug into my kitchen and the boys toys and set up my own little corner of Montessori practical life shelves of practical life exercises.

I started with 2 of the simplest activity which is spooning from a bowl of beans (substitute with saga seeds that we picked from our trip to the park) to another empty bowl.






The 2nd tray is spooning from a bowl of pebbles (only had enough seeds for the first activity, so found some pebbles that I bought from RM2 shop some time ago) to 2 equal bowls.






I intent to practice it on Trevor my 2 yr old, but my almost 5yr old was just as excited! I was planning to do as my lecturer told, step by step but, she was right what we learn in class we can only expect to fulfill about 50-80%.

I was suppose to invite Trevor to the shelves to ask him get the table mat, unroll it and then go get the material. But he was so excited he couldn't wait for me to finish asking him and took it himself. I tried to ask him to watch me as I show him first, he was so excited and took the spoon from my hand to do it himself. Half way through he got distracted and I told him I will continue to show him to spoon the seeds back.

I dropped 2 seeds outside the bowl, onto the tray and to my surprise my little Trevor whom I thought was not concentrating, quickly responded and said 'drop', he picked it up with his fingers and place back into the bowl. Wow, I didn't need to show him. This proved one of the discovery of Maria Montessori right, children loves order.

I stepped aside and told him that he may continue, and he sat there and happily work on that activity for almost 15 mins without distraction fully absorbed and focus on that activity. Nothing else seem to be bothering him. I watched him from a distance and manage to do my laundry without any hassle.

I am talking about a table mat, a tray, 2 bowls, a spoon and some seeds, not a fancy expensive toy that the tv advert promises to entertain and engage our children. I had a chat with a parent at a birthday party and he shared the same sentiments. Most the expensive battery operated toys are often put into cold storage after a few plays. They are not so 'wow' after all. I joked that the best toys for kids are those that are not battery operated and in no need or very little adult assistance. Come to think about it its so true!


Back on the topic of purposeful independent activities, I am very pleased with my first attempt with practical life exercises at home. I am so amazed by the experience. I saw so many of the principles and discoveries of Maria Montessori in action. Trevor loves order, he loves to work, he can concentrate, he was very happy and satisfied when he did the activity by himself. I realised that children are so happy when they are given the chance to perform purposeful work.


Tristan on the other hand has been Montessori trained for 2 yrs in Clover so when I tried to show him, he's like 'Mummy I can do it by myself.', and so I let him spoon the pebbles from a big bowl to 2 equal bowls. He spoon them back and put back the activity on the shelf without my nagging.

Wonderful! I thought, I should have done this earlier, and I can get some chores done while they are engaged in purposeful work! I am definitely going to set up a few more activities;)

Gotta sleep, will blog more about what's the aims or purpose of such activities, update on the boys progress and load some pics:)

Good night!

Back to school!

January 2011 marks a new beginning for me as I undertake quite a number of new challenges! I'm back to school, taking Diploma of Montessori at MMI Singapore. And I'm teaching at Clover Learning Centre as a Part time Montessori Teacher along side Tristan (and this is on top of running the MummyHugs business & taking care of 2 kids-thank God I have a wonderful nanny & family to help out). 24 hours a day is not enough!!!

I'm trying to stay calm and collected as I take on everything. Some people says I'm crazy and I should wait till the kids are older. Well they are right about me being crazy, but I thought about it and told myself not now then when? I'm not exactly young anymore and if I wait, the kids will all be grown up and I would have missed the chance to give them the best. So here I am on this almost impossible journey! Why you may ask? below are some of the reasons that made me chose this path.

I've always loved working with children, knowing that no 2 days are the same, no 2 kids are the same and you have to always think outside the box and keep yourself on your toes and try to solve every challenging situation. Other than that it's the only work that allows lots of laughter, fun and joy.

I find Montessori very inspiring. I'm still learning about the Montessori Method and what I've come across so far is very motivating. It's not just a mere Method of education, but there's something very great and deep about it that I believe is going to make a difference in the world.

Working towards My dream. About 7 years ago, I decided that one day I will open a school that will bring up children to be independent, respectful, courteous, creative, humble, care for others, care for the environment, have curious minds and a strong love for learning. They too will be guided to excel in all areas of academics, mathematics, languages, arts & science. With a world vision in mind, they can put their knowledge & skills that they acquire to better serve humanity and make the world a more peaceful & united place to live in.

It's been 2 hectic weeks into January and I've fallen sick but gotten back on my feet. As much as I thought that I will probably be overwhelmed and stressed up, but quite the opposite. I'm actually feeling this inner peace amongst the chaotic schedule. Somehow it feels like I have finally found my purpose in life. I'm tired physically but I'm coping ok. Just need to boost up my immune system, sleep earlier and pray that I get to the end of this year safe & sound! :)

Love,
Shirin

Working towards the betterment of the world!

Tristan wrote his own name!

Tristan & I were at Kinokuniya Bookstore last year browsing and trying to get a gift for a friend. Tristan made me buy him a 'Lightning McQueen Annual book' which cost me Singapore $25 ( for a magazine?!?!!) Oh well...what's a mother to do.. when he flashed his smile and said: 'please...' Or was it whining & fussing until everyone was looking at us..??hhmm.. cant really recall was 8 months pregnant then. I read the book to him everytime we opened the first page- which writes "This book belongs to:____" I tell him this is where you write your name. But I never got down to writing his name. About 2 weeks back, he quietly went to his cupboard of stationaries and picked up a pencil. Lying down on the floor and started writing. I thought he was scribing on his 'expensive' book... wanted to scream at him! But I was pleasantly surprised... wow.. he started to write his name without help! Cool huh? Just 6 months in school and he barely turned 3 years old! Thanks to the teachers at Clover Learning Centre. They taught him well! (Free promotion for the school.. haha.. I should be paid!)

4 Months at Clover

Tristan has been in School for four months already, here's quick update on how's school so far.

So far so good :) the school kept up their promises and I must say they did a good job at that. Thanks to the committed Directress Chaz Yee and her team of teachers at school.

Environment: Overall Clover offers a good learning environment with just enough numbers. Not too many and special attention from the low teacher student ratio is very good. I like how they mingle the older and younger group in some of the sessions so the young ones can learn from the older ones and the older ones can help and lead the younger ones. Place is well kept and clean,well ventilated.

His progress: His fine motor skills has improved, in terms of colouring, pouring, cutting, glue-ing things. And gross motor skills such as throwing and catching ball has improved too. He learns some alphabet and numbers but teacher says sometimes he seems to know it but sometimes not sure if he knows or not. So we are yet to confirm if he can recognise numbers and some alphabets. He's starting to speak some chinese words randomly and seem to be able to understand when people speak to him. But everytime when I start speaking to hi in Mandarin, he look at me and say "Mummy..." with a weird look. I noticed he will start speaking pretty fluent chinese under stress. e.g. like the last hair cut at the saloon, he screamed " Wo Bu Yao"- (I dont want) & "Pa Pa" (scared)

One small thing : I wish there's more update on my child's progress from the teachers. I noticed that pick up time is the best time to ask the teacher how has he been in school. But if no ask, no update. So parents have to take a more active role to ask. But there's a 3 monthly (1 term) report on Tristan progress which is great. I see his work in school improving and can see his work progress. He is more attentive to things around him and he loves singing all the songs he learnt. (apparently he used to not participate in class, but he observes and learns and then sing to me when he is home :) depends on his mood I guess.

There's a show and tell session once a week, that helps him to stand up and speak up, public speaking. He use to be quite shy and whispers to teacher and but now he can talk more, sometimes is good sentences.

So far no complains, and Tristan loves going to school.And the things they do there is different and well thought of with special attention to what activity helps in e.g. motor skill, language, social...etc... I enjoyed the 'birthday walk' he had on his birthday few weeks ago.

See Photo on right.

I'm going to sit in and observe the school in action one of these days. Stay tuned :)

My favourite book on Montessori :)

How To Raise An Amazing Child the Montessori Way by Tim Seldin


Like any DK published books, this book is well illustrated, to the point and easy to read. It covers all areas enough for a person who has little or no knowledge on this subject. For people like me who is not much of a reader,( I can never get through big fat thick books!) it's great, I enjoyed it so much that I borrowed from the library again.. and hhmm maybe I might end up buying one for my own collection of books :)
It has great simple ideas where you can incorporate in your daily life with your child, things to do to stimulate their senses and games: they call it "purposeful" play, where they learn so much through simple non-competitive games.

Borrowed the books :)

Manage to go to the library in Woodlands, Singapore and borrowed some interesting books just a week before my due date!:)

The Joyful Child:
The Montessori Method for 0-3 Years at michaelolaf.net
My Review:Interesting book which gives a simple summary or explanation on Montessori for 0-3 Years. But note that half of each page is filled with 'advertisement' of baby apparels and tools for montessori. A better option is to just check out the link above,the online pages have the latest write up without adverts.

Still reading the other books I borrowed. Will update later. :)

Some interesting books I found on Montessori

Like it or not, I realised that we are often influenced by what others say and what others think. Because Montessori is not widely understood and most of the schools which require higher running cost for the low teacher-student ratio and the tools required to train the child, the school fees is generally higher.

I guess the only way is to find out more for ourselves.
"Knowledge gives you wings... gives you confidence!" :)

So I search online and found these books, went to the bookstore to have a look... (a bit pricy to purchase, so I just read it there :) hhehe... Trying to borrow the following books from the Singapore Library, but most of it is on loan... hhmm must be pretty popular then.

Some links for books:
Montessori Books @ Amazon.com
Montessori Books Australia

Photos from amazon.com

Montessori Play And Learn: A Parent's Guide to Purposeful Play from Two to Six by Lesley Britton













Teaching Montessori in the Home: Pre-School Years: The Pre-School Years by Elizabeth G. Hainstock












Why Montessori? How to choose the right school? by Aisha

This book is written by a Malaysian lady who lived overseas for a couple of years, came back to Malaysia to work as a Lawyer. She later became a mother and was inspired to become a Montessori educator. In this book, she gives a good overview of Montessori and the comparison between Montessori and other pre-schools. It's a great guide for parents who really want to find out more for themselves.





How To Raise An Amazing Child the Montessori Way by Tim Seldin

We found our dream school for Tristan!

I've heard and seen the word Montessori several times but never really knew what it was all about. I thought its just a way of teaching kids to read with phonics and things.

But there's so much more to it.

I've been looking around for a school for Tristan, living in Johor Bahru there are so many pre-schools/nursery popping out of no where. After visiting a few, I was dishearted and was convinced I probably have to teach him myself at home. I was not satisfied with most of the schools I've been to. Here are just some thoughts about some of the schools I went:
(just my personal thoughts, if you want more information please contact the schools directly)
--------------------------------------------
HillTop
The first school I visited was HillTop- an established pre-school which was mainly catering to expatriates who lived in here. I liked the environment and my own brother attended the school about 20 years ago. The principal is an Australian lady who advocate the Australian style of teaching of teaching. In a happy and joyful environment, kids play and learn. Not much pressure and homework...etc

But downside is that for the class of 2+ I realised that Tristan probably wont be learning much. The schedule from 9-1pm include- eating twice a day, colouring, playing at the play ground, music room where they sing and dance to Hi-5 songs, probably a bit of story telling and art and craft and watching video: Barney! They dont start 'ABC' till 4+ which is 2 years later... hhhmmm

The teacher say that she wont be doing much in the first few months as she will let them adjust to the environment first. I was thinking to myself, he probably wont learn much from this, and he can pretty much watch Barney at home. I dont want to pay that money for him to watch it at school. They are charging about RM950.00 per term (about 3 months) It's slightly more expensive than a normal school which charges about RM250.

I walked passed another class 3+, the teacher was losing the children's interest and she 'threathen' them to sit down and listen if not no Lollipops! hhmm... And everyweek they get a 'goody' bag to bring home, containing sweets, lollies, chocolates, twisties... etc..

I dont mind these junk food once in a blue mooon when it's someones birthday or for a special occasion but not every week though. Cultivating a bad habit.

Although I like the culture, but it has not change for the past 20 yrs. Kids are smarter now, and they need new technologies or new methods to engage them and I believe that even at a young age like 3 years, they can learn a lot. I'm not saying to pressure them to learn, but to learn and develop at their pace and capacity. really take the opportunity and expose them to different things when their brain is still developing.
--------------------------------------------
The rest of the schools, I am just going to run through them
CEC - It's run in a semi detached house/bangalow. They offer programs such as gym class, swimming lessons, Karate...etc
Cons: I didnt like the air in the place, was pretty stuffy and not well ventilated. When we met the teacher in charge, the first thing they talked to us about was the fees, very direct. And how we can get a month of tuition fee at RM250 waived if we introduce another child. "So if you introduce 12 children you dont need to pay any school fees for a year!" Hmmm...

HolyLight Kindergarten
It's a multistorey building... very much like a primary school setting. looks like they have a lot of students. I visited them in the holidays, so didn't really see how their classroom setting was like. The curriculum looks pretty good, they teach recognition of 'ABC' at 3 yrs and they have books and stuff for the kids to read and bring home. (looks more substantial)
cons: I wasnt' ready to send Tristan to a 'School' school. Looks like there are going to be too many kids, and Tristan is only 3 next yr. So... hhmm.. I looked on

Out of these schools Hilltop seem more suitable but I was not convinced that I should that Tristan there. Dishearted, I told myself this next one is going to be my last stop. If I am still not satisfied, I wont send Tristan till he is 4 or 5 yrs old.

Clover Learning Centre
This school is situated just walking distance from my home/my mom's home.
It says on the banner outside that its a Montessori school. I drove past it many times, but never called or walked in before. But since Chris is not working till 1pm, after breakfast, we brought Tristan along and dropped by the place.

Its' run in a terrace house in Taman Tasek, only a year old. Every time I drive passed I never seen any kids there. But my mom knew a lady who enrolled her child here and they live pretty far away. There must be something about this place that people are willing to travel to come. Well, I just wanted to clear my curiosity and tot to myself... no harm just paying a visit since it's so near.

They were having a 'Kindermusik' holiday program when we were there, and told us to come back in an hour so that they can talk to us further about the school and the programs. One of the teachers ( they call themselves directress instead of teacher-later I came to realise why) asked if we knew anything about 'Montessori' Chris and me exchange glances...not too sure and bit embarassed to not know.. Maybe we should have knew. So that hour that I was home, we looked up the internet and found these...

Montessori-Wikipedia
Montessori History and Characteristic
Montessori Vs Normal School
Kindermusik
Kindermusik Asia

That was a lot to absorb, and this 'Montessori' concept seem deeper than just using phonics. We went back and was pleasely surprise with what we found out and saw.

The main owner/directress was there to meet us. She welcome us warmly to the school and passionately, she explain the 'Montessori' concept to us while she show us all the tools they use to engage and teach the child. I asked if this was applicable to my boy since he is currently only 2.5 yrs? I was happy to know that 'Yes' it was, Tristan will be able to learn all these things! and Mandarin and Kindermusik and probably Art- proper art like blending colours, shades...more suitable for 3yrs and beyond when they can hold the pencil properly and can draw real pictures.

While we were there, Tristan happily (with the permission of the directress of course) tried the blocks and tools there. He was very engage and learning a lot on his own, figuring way out to put the blocks back.

I was very happy and knew that Tristan will afterall learn things that he dont learn at home.

It's held in a small setting. A lot of attention from teacher. They call themself directress because they are there to direct the child to learn themselves, and just guide them along the way instead of just telling them wat to do and what is right and wrong.. ( they dont use the word WRONG there... they try and use encouraging words like: why dont you try it this way... or that's in-correct- a more positive choice of words)

And... no junk food! They prepare healthy breakfast for the kids first thing in the morning and parents are not allowed to put sweet packet drinks, twisties... sweets in their bag. And even on birthdays, parents are discourage to bring goody bags to school as it pressures other kids/parents to do the same. Which is great too.

Everything I looked for is all in one school!Hooray! Finally!
1)Things to learn at 3 yrs
2)Things that Tristan cant/ dont do at home
3)He will be guided to develop at his own pace with 1 to 1 attention from teachers
4)Will be taught independence when they are taught to correct themselves when they are incorrect.
5)Mandarin! Although he wont be writing yet, he will be taught with flash cards and expose to speaking and listening to Mandarin
6)Kindermusik: Proper music appreciation, learning notes, beats, rhythm, Classical Music, creating in the child an interest and joy in music instead of pressured to pass the music exams (that was me) or to perform.
7) Encourage healthy food-No Junk Food!
8) Building strong foundations of Maths, Science, Language, Geology...etc..
9) No homework-letting the child learn happily at his own pace and not killing the interest to go to school.

And I found a website that state all the benefits/characteristic of Montessori too.

25 Characteristics of Montessori
1. respect for the child
2. respect for one another
3. cultural diversity
4. universal adaptability
5. cosmic education
6. individuality
7. independence
8. freedom of choice
9. hands-on learning
10. love of work
11. care of oneself
12. spontaneous concentration
13. self-discipline
14. lessons of grace and courtesy
15. intrinsic motivation
16. initiative
17. prepared environment
18. didactic materials
19. integrated curriculum
20. sense of order
21. heterogeneous grouping
22. refinement of the senses
23. movement
24. auto education
25. teacher as facilitator



It's a wow! really.. I never knew this place existed or this type of child education concept existed. It's just what I have been looking for.

Ok ok.. coming back from Cloud9, this all sounds so good. Chris asked me all these aside, are we really sure these promises weren't just sales talk? hhmm.. I thought. Well, one of the reason why I trust this place is because of Chaz Yee. I am influenced and inspired by her passion for this Montessori School. She has very strong and good principles that she carries for this school. And I am inline with what she does for the school too.

So we are going to enrol Tristan for Jan 2009 tomorrow morning. Excitement aside, we will see how Tristan feels and adapt to the school.

Last thing is the fees! It's actually more pricy than the other schools we've seen. It's RM1500.00 per term. But this include breakfast everyday, and Kindermusik and Mandarin, and since it's so near.. dont need transport fees too. So this is it!

TRISTAN GOES TO SCHOOL!