M is for Montessori

Written for utbtkids.com by utbtkids. Original article here. Thanks Utbt for sharing.

Montessori is a philosophy. I consider it as a ‘way of life’ as opposed to ‘alternate schooling method’.

Magic number in Montessori – 3.

• Montessori believes that children’s development is in stages of three. 0-3 is the infant/toddler stage or the unconscious absorbent mind, 3-6 is the conscious absorbent mind. The 6-9(lower elementary) and 9-12(upper elementary) phases in a Montessori elementary focuses on helping children organize his/her thoughts internally. It is considered the period for social development and evolving a sense of justice.
• Even the lessons that are taught to children are taught in a format called ‘three period lessons’. The first period is the teacher introducing the child to the work. The second period is the teacher assessing how much the child retained from the first period and how much the child recognizes the elements of the lesson. During the third period the child is encouraged to do the lesson by herself, recalling all the elements and the vocabulary. If desired results are achieved, the lesson is considered complete. From this point onwards the child can repeat the work as and when desired.
• In the very core, Montessori regards a human brain to have three components – reptilian, mammalian and evolved. This is true to all human beings. What we exhibit is a complicated interplay of all these three tendencies.
• Shelves that are partitioned in to three levels with three objects/work displayed in each level.

Mixed age classrooms. Younger children and older children working together is a typical trait of a Montessori classroom.

Montessori classroom, often called as an environment, is divided in to practical life area, sensorial area, language area, cultural area and math area. In practical life children learn things like pouring from one cup to another, the hand control and hand-eye coordination learnt from this process is later applied to writing. Every area is interlinked. Though a typical Montessori classroom is a big hall with 50 – 55 children of mixed age, the children magically segregate themselves in to age appropriate areas. Younger children are almost always found in the practical life area, the older children in the math area and such.

Motto behind the Montessori environment is ‘everything has a place and everything in its place’. Same applies for children and teachers in the environment. The teacher’s place - to observe and to guide. The children find their own place in the environment. Coming in to a Montessori environment the children are taught by modeling – by both the adults and the other children in the environment. The new child finds where she fits in this well organized environment and slowly grows from a novice to a leader.

Montessori considers 0-6 years of age as a unique window. It is known as ‘sensitive period’. Through her environment, the child is forming experiences which play a major role in how the neural networks are formed in the brain. By four these neural networks are precipitating and it becomes increasing difficult to rewrite the neural patterns. That is why many Montessori schools have an age limit after which they do not take non-Montessori children in to their environment.

Montessori places great deal of respect on sense of order, which is innate in a child. The first three years, all the child does is to make sense of the world and create order within herself. Sense of order in simple words can be explained as ‘where everything goes and when everything happens’. Though she cannot tell time, the child has a concept of time. Example, nap after lunch, dinner after going to the park, read books before bed etc. When the environment is predictable – few things, each in its place, well displayed, the child is more confident in the environment. Care must be taken to respect the child’s sense of order.

Many steps exist in a work and this is called cycle of work. If the child wants to paint, the cycle is -> get the apron on -> get paper -> pick paint -> paint -> place art work on drying shelf -> get water in a pail/container to clean easel -> dry the easel with a towel -> dump dirty water -> dry the container -> place all material in respective places (used towel in laundry basket, hang apron on peg, used paint cup and brushes in the sink). Every adult unfamiliar with Montessori to whom I have explained this cycle, have expressed doubts like , ‘this is too restrictive/child will feel burdened/are you for real?/this will never work’ etc. But I have seen 18 month – two year old children who do this without missing a beat. The main thing to recognize is that the doubt lies not within the child, but within the adult. The adult’s contribution to make sure that the child progresses successively without breaking the cycle of work is, to do the work once herself, think through the steps bearing in mind the age of the child, make sure that everything is available in the right place in the environment – like the paper is trimmed to size and placed on the paper tray, paints are filled regularly, dirty paint cups/brushes are cleaned and replaced, art work drying rack is accessible, towels are filled in the hamper, sink/faucet is easily accessible. I have also heard arguments that it is too much to expect from a child. I disagree. We talk about gratification and this is how a child learns gratification. Children learn their boundaries, which is not at all negative. Not to mention they expand their mind to the thinking that a certain problem has many steps and vice versa are aware that the small steps lead to a bigger picture.

Montessori environment places high emphasis on grace and courtesy. The idea is to teach through example that every person, every object, every process needs to be respected. This simple thing has deeper spiritual meaning. I can almost draw a curriculum web based on this.

Montessori, considers everything as work and every work is done in a certain way. In a manner of speaking even play is work and children are expected to play without harming themselves or their friends.

Montessori is based on reasoning and believes that fantasy can wait till the child is six and is capable of recognizing fantasy. As I have told many times, this does not make the children deficit of imagination and creative thinking. If a child is inclined to enjoying fantasy, even if they are Montessori schooled, they grow in to adults with logically sound fantasies. My most famous argument, ‘logic can exist without fantasy, but fantasy cannot exist without logic’. As an extension of this, tech toys, the iPads, iPhone apps and such are frowned upon. Because a young child needs to recognize not just cause and effect, but also a reason for this. All tech toys do is to teach children that things happen, take it for granted and don’t ever try to open your toy and analyze why and how.

Movement is incorporated in to the process of learning. Movement molds brain development in wondrous ways.

Montessori environment is filled with non-plastic objects, earth tones, no bright over stimulating colors, wooden materials, natural fabrics and such.

Montessori is neither strict nor all play. I like to think of it as flexibility within a structure.

Many more things to say, but I leave you all with this: any philosophy is only as sound as the adult who implements it.

Originally written for utbtkids.com by utbtkids.

Public Schools vs. Private Schools in USA

This topic is a never ending debate I guess.

We have a 3 yr old who currently goes to a daycare center which has pre-school and kindergarten too. We are in the process of deciding whether we need to send him to a private school (from Pre-school till 12th grade) so that he can continue till 12th grade in the same school. Even though we live in an excellent school district, we still want to look at all the options that private schools provide.

I would like to hear real-life experiences from moms across the country and that’s the reason why Iam posting it here. It would be great if you can post some words on the following :-

• Why did you chose a private school for your kid/kids ?
• What was the criteria in selecting that school ?
• If you had switched your kids from public to private or private to public at some point during their school years, why ?

I do know that the most important factor is to make sure what’s right for my child and not just depend on hearsay or others opinions, but I think experiences from fellow desi moms would really help me in making this decision.

The chosen school

To put things into context:
-> This is a continuation of a series, first part of which is on my blog.
-> My son was 2 when we enrolled him and this was his first exposure to outside care.
-> When I say school, I really mean daycare!

You know how you could be searching for something everywhere when it is sometimes right under your nose? That came true for us in the school hunt.

There was K School, right down the street from me and I never thought of looking there before because I thought it was a proper school. It was, I should say, it is, a proper private school with kindergarten and elementary classes. But what I didn't know till a friend moved her daughter there was that they also had a full time toddler program for 2 year olds. Once I found that out, there was nothing to stop me from checking it out.

The first thing that hit me when I entered K school for the first time was the sunshine. It was bright, bright, bright, everywhere! The school is built so there is a center aisle, and large classrooms on either side, lining the walls. Each classroom had at least three tall french windows which brought all the light in, and created a natural atmosphere of cheer. (which made me wonder why all the other
schools shortened their window space!)

To make it short, here's what really attracted me to K school:
-> It was essentially a playschool, everything is taught through play - alphabets, month, days of the week, weather etc, but that is not where the emphasis is on. Importance is given to playing, having fun and learning to coexist harmoniously.
-> Spacious classrooms, at least more spacious than what I had seen at other places. And tastefully decorated without overcrowding the artwork
-> A huge gym, with wooden floors, which was spacious and just as bright as the classrooms.
-> A really large playground, with a 'firetruck', a 'train', a slide and plenty of sand to play in.
-> He wouldn't be stuck inside the same room all day long. Apart from two outdoor sessions, and one gym session everyday, there was also music on alternate days and he'd have to go out and sit in the common area. Lots of walking and moving around throughout the day.
-> A bonus that I hadn't been looking for were Spanish classes - at this age, it was nothing more than rhymes, songs and puppet shows in Spanish. They last for about 15 minutes twice a week
-> Unbeatable commute. It is smack in the middle of my work and home. Takes me at most 10-12 min from home or work, in peak traffic
-> The teachers seemed okay with holding kids for comfort. Then, and even now, I always see one kid or another perched on the teachers' lap. I liked that they didn't take the hands off approach in this respect.
-> No timeouts - one of the biggest pluses in my opinion. They discipline through positive disciplining...by reasoning with the child at his/her level.
-> The kids seemed a content and playful lot - not overly aggressive, but not overly quiet either. Just happy toddlers.

Minsues
-> I could not send my own food - it was daycare provided, and the vegetarian alternatives were dismal compared to what he had been used to at home.
-> Their timings were not flexible - it was either a 2 hour playschool option or a full day. And we had to wait till two weeks before he turned two.
-> Slightly pricey, but the difference between this and area schools was under $50/month. And you got a lot more for the price.

After I left the first tour, I called my husband to say 'This is the first place I haven't found anything wrong with'! Two more visits later, we had confirmed that this was it.

6 months later, what I know now
-> I am happy and more importantly, my son is very happy at this place. I think he has changed a lot over the past few months, and I see the change in intangibles, in how easily he interacts with other children, how he jumps head first into a ball pit, without clinging to me, how he waits for his turn and how polite he is.
-> I wish there were a little bit more specific information on what he does during the day. There is no parent teacher meet as such, since teachers and parents chat nearly every day at drop off and pick up time. And the teachers do tell me if something was wrong, but I was hoping for some more details on what interests him...I guess this is a problem with any school in this kind of a set up?
-> What I thought were minuses before ended up not mattering at all. Food is a non-issue now, what he doesn't eat there, he compensates at home. The timings are fine, because they align well with my work. And they are open year round, except for major holidays, so I don't have to look for alternate care during breaks.

Overall, K school offered him a fantastic start - giving him the right skills at the right time. And I am pleased that my search which seemed to go on forever came to an end at this place.

Choosing a daycare & pre-school

(This post by Sandeepa)

It has been two years since I went out in search for a daycare/preschool for S and so my memories are a bit dusty. Remember momnesia ?

Anyway it was early 2006, that I started S with her first daycare/preschool. She was 2 years and a month or so by then. Could speak pretty well and I knew would tell me in words if she disliked specific things about the daycare, so this made it a little easier for me.


1. On the outset, I had decided to go with one of the 3 major chains in my area. They were The Goddard, The Kiddie Academy and The Kinder Care. They had good quality control policies, certain structures they had to meet and a body that ensured that these were followed. Also a friend who is a teacher at a private, independent daycare had told me if I chose an independent or a local daycare I should research them more thoroughly. I was not sure how, so decided to go with the chains

2. I wanted a facility which would have flex part time hours.

3. Since this would be her first time S would be staying outside of home I wanted the facility to be near my/D’s workplace, so either of us could go and check on her. Also at that time our workplace was a comfortable commute and so it was ok for S to commute too.

4. Next, I wanted the school to be spacious, the classrooms to be cheerful, with windows and lots of natural light, the school to have their own grounds & play area, the school to be clean, clean and again clean, the teacher to be warm, smiling, friendly.

5. Security was another thing. We ruled out schools adjacent to shopping plazas or facing too much traffic

6. Of the chains, Goddard did not have flex part time hours. Kiddie Academy did but was not near workplace. I saw one more school and though they satisfied a lot of the criterion, the teacher of the class S would go to had heavily made up eyes which put me off. Yeah I am pretty shallow that way.

7. Just beside D’s workplace and across mine there was this daycare/preschool which was not Kinder Care but under the same KLC facility. It was known as the Prodigy Child Development Centers. The school met criterion 2, 3, 4 and 5. It wa spart of the corporate center and there were colleagues with kids there. I particularly liked the teacher of the class S would go to. She was very warm, friendly and always smiling.
They also had their own kitchen and provided cooked meals.

Good Points

I really loved the class S went to till she was 2 years 7 months
The lead teacher was really nice and I owe her big time for taking the bigger share of potty training on her shoulders.
The teachers were very helpful with getting S adjusted, helping her eat first few days.
They encouraged the fact that we did not speak any English at home and I wanted to keep it that way.
I was overall pretty happy with the center

Bad Points

The franchise did not require owner on the premises like Goddard does, so admin was a little lax.
The next class that S was moved to at 2years7months because most of her close buddies were moved to was a bit more rigid to my liking. The teacher of this class was pretty strict about writing skills and structured learning which I did not feel was necessary at that age or even for the other 3 year olds.

*******************************

From 2 year11 month to 3 year2 months, S enjoyed lazy, relaxed times at home with her grandparents. No school and great fun.

*******************************

The next school I chose was a pretty new franchise of Goddard that was closer to home as my commute was longer.

Good Points

The particular center being pretty new was very bright, cheerful, clean, blah, blah.
Last year they offered quiet a few activity classes like karate, soccer etc. at an additional rate within the school premises and hours.
Since S was older and more responsible now, I didn’t worry about eating, sleeping and those kind of things, so there is not much I can say about that.
Learning is very teacher oriented but I think that works well for the kind of kid S is.
Since the owner is always on the premises, I can tell her if something does not suit me, she tries to resolve.

Bad Points

This year I do not see them offering any of those extra classes :(
They do not have a kitchen and I did not like the catered food much. This year they do not have the catering option and so food has to be always home lunch.
I would like learning to be a bit more exploratory, more of things to do with nature which I don’t see much.

Conclusion in General

1.Choosing the right daycare/pre-school depends on a lot of issues like proximity, hours, holidays etc. if both parents are working outside home. Thus, though I wanted to try out a Montessori for S once she was 3, the other factors weighed the scales against it, primary being the proximity.

2. With the chains a fair amount depends on the particular franchise.

3. A lot depends on the teacher of the particular class your child is attending.

4. With the centers which have a good reputation, there is at least no gross negligence or abuse

5. Spending some time in the classroom for a couple of days and observing other children in the class gives a fair idea of how the teacher interacts etc.

Since S is a December born and our township has a cut off in October, S is going to Kindergarten at Goddard too from September this year. I am not sure what I am going to do next year though. Are there any other kids at DMC with similar issues, i.e. school has a cutoff in October but the child is November or December born, what did you do ?

Some school talk around blogosphere

After Kiran's column on Nursery School admissions I saw a lot of posts around the blogosphere concetrating on similar issues.



Rohini who blogs at Mama Says So, has her strategy and experience chalked out in The School Saga. It was interesting to read how she narrowed down her "Wanted" lists and then finally settled on the school that offered as she says

" pretty traditional kind of education – the kind that most Indian kids in my generation had"



If you are in Bombay, you might want to look up Kiran's post and also the above one to get a grasp of the school system there.



Next I came across Mnamma who is a member of DMC and who has returned to India with her family after spending some years in the US. I think she is writing about Chennai and her post will do a whole lot of good to parents considering returning to India and choosing a school in Chennai. She talks about school hunt and admission here.



"There were entrance examination for all classes from 1st standard onwards until 9th standard and there were hundreds of children of all ages and parents accompanying their children. M and N were petrified with fear at the sight of the huge crowd. They grew progressively nervous and were repeatedly asking me “ Amma nee en kooda iruppiyaa “.



"After we went in, the school authorities asked all the parents to vacate the campus and no one were permitted to stay inside the campus during the examination. They kept constantly assuring us that “Your children are safe in our hands” . I was very nervous as I left M and N with their temporarily assigned teacher. M and N were almost in tears. We whiled away the one and half hours with great difficulty and eagerly went back to pick up M and N. We had to wait another hour before we could actually see them and they were not happy"



Tough experience for those tiny girls and I am so glad that they finally found a good school where admission was not such a nightmare.

On Picking a Preschool in the US, I found a very good post at Under The Banyan Tree. The article Picking a Preschool discusses some of the popular streams of preschools in the US (ok maybe also else where).

I like when she says "Every child is different. So the method the child must be taught must differ too."

She classifies the methods in two broad streams and then a third which is a subset of the second

"A child-centered method is one where the basic goal is the wholesome and autonomous development of the child. The individuality of a child is celebrated. There is no segregation in terms of subject, it is believed that all the subjects are inter related" , she says. read the details in her post

"A teacher-centered method is a style educating the child by teaching the child conformity. The children are motivated to learn through external means – test, assignment kind of stuff. This style is based on the theory that the environment shapes a person. The characteristics of this style of education is its emphasis on product over process, separate subjects, fixed curriculum for all the students and imporantc of an authority figure(namely the teacher)"

"In a Montessori there is very little interaction – between the kids/between the kids and the teacher. The children are encouraged to work on their own, the teacher ‘guides’ them. First and foremost, the children are taught how to take care of themselves – basics like how to wear their shoes, how to dress them selves, how to clean their environment…kind of simple activities. Lots of stress is placed on nature, most of the materials used are natural. In the present days, the Montessori programs are highly watered down versions of the original method. "

You should really go and read her post because these are just excerpts. The thing about Montessori as I see it is many of the schools which say they are Montessori are not really adherring to the method. So unless you are well aware of what to expect from the system, you might be choosing a Montessori which is less that and more teacher-oriented.

The particular thing I liked about her post is how she writes about the kind of kids who will thrive in each kind of system.

The next one is from Chitra Aiyer. She has a lot of posts and information on Bangalore schools if you want to check out. Read her articles here.

Many of you Moms must have already read these posts, but if you haven't it might help shape your decision

And come on with your posts for this month's theme too.

The Right School for your child

Searching for the right school for kids is a cumbersome task for today's parent. Few months back, while discussing with my folks on deciding for pre-school for Genie, they found it funny that we (DH & I) spent an hour or two at the school where we plan to enroll her. They say for me, they went a day or two before the first day of school, paid fees and took admission. They never visited the school before, WHY... simply because the relatives/friends/neighbors who sent their kids to the same school had only good things to tell when asked and also the school was NEAR to our home. Our parents had it so easy.

Now there are many factors to contemplate before enrollment of your child in a school. In Mumbai itself, many new pre-schools mushroom on regular basis. Its like if you have a degree in ECCE (early child care education) and the resources especially Vitamin M (money), rest all follows.

Genie starts her playschool this June in one of the pre-schools in our neighborhood. We took admission for it just last month. She will be spending 2 hours daily five days a week. The admission process has been quite simple. No interviews either with the parents or kids. Just fill the form, pay fees and admission process is over.

What made us choose this school from the trio of pre-primary nurseries in our area - for One - the school is just less than 10 minutes away from my home (read NEAR) and Second - practically whomsoever we know and asked have sent their kids to this pre-school as it is Simply the Best.

Hey aren't the above two the same reasons which made my parents decide my pre-school... Yes they were the two main reasons for us to start checking this pre-school in my neighborhood.

When we visited the school few months, the Catholic couple who has been running the school in the huge backyard of their bungalow since 20+ years gave us detailed information especially education background of themselves, teachers and assistants of the school. We were impressed by their credentials and beside a mother's instinct was feeling good about the whole thing already as they spoke and treated us well.

They showed us around the school. All the batches (playschool, nursery, jr & sr kg) have no more than 30 kids with a teacher, 2 assistants and a lady ayah. They have large classrooms with themes like fruits, flowers, animals, etc that change every month, activity tables, a large playground with slides, swings, rocking boats, rainbow climber, a huge sand pit, rope ladder, jungle gym, shape tunnels and various skills enhancing toys, games and teaching materials. They teach the kids how to eat, clean up after playing, eating and also potty training.

They left us on our own and we stayed back for an hour or so. We mingled with the teachers and assistants, saw how they handle young kids, spoke, read and played with them. We made a mistake of not taking Genie along with us, do not ask why... If she had come along, we would have to drag her home...

What was important to both of us - the behaviour of the owners, teachers, assistants and helpers - how they treat the kids - are they polite or do they run out of patience when a toddler throws a tantrum.

Since the number of kids did not exceed 30, teachers could manage to give personal attention. The school has many activities and they make it a point to involve each kid be whatever the age.

I think that if your child progresses well i.e. understands and grasps things well, looks forward to going to school even on holidays, if the teachers and other staff teaches well, encourage your child to take part in various activities, etc, then the school is right for your child. I would not compare the chosen school with other schools as it could leave me feeling disheartened.

At the end of it, we both are happy with our decision of enrolling Genie in this pre-school. We will be taking her to see the school soon. We are more excited about the whole thing, its like we have taken admission for ourselves. :). When Genie is ready for SKG, we will have to search for some other school, where there will be interviews and much more. Now, we just want Genie to mingle with kids of her age, play and not be shy of everyone.

I will end the post with this quote "Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity"- Aristotle.

Cross posted on http://scribblermom.wordpress.com by Batul

Choosing the Right School

A and I began thinking about playschool for Chubbocks when he was about 18 months old - just looking around at the options - even though we didn't plan to send him for another few months. I felt playschool was necessary for him as he was an extremely shy and sensitive child who refused to socialise with any other kids of his age in the park, and I also wanted to do something structured in terms of his learning but not too much so. A 5-day program would be too much, I felt. We looked around at 2 or 3 playschools which were in our neighbourhood but some we felt were too big in class size, some had too much of an 'admission-focussed' approach, like teaching kids alphabets, spelling, numbers and 'Interview techniques', which almost made me gag.

One of our friends happened to be working with a playschool group called Julia Gabriel. This is a Singapore-based chain of playschools and one of the first things that appealed to me was that their classes required the parent to accompany the child. There was no way I would have left Chubbocks alone anywhere at that age. We visited the school and spent nearly an hour observing the teachers, the classes and the school set-up. The school mission was to turn out 'confident communicators', and they explained they use the phonetic method to teach alphabets. Though the school was small, with a minuscule playground, they had a nice array of toys for kids including mock-hammers, a cookery counter and so on. The class-rooms were nice and roomy and each one had 3 teachers, along with one ayah on stand-by and they all had attached bathrooms which had been designed for little ones, with low-placed pots and steps leading up to the washbasins.

The teaching really caught our fancy, consisting of a lot of fun and games, some running around and the way the teachers encouraged the kids to speak was wonderful. Most of all, we fell in love with the teacher who headed the beginner's class - a man called Jimmy. He had the most incredible level of patience we have ever seen, and the way he coaxed even the shyest of kids to speak or perform was amazing. We felt that our kiddo would be in good hands if Jimmy was to be his first transition to a school environment.

JG had 2 hour classes thrice a week, so I used to go on weekdays and A would go on Saturdays. It was always great fun to go, and Chubbocks, even though he didn't participate much at first, always enjoyed going there. Kids were taught about clean-up time - cleaning away their own toys and setting the stage for the next activity, to take off and put on their own shoes and the school served them a healthy snack, with juice, and fruit and vegetables. The phonetic method, I honestly couldn't appreciate until recently, because I didn't see it translating into reading skills, for example.

But Jimmy really helped Chubbocks blossom from a shy kid who hung his head and clung to Mamma to one who fearlessly walks up to strangers and makes friends with them, be they kids or adults ( Come to think of it, Mamma now has to work to put a fear of strangers back), and has become an amazingly skillful communicator in three languages. When he graduated from his primary class to the next level, the first remark his new teacher made was about his communication skills. Granted some of that may be genetic, since not all the kids from Jimmy's class got that comment, but the ability to make him confident enough to state what he thinks is all thanks to Jimmy.

When it came to big school, I was so determined not to get all agitated and worked up like so many of our friends when it came to admissions that I became too laid-back and completely missed seeing the ads schools put out about admissions deadlines, and so did A. All of a sudden, we were on the backfoot and scrambling and worried. Then A found that the local Delhi Public School admissions deadline was not over and we sent our factotum to fetch the forms. Unfortunately, there are 2 DPSs in the neighbourhood, one good and the other terrible, and our Man Friday had got the wrong form which we never figured out until much too late.

A somewhat experimental school, called Shikshantar, had extended admissions for more entrants so we decided to find out more about it. Two of my friends who had kids there praised it highly, calling it a school which helped kids become self-motivated and so on. The thing that worried A no end was that they have a completely unstructured curriculum for the first few years - kids just study what they feel like studying, so if you want your kids to be reading by a certain age and writing by another, that wasn't the best option. I still thought it sounded good and we sent off our application which, by the way, asked us lots of searching questions about our goals for the child and so on.

DPS had a formal interview process but we didn't want to put Chubbocks under any pressure, so we frankly didn't bother to 'prepare' him. He sailed through on his own( including singing 'Where's the party tonight' when asked to recite a poem) and we had to fork out a fortune ( Rs. 60,000, most of it non-refundable!!!) for the admission. I thought that that was too much money to throw away and we should wait for Shikshantar's decision before paying up but the deadlines didn't match and A panicked at the thought of Chubbocks not getting into any school at all due to our carelessness. So we paid through the nose, though I had no intention of sending him to an academic factory known for putting kids to the grindstone.

Then Shriram school, which had been dithering on admissions due to the Delhi government changes of rules finally decided to begin the process in Gurgaon at least. Most of our friends have their kids in Shriram and all of them are all praise for it. They all said it was a good, well-rounded school in the way it went about things and that academic pressure was quite low and they focussed more on turning out kids who were well-rounded human beings. True, the average kid there is from an upscale family and I had serious doubts about how well our middle-class mindset would fit in, but given the rave reviews, we plunged ahead. Shriram thankfully didn't have an interview for kids. They like mixed-race or religion couples, so we were bang on. Plus they tend to like kids with working moms, so we got another bonus point. I seem to remember filling out a long and detailed form about our beliefs and so on, and we were on the list for the 'interaction'.

At Shikshantar, while they had called parents and kids together, they let the kids run around and play in the playground and conducted their chats with the parents there itself, in a corner, which was nice and low-pressure. At Shriram too, they had us in the same room, though a teacher led Chubbocks off to one corner where they had laid out all kinds of toys and pictures while A and I were being interviewed. We were happy to find a former colleague on the interview board too, and the questions were pretty innocuous, like how Chubbocks took to his sibling and so on. I was very confident afterwards that we would be in though A was still biting his nails until we got the letter confirming it. We were really happy about the way things had gone and felt we had had a really low pressure time of it, apart from losing some big bucks enroute.

A year down the line, and A and I still feel very happy and confident about our choice, the more so due to what the Director recently said about the competitive spirit. I think we got off pretty easy in the process of admissions, because I have known people who've gone round the bend running around to hundreds of schools. I'm relieved not only that Chubs got into a good school but that he got into a school which has the kind of mix of academics and other skills that I wanted for him and the right values ( E.g. they recently held a workshop on the right way to celebrate birthdays - much needed, IMHO), and hopefully Puddi will make it there too.

Long version cross-posted at Rainbow Days.

First Parents Night and some Art for School

A couple of days ago I went for my first Parents Night at little S’s daycare/pre-school. This was the first time I was going for such a thing. I had been to a Parents-Teachers meet before but that was more like a one-on-one.
This I had no idea about and D was not in town, so I went alone and was thus heavily influenced by solely my own views.

Apparently it was an introductory sort of an evening where the teacher discussed her intention and goals in life and also in her classroom. She gave us printed sheets, materials and even made us do hand on stuff like painting apples and cutting them up and discussing them !!!

Now before I go on my rant, let me tell you I am the kind of person who is not very comfortable with “change”. So I was very upset with this whole transition thing where S was moving on from her pre-school class to pre-K class. I was getting comfortable with her teachers when this announcement came and I was really sad that S had to move on from Ms. A’s class. I even wanted to cry on her last day…yes I am weird.

Now again S is not really supposed to go to a Pre-K class because she is a December born and all schools here have a September or October cut off so she cannot make it to Kindergarten next year. However her teacher(Ms. A) and me both thought that it is better if she moves on to Pre-K than Pre-School2 (an intermediate) class because there is more stuff done in Pre-K and she can benefit from that. That being the case she is the youngest in this class.

The teacher for her Pre-K is a young woman(Ms. K) just done with undergrad in Child Ed and as a result very enthu to put all her theoretical knowledge to work. In fact, too enthu I felt. In her discussion she kept stressing “how she will get the kids ready for Kindergarten” by next year and blah, blah, blah….At a point I told her that a kindergarten in a public school does not really expect a lot from the kids but she insisted that it did.

The thing I disliked is she went on to say that she will start giving out homework to these kids starting November. “Homework” at this age ??? But why ? Most of these kids spend at least 8 hours with her (this being a daycare) and I thing that is ample time for her to “get them ready for kindergarten”. Why give them homework ? I do make S practice her name etc. at home but nothing regular and it is more in a fun way, like she makes cards and signs her name on it and such stuff. Don’t you think Homework might not be a good idea at this age ?

This put me off. Next I noticed this young woman was too animated, not in the warm way but you know the kind who move around their hands daintily and make amazing faces while they talk. It is all very fine in many situations, but for a teacher for smal kids I prefer someone with a warm & kind smile and then you can flay your hands as much as long as you do not hold your fingers straight daintily.

I know I am being judgmental but hey come on I need to judge when it comes to my daughter’s teacher. I do not also want to dislike my daughter’s teacher. I want to be sad and misty eyed when my daughter moves on from this class. I want to like her teacher. Let me hope she turns out to be fine and her exuberant theoretical knowledge gives way for more love and tender care for these kids.

Ok she also made us do a family project which I grumbled about. The end result was nice though. All you artsy-crafty moms can try this out for your next project

The Me Board

For this “Me Board” you need the following

1. A posterboard
2. Cardborad or posterboard to make cut outs of your kids hands and feet
3. A paper plate to make the face
4. Lots of pics and other stuff to glue on the posterboard
5. Decorate the face with hair, googly eyes, beads etc.
6. Paste the feet and hand cut out as shown
   
   

MY FIRST POST..

This is by Swapna of Susarlas kitchen.

Hi all....
As everyone said this is really an interesting blog where all moms can express their thoughts ,Suggestions and doubts.Thanks to Sandeepa to let me join in this.

I am a mom of 3 years old .She is good sometimes and sometimes she is so mischievous.Most of the time she is ok with her behavior.She helps me in house hold work.She says strotras after bath.

I have some doubts...

As we are recently moved to U.S. and Due to some reasons she hasn't joined in a school(i mean preschool) till now.I am making her learn in the home only.She likes to read but don't like to write.I am making her daily to write something...but she is interested in drawing only not in writing the numbers.She can write letters and all.She has a good grasping power.She can easily
recognizes everything if she told for once.

What my doubt is ...will she capable to join in 1st class in the next year(2008) when we go back to India?She will join in the preschool in the coming September or so..What should be the child's capacity to join in 1st class?(i mean in India?)How can i encourage her to sit and write?

Can any one please help me out in this?I thank every one...