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Three (3) ways to find an article:
(1) The quickest way is to go to TOPIC SEARCH in the upper right margin and type in your topic. All relevant posts will appear at the top.
(2) Or, go to the top of the right margin to ARCHIVES where each topic is arranged by date.
(3) Surf through the Table of Contents below & "click HERE". Your article of interest appears at the top.  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• MONTESSORI EDUCATION TURNS KIDS ON TO LEARNING (click HERE)
• (A-41) UNRESTRICTED TV VIEWING HARMS OUR CHILDREN (click HERE)
• (A-40) SMALLER CLASSROOM SIZE BENEFITS ALL, ESPECIALLY LOW-INCOME BLACK STUDENTS (click HERE)
• (A-39) WRITE A PERSONAL MISSION STATMENT WITH YOUR THOUGHTS IN MIND! (click HERE)
• (A-38) WHEN MIDLIFE CRISIS COLLIDES WITH MALE MENOPAUSE (click HERE)
• (A-37) ADHD DIAGNOSIS AT AGE 4 (click HERE)
• (A-36) LET THE HOMEWORK WARS BEGIN! (click HERE)

• (A-35) DOES YOUR CHILD SUFFER FROM NATURE DEFICIT DISORDER? (click HERE)
• (A-34) CHILDHOOD TEACHINGS CARRY INTO ADULTHOOD (click HERE)
• (A-33) "EMERGENCY ESSENTIALS" PROTECTS FAMILIES IF CATASTROPHE STRIKES (click HERE)
• (A-32) FAMILY "BLACK SHEEP" IS UNIQUE CHAMPION! (click HERE)
• (A-31)  FAMILIES WITH HANDICAPPED KIDS FACE MANY HURDLES (click HERE)
• (A-30) NEW CONCEPT MAKES 4-YEAR COLLEGE DEGREE AFFORDABLE & HIGH QUALITY (click HERE)
• (A-29)MONTESSORI LEARNING MAKES LEARNING FUN (click HERE)
• (A-28) 51 EXCELLENT FREE WEBSITES TO TEACH YOUNG CHILDREN ACADEMIC SKILLS (click HERE)
• (A-27) JOB PROMOTION VS BALANCING WORK AND LIFE (click HERE)

          HUGE HOMEWORK IMPROVEMENT STORE- 24 AISLES!

• (A-26) TEENS WORKING AFTER SCHOOL: GOOD OR BAD IDEA? (click HERE)
• (A-25) MANY GRANDPARENTS PROVIDE THAT SPECIAL BOND...FROM AFAR (click HERE)
• (A-24) TEACH THE ALPHABET THE OLD FASHIONED WAY (click HERE)
• (A-23) SHED YOUR NEGATIVE THOUGHTS (click HERE)

• (A-22) ENCOURAGING SHY CHILDREN TO MAKE FRIENDS (click HERE)
• (A-21) A NEW TWIST IN SCHOOL VIOLENCE (click HERE)
• (A-20)  CHILDREN "LOCKED INTO" SEEKING UNDUE ATTENTION (click HERE)  

HOME MONTESSORI LEARNING MATERIALS!

• (A-19) OUR CHILDREN ARE GROWING UP TOO FAST! (click HERE)
• (A-18) POSITIVE HOME ATMOSPHERE CAN BOLSTER CHILD'S SELF- ESTEEM (cLick HERE)
• (A-17) TERRIBLE TWO'S CAN BE TERRIBLE, IN DEED! (click HERE)
• (A-16) VOLUNTEER AT YOUR CHILD'S SCHOOL (click HERE)

• (A-15) BABY STEPS APPROACH BEST TO QUIT BAD HABITS (click HERE)
• (A-14) SOME "FRIENDSHIPS" SHOULD BE TERMINATED (click HERE)
• (A-13) IS YOUR TEEN A BINGE DRINKER? (click HERE)
• (A-12) JOB PROMOTIONS ELUDE MANY ADULT PROBLEM READERS (click HERE)
• (A-11) TEEN LOW SELF-ESTEEM COULD HAVE LIFE-LONG CONSEQUENCES (click HERE)
• (A-10)BIBLIOTHERAPY HELPS CHILDREN COPE (click  HERE)

• (A-9) UNDIAGNOSED ADULT ADHD LEADS TO FRUSTRATION (click HERE)
• (A-8) FREELANCE WRITING CAN BE GOOD AT-HOME BUSINESS (click HERE)

                       VISIT OUR SINGLE PARENT MOTHER'S STORE!

                          VISIT OUR SINGLE PARENT FATHER'S STORE!

• (A-7) CHILDREN FEEL THE RECESSION, TOO (click HERE)
• (A-6) PRETTY POISONS SHOULD CONCERN PARENTS (click HERE)
• (A-5) TOO MUCH TV HARMS CHILDREN (click HERE)
• (A-4) PARENTS SHOULD WORRY ABOUT MERCURY TOXIN (click HERE)
• (A-3) SHOULD HIGH SCHOOLS HAVE LATER STARTING TIMES? (click HERE)
• (A-2) DEVELOPMENTALLY DELAYED CHILDREN NEED POSITIVE PARENTS (click HERE)
• (A-1) POWERFUL DADS READ BEDTIME STORIES & KISS "OUCHIES" (click HERE)
• (Z) DOESPERFECTIONISTIC PARENTING  MORE HARM THAN GOOD (click HERE)
• (Y) CHILDREN NEED UNCONDITIONAL LOVE (click HERE)
• (X) GOOD HABITS CAN BECOME AS ADDICTIVE AS
• BAD ONES (click HERE)

                    HUGE HOMEWORK IMPROVEMENT STORE- 24 AISLES!

• (W) VIOLENCE-PRONE CHILDREN GROWING PROBLEM (click HERE)
• (V) TOP-QUALITY PRESCHOOL EDUCATIONAL SITES ONLINE FREE OF CHARGE (click HERE)
• (U) OLDER FIRST TIME FATHERS HAVE AN ADVANTAGE (click HERE)
• (T) NEGATIVE THOUGHTS- REBEL AGAINST THEM! (click HERE)
• (S) HAPPY PEOPLE BECOME WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT (click HERE)
• (R) LEARNING AID PRODUCTS (click HERE)
• (Q) TEEN SPENDING HABITS (click HERE)
• (P) ADVICE FOR DISCOURAGED SALESPERSONS (click HERE)
• (O) LEFT-HANDED CHILDREN HAVE THEIR SHARE OF TALENTS (click HERE)
• (N) MEDICAL INPUT HELPS DIAGNOSE LEARNING DIFFICULTIES (click HERE)
• (M) UNDERACHIEVING STUDENTS FRUSTRATE PARENTS (click HERE)
• (L) PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN FROM ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS! NEW STUDY LINKS ADHD TO PESTICIDE (click HERE)
• (K) GRANDPARENTING FROM AFAR (click HERE)
• (J) IS YOUR CHILD BULLIED? (click HERE)
• (IX) GREAT CHILD-FRIENDLY WEBSITES! (click HERE)
• (I) BUSINESS OWNERS WANT TO DESTRESS THEIR LIVES (click HERE)
• (H) TAKING RISKS NECESSARY FOR GROWTH (click HERE)

                    HUGE HOMEWORK IMPROVEMENT STORE- 24 AISLES!

• (G) LATCHKEY KIDS IN SINGLE PARENT HOMES ON RISE (click HERE)
• (F) NEW! CHILD GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT (click HERE)
• (E) NEW! 23 TELL-TALE SIGNS OF TEEN INVOLVEMENT IN THE DRUG SCENE (click HERE)
• (D) NEW! CHILDREN & ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS- LOWER IQ'S LINKED TO PRENATAL POLLUTION! (click HERE)
• (C) RESEARCH ON LETTER/NUMBER REVERSALS AND WRITING DIFFICULTIES (NOTE: There's no main posting, but scroll down the right margin for excellent videos, etc. under code "C")
• (B) UNLOCKING THE DOOR TO SUCCESSFUL "LATCHKEY KID" PARENTING (click HERE)
• (A) STRATEGIES FOR PARENTS TO TEACH KIDS ABOUT MONEY MANAGEMENT (click HERE)

• I BENEFITS OF LAUGHTER, STRESS REDUCTION & MANAGEMENT (click HERE)
• II. NATIONAL CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS DAY- MAY 7TH (click HERE)
• III. OVER-MEDICATED CHILDREN (click HERE)
• IV. ADULTS WITH DYSLEXIA (click HERE)
• V. SCHOOL HOMEWORK: THE EVERLASTING PARENT/CHILD BATTLEGROUND (click HERE)
• VI. ALCOHOL ABUSE RESEARCH AND SELF-ASSESSMENT OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH ALCOHOL (click HERE)
• VII. COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES (click HERE)
• VIII. KIDS AND GUNS (click HERE)
• IX. TOO MUCH TV VIEWING HARMFUL TO KIDS (click HERE)

MONTESSORI EDUCATION TURNS KIDS ON TO LEARNING

The geographical and philosophical roots of America's 5,000 Montessori schools originated in eastern Italy in 1870, when Maria Montessori was born. She grew up as an only child and proved to be a willful and intelligent young girl who defied society's subjugation of women at the time. At age 12, she insisted on attending a boy's technical math and science school. Not surprisingly, her powerful character empowered her to go against all odds and she graduated from the University of Rome to become the first woman medical doctor.

The Montessori methods and Montessori educational tools used today emerged from her scientific observations of mentally slow and poverty-stricken children at a care center in the San Lorenzo slums of Rome. She learned much from studying these children and engineered a nurturing environment enhanced with developmentally appropriate, specialized materials.

Here are four guiding principles which are distinctive to the Montessori way and which make Montessori education so child-friendly and unique:

Principle No. 1: Emphasize on the Process of learning, not the Product- "Education should no longer be mostly imparting knowledge, but must take a new path, seeking the release of human potentialities." Children possess an intrinsic love to learn, to become lifelong learners. Focusing on the product of learning like a high-stakes proficiency test or semester exam will stifle a child's spontaneous and natural urge to learn.

Dr Montessori would eschew today's practice of "teaching to the test," where the curriculum becomes a mile wide and inch deep experience. Instead, Montessori education spotlights the process of learning, rewarding a child's day-to-day efforts and improvements, no matter how small. Learning occurs in a supportive atmosphere of problem-solving, critical thinking, experiential learning, and ultimately, self-discovery.

Principle No. 2: Self-directed learning and self-discovery can happen in a "Prepared Environment" where the classroom, materials, and social climate are supportive. Maria Montessori once stated, "These words reveal the child's inner self: 'Help me do it alone'." Children are respected and permitted to work alone or in small groups at their own pace with materials they select from a menu of options.

This freedom of choice is far from permitting children to "do their own thing," since it operates within a set of age-appropriate ground rules based on Dr Montessori beliefs, such as respect for each other and for the learning environment.

Principle No. 3: The teacher is a facilitator who inspires development of the "whole child"- physically, socially, emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. Dr Montessori remarked decades ago, "We must observe the needs of a child...and respond to them with meaningful learning experiences." That's why Montessori teachers are fully trained to anticipate, recognize and respond to "sensitive periods" where children make great intuitive leaps and certain types of learning undergo a sudden surge in eagerness and intensity. The teacher "strikes while the iron is hot," directing the children toward materials that fulfill their developmental needs.

Learning is based on individual developmental characteristics and needs, not on chronological age. The Montessori way respects the child as a unique person with an individual pattern and timing of growth and concedes that each child carries his own internal, developmental alarm clock. Different levels of ability, development and learning styles are expected, accepted, and used to design the curriculum.

Children in multi-age and multi-grade Montessori classrooms move at their own pace. It would be foolish to establish a set age or grade cut-off date for a child to ride a bike. Likewise, Montessori classrooms do not dictate that all children automatically learn how to read simply because they've made 6 orbits around the sun. Some read by age 7, others may need more exposure to Montessori literacy experiences to learn to read by age 8 or 9.

The teachers receive extensive training, personalized for each of four distinct age spans: infant and toddler, 3-6, 6-9, and 9-12. Children journey through these four developmental age periods in an orderly, sequential and predictable manner - but at varying rates. Montessori teachers are sensitized to the fact that kids learn best when the time is ripe- not school time, but their own. They always listen for a child's inner clock to chime.

Principle No. 4: Dr Montessori sensed that ingenious developmental materials play a critical role in guiding children through each "sensitive period" and in sustaining a gratifying learning environment. I'll never forget witnessing a multi-handicapped child mainstreamed into a regular public school kindergarten enhance her visual-motor and self-care skills, thanks to the Montessori Dressing Frames. The child's fleeting attention span transformed into intense, sustained concentration as she experimented with snapping buckles, fastening large buttons, tying shoe laces, closing up zippers, and bow-tying.

Dr Montessori, as physician and educator, learned the kind of things that aroused children's natural curiosity and which they faithfully went back to.

The resources in a Montessori classroom are unique in that they are multi-sensory, sequentially increase in complexity, and are self-correcting. These characteristics smooth the process of learning from the concrete world of touch to understanding abstract ideas. For example, a young child eagerly playing with Montessori Golden Beads, the Hundred Board, Stamp Game, Spindle Box, and solid wooden rods divided into units by color and length, intuitively builds a solid foundation critical to comprehending higher level math concepts. The play is fun, but not random.

The carefully sequenced activities build upon one another and learning advances naturally from the known to the unknown as the child grasps the concepts of number relationships, money, time, weights and measurements, and ultimately algebraic equations.

These four guiding principles, discovered by Maria Montessori over a century ago, realize that the ability for a child to learn is enhanced by the development of activities and stimuli (materials) which fully utilize the present state of his receptive mechanism. Today, the Montessori way continues to capitalize on the physiological and psychological readiness of each child. The ultimate goal is to never lose a child's freshness, curiosity and willingness to explore and experiment.

VISIT THE MOTESSORI EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS STORE!

Robert Morton, M.Ed., Ed.S. has retired from his positions of School Psychologist and adjunct professor in the School of Leadership & Policy Studies at Bowling Green State Univeristy. A portion of Ad sale revenue from this site is donated to Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America. Questions? Comment? Concerns about family, parenting, educational or personal concerns? Contact him on the secure Bpath Mail Form.

UNRESTRICTED TV VIEWING HARMS CHILDREN

Many parents I've counseled through the years are concerned about their children's TV viewing. They are concerned about the unrestricted TV viewing and the effect it has on them.
I tell them their concerns are justified. The typical American preschooler commits to 5,000 hours of TV watching before entering grammar school and averages 28.5 hours of TV viewing per week throughout childhood. I weighed these APA statistics against the weekly program hours which TV networks scheduled as educational programming for kids. CBS donated one hour, ABC 90 minutes, NBC 90 minutes, FOX 3 hours, and PBS 7 hours. Subtracting these “kid-friendly” weekly program amounts (from 28.5 child-viewing hours) leaves lots of weekly questionable TV exposure remaining on each network.

Throughout grammar school, children witness 8,000 TV murders and 100,000 violent incidents, becoming spectators to more violence in one month than the Romans saw in the Coliseum during the reign of Nero. In this context, I appreciate Thomas Jefferson’ remark- “Men’s sentiments are known not only by what they receive, but also by what they reject.” Would he have supported censorship?

The harmful effect of TV becomes apparent when one questions what else could children be doing. As America’s youth watches TV more and more, they spend less and less time conversing with parents, reading, studying, playing with peers, enjoying nature and the out-of-doors, burning calories and keeping fit.

Today’s preschoolers will view over 350,000 TV commercials before finishing high school. Each ad throws an underlying pitch to vanity, greed, and competitiveness in order to create a desire for something they don’t need. They view their favorite cartoon characters peddling toys or a child surrounded by admiring “friends” because of a newly bought plaything…only to discover the toy isn’t as fast, big or attention-getting as the masterpiece fabricated on TV.

A insightful man once said, “Forming children‘s TV habits sometimes means to simply turn off the TV and not let it become an electronic baby sitter that surrenders the parents role of becoming primary educator of their children.” He was Pope John Paul II.

Robert Morton, M.Ed., Ed.S. has retired from his positions of School Psychologist and adjunct professor in the School of Leadership & Policy Studies at Bowling Green State Univeristy. A portion of Ad sale revenue from this site is donated to Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America. Questions? Comment? Concerns about family, parenting, educational or personal concerns? Contact him on the secure Bpath Mail Form.

SMALLER CLASSROOM SIZE BENEFITS ALL, ESPECIALLY LOW-INCOME BLACK STUDENTS

A mother wrote to me, concerned about her elementary child being in a classroom of 21 students. She looked on the Fremont City School's Website (Ohio) and discovered that her son's elemenatary school had a higher student/teacher ratio than the other elementary schools. She read a newspaper article that stated class size has no effect on student achievement and wondered if it were true.

I disagree with the research she was referring to. Smaller numbers of children in a classroom benefit them more than if they spent 9 months in a more crowded classroom. However, this mother's child is not in an overcrowded classroom, for a class size of 21 is not considered to be so.

Common sense tells us that a child’s competent teacher could spend more minutes per day with each student, individually, with a smaller classroom size. With an aide, the individual attention increases even more. Yes, I’m in favor of fewer children and more aides in our classrooms. Excuse me whilst I duck! Unfortunately, many schools across the U.S. are cutting back on aides to save money.

Today’s elementary school classrooms are chock-full of kids, but cramped for sufficient space and ample time. I've always said that space and time are luxuries items once a school building has too many children attending it! School officials try to make due with the dwindling assets they have at their disposal. I wish I could wave a magic wand and restore to life President Kennedy’s dictate that we place Americans on the moon or resurrect President Eisenhower’s command to construct a colossal interstate highway system. I wish for resolute leaders to sway, not be molded by, irresolute polls so that every K-6th grade classroom in America becomes the most tantalizing and enlightening place for kids to come to.

However, parents should be most concerned about class sizes in K -3rd grades. Research, not polls, could justify a national mission of lowering classroom size in these critical grades. A 14-year study tracked 11,600 children from kindergarten through third grade, and eventually documented their performance in high school. Children who began school with 13-17 classmates outperformed those from larger classrooms (22-25). Even when classroom size increased to higher levels in fourth grade, the students who spent grades K-3 in the smaller classrooms were already 6-14 months ahead in math, reading and science and were more likely to complete advanced academic classes as, take college admissions tests, and graduate as well! And 72 percent of the students from the smaller kindergarten through 3rd grade classrooms, compared to 66 percent, graduated on time and completed more advanced math and English courses in high school.

Interestingly, research shows small class size in low-income schools in Wisconsin that African American kids who attended predominantly African American schools get a bigger boost from small class size than did white kids. In Tennessee, on average, black students in small classes ended third grade with academic achievement that was 7 to 10 percentage points higher than black students who attended the large classes. White students in small classes were only 3 to 5 percentage points ahead of white students from those larger classes.

I believe people value children as much as paved interstate highways and moon shots, but Ohio will accumulate a $7.3 billion deficit in several years. Eventually, we’ll provide all children with uncrowded classrooms, but not someday soon. I wish I had a magic wand.

Robert Morton, M.Ed., Ed.S. has retired from his positions of School Psychologist and adjunct professor in the School of Leadership & Policy Studies at Bowling Green State Univeristy. A portion of Ad sale revenue from this site is donated to Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America. Questions? Comment? Concerns about family, parenting, educational or personal concerns? Contact him on the secure Bpath Mail Form.