Adjectives
As I was getting my bag ready for work this morning, I pulled out some papers left from last week. They were work from my son’s school. Glancing through them while setting them aside, I found he had started doing more work for grammar. He is now identifying adjectives.
My son is 6. He is very much a six year old, oft found bouncing off the walls pretending to be inside a video game. He is the epitome of a six year old boy.
My son is six and knows what an adjective is.
This is added to the list of nouns, verbs, articles, and prepositions he already knows about.
I explained this to him last week: I didn’t start learning grammar until 8th Grade. Until I was 13. Over twice his age. And I didn’t even fully grasp it until 9th Grade when I had an awesome English teacher who kicked my butt. And I was one of the bright kids. Plenty of people I knew, even while in the midst of coursework, couldn’t point out a noun even if it bit them in the face.
My bouncing boy of six is learning grammar nearly ten years before I did and, as his teacher told me early last week, he just gets it.
Let this wash away any doubts about the self-directing, self-correcting Montessori method of education.
That, and my son is a genius.
That is all.
My nephew (Porter) just turned 10 this weekend. He is a product of a Montessori education and its methods; and it shows. He has skipped two grade levels, has interests in mythology, space, and is more creative than any 10 year old I know.
Just imagine where Austin will go with awesome, involved Parents and friends and family who care for him and about his interests. He may be the one that takes us to Mars. Oh, the possibilities…
Ken
8 Mar 10 at 4:50 pm
I am always careful to side with one particular educational method for a few reasons:
1) Every kid is different. They all have different interests, and they all learn in his or her own particular way.
2)Culture plays an enormous role in how children learn and develop. Some educational methods contradict a child’s particular culture. This is pretty evident in the public school setting.
3)There is not any conclusive evidence showing why one method is better than the other.
In my opinion, and I’ve come to this conclusion through a great deal of observation while instructing, substitute teaching and such, is that what really matters are the factors surrounding a particular educational method: resources, available teachers, teacher training, classroom size, school size etc.
Montessori is a great method, but also consider that you also pay a great deal of money for Austin to go that school. They probably have great teachers and great resources which allow them to use that method to it’s full potential.
You also take a great deal of interest in what your son is working on and spend a great of time teaching him at home. All of those things in conjunction is what produces a well rounded individual.
I am still a huge propoent of the public school system……..when done correctly. The problem is, the system has no money and way less resources than it once had. Read about public school in California before Prop 13 and you’ll be amazed.
And yes, your son is a genius. But he’s got damn good parents and probably really great teachers as well. It’s a winning situation for everyone.
Warren
11 Mar 10 at 6:27 pm
I agree with you on a lot of that. For the most part, what makes or breaks a student is the parents, not the school.
I will say though that public elementaries could do with learning some more from the Montessori method. I am very much in favor of children learning more self-reliance and able to distinguish success from failure without constantly needing reassurance.
But yes, there is always the factor that every kid is different and the most successful teachers appear to be the most adaptive. We are already speculating at how different Emily will be from Austin when it comes to schooling. We think she’ll have an easier go at sit-down academics than the lad.
Fry
12 Mar 10 at 9:09 am
Yeah, each kid is different. And public school,especially at the elementary level should use some of the Montessori methond, I completely agree with you.
Warren
12 Mar 10 at 12:14 pm