Leah’s Cafe

As more parents are pushing academic to their children at a younger and younger age, one of the most successful educational models in the world does the exact opposite.

One of the secrets of the success is: former schooling in Finland does not start until the children are seven years old. Nor do they push reading before children get to school. It is my understanding that the preschools are based on play and children are out in the natural world for much of their day. Not all children develop at the same pace, but majority of children are more or less developmentally ready for schooling by the time they are seven, thus less disparity between the ready and the not so ready ones. Run, mummies, if you worry whether your child is going to play catch up all his life, read this article on the Wall Street Journal.

Our present system which emphasizes too much on academic can suffocate many. As we all know, not everyone is interested in academic and wants to go to college to pursue a degree. Some children may want to be nail artists or rap singers when they grow up! Some may be interested to go to one of the beauty schools to learn manicure, pedicure, cutting, coloring, chemicals and facials. They may even be the ones that doing better than lawyers and doctors in our current economic model!

I was listening to a podcast on Focus on The Family last night and the segment was on the right education and choices of schooling for your children. The broadcast featured authors Kurt and Olivia Bruner discuss how they chose a different education option for each of their children based on the child’s needs. There was also a part of the segment that other parents explained how they settled on the best education for their children.

When it comes to a child’s education in the US, the days are long gone when parents simply sent their kids to the nearest public school. Today, parents can choose from a number of education options, including private schools, home schooling, charter schools and even “virtual” schooling. With so many options, how can parents know which one is the right choice for their child?

In fact, it’s not uncommon for families to choose an eclectic approach like the Bruners have done. It’s important to look at individual child and explore the many options available. Whether you choose public school, private school, charter school, home school or a virtual academic like The Jubilee Academy, it has to be a choice that fits your individual child.

Homeschooling has started getting more popular and there are currently about 2 millions children from preschool to year 12 are in home school setting throughout the States. However a virtual academic like The Jubilee Academy is a rather new approach. At The Jubilee Academy parents are provided with a comprehensive interactive accredited Christian program, and the children can interact with one another through the state of the art learning management system. The Social Center is where the children socialize in a safe environment. There is a Teacher/Parent Message Board that enables parents to have unlimited interaction with their student’s teachers and other Jubilee Academy parents. In another word, parents are always in complete control of their child’s education at Jubilee.

As parents we need to be aware of the options out there, don’t assume one size fits all, get the help, get the information, and your child’s going to do great if you’re involved, no matter what education option you choose.

The economy and the skills required at work are changing. The only way for us to stay competitive is to continue to update ourselves and continue to obtain the skills that desired by the employers.

Since Microsoft is the biggest market player right now and majority of offices use system and programs from Microsoft. Earning your Microsoft Certification will certainly help to advance your IT career path.

Being certified not only help you to stand out with employers, you will be seen as a person who is very ambitious and one who loves to do what he does. The benefits of being a part of the Microsoft Certified community can help you to show off your skills and Microsoft expertise and become the office hero or outstanding new hire.

Check out QuickCert.com for a variety of certification training programs. It has proven track record of preparing thousands of IT professionals in the past decade with their the comprehensive self study training materials. What are you waiting for?

We lived very near a private hospital and can hear the ambulances drove us by throughout the day and even in the middle of the night. Sometime I wondered who were these patients being ferried on the ambulances, were they old folks who had strokes or young people who got into auto accidents?

Can you imagine the critical situations that the paramedics on this ambulances often face? Don’t you think it takes a lot to handle everything professionally and act fast all the time? The strange thing is: we often hear young people wanted to be doctors and nurses, seldom paramedics. Do you know of anyone who aims to be a paramedic?

Even in the TV series “Saved” that supposedly based on stories of paramedics, lead character Wyatt Cole (Tom Everett Scott) was a doc dropout. Wyatt’s dad (David Clennon) is a doc who wants to see his son go back to medical school. Wyatt does consider it, but he can be heard bragging to docs,

“We do everything you do, we just do it at 60 mph.”

TV of course doesn’t portray real life, every show needs gimmicks, and “Saved” has a pretty decent one to demonstrate how folks in need of urgent medical care sustained their injuries.:-)

Paramedics and emergency medical workers who are seeking ACLS recertification of course do not get their training by watching the TV dramas. :-) In fact, the National Paramedic Institute does provide training and educational programs for first-responders, paramedics and emergency medical technicians, they have videos and films that re-enact the real emergency situation by the real emergency personals as part of a subscription training series. Paramedics and emergency workers then can be trained to deal with all kind of challenging, confusing or unusual medical issues.

My niece and nephew study in a semi-funded school. There are a few fund raising efforts being organized every year to cover the deficits. Last year, they were a bake sale, a food carnival and a concert being organized to raise funds for the school. Though this fund raising activities are good fund raisers, they certainly burdened the teachers and children. As they have to either sell the products or have to get people to support the fund raising events.

The board members and the administrators certainly need to learn how to raise money for schools and draw up some fund raising programs that will work effortlessly in the long run. I told my sister in law who is a committee member in the PTA about the innovative fund raiser program that the private school in town had adopted. It’s very similar to what Schoolpop has, though I have no idea whether this private school is affiliated with Schoolpop

Schoolpop has an innovative fund raising program that doesn’t require people to go out of their ways. People can financially support the school by doing what they normally- shopping. If people choose to shop at designated merchants and stores, part of the proceeds will go to the school. The school doesn’t have to do any selling, but receive a portion of the profits. Isn’t that a brilliant idea? If you are a school administrator or a member of the PTA, you may want to let the school board know of such program.

Our uncle is a real estate agent for over 30 years, he never went to school to get a certification or a license when he first started off. It was possible 30 years ago because the regulations were not strict and many people became real estate brokers without formal training but pick up the necessary knowledge by learning on the job.

Today, if you want a career in Real Estate Investment, it might not be advisable to just go into a job without formal training. The laws and regulations govern the real estate transactions have become much more complicated and it’s actually mandatory to have license and certification to conduct most of the brokerage duties.

Many universities offer courses in real estate management and financial courses that may have a component that broadly cover real estate investments. But, if you are looking for a specific course that teaches about certain aspect of real estate sales i.e. the short sales and foreclosures, you may want to check out Nouveau Riche University. It’s a Real Estate Investment College that offers courses in all aspects and types of real estate transactions. The university was recently featured in the January 2008 Issue of Your Business at Home Magazine.

Since this magazine only feature one company per month, I guess it did say something about the university and indeed it was a big deal!

Do you like self learning? Self learning means teaching yourself a skill or a set of skills or a new knowledge base without attending classes. I do believe that with a few good books, maybe a good video/DVD and a good dictionary, we can virtually teach ourselves anything under the sun.

If you have always envy people who can play a musical instrument and wanted to play violin but never have an opportunity to attend classes due to all the adult’s obligations and commitment. Now, you can learn how to play violin with the Virtual Private Lessons from Mrs. Seidel in the Convenience of your Home!

The DVD lessons show you the most basic from how to put the shoulder rest on and how to hold and play the violin, you are then introduce and proceed step-by-step through each additional lesson at your own pace at the your home! Check out the link for full sized sample videos of the lessons.

Do you want teach your child to write and read the phonetic way but you are hesitating because you yourself do not learn to write and read this way?

A few mummies in Seremban had asked me to conduct a workshop to get them started on teaching “Spell to Write and Read”. I will be driving up this Wednesday to conduct a 2-hour demo at 1.30 p.m-3.30 p.m. I know this is kind of a short notice, but if you are interested to come along, please let me know.

There will be no tuition fee charged, the only fee you need to pay and share with others will be to cover my expenses to get there i.e. toll and gas.