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!

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.

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?

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

There are many universities offer different online degrees this days, you might want to check out Columbia Southern University(CSU). The online degree programs offer in CSU including associate, bachelor, graduate and doctorate degrees. With so many specializations being offered at CSU, you would find a course that suits your interest and career path. Check out the link if you are interested to pursue an online degree.

Many adults may have thought of going back to school to get the qualifications that they need, but not many working adults can afford to quit their job and go back to school full time. With the availability of online degrees, it’s made possible for adults to study without having to quit their jobs. They can schedule their study along side their work. So long they are ready to sacrifice their leisure time, it’s possible to study and work at the same time!

**This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

I am afraid I don’t really have time to write a book explain to everyone who emailed me asking about Montessori, I would suggest you pick up an introductory book on the philosophy of Montessori education. The other thing is: we can discuss, but ultimately you are THE mother who knows your child best. I don’t really know your child personally, so I can’t really diagnose what his/her problem and tell you what you are supposed to do. You have to get educated and observed her/him if you want to help your child.

You can start with checking out college financial aid for grants and scholarships, which means it would be a great idea if your GPA was much higher than average. Good grades are an investment. Students in the top 10% of their classes have many more options.

Work part-time if you need the money. This idea isn’t widely accepted, but if you need the income, WORK! You could also try attending an affordable local college to get your first few years of required classes done. Then transfer to the school of your dreams if you can pay cash.

It has not been easy to find responsible and dedicated tutors, let alone Innovative Tutor! We are ready to offer profit sharing and help him or her to start running an independent tutoring service if we find the right person.

We have taught the children the sounds of letters A to Z and are getting ready to start dictating words to them. The said lady was using one of those phony phonics programs, she taught them the incomplete set of sounds with a song and was using visual cues. Which slow down the direct association of sounds and symbols.

Most of the children are not confused by her as we have established long term memory with them. But two of the girls who have displayed some dyslexic tendencies and were still struggling with long term memory were so confused by her, they just went blank again!

Well, I am not really surprised that this lady insisted that her way is the right way. Especially she was a retired kindergarten principal with 20 years experience and has a B.A in English, she is not going to be convinced by two “young chicks” that there’s another way. I have met quite a number of people who work as Reading Tutors insisted there’s nothing wrong with their programs but the children who couldn’t read are “slow”. It just proved that people can be sincerely misguided.

I must say, I rarely encountered children who are so called “slow”. They may be labeled as “slow” because their learning preferences crashed with how they have been taught. It takes a little innovations and well prepared environment, and they can learn just as well as others.

You have to teach him yourself or have him go to a reading tutor. The reading tutors you pick preferably are familiar with various reading difficulties. It’s important so that she or he is able to tell whether your child is struggling with which learning issues, then she/he will also be able to help your child to curb or reverse the dyslexic tendencies.

The only way for him to proceed is to go back to the very basics, to learn the basic operations, decimal system and simple geometry before he can move on. Can that be done in a traditional classroom setting? Not a chance that could happen in a crowded classroom! He certainly need an innovative tutoring environment and more hands-on approach that work for his lack of attention span.

My cousin in law who is a school teacher and teaches tuition at home stopped by to inform me of the news. She had stopped her tuition classes at home because the rumor is flying all over town about the authorities are cracking down tuition centers like brothels, checking whether there are teachers who do part time there without permission from the education department, they also have an operation to crackdown teachers who teach tuition at home at one part of the town, as the rumor seem to say.

Well, I don’t teach the normal school syllabus and I don’t hire school teachers, my teachers are retired or full time tutors. So, am I the only place in town that is not affected? :-)

In fact, I am trying to get out of this tuition business to concentrate on running the preschool. It’s so sick to compete with school teachers who leak examination questions. I have advertised twice to sell the tutoring service and a dozen people have came to look at the building or inquired about the price, but so far no deal has been closed.

Suddenly with this cracking down on teachers thing, every other school teacher is looking for a shop lot to start a tuition center. Of course, they want to start a center with their spouse or sibling’s name, not their own. I have been approached by two people about partnership. I told them I want to sell, not interested in messy partnership. My chance is here? Hopefully, I get to sell it this time with a good price!!