Hi mommies! My husbands and I are very satisfied sa school ng daughter namin kaya eto, I made a review about the school to share here sa girltalk.
Kidschool Child Development Center
Location: Dr. Lazcano, Quezon City (near Timog/Tomas Morato)
Tuition: 60k+ inclusive of snacks, supplies, equipment, materials
Teacher student ratio – in my daughter’s class they’re only 11, they have 2 teachers plus 2 teacher aides, I believe they’re accepting upto 15 students max per class
Educational system: Montessori/piagetian – Holistic approach
They use Montessori materials, and there are abundant variety of equipment and materials around the classroom (pegs, beads, sandpaper letters – sorry not familiar with how the materials are called); they also have lots (hundreds, if not a thousand) of books that the reading kids could bring home and borrow. Their table/classroom setup is circular (?) meaning not like the traditional na by rows and has blackboard in front – instead they have a big rectangular table where the kids work or do their individual works.
Curriculum includes practical life wherein kids are taught self-care and care for environment and sensorial exercises – they dress up themselves – I saw a material where they can practice buttoning clothes – as the teacher told me it also teaches the way of doing things which is starting from top going down then from left to right. First hour of class is for their individual work/activity – as a beginner, my daughter started with buttoning, bead lacing, puzzles that practice the tripod hold, etc. then she moved to coloring one-color-object pictures, then picture cards – no workbooks yet when the child is not yet ready. Next hour is informal group discussion where kids share experiences related to their activity. They have free play time supervised by the aides and the teacher then snack break 2 kids are assigned to set the table, then they line up to wash hands, sit down to eat, they say thank you when the teacher aide serve their food. The kids also bring extra clothes and they change clothes by themselves, the teacher taught them (I know, I never taught my daughter –nasanay sya may help from me or yaya), I was also surprised to see the dirty shirt folded properly inside my daughter’s bag when she comes home, I thought maybe the teacher aide folded it and put it in her bag, but then when I went to school for observation, I discovered she does that by herself too. After break time, there’s a specific topic discussion (science, language, etc), then next is their music/art, then readiness exercise which may be group or individual activity, then before dismissal time is story telling time.
What I loved about this school is that is somehow aligned to our family values (or what values I wanted to teach my child), for one is its simplicity - children can celebrate their birthdays in school but it should be simple and not too elaborate. Their Christmas party is celebrated by a simple program that include a miniplay about the Christmas story (kids as actors), and some song and dance numbers by the kids – the materials and costumes used in the program are provided by the school.
They don’t give homeworks (thank goodness!!) but they encourage parent involvement in fact they stress that it’s very important, which I also believe by the way. If the teacher finds something to tell to parents about their kid whether negative or positive they tell it immediately to the parent after class. Example, my daughter was given a supplement writing book that she should work on at home because the teacher observed that she was less persistent when she’s working individually – she wasn’t too fond of writing kasi, nawawalan agad ng gana when she finds na mahirap isulat yung word or letter. At one point she was also given a set of sight words to practice reading when she’s home. I was asked to guide her at home doing those activities.
Before I enrolled my daughter in Kidschool (she was 3 years and 10 months old that time), she didn’t know how to read nor write, she didn’t even know how to hold a pencil – yeah I bought her crayons and some materials before but I never really taught her how to use ‘em, free flow doodling lang ginagawa nya. I taught her the alphabet (ABC’s) but not the phonetic sounds of the letters. Now she loves to draw and color - na may story pa ha.. she draws castles, princesses, houses, gardens, beach scenes, our family, etc. – then she tells me the story about her drawing. She writes – she particularly loves writing me notes like Dear Mom I love you From Salma then leaves it on my dresser
..it’s funny nga coz sometimes when she wants to say something and writes it then it’s a new word to her, she invents the spelling herself. Ang cute kahit mali nakakatuwa kasi she tries to figure the spelling herself. She loves to read! When we’re in the bookstore we stay there for hours kasi she love reading the books, I always buy her books pero mostly from Booksale (mahal kasi brandnew hehe). Actually since last month,the school lets her bring home a new book everyday to read at home. Personality wise, my daughter became more polite and gracious unlike before na shy and snob sya. She’s also more independent now. And she learned good values from school example she’s reminding her daddy not to throw trash out the car window – because they have a song in school about that -it goes like “find a bin, find a bin, find a bin, and put it in”
By the way, Kidschool is holding summer classes too, this year from April 25 to May (I forgot exact date)if you’re interested, enrolment is first to 2nd wk of march I think.
They also welcome ocular visits and observations/sit in – in fact meron na yatang pailan ilan na mga nag-sisit in na new kids ngayon kasi kinekwento sakin ng daughter ko na may new classmate sila tapos baby pa daw 2 or 3 years old pa lang daw.
