MariaMontessoriOwnersManualOfAChild2012

 

Introduction/Definition/etc Body Conclusion Discussion Page History Page Statistics Page Views:  since creating on 20120516

 

Introduction/Definition/etc

 

Ran across this link

http://mariamontessori.com/mm/?p=1674

looking up Montessori education and the Doctor

who created it.

http://en.WikiPedia.org/wiki/Montessori_education

notes some riff between the American educational system

and the doc's branding or fidelity of her methods

but says the AMS American Montessori Society

has resolved it...

 

I merely posted a comment that for some reason

isn't being posted, so will put it up here, and hope

they will learn to be more inclusive in the future...

 

Body

 

Growing up the child of two Ph.D.s,

and of somewhat rural background,

private school was not in my destiny,

but the emphasis on education was,

one of the Ph.D.s was in education and both

parents taught early in their careers,

so I'm wondering what the Montessori stuff

is all about, looked it up on WikiPedia.org,

to start and went to the source, sort of,

MariaMontessori.com for more biased

information than an encyclopedia page...

 

Found the "Owner's Manual of a Child"

blog like posting on that site and read through most

of it, found it rather intellectual, demanding,

claiming to be speaking for the child,

but in very few ways in a child's language,

I language, but concepts only some Old People

would understand, read some comments that

it brought tears to the parents eyes, inspires teachers,

of the Montessori type, and probably others,

so decided to give some uninformed unsolicited

feedback from a perspective

that most probably don't have...

 

You see, I was LD.  Learning Disabled,

or Learning Differences as they call it now,

had Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and used a

typewriter in class, making me instantly

popular with the other kids <grin>

Tap Tap, Noise, Noise...

And that was when I wasn't being a

Little Professor...

 

Doc thought I'd "grow out of it" in that

wonderfully positive attitude so different

than the Autism Label that some parents

dread, signaling all sorts of unfulfilled

parental dreams and expectations

and hidden costs of child to adult care,

bankrupting some, I would imagine...

 

I went to a special camp, In A Land Far Far Away :-),

for reading and writing one summer growing up,

to the chagrin of my sibling rival,

who probably wouldn't envy the new jeans

sliced open, ruined upon my arrival by a troubled camper,

never replaced by the administration, nor held accountable,

but I received audio tape letters in care packages from home,

a reasonable accommodation from Dad,

sending local radio music remotely too,

Dad, who spent most of his time reading and writing,

even at home, working late from home,

I guess to be a physical presence, even if not

an emotional nor didactic intellectual presence...

 

[ Censor

You see, later, I could "read" the magazines that

were put up out of sight, so I guess he knew

I could read instead of just looking at the pictures...

/Censor ]

 

I was paid for reading, in addition to allowance

for chores, not much, but fiscal motivation

is interesting when you live on the other side

of the tracks, so to speak, in apartments,

when the really cool kids live in houses

on the other end of the school district(s)...

Single parenting limits in some ways,

no garage to tinker in, no basement,

a one bedroom apartment limits

some possibilities of tree forts and

other stuffs...

 

 

Dad's familial role was more provider/ counselor,

than "dad", I'm not sure he knew what that was,

really, his biological father absent, in several ways,

drinking after loss of his biological mother...

Not sure about adoptive father, though he

was my GrandPa, more Beverly HillBillies

and HeHaw (sp?), or Mayberry? but I loved

them blindly, and could not understand why

the dog had to live outdoors, my house pet

being golden and special, got to live inside,

but not running and hunting like the other

animals...  One AKC field trained on birds,

the other pet quality and moped about the

apartment and town house, like the teen

"owner"/ handler...

 

I can't think of many outings we did together

besides grocery shopping, errands, occasional

eating out, etc...

 

We weren't fishing much, cities might have

Koy (sp?) Ponds, and an occasional crabs or

Lobster Tank, but tried later in his life with other

little relatives, he tried...

 

We didn't have friends over, but knew

some neighbors, mostly for safety, I guess,

I did house sit, as a small job one time or more...

 

Never very good at NewsPaper delivery, but

I guess my Early Morning Waking pre-training

clinical depression, filling in for another

entrepreneurial (spell checks wonderful :-) kid...

 

Mostly, I watched TV growing up, after killing/ doing

time latch key kid, avoiding homework, some

organized sports, eating and doing dishes, or cooking,

I had the option, but not the skill. 

I tried getting out of chores,

learning about Crepes in French class,

tried cooking them, (butter and Sugar, plus Jam!)

even for StepMonster, before she became Step,

and more of a Monster..

In other ways, she was kind, brought chocolate chip

cookies, and left over snacks, provided,

as well as an awkward existence...

Something like a Balance of Power, I guess,

finally marrying after I went away to college,

and could not come back, move to a smaller place,

save money for sending kid elsewhere,

one way of emptying the nest, AFAICT,

but she ended up with the job of taking care of him,

and won all family vacation benefits thereafter,

but I digress...

 

Education without reading is kind of odd,

I guess blind have audio books, and large

type and now Kurzwiel Readers that

electronically read printed books, but are

hugely expensive and have to go to libraries

to use, kind of difficult to do homework

that way, as after hours limited the

last minute procrastination typical of many

students, and adolescents.

 

Reminds me, Maria Montessori didn't ever do/

complete Adolescent, she died before getting

that far, seems a fitting irony on the typical

dealing with adolescents, to me,

many are sent away, eventually to college

or military, to get them out of the house,

I guess instead of killing them, as the joke goes,

or quit pestering parents, and what

Linus Torvald's father, a reporter once said,

"Benign Neglect is the best parenting method",

or similar, his son creating Linux in University,

Finland, IIRC, has cold weather, and with

Southern California temperatures, Linux probably

would never have existed,

now a rival to M$ Windows, and used all over

the world, from a dainty little humble beginnings

upstaging Richard M. Stallman in GNU / Linux

doing the kernel while RMS did the tools

and a lot more with Free Software Foundation

leaving MIT AI Lab over a riff with Non Disclosure

Agreements, preventing Source Code from

being shared...  See Revolution OS video,

if interested...

 

Anyway, the Owner's Manual speaks big words,

$25 Words, one of my clinical profs used to say,

intellectual words, and from a peer perspective,

the Owners Manual, you don't really Own People,

that would be Slavery, might be Responsible for Them,

many parents wish they had an Owner's Manual,

like other Equipment they purchase, how to use,

operator or care for, like a gerbil, mouse,

dog, or cat, or maybe hor$e, is more appropriate,

in the level of care and expense :-)

 

And then the hor$e learns to talk,

no, not Mr. Ed, but a funny analogy,

making noises, probably horse faced ;-)

and other growing up pains like acne,

don't want to do fast foods,

bad in many ways, I was Crunchy Granola

family on one side, Mil on the other,

but spent most of my high school

lunch hours, when available, off campus

at McD's, later not setting foot unless no other

options...  Nope, not seeking Ronald McDonald

House nor Foundation grants here... :-D

 

Children are fun, most of the time, as an odd

looking person with a bike a lot of the time,

I entertain them and parents whenever possible,

biking was fun for me, running away from home,

basically, when old enough and a hobby of sorts,

taking a maintenance class fairly early in life (<6?),

probably after sticking my hand in spokes

spinning they looked invisible, and well,

it's not Bill Bixby's Magic show on TV

after Incredible Hulk, (big green geek envy)

it hurts, don't do that, reminded of a scar

and Jeff FoxWorthy's Dad, "let him drop the

400 lb TV on his head, he'll learn...",

likely difficult to see the scar now 40+ years later

recently saying, "I learned the hard way"...

 

I was more take apart the TV,

wonder if he can put it back together,

probably while it was still plugged in,

"WARNING: Dangerous Lethal Voltages

Inside" doesn't mean much if you don't read...

 

School Of Hard Knocks, Grad here...

9V batteries tingle on your tongue,

but 120V wall sockets HURT,

not to mention blow the circuit breakers...

 

Not one for Lecture, I preferred Lab,

and Constructionist Learning like

OLPC and seemingly Montessori

methods, plus age appropriate environment,

short tables, short chairs, short book cases

(to the Tune of Randy Newman's Short People ;-)

or sensitively Little People, as I tend to call them,

in the Casa De Bambino or similar Children's House,

kid sized, but multi age classrooms,

more one room school house, and the kids learn

what they want, within reason...  Theoretically, No school bells,

interruptions, and using natural motivations,

human development, later in college, always boring theory

for me (except in a room full of females, talk about sexism

&& gender bias...), we grow like weeds, not manicured

Roses and Topiary / Bonsai Trees,

doting hovering parents might disagree,

vs. busy grad students and others concerned

with putting food on the table and employment/

careers, we were the "grad student poor", IIRC...

 

Money going to schools, grad schools

mostly instead of other stuff, IIRC, growing up,

the person centered approach of therapy

and counseling, giving attention to the kids,

non directive undivided unconditional love attention

was probably wasted on me, with no

other social outlets, school was nighmarish

Carrie, the Movie, escapting occasionally to

Ben Bova and Heinlien (sp?) sci fi, Omni Mag,

and Photography hobby, a Dark Room at home

in the closet, and a camera, but not socially

inept enough to win a space on the YearBook,

(In Your FaceBook!) wonder what ever

happened to the RolliFlex?

120 MM B&W film and family heirloom...

 

Anyways, early in life, get a dog,

have dog taken away when move to the big city

(for 'rent's work/study, not my choice).

losing my best friend, really only friend, IIRC. 

<violins here> The red haired kid, bright red, Carrot Top,

before the comedian, George Carlin,

went to see him in the Kennedy Center,

"7 Words You Can't Say On TV" or Radio,

and well have to go see him in person

or get the record, a stereo was the cool (now kewl)

thing at the time, AM radio was Mono,

and Stereo sounded better, HiFi even better

than that Blaupont, on the European Cars...

 

Anyways, I digress to technology, as nerds,

"Geeks, Freaks and Asperger's"

would later be a book, check it out, I haven't read it,

but the title is interesting :-P.  

 

Also, see Ted.com for a funny book jacket

cover design video, so nice to learn

by video ;-) 

 

And Charlie Rose did a show on Autism,

I only made it through part,

will have to see the rest later,

but what of those kids, that don't do

likely Private (read expensive?) Montessori?

 

Special Ed for you?

Alternative, now some call it...

Tramatized by teachers incompetent in

LD and other things, "Different is Not Deficient"??

slogan? coming along much later...

 

But I ramble and rant, though not much ranting here,

but not much coherent[ly?] either, a more Monty Python

approach to STOMP education :-)

 

Where is that Big Foot?  Sasquatch (sp?)? visual

Or "There's A Penguin On Top Of The TeleVision,

There IS" (in whiny English accent)

 

How do you include other opinions other than the

over controlled Maria Montessori (since died)

and her UserID still lives on, literal concrete

thinking would be channeling or back to life?

Throwing off those less than you, is that

what is being taught?

 

Structure! We Need Structure, our Chem 1

and Chem 2 Teacher, elitist in many ways,

used to say..

 

I preferred to get away, and left school half

day, did assignments, some as low as picking

up trash in the park, one green Winter/Spring,

filling dad's car, forgetting and leaving it

in the trunk, which surprised

him, post accident, lifting it open and

seeing trash bags, my forgetting to

take out the trash, I did...

Luckily, he thought it funny...

Unlike the bike to Big Wheel incident,

that got me spanked...

 

We just had to do assignments, the number of

them determined the grade for the term,

a variety, Social Studies, it was to be,

and wonder how I go into a behavioral

research G&T position instead of

Hard Science...

 

Thinking outside the box, I really can't

think much in it, and that was a jk

too...

 

Class Clown, as always, when not ranting

about depression and the unfulfilled

wishes and dreams of a latent adolescent,

problem child, now overgrown, and considered

immature, or irresponsible at 48,

looking for the happiness I lost,

in divorce, losses, and basically

latch key isolation chamber growing up,

later finding the Pretender on TV, more like my

later life...

 

Screen Goes Blank

The Centre found me...

<grin>

 

SimLife...

 

Conclusion

 

Summary of experience or similar

 

Discussion

 

A place for feedback on the page presented

 

Page History

 

20120516 Jerry

• Jerry created this page to pull up from a Dive on Bike Community ...

 

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