I have been raised to believe that I was born with intelligent genes. Even so, my grandmother still continued in me, my siblings and cousins, what she had done for her kids whilst growing up --making the home the first school. I never knew how early she started it. One thing I'll never forget her account of me being able to write my complete name by age 3 (think: Bianca Helen Del Rosario).
Now while some people in my family tree did grow up as achievers...Still, some didn't really make it to the honor rolls, despite being trained the same way as everyone else. I'm not talking about honor rolls literally. I believe that this list as well as test scores don't really mean more than just an assessment of what one has kept in memory. My idea of intelligence is having what it takes to live through life successfully. A person blessed with genius DNA can flunk without good guidance. In the same way that a person who didn't have good genes can progress through the support of family and teachers.
With this in mind, I am still in constant efforts to provide a good learning environment for Ella. I can say that she has fairly intelligent parents (Ehem! Ehem!). But, she still needs all the help she can get. So, I buy her toys, read to her and engage in proactive play with her when I can. But sometimes, I feel guilty whenever I'm not around during learning opportunities because, my being a working mom means I'd have to leave her to a nanny (Why not relatives[?] will be a different blog...). As a resolution, I decided to enroll her to a playschool! It's not like parents should enroll kids in some school at an early age...It's just that I don't have enough time and energy to come up with novel ideas to feed her growing hunger for knowledge. However, I haven't found a good school yet. Ella seemed to be a bit advanced compared to the kids at one Gymboree class we got to try.
Now let me share what my Ella has learned without school over the past few months...
1.Can do the close-open routine by 4 months
2.Can say mama and papa with meaning by 5 months
3.Can brush her teeth using The Angel Brush by 7 months
4.Changed mama and papa to mommy and daddy by 8 months
5.Walk by 10 months
6.Dance by 11 months
7.Recognize names of people and her favorite toys by 12
months. You can ask her to "love" (hug) each of them and she'll know who to pick! I remember when she was climbing my chair on day, I told her "Ella, don't climb. Are you a monkey?". She left and got back to me with her monkey stuffed toy.
8.Follow basic instructions such as getting something by 13 months.
9.Has an extensive vocabulary by 14 months:
-"mimi" for cat
-"bo" for ball
-"bu" for bird
-"babi" for bubbles
-"babu" for pig
-"bibi" for kids and babies
-"do" for dog
-"nono" for lolo / "nana" for lola
-"toto" for her favorite stuffed toy, Cow-cow
-"didi" for her kid friend, Jinjin
-"ona" for her nanny, Lorna
-"chu" for shoes
-"namnam" for food, "nami" for delicious
-"jijo" for Jesus. She recognizes Jesus in almost all His images...pictures, the cross, sculptures, etc.
10.Continuosly updating sounds and letters and lots of additional words on her vocabulary.
11.Can name parts of her body, name every family member and say "please" by 16 months.
Considering how much she knows at this age, I feel it's negligence on my part to not nurture her God given intellectual capacity. I don't want her to look back when she grows up regretting not being able to meet something just because she didn't have what it takes.
Does anyone have suggestions for a good learning environment?
your every woman,
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