Bringing Up Bebe vs. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom

[jackfaire]

For the first year or so of her life my daughter slept on my chest at night. At first I was freaked out and worried but it turned out fine and it was the only place she could sleep through the night.

[fireheart17]

OK, not to derail from the thread too much, but I would rather go with the French method than the "Tiger Mum" method. In fact, funnily enough, some of the still long-running forms of alternative education were based in Europe and have produced some amazing graduates out of those particular systems. I'm referring to Montessori and Steiner schools.

Quick explanation: Montessori schools generally are more focused on self-directed learning and have three age groups in one classroom (so a classroom might have kids between the ages of 9 and 12 in one room). The teacher provides some degree of structure, but the kids work on their own. Steiner schools teach a similar curriculum to mainstream education, but different things are introduced at different times. Music is a heavy focus.

Out of those two, Steiner schools go up to year 12, Montessori schools usually go up to at the MOST Year 9 or 10.

Apparently the founders of Google and a co-founder of Wiki all went to Montessori Schools, as well as Alan Rickman .

As for Steiner kids, Julianna Marguiles (aka George Clooneys love interest on ER) and Jennifer Aniston either attended or graduated from Steiner Schools.

(for the record, I did not just check Wiki, I checked another website first, THEN checked Wiki, if they didn't match, I didn't bring it up. For instance, Clooney supposedly was a Montessori kid, but I couldn't find anything in Wiki)

There have been reports that kids from Steiner schools have gone to university and adapted well.

[Dreamstalker]

I was a Waldorf (Steiner) kid until roughly third grade; I had to switch to public school because there was some flap over mom being a single parent at the time. It "spoiled" me for public school for quite awhile...interestingly my assorted mental misdiagnoses didn't start until I was well entrenched in the public system.

I still visit my old Waldorf school on occasion (a number of the teachers there actually remember me!) and sometimes wonder how things would have turned out had I gone through all 8 years. I wasn't 'supposed to' even go to college yet ended up adapting very well.

[fireheart17]

I was a Waldorf (Steiner) kid until roughly third grade; I had to switch to public school because there was some flap over mom being a single parent at the time. It "spoiled" me for public school for quite awhile...interestingly my assorted mental misdiagnoses didn't start until I was well entrenched in the public system.

I still visit my old Waldorf school on occasion (a number of the teachers there actually remember me!) and sometimes wonder how things would have turned out had I gone through all 8 years. I wasn't 'supposed to' even go to college yet ended up adapting very well.

I'm actually contemplating doing a Steiner or Montessori school for my teaching placement later on this year. While my degree is in Special Education, I'd like to have a look at how those schools take care of kids with emotional or learning difficulties. (my areas of focus are more the emotional and learning disabilities and to some degree, some minor physical disabilities i.e. the deaf/blind. My sister is also doing a similar degree, but she wants to work with kids who are physically and intellectually disabled)

Most Montessori schools around here are pre-schools, with the exception of two in my state, one of which goes up to Year 7 level and the other goes up to Year 10 level (there's 3 age groups in one classroom, known as "cycles"). As for Steiner, most Steiner schools go up to Year 7 level while a few go up to Year 12 as well. (the schools I'm looking at doing my placement at are both K-12)