How Can A Montessori School Save You Money?

Is it possible to save money by sending your child to a Montessori school? First, it’s important to understand how a Montessori classroom operates. The classroom is an environment for self-education and self-realization. The room is divided up into different learning stations. There are 5 stations in most classrooms:

• Practical Life – This area develops task organization and promotes the understanding of cognitive order.

• Sensorial – This area teaches the students to classify and describe sensory impressions such as length, width, temperature, color, etc. Special Montessori “games” are used which have metal weights, different length rods, puzzles of the world, United States, etc., and also includes smelling activities.

• Math- The Math station uses manipulative materials to enable the comprehension of number, symbol, sequence, operations concepts and the memorization of basic facts.

• Language – Unique tools are used to communicate the understanding of letters and eventually the recognition of words and finally, the accomplishment of being able to read.

• Cultural Activities – Teachers spend times teaching about different counties of the world. The topics covered are: geography, history, cultures (food, clothing, traditions), music and art. This part of the program gives children a worldly perspective.

My 4 year old son has been attending Montessori school since he was 2½. It’s evident that his language and understanding of the world around him are developing at a rapid pace. In his school, it is expected that pre-schoolers (4 year olds) will know how to read and write before kindergarten.

What impressed me most about this particular school is that they use the Open Court Sound Cards. The sound cards are drilled every day throughout the entire school year. The cards have a picture and a letter on them. Each card represents either a vowel or a consonant. The students learn the letters and their corresponding sounds through repetition and pictures. There are 42 cards in the set, each with a different letter, vowel or letter grouping (the letter grouping example is ‘ph’, to represent the sound ‘f’).

An example is the sound card for the letter ‘W’. There is a picture of two whales whispering to each other. During the lesson, the students chant “Whispering whale, whispering whale, wuh, wuh, wuh.” This repetition enforces the concept of how the letter “W” looks and also what it sounds like. This exercise is the very beginning of learning to read. In order to learn how to read, a child must first learn all the letters of the alphabet and their sounds.

The Open Court Sound Cards, published by McGraw-Hill SRA, are reviewed each day for the entire year. If a child starts learning this at age 2 ½ or 3, she will be putting the letters together and reading at around age 4 ½ to 5. Some other benefits of Open Court learning are:

• Phonological and phonemic awareness

• Print and book awareness

• Alphabetic knowledge

• Oral language skill enhancement

• Vocabulary growth

• improved comprehension

According to www.montessori-ami.org, “A significant finding in Montessori studies is the association between a Montessori education and superior performance on the Math and Science scales of the ACT and WKCE (Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exams). In essence, attending a Montessori program from the approximate ages of three to eleven predicts significantly higher mathematics and science standardized test scores in high school."

To answer the question posed in the title of this article, How Can A Montessori School Save You Money?, the answer is in the child’s future education. Studies show that a Montessori educated child is more confident and enthusiastic about learning and school. He or she will already know how to read and write by kindergarten. Because of this, the child will be less likely to need tutoring or other prep classes during the elementary school years.
by: Janet Freitag

Considerations in Distance Education for the Medical Assistant Instructor

Medical Assistant distance education is emerging to meet the demands of a new generation of students in the twenty first century. St. Augustine Medical Assistant School distance education program for medical assistant presents a good model for this integration of technology with medical assistant education. Distance education, particularly in its most recent form, online education, is being integrated into even the most cautious and conservative of educational institutions. Yet the impact of these alternative forms of teaching and learning on students, faculty, and institutions has yet to be broadly or deeply studied. New models such as that at St. Augustine Medical Assistant School are immerging. St. Augustine Medical Assistant School is available at: www.medicalassistant.us

Distance education is not new, and can be traced as far back as the first century. The Apostle Paul wrote to the early Christian churches, instructing them from a distance (even when he was under 'house arrest' in Rome). This was probably the first type of 'correspondence course', which was the only method of learning at a distance until the advent of the telephone. Today, distance education and in particular online medical assistant instruction calls upon an impressive range of technologies to enable medical assistant instructor and the medical assistant student who are separated by distance to communicate with each other either in real time (synchronous) or delayed time (asynchronous). Currently and asynchronous model used at St. Augustine Medical Assistant School to instruct medical assistant students. This has proven to be a very effective model however the medical assistant program is currently investigating the benefits of synchronous online medical assistant instruction and the benefits it may have for the medical assistant student.

Medical Assistant distance learning epitomizes the move away from institute based learning to a more direct, student centered approach. As a concept, distance learning has existed for over a century, notably in the form of paper based correspondence courses including the less formal correspondence education for medical assistants. Now however, distance education is depending increasingly upon technology for its success and technological innovations ensure that distance learning for the medical assistant continues to evolve and grow as a valid and potent force in all forms of education for the medical assistant.

The task of the medical assistant distance educator is therefore to obviate these problems as much as possible by mixing and matching techniques, creating and maintaining a stimulating environment, and offering opportunities for medical assistant students to communicate with each other and with the medical assistant teaching staff on a regular basis. The medical assistant educators will also need to change their traditional role as well. Many remote medical assistant students need a great deal of social support, and medical assistant distance educators may find themselves spending more time offering one-to-one tutorials and less time lecturing. St. Augustine Medical Assistant School at www.MedicalAssistant.us is leading today’s technology in medical assistant education.

When designing medical assistant educational systems and materials for medical assistant distance in delivery the medical assistant teacher must consider not only learning outcomes, but also centered requirements and technical constraints for the medical assistant. Also to be considered are the needs, characteristics, and individual differences of both the students, the teachers and future medical assistants.

Medical assistant distance education for the medical assistant then, should not be viewed as a means of reducing costs, but as an opportunity to raise standards. It is also about providing quality medical assistant learning opportunities for those who, for one reason or another, have previously been excluded from this basic human right. Medical Assistant distance education will quickly become the norm and not the exception for the twenty first century medical assistant. St. Augustine Medical Assistant School distance education program for medical assistant presents a good model for this integration of technology with medical assistant education. The St. Augustine Medical Assistant model can be reviewed at: www.medicalassistant.us.

By Dr. Mark Stout
Dean of Education St. Augustine Medical Assistant School
Distance Education and Informatics Specialist

Medical Transcription Training

Employers will almost exclusively hire transcriptionists who have completed some kind of formal training in the area or who have experience. There are many ways to obtain such training, but for most a community college or vocational school will be the best option, especially if the training includes on-the-job experience. Do not worry about whether or not they offer the opportunity to earn the Certified Medical Transcriptionist designation. This is not a required certification in general, and in fact, most transcriptionists need a couple of years' experience before they can pass the test to gain this designation. I am not a CMT, but I was able to find a job.

Courses typically take several months to two years to complete, depending on the school chosen. Many vocational schools include the cost of books and course materials in their tuition, which may be helpful after you have landed a job. If you already work in a medical field, and simply want to switch to working from home, you may only need to learn transcription, as you may already have the vocabulary you need, but think carefully, as a refresher course may not be an entirely bad thing either.

It is also possible to take transcription courses at home. This option is more flexible but may be more challenging in other ways. Your selection of a course of study should depend on how you will best learn what you need to know.

You will need an assortment of reference books. Some you may recieve with your training, but you may find you need others. See the equipment page for suggestions.

College Courses

College courses are best for most people. Having an instructor to help you through the difficult parts and to keep you working on a schedule can be a great benefit. Many schools also offer job placement assistance, which may not be available through home study courses.

Community Colleges

Perhaps the cheapest method of instructor-led training you can get, but it may not be quick. A quick look at a local community shows a 22-25 unit requirement for certification in Medical Transcription. This would require a minimum of two semesters' work or more, depending on prerequisites and whether you attend part- or full-time.

Costs vary by what state you live in. Check with your local school.

Vocational Schools

Vocational schools cost more than community colleges, typically into the thousands, but may offer more flexiblity when it comes to the timing of your class. This may not be a quick solution either. With a quick look at a local vocational school's webpage, I found that its Medical Transcription training program takes about 28 weeks of classroom time and four weeks of an externship. Check to see if textbooks and other supplies are included in the cost.

Home Study

Home study courses offer the most flexiblity in many ways, but they offer challenges as well. You must be capable of working on your own. On the other hand, if you want to work at home, that's a skill you need. You'll need special equipment for this option in many cases, such as a foot pedal.

In the time I've spent researching medical transcription schools, three names keep coming up as the ones that employers actually hire from regularly: Career Step, M-Tec, and Andrews School of Medical Transcription. Of them, CareerStep is the most affordable. The others have a still better reputation with employers, but CareerStep graduates are plenty well enough trained to find employment. My former employer, Medquist, requires that you take the Gold level or above from CareerStep (last I heard, anyhow), which is my recommendation as well. Expect to take a minimum of 6 months, often 9 months or more, to complete a course.

Which option is best? That depends in large part on how you best learn and what is available in your area. There's no one definite right answer that will meet everyone's needs.
by: Stephanie Foster

The Secret to Master Math

“ Is there an easy way to master math ? ”. I’m sure you must have thought this at least once in your life ( if not before every other math test ). You must have felt at some point that how come some people are so good at Math while others fail to do even a simple addition correctly. Well if you have, then cheer up! , you are not the only one who feels like that.

Several studies have been done so far to determine what makes the math skill of one brain way superior to others. The M.R.I study done on people of different age groups and of different educational levels has produced a surprising result. The Study has clearly shown that morphologically (i.e. in terms of shape, size and structure) the brain of both the Math dudes and the so called Math duds is identical. ( And you always thought a missing part was responsible for your bad scorecard ). So where does the difference lie ? The Study has also confirmed that the Math dudes have higher brain activity in their inferior parietal cortex ( that part of the brain that is supposed to deal with math )

So what does all this add up to?Simply a driver conflict in the mind.

Before I reveal the secret to master math, let me tell you about an incident that happened not so long ago. One fine day my pc at home crashed. Anyway, before it crashed completely it was not working like a Super computer. To begin with, it had stopped playing any song or sound long ago and its floppy drive would not work as well (ok it was an old machine but believe me I was using it purely out of emotional reasons). For sometime now I was thinking of getting those parts replaced if not throwing the entire thing in the dust-bin.

Anyhow, I decided to do the clean reinstallation. After an endless wait in front of the blue screen, came the moment of glory. The screen read ‘ Your computer is ready to boot for the first time.’ Immediately after that, the first thing I heard was the sweet old churning of my hard disk and then I saw the soft blink of my CD-Rom drive. And then guess what happened, the long dead floppy drive also followed the suit and started to blink. “ Hallelujah ” I cried out. Now I had realized that it was the driver conflict that was stopping my otherwise good hardware (yeah!) from working correctly.

For those who are wondering right now what ‘driver’ is, it is a small program responsible for making your hardware do what it does.

I became so optimistic that I went on a searching spree on the internet to find the right driver for my sound card as well. Finally, I did find what I was looking for and installed it manually. The result ? As I am punching this article on my computer (yes the same old one) my favorite John Denver song is playing in the background.

Now coming back to what we had started out with, as to why some people lack the math skill completely. What is that well kept secret to master math ? The answer is just one word - updates. People who lack math skill have not bothered to update their number crunching driver.

By now everybody is aware that computers are based on human brain.

Our Brain = Hardware of computer, comparable to CPU.

Our Mind = Software, comparable to Operating System (like windows, linux or whichever you find best)

Our mind needs numerous drivers ( programs ) to run its various faculties. Those are stored in our memory.

Some brains come right out of the pack with the correct drivers installed while others have to update their drivers manually during the course of their life.

Take this Quick Test to check the version of Math driver installed in your mind. ( Try to attempt the questions first on your own and then compare your approach to that given below.)

23 x 11 = What ?

Take your time.

I’m still waiting.

Did you get the answer ?

Now look at the approach given below.

Action performed:
No response at all / a mild headache ( very much like the overheating of a non functional part of a machine.)

Type of driver installed:
The mind with non existent driver or a malfunctioning one.

Action performed:
Tries to solve this way using pen & paper.

23
11
-----
23
23x
------
253
-------

Type driver installed:

The mind with an outdated driver installed.

Action performed:
since 2+3=5 , therefore 23 x 11 = 2 5 3

To multiply any 2 digit no. with 11 simply add the two digits and sandwich the result in between those two digits.

Type driver installed: The mind with the latest updated driver.

Before you take this test any further, let me tell you one good thing about the human mind. Our mind is designed to be very lazy. This in turn makes it super efficient. Confused ?? Read on.

Our mind always seeks to get the maximum output using the minimum effort. This makes it super productive. Our mind wants that at a click of a button ( that too if absolutely unavoidable ) everything should be done. Our clothes and utensils washed, our food cooked, our room cleaned and our algebra homework done.

I am sure most of us could have solved 23 x 11 by using the 2nd approach (long one). But most of us chose not to, as somehow the mind became aware that it was not the most efficient (read: easy) way of doing it. That is why once the mind is taught the easy way of doing things it seldom reverts back to its old inefficient ways. In my experience as a Math teacher, I have seen the students transform from math duds to absolute math dudes in a matter of few weeks once the right drivers are installed in their minds.

Now that your mind knows the shortest and easiest way of multiplying any 2 digit no. by 11, try few more examples and see which method your mind prefers.

26 x 11 = ____

2+6=8, thus answer is 2 8 6
i.e. add 2 & 6 and sandwich the result in between .

45 x 11 = ____

4+5=9, thus answer is 4 9 5.

Conclusion: This was just one example to demonstrate that the much needed math skill is thankfully already present in our mind. We are all capable of doing calculations at a snap finger speed. All we need to do is tweak our mind a little for optimum performance.

by: Shahryar Badar

Drop Shipping As A Business!

Elaine has been a fan of eBay for a long time and has recently cleaned out her home thanks to them. She sold many of the things that she no longer needed (or wanted) and made a decent amount of money off of it. The process was simple and she enjoyed doing it. It just worked for her. Now, she has nothing more to sell. She has thought about starting to look at garage sales and selling things for friends, but she knows that if she wants to make good money, she'll need to find products to really sell.

This is where dropping shipping or wholesale purchasing come into play. For many individuals this is the ideal way to sell products. All you need to do is to purchase products that people want at low prices and then to sell them at a higher mark up. Sounds easy right? It really can be that easy, in fact.

For many individuals, selling on eBay is what draws them to drop shipping. This online auction site features hundreds of people looking to buy virtually anything you can imagine. This makes it the ideal place to go to find a deal too. Yet, for those that are looking to sell, it can be a way to make a solid income. While eBay is in itself an entirely different article, just know that many individuals that get into drop shipping do so to sell products through eBay.

Other avenues can be used to sell products to. For example, many individuals develop websites, promote them and drive traffic (customers) to them to sell their products. In fact, you can even use drop shipping to help you to sell products through mail order as well. All of this can be done right from your home. Nice and neatly too.

So, what is drop shipping or wholesaling? If you were to start a home based business today selling pens you would need to stock lots of pens to sell right? Not necessarily. In drop shipping, you can actually sell the product without having the product in front of you. This is done by simply working with a manufacturer who will put aside a lot of the product you wish to sell. They will take care of sending the product to the customer, once it is ordered while you handle the money. You will charge them more than you were charged which is what gives you the profit.

This is not always the case though. In some cases, individuals will actually purchase the products they plan to sell and stock them to send out as they are needed. In either case, the goal is to purchase and sell products at a higher cost than you bought it for.

The Pros And Cons

In order for you to make any money at wholesaling, you'll need to purchase and sell products that people want. To do this, you will need to do some basic research to help you. This is not that hard to do especially if you are using a program such as eBay. Next, you will need to track down distributors that will allow you to advertise and sell their product. This can be more challenging. One mistake that people make it to purchase lists of drop shippers from others. This can be a vital mistake. It is often wiser to do your research and find a more reliable way to go such as getting feedback from others.

If you find a product that is selling well, you can make a good amount of money off of it. You'll find that most people that work at promoting their products will do well at selling them. It really pays to take the time to research the right products out there. Of course, you can always make and sell your own product. This can actually be a great way to make even more money through selling products.