by Theresa Willbye

Created on: November 28, 2007

"Education is the great engine to personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mine worker can become the head of a mine, that the child of a farm worker can become the president of a great nation"

It is through these simple yet accurate words of Nelson Mandela that the unquestionable relevance of education is released.

Scientist, Educators and Philosophers alike all have 1 binding trait, their inability to totally stress the importance of early education. Anyone who has worked with or in the area of early childhood education will all reinforce the extreme necessity of early childhood education to ensure the height of development for your child.

Studies undertaken have shown that children between the ages of 0-6 enter sensitive phases for acquiring specific skills such as sensorial, language, math, social, and cognitive. Whilst in these sensitive phases children have the ability to soak up and retain information like a sponge soaking up water. Language specialists have revealed that children before the age of 1 have already gained a range of spoken words, can imitate their language tones, and have acquired skills for rhythm and intonation of the spoken word. Other Children exposed to bi lingual situations have the ability to learn both languages as a mother tongue.

On the flip side to this studies also show that a child entering school without the ability to recite and recognize letter formation and sounds fair poorly through the schools reading scale. Like wise with mathematical subjects children entering school with no knowledge of how to count or recognize numbers are at an immediate disadvantage with learning basic math skills. The trends in these children also tend to continue throughout their entire education to a certain degree.

Parents are the primary educators for their children's futures. They are provided with the opportunity to nurture and educate their children on all levels throughout their daily lives. Children are constantly imitating their parent's actions and behaviors this is why it is crucial to provide a stimulating atmosphere in which your child can explore and learn.
However, as education has greatly propelled itself into the 21st century we now have many options available to assist us with the early education of our children. Learning methods such as Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner, High scope and Headstart are to name but a few. All these methodologies have child centered

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>