00:00 [Music]
00:16 Hi Smart Parenting Team!
00:17 Welcome to another episode of Smart Parenting's Guide to Preschools in Metro Manila.
00:22 We're here at Abba's Orchard, a Maria Montessori school, and I'm so excited for Sandor to try it out.
00:28 Are you ready?
00:29 Yeah!
00:30 Let's go!
00:32 [Music]
00:38 The Abba's Orchard, a Maria Montessori preschool, is located here in San Juan City.
00:43 We visited this branch in Green Hills that caters to children aged 3 all the way to 12.
00:48 But they have a total of 14 campuses all over the country,
00:52 with their full campuses who welcome children from 14 months all the way to 18 years of age.
00:57 Hello, sir!
00:58 Hi, thank you for having me.
00:59 Thank you for joining us here at Smart Parenting.
01:01 Can you give us a brief history of the Abba's Orchard?
01:03 The Abba's Orchard started back in 1999 in Bukidnon.
01:08 My mom, when she had me and my older brother, we were going to a Montessori school here in Manila.
01:15 But then because of my dad's job, we had to move to Bukidnon, and there were no Montessori schools.
01:21 And so, faced with the challenge that there are no Montessori schools, she decided to put her own school up.
01:28 [Music]
01:32 The Montessori approach, developed by Dr. Maria Montessori,
01:35 is rooted in observing and nurturing the natural development of children.
01:39 Montessori's unique approach prioritizes observation and child-centric learning.
01:45 And the reason that it's so pivotal is because Dr. Montessori observed that children are different from how society used to view them.
01:57 Yeah, society used to think that children are blank slate or empty vessels that one has to be filled in.
02:04 But she realized that no, children are born with potential.
02:08 They have this inner guide that drives them to develop.
02:11 And what we need to do as adults in society is to identify this inner guide and support that growth and not get in the way.
02:20 Montessori classroom is very different from the traditional classrooms I think Filipinos are accustomed to.
02:26 Why is the Montessori classroom at these ages built this way?
02:30 Montessori understood that from birth, we're very sensorial learners.
02:34 So what she did was she took abstract concepts like length or weight or size and turned them into concrete materials.
02:44 And there are certain material designs that allow just an isolation of one particular aspect that we show.
02:50 But that's very important for a child's understanding of the world.
02:55 In terms of the classroom environment, we have mixed ages.
03:00 In the younger class where we have children ages 3 to 6, they're more individual.
03:06 Montessori learned that development is not linear.
03:10 And that the psychology and the developmental needs of children are actually different at each stage of growth.
03:18 So she identified four stages of growth.
03:21 We call them in Montessori four planes of development, 0 to 6, 6 to 12, 12 to 18, and 18 to 24.
03:28 These are the developmental years of the human being.
03:31 Based on a study conducted by the founder of Abbas Orchard, children who started Montessori learning at age 3 were 9 times more likely to pass the college entrance exams of the top schools in the country.
03:44 That's just intellect.
03:45 So the data proves that the longer you stay in Montessori, the better it is for your intellect.
03:52 There are other studies in the States that ask children to answer tests at around the grade 5, grade 6 level.
04:01 But then they were asked then at a certain regular intervals of their test to jot down what they were feeling.
04:09 Their scores were at par between the traditional school years and the Montessori children.
04:14 They scored the same.
04:16 What was different was their attitude.
04:18 The Montessori children were enjoying taking the test because it was actually assessing themselves and what they know and what they don't know as a method for them to understand, "Oh, I still can learn more about that."
04:30 As opposed to those who are in traditional schools who are stressed whenever they're…
04:34 They just need to pass the test.
04:35 Exactly.
04:36 Not understanding what it's for or what the relevance of it is.
04:46 In our CASA programs, we have 25 children to two adults.
04:51 The two adults will always be one trained guide, someone who's done our in-house training, and someone in a classroom assist who's there to support the main guide in watching over the children.
05:05 And do they have assignments after school?
05:07 One normally is used to in traditional schools. We encourage the children are things that they were working on in school but want to continue at home.
05:17 For example, if they're doing a family tree in school or they're reading a book, they would actually say, "Can I take this book home and read?"
05:24 But more than that, we encourage families and the children to take part in the daily lives of their… in the household.
05:31 To do chores, to contribute, to set up the table, sort laundry, fold laundry when they're capable.
05:38 Just so they get this… the experience of what it is to be part of the household.
05:46 It's more of a challenge here in the Philippines where we have an agriculture.
05:50 And usually, these things just get relegated to third party.
05:56 In the earlier years, this is just as important as your other concepts.
06:01 Like cleaning up after yourself, arranging your area, or putting things back the way they were.
06:07 It's just as important, for example, as learning your name or learning your basic information about yourself.
06:15 Yeah, it has to be part of being human, especially if we are very serious about sustainability and taking care of the environment that we're in.
06:24 It's one way we show respect to other people by making sure that the material is ready for the next person to use
06:31 because it was ready for you to use when it was there.
06:35 So there's a morality to it.
06:51 I'm a product of the Montessori method, seeing Abba's orchard set up and materials brought back happy memories.
06:57 I saw many of the same sensorial materials which kids enjoyed using.
07:02 Allowing kids to explore and learn at their own pace, especially at a young age, is an easier transition from home.
07:08 I love that kids are free to move, to decide, and to be curious.
07:12 And there's also time to learn together with others.
07:14 Sandra, say hi!
07:16 Hi!
07:18 Hey Sandra, how was school in the Abba's orchard?
07:22 Good!
07:24 Good! Do you remember some of the stuff that you did?
07:27 Yeah!
07:28 Okay, can you tell me?
07:29 Drawing.
07:32 Drawing? Okay, what else?
07:34 Is it something you walk through?
07:37 Do you remember?
07:38 Yeah!
07:39 Yeah, which one?
07:40 The baby door.
07:43 That's it for today's video. For more content like this, don't forget to like and subscribe to Smart Parenting's YouTube channel. Bye!
07:50 [Music]
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