Kia ora, I am a mother of two grown up children. I am currently studying towards my Early Childhood Degree and Educational Psychology while working as a Kaiako/teacher. I have been dedicated to Home-Based early education now for the last twelve years, bringing with me a wealth of knowledge, experience, passion, and always advocating for Home-based care education.
My philosophy of teaching begins with nurturing, as this builds an attachment, to fostering a child's learning, development, and enhancing their well-being/Mana atua and belonging/Mana Whenua. Also, guiding their holistic development through the early childhood curriculum, empowering their learning with every opportunity, to explore and grow as individuals. Furthermore, advocated in my programme is readiness for school, providing all children with the best possible start in transitioning to primary education and that they are ready to engage in and benefit from early learning experiences that best promote a child’s success. The approach to your child’s learning covers the domains of health and physical well-being (Mana Atua), language and communication development, social and emotional development, and providing meaningful experiences during their early years of learning.
As a Kaiako/teacher, we have a responsibility to give your children the best foundation of early learning incorporating all domains of the early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki. The main areas we work on are firstly, cognitive development, for example, where your child learns to think, explore and create their working theories, to lead them to have the ability to problem-solve and learn new skills. Secondly, social, and emotional development, where your child learns to identify their emotions and can manage strong emotions such as excitement, frustration, anger, distress, and the ability to be empathetic to others. Thirdly, speech and language development, where your child learns to communicate for daily living, including social development of relationships. This includes understanding the speech of others and the ability to express thoughts through words and sentences. Fourthly, fine motor skill development, where children gain the ability to write, hold small items, undo or do up a button or zip on their clothing, turning pages of a book, independently eating and cutting with scissors. Finally, gross motor skill development where children gain the ability, for example, to catch a ball, balancing, climbing, and jumping. These are only a few examples from the broad spectrum in which we cover and teach your children in preparation for readiness to school.
I want to invite you to come and meet with me and my tamariki in my home environment to discuss what your aspirations are for your child and to share with you my programme and to see my learning environment. My aim is to inspire the children, in the growth of their individual development, including growing with their peers within the wider Wild Things group and community. Finally, as a Kaiako/teacher, I always strive to provide children with a high level of care and education. They all have their uniqueness, which needs to be nurtured and shine through all areas of their learning.
"Learning begins at home, and early childhood programmes outside the child's own home play a significant role in extending early learning and laying the foundations for successful future learning" (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.9)
Ka Kite for now.
