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South Austin preschool doesn't make children learn their ABCs
Austin American Statesman ^ | 1/22/07 | Claire Osborn

Posted on 01/22/2007 7:09:26 AM PST by Cat loving Texan

Preschoolers gone wild.

Children were doing flips off sofas and hitting each other with soft toys when Rob D'Amico walked in to enroll his son at Habibi's Hutch.

"I was a little freaked out at first because it was different," said D'Amico, a communications director for the Texas Federation of Teachers.

The South Austin preschool on Manchaca Road, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, calls itself a "Natural Childlife Preserve."

It doesn't make children sit down and learn their ABCs or separate them into different classes or even say "please" or "thank you," said Andrew Urbanus, the school's director.

Children ages 18 months to 4 years spend as much time as possible outdoors in a huge backyard filled with swing sets, sand piles, playhouses and toys learning how to get along with each other, Urbanus said.

"We want them to have a chance to deal with the uglier side of life, to learn to channel their aggression," he said.

If children can learn how to talk to each other, or even yell when they're upset, then there will be less biting and hitting, he said. Teachers constantly watch over the students and help them talk to each other when fights begin, he said.

"This is not just chaotic baby-sitting; there's a purpose here," Urbanus said.

Children are allowed to cover their bodies with washable paint, run around in their underwear and walk barefoot over the sand-covered outdoor play area.

The preschool was started by Dottie Herschmann, a West Texas Baptist who is now teaching at a high school school in Florida, Urbanus said. He said no child has been kicked out of Habibi's, which means "beloved one" in Arabic.

As he spoke one sunny January afternoon, Urbanus separated two boys who were starting to fight in the backyard. One boy yelled at the other, "I don't like it when you hit me!"

A few days later, teacher Carlos Romero sat with children playing with clay and then rushed over to the swing set, where one boy was crying because he couldn't get another child to get off a swing.

"You could ask him if he'll get off," Romero said.

The boy continued crying, and Romero stayed with him.

"Sometimes it's hard waiting for your turn," Romero said.

A parent, Karen Peoples, arrived a few minutes later to pick up her son, who was running around with other children.

He has learned different ways of dealing with anger from the male teachers at the preschool, Peoples said: "He gets to see that men can problem-solve without raising their voices or yelling."

Adina Chiro-Gianis, an attorney and parent, said she likes the fact that the preschool throws disco parties for the children.

"I get a really good feeling being here," Chiro-Gianis said.

Children are safe in this environment because there is one staff member per every seven children, Urbanus said.

There also is not much equipment they can climb and fall from, he said.

More than 60 children are enrolled at the school. The young students perform their own plays and have cooking classes with items such as pasta, salad and banana bread on the menu once a week. There is a two-hour nap time every day.

Susan Empson, an associate math professor at the University of Texas, said her children attended Habibi's Hutch 10 years ago.

"My kids were well prepared for kindergarten even though they hadn't had a curriculum that helped them learn to count," Empson said.

D'Amico's son thrived so much at Habibi's that now his daughter goes there also, he said. He has learned to appreciate the school's approach to learning: "You should see the kids jumping in mud puddles on a rainy day."

cosborn@statesman.com; 445-3871


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: education
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Children are allowed to cover their bodies with washable paint, run around in their underwear and walk barefoot over the sand-covered outdoor play area.

Can someone spell major league lawsuit waiting to happen.

1 posted on 01/22/2007 7:09:28 AM PST by Cat loving Texan
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To: Cat loving Texan

I'm personally not big on pre-schools. If you have to work and send your child out somewhere, I think that day-care centers where children can just play and be children is fine. But learning how to see the "uglier side of life?" Children should absolutely learn to say "please" and "thank you."


2 posted on 01/22/2007 7:12:41 AM PST by twigs
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To: Cat loving Texan

"Can someone spell major league lawsuit waiting to happen."

Yes, from pinworms alone.

"You should see the kids jumping in mud puddles on a rainy day."


3 posted on 01/22/2007 7:14:25 AM PST by poobear
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To: Cat loving Texan
Children are allowed to cover their bodies with washable paint, run around in their underwear and walk barefoot over the sand-covered outdoor play area

Sounds like preparation for Hollywood.
4 posted on 01/22/2007 7:16:34 AM PST by CertainInalienableRights
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To: Cat loving Texan

Austin.

'Nuff said.


5 posted on 01/22/2007 7:16:57 AM PST by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: Cat loving Texan

I think lawsuits are a given in this situation. But just wait until this crowd gets to first grade and tries to create wall-to-wall chaos. Even in Austin, somebody is bound to notice.


6 posted on 01/22/2007 7:19:28 AM PST by twonie (Just because there are fewer of us don't mean we are wrong.)
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To: Cat loving Texan
""I get a really good feeling being here," Chiro-Gianis said."

God, that's classic....right down to the hyphenated name!

Militant
7 posted on 01/22/2007 7:20:29 AM PST by militant2 ("Is it time to nourish the tree of Liberty yet?")
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To: Cat loving Texan

Sounds like "jungle Education" to me. Why bother, they will learn that on their own if left unattended.


8 posted on 01/22/2007 7:21:53 AM PST by msnimje (You simply cannot be Christian and Pro-Abortion.)
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To: Cat loving Texan

Hmmm.....they should call it a historical reconstruction of childhood as it was in previous centuries.


9 posted on 01/22/2007 7:22:40 AM PST by proxy_user
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To: Cat loving Texan

This place may be a bit extreme, but it does make a good point. It has become too much the commonplace idea that children will do better if stuffed with book-learning early on. There is very little evidence that this works. When the child's brain function reaches an age for reading, he or she will learn to read easily, and will actually take pleasure in it. Forced too early, the child will just struggle with what seems to be incomprehensible.

Let children be taught as their abilities develop.

The really big failure in education is not that we fail to teach our children when they are very young. The problem is that we stop teaching them when they are just beginning to get good abilities.

Part of this is a result of putting students of widely varying ability all together in the same class, and expecting them to follow the same course program. It is egalitarianism run amuck, and is contrary to the reality of human nature.

Pupils should advance at some rate commensurate with their own ability. The slower ones should be given more time, and never pushed forward until they have achieved success. The best learners should be advanced at their maximum rate, so that they never become bored. This is the way to do things, and would be a happier, more efficient system. Home-schooling generally works like this.


10 posted on 01/22/2007 7:27:26 AM PST by docbnj
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To: docbnj

Good points

If I had had something like that in Brooklyn in 1988, I probably would have been better off.

It is good though, because I'm sure parents wouldn't want to be called by the school, saying their child got into a fight and he must be taken home. It's more of a 'thank you, may I have another' type of learning, but it's the best thing in the childhood so they don't become worse as they age. It's like a metaphorical muzzle. Keep it loosely on the children, and they learn what to do, when to do it and how to do it, instead of acting out and wailing away when somebody won't let them play with the Legos.


11 posted on 01/22/2007 7:37:01 AM PST by wastedyears ("Gun control is hitting your target accurately." - Richard Marcinko)
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To: Cat loving Texan
"And if the little boyz are curious about what's in Andy's pants, we encourage & explore that issue", said Andrew Urbanus, the school's director."
12 posted on 01/22/2007 7:40:16 AM PST by TexasCajun
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To: PBRSTREETGANG
Austin.

'Nuff said....

the Brekenridge Berkley..... San Francisco of the Hill Country..... thank God we got most of the libs concentrated in about 4 areas of Texas.... Austin, South Dallas, parts of Houston and the Rio Grande Valley... If only we could pen them up.... so they wouldn't screw up the rest of the state.

13 posted on 01/22/2007 7:40:45 AM PST by Dick Vomer (liberals suck......... but it depends on what your definition of the word "suck" is.)
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To: Cat loving Texan
Since it's Austin, I'm sure they also teach condom use to 4 year olds, how to get an abortion, that Republicans are evil and spankings aren't always for the naughty so long as you use a safe-word. After all, you have to have priorities in your curriculum. ABCs comes in dead last in that lineup.

*shiver*
14 posted on 01/22/2007 7:43:13 AM PST by DMedic91B
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To: militant2

Have you seen the South Park "Smug (not "smog") Alert" episode, where Kyle's family move to San Francisco (the capital of Smug?" Everyone has hyphenated names, so by the time you get to the kids, last names go something like this:

Little Judy Roberts-Cromarty-Smith-McDermott.

Hilarious.


15 posted on 01/22/2007 7:44:47 AM PST by Tulane
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To: Cat loving Texan; WhistlingPastTheGraveyard
preschool was started by Dottie Herschmann, a West Texas Baptist who is now teaching at a high school school in Florida, Urbanus said. He said no child has been kicked out of Habibi's, which means "beloved one" in Arabic.

A Baptist started an Arabic preschool?

16 posted on 01/22/2007 7:53:42 AM PST by cgk (I don't see myself as a conservative. I see myself as a religious, right-wing, wacko extremist.)
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To: Cat loving Texan

Sounds like you'd have to hose your kid off before you can put in the car to go home.


17 posted on 01/22/2007 7:55:20 AM PST by Terpin (Missing: One very clever and insightful tagline. Reward for safe return!)
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To: Cat loving Texan
"I was a little freaked out at first because it was different," said D'Amico,

If I had seen what this man had seen, my statement would have been: "I was a little freaked out and PROMPTLY LEFT at first because it was different,"

18 posted on 01/22/2007 7:55:56 AM PST by cgk (I don't see myself as a conservative. I see myself as a religious, right-wing, wacko extremist.)
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To: Cat loving Texan

***"I get a really good feeling being here," Chiro-Gianis said. ***

Feelings... nothing more than feelings...


19 posted on 01/22/2007 8:08:15 AM PST by irishtenor (Save the whales. Collect the whole set.)
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To: militant2

Well, you know, feelings are just so important. Especially good feelings, and high self esteem. Even if you can't read or add. No matter, as long as you like, ya know, feel good.


20 posted on 01/22/2007 8:12:00 AM PST by auntyfemenist (Card carrying conservative, William F. Buckley fan.)
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