Montessori educators and child development specialists foresee this project as becoming the go-to website for beginning readers and their parents throughout the world. Lessons are currently available in English, with URLs in Chinese, Spanish, French and other languages introducing the learn-to-read- English course.
"Our free on-line website is totally child-safe," said Bob Korngold of Scarsdale, NY, co-founder of Montessori Home, Inc. "All that's needed for sign-up is for a parent to go to the website and follow the instructions. There are no fees or obligations. But the lessons may also be purchased on CDs at a nominal charge since some parents do not approve of their children engaging in Internet activity."
The on-line phonics-based, programmed reading curricula grew from the Phoenix Program Reading Workbooks that have been popular in public schools for the past 25 years. Montessori Home produces Montessori reading products and licensed electronic rights to Phoenix Program Reading Workbooks.
Korngold assembled an Internet team to bring the concept to computers with interactivity, animation and audio. The system can track children's progress and allows them to proceed at their own pace.
Educators carefully designed the lessons around 55 words Montessori believes are the primary building blocks leading to eventual full reading ability. Using interactive word games, questions and answers, Ducky, the animated reading tutor, helps children pronounce and read simple words phonetically. The words lead to sentences as the children finish lessons and proceed to a higher reading level.
Korngold founded Montessori Home, Inc. with his wife, Carole Wolfe Korngold, founder and director of New York's Center for Montessori Education, the largest school in the U.S. for certification of teachers in the Montessori method. The school has graduated more than 6,000 teachers and Mrs. Korngold is currently training more than 55 teachers in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is a past president of the American Montessori Society and was voted their highest honor, The Living Legacy.
Montessori Home, Inc. provides regular and interactive books, reading cards and electronic reading games on CD and is finalizing development of a DVD product. Montessori Home is affiliated with FamilyLiteracyGroups.org, a non-profit website launched to promote literacy.
Contact:
Bob Korngold
Phone: 914-472-9849
E-mail: info@montessorihome.com
For more information, visit .
