Montessori Education In Africa and Asia

Montessori Education in Africa

Africa, massive in size with a plethora of cultures, languages, landscapes and history is a continent with uneven education systems. Montessori education has adapted throughout the continent to aid in providing education to communities, both urban and rural. For example, Ms. Deborah McCracken founded the Olive Branch for Children in Tanzania to help provide education to orphans in the Mbeya region. The majority of the orphans are such because they were born to AIDS victims and many were born infected. The school not only provides a Montessori education, but also aids in community development and provides medical care to the children and local residents. McCracken does not just provide courses for children. She has also integrated programs for the community utilizing Montessori Methodology and informal education to better develop self-sustaining projects within the region.

Further south in Zimbabwe Karen Madsen-Barton started the Nhimbe Maaya Preschool for children aged 3 to 6 years old with a similar concept. Not only is education provided for children, there is a large emphasis for sustainable development within the community. Interestingly, in the Nhimbe Magaya Preschool there is a greater emphasis on the use of Shona music, indigenous to this area of Africa. Madsen-Barton has used this music as an inspiration for the environment set up for children and uses the local music as a tool for education wherever possible.

Montessori Education in Asia

Asia is another vast continent rich in culture, topography, languages and history. Montessori schools have spread across Asia creating heart-warming tales of success in war torn communities of Afghanistan, the poor communities of India, the refugees of Burma.

Afghanistan has become a poster child for war and conflict over the past decade, but as a result of conflict, many small and effective projects have been funded to benefit the locals, especially on the education front. The House of Flowers was build in 2002 by MEPO (The Medical, Educational and Peace Organization) a small non-profit organization. This Montessori school and orphanage serves children aged 6 to 13 years of age and has blossomed a number of success stories in child development. The co-founders are now planning to expand their vision into larger orphanages in Kabul where children are in dire need of a nurturing environment that can positively influence their academic, social, behavioral and psychological achievements.

In the country of Bhutan, the Montessori Method seems to be effective in its most pure form as the country not only has a GNP, but also a GHP, or Gross National Happiness monitor. In an education system that focuses more on social interaction, fairness and justice, it only seems natural that the Montessori school would be extremely successful- and that it has been. Even in the most competitive of societies such as Japan, Montessori education has been very successful.

Best Home Based Business Marketing Tip – How Great Flyers Can Equal a Boost in Your Profits

Marketing MethodsAfter you’ve decided to start a home based business, one of the initial challenges may be getting the word out about your new venture. Obviously, the key to exposure is marketing and advertising. This is true whether you are operating small, one-person operations or a larger scale network marketing business. When you’re looking for the best home based business marketing tip, you may have to start with something simple like making serviceable flyers.FlyersAt one time or another almost every business has made use of the marketing flyer to promote their business and its products. Today, it is very simple to make a decent promotional flyer. You can choose from a variety of templates available with different software and on the internet. In some cases, you may have to pay for a flyer design, but this is by no means necessary.Flyer templates can be found everywhere these days. There are designs available for every occasion and for every possible use. This makes it very easy to find something suitable for your business needs. As a starting point, you might find a flyer template on sites such Microsoft Office’s template site, StockLayouts.com, FlyerTemplates.org, and other specialty sites. These can all be downloaded and customized for your purposes.System CompatibilityIf you’re using one of these templates to create your flyer you must make sure that you have the right software. Most of the templates you find on the web are designed specifically for particular operating system. You need to have the right one – or at least something compatible to even open it. It could be delivered as an MS Word file or an Adobe PDF. Naturally, if you can find a flyer made in Word you’ll have an easier time customizing it. All it will require is filling in blanks, editing other settings, and perhaps adding relevant images. Then you should be ready to print it out. PDF files require some sort of editor program to make changes. This could cost you money unnecessarily.If you want your business flyers to look professional, the choice of printing method will be a big factor. For some small home based businesses, a home printer is the most affordable option. There are a wide selection of high quality printers including those made by Lexmark, Brother, and HP. It may really be a matter of what you already have though. In other instances, you may have the resources to get a larger quantity of flyers printed at a local print shop. You might need to ask around to see who gives the best deals and does quality work. Regardless, this may be the best home based business marketing option for you.Do It YourselfYou don’t need to possess serious computer skills or be a graphic designer in order to create great business flyers. You really don’t have to spend all that much time on them to make something that will do the job you need accomplished. Naturally, the type of flyer you produce will depend on the form of your business. Some flyers have to pack in a lot of information in a concise format to get the word out effectively. It may not be the best home based business marketing option for your situation, but it is a still an effective strategy for most ventures.

A Simple Product Creation and Product Launching Formula

If you tried to think of people involved in product creation, who would come to mind? You may think of Edison, Franklin, or maybe Henry Ford. Would you ever think of yourself as someone who can create a quality product? Product creation is actually relatively easy and product launching is not that tough either! If you follow a few easy to understand steps, you could be starting the product creation and product launching process sooner than you think.

The first step in creating your information product is to know and understand your market. This can be very time-consuming, especially if you are unsure of what to do or where to look to know your market. Studying your niche market and understanding the buzz words and buying patterns can ease the process dramatically. Personally, I would recommend networking with someone who has had success in the niche market you are considering and learn from their results. If they are into product creation and not very business savvy expect some hesitation. If they only sell products and have nothing to do with product launching or product creation you may your first affiliate (sales person)! Something else you can use to find hot trends is with the Google Trends tool.

The second step is the product creation process. Take your niche market and brainstorm ideas and topics relating to it. There are a lot of product launching contests going on recently relating to a newly created internet marketing tool. There are so many aspects to the mentioned niche that literally, and unfortunately, anything can be considered an Internet Marketing tool. The reason that anyone can basically create an Internet Marketing tool is because of something called Private Label Rights products.

What I use private label rights products for, and highly recommend them in this specific manner, is to cure writer’s block especially when it is lingering. Many people base their entire product creation and product launching on a private label rights product. This is where you can start to shine and build a strong brand for yourself. If you set goals for yourself, short-term goals to be exact, you can see your product creation come into being much faster and there is a good chance with less revision needed. If you keep hitting time restraint road blocks; however there is nothing wrong with a slow and steady approach, you can consider outsourcing portions of your project. Outsourcing can be an extremely huge benefit or just as great of a disaster.

You can find someone to outsource work to at a freelance site such as Guru.com or eLance.com. When reviewing proposals it is almost mandatory you perform a background check on them as you are in essence hiring them. Doing a background check on freelancers is as easy as asking for samples of their work and reviewing feedback on the freelance site from previous customers. Depending on the size and requirements of your project this can add up to a decent sized investment, so caution is very important. One tip I always recommend to people looking to hire an individual is to ask them what they can provide you that no one else can. This simple question gives them a chance to “toot their own horn” and acknowledge where they feel most competent as far as their skill set.

The final portion of the product creation and product launching formula is the launch. This can literally make or break the effort, time, and maybe (if you invested) money you put in to your project. There are numerous aspects to product launching and although their relevance is debated in terms to their effect, experts agree all must be followed. The person in your field who you asked for product advice from can help you substantially if you have kept in touch. If not, the first thing you need to do is to create a visually appealing website with flawless design work.

I also mentioned outsourcing before, this is one aspect of product launching I have little strength in and I always outsource this portion. The website does not have to be large however the content (ad copy in Internet Marketing) must be stellar and as perfect as possible. This is where advertising knowledge or experience is beneficial. When the site is set up you now put a lead capture form on your website.

I put two lead capture pages on all products I create on the internet and is one of the best methods of getting a solid start when you are in the product launching stage. When you gain information from a prospect or someone looking to get paid for referring sales you are able to provide them updates or specials. Many people abuse their prospect or affiliate lists by in turn emailing them with a new product daily and I find the recommendations to be totally unrelated to their original need, problem, or interest.

Another stage in the product launching stage is creating a free report or demo version of your product to entice the product to sign up to your email list. Using proper follow up with this can help generate numerous sales for you. One thing you need to ensure is that your free product completely relates to your main product that you are looking to sell.

You are now ready to advertise your product launching to customers as well as the opportunity to sell for affiliates. This is the single aspect that many product creations and launches fail on. It is actually not entirely difficult. One thing you can do is write articles (and a good amount of them) on topics relating to your product. I am a huge advocate of giving a solution in forums. When you join a forum you are normally offered the opportunity to create a signature. In your signature, you should enter the link to your opt-in or lead capture page. When you respond to posts, you are advertising your opportunity.

It is not impossible to create a product and it does not have to take a long time. You need to setup a plan and stick to it. If you get stuck, look at similar and successful products to your own and try and see how they did it. When you sit down and brainstorm you will be surprised with what you can imagine.