Learning made fun

Where Do Nursery Rhymes Come From? Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
eating her curds and whey
along came a spider, who sat down beside her
and frightened Miss Muffet away.

The nursery rhyme of Little Miss Muffet dates back to the late 16th century. I have come across two possible meanings of the rhyme. One is simply about a young girl eating and being frightened by a bug. The other links the characters in the rhyme to real people prominent in 16th century English history.

In the first version, Little Miss Muffet was a small girl whose name was Patience Muffet. Her stepfather, Dr. Thomas Muffet (1553-1604) was a famous entomologist (someone who studies insects) and he wrote the first scientific catalogue of British Insects. Whilst eating her breakfast of curds and whey Little Miss Muffet was frightened by one of his spiders and ran away!

In the second version it is claimed that the nursery rhyme refers to Mary Queen of Scots (1542–87), who was said to have been frightened by the minister and religious reformer John Knox (1514–72). Some believe John Knox wanted to scare Mary off the throne due to religious differences.

Perhaps Little Miss Muffet was the first person with arachnophobia. Maybe she purposely spilt her curds and whey as the mixture of curdled milk and the acidic watery part of the milk just didn’t appeal to her. Possibly she blamed it on a spider to stay out of trouble. Spiders if swallowed, have supposedly been reported as curing various illnesses. Maybe the curds and whey gave her a stomach ache and she was being fed a spider to cure her stomach ache!

Previous posts: Where do nursery rhymes come from?

Wee Willie Winkie

Jack and Jill

Five little monekys jumping on the bed - it's a mystery

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Humpty Dumpty

Ring O' Roses

London's Burning

Politically correct nursery rhymes

At Musical Minis, we sing various songs and have fun with music to help your child develop. We aren't a stuffy music lesson but a chance for your children to enjoy themselves with music. Hope to see you there! Watch the video on the right for a good idea for how a session unfolds.

Photo by Flickr Seabeak

How Long Does It Take To Sign Up A New Franchisee?

THIS is a question I'm often asked and one there is no right answer to. It depends on the prospective franchisee's situation. Some have decided upon buying into a children's franchise and have investigated numerous options before coming across Musical Minis and know it's the right one for them. Others come across Musical Minis at the beginning of their search and then need to thoroughly investigate options.

Anyone interested in a franchise needs to first work out what franchise they're interested in. A Musical Minis franchise involves working with pre-school children and is based on child development using music. Obviously this category of franchise won't interest everyone.

Musical Minis is a part time franchise. This is ideal for people interested in flexible working and is particularly attractive for Mums, as it allows them to work around their child's nursery or school day and not work in school holidays. Anyone who wants to work full time is best suited to another franchise.

A Musical Minis franchise is relatively good value and low cost. Some prospective franchisees wish to invest tens or hundreds of thousands in a franchise, so want to find a higher costing franchise.

Musical Minis latest new franchisees in Gloucestershire and Dorset show how different the length of the journey can be from enquiry to signing the Franchise Agreement. Joanna Johnston in Gloucestershire, first enquired about the Musical Minis franchise in October 2010 when she downloaded an information pack from the Musical Minis website. At the start of 2011, Joanna downloaded the information again and requested more information. This was followed by a visit to an existing franchise to check that she was happy with the programme and to see that Musical Minis was the right franchise for her. By Easter she had completed the application form and seen the Franchise Agreement together with our Business Plan. Joanna had decided that Musical Minis was the right franchise for her and we had decided that we were happy to offer her the franchise and were confident that we could work together. Joanna wanted to make sure her old employer wouldn't be left short of staff and wanted a successor before she could commit to Musical Minis. With this in mind training started in June, however, the commencement date for the Contract was delayed until mid September 2011. The whole process from the initial enquiry to starting classes took Joanna about a year.

In contrast, Gill Turcan our South East Dorset and New Forest franchisee first learnt about a Musical Minis franchise in July 2011 when she read an article about EWIF, Encouraging Women Into Franchising, in Making Money Magazine. The article was about Amanda Perkins, our Buckingham franchisee, winning the EWIF young franchisee of the year. Gill, like Joanna, downloaded the franchise information from the Musical Minis website and quickly applied for further information and completed an application form. Gill visited 2 franchisees and met up with me before deciding she wanted to go ahead with the franchise. We were delighted as we knew Gill would make an ideal franchisee. Gills training started in August and by mid September she had classes running in her area. Gill had within 2 months seen the Musical Minis franchise opportunity, signed the contract, received training and had started classes.

The important thing to remember is that each franchisee is different and at a different stage in their and their families' life. It is crucial that they work to a suitable timescale for them and their situation. Musical Minis allows each potential franchisee time and fits in with their schedule, not vice versa. At the moment we have prospective franchisees who are waiting to hear if they have been made redundant so have money to invest in a franchise, others who are pregnant and are waiting for their baby to be born before committing to the business. Whilst there are others who are just at the initial stage of applying and who knows they could be signed up and starting classes after Christmas.

If you feel a Musical Minis franchise may be for you please fill in your details and download franchise information from our website by clicking here.

 

Do Books Still Have A Place On The Bookshelf?

IS there a book you feel no home should be without? Nowadays anything you want to look up can be found online making reference books unnecessary. Classic books can be downloaded as e - readers. The only hard copies of books that seem safe at the moment are children's books, as it's so important for children to share books with adults and sit down and read aloud together.

Whilst in our house we download books on an e-reader and on an ipad and we do research online, I still like having hard copies of books on the bookshelf. I've spent the weekend pondering over what books are nice to have and have come up with the following:

• Oxford Book Of Quotations
• A Dictionary
• Books of Paintings

I know there must be many more but have drawn a blank. Emily has just heard she has won a school prize and needs to choose a book to have a plaque in. She has won the 16th Century history prize so whilst a history book would be nice it's not essential. She would like a book that she can keep forever and she can dip in and out of. Any suggestions?

Photo by Flickr jm3

The Tooth Fairy - How Generous Is Yours?

The tooth fairly has been in the news again.

In a recently published poll which was conducted by www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk children in London are the luckiest. The poll involved 2,091 parents, each with children aged between four and 12 years. The study was conducted as part of ongoing research into the spending habits of British parents.

London leads the tooth fairy rates with each child receiving an average of £5.10 – which works out to around £100 for a full set of milk teeth. Followed by Cambridge who paid £5, Cardiff £4.75, Liverpool £4.50 and Manchester £4.35. The poll found that the Tooth Fairy is least generous when she visits Hull with 5p per tooth. This is followed by Portsmouth, which pays 10p, York 10p, Glasgow 11p and Nottingham 11p.

According to the survey, 61 per cent of parents said their children have a tooth fairy. However, out of the remaining 39 per cent, one-third said this was because they didn't have enough money to let their children have a tooth fairy, while 11 per cent said it was because their child didn't believe in the tooth fairy.

Do the tooth fairy rates in your area fit in with this poll? Inflation seems to have kicked in since my children had milk teeth - they didn't receive £5 a tooth even though we live in London. The whole concept of the tooth fairy did freak Emily out. She had to leave her tooth in the hall with a note to the tooth fairy. The idea of any stranger, fairy or not, coming into her room and going under her pillow whilst she was asleep was enough to really scare her. I can see where she's coming from. Do any of your children have similar fears?

Photo by Flickr Pwinn

Do Children Born In The Summer Really Struggle At School?

There has recently been a report that children born in the Autumn do better at school because they are the oldest in the year.

A child's age on 1st September determines the point of entry in England and Wales, whereas it is 1st July in Northern Ireland. In Scotland, all those born between March of a given year and February of the following year are placed in the same group.

The latest research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)  focuses on England and looks at the test scores and happiness levels of August-born children compared with their older, September-born peers.

It found children born in August scored substantially lower in national achievement tests and other measures of cognitive skills. At the age of seven, they are more than three times as likely to be regarded as "below average" by their teachers in reading, writing and maths.

The study found compared to children born in September, children born in August, on average:

• score substantially lower in national achievement tests and other measures of cognitive skills;
• are 20% more likely to study for vocational qualifications if they stay on in post compulsory education;
• are 20% less likely to attend a Russell Group (high-status) university at age 19;
• have lower confidence in their academic ability and are less likely to believe that they control their own destiny (locus of control) as teenagers

As I have 3 children all born around the Summer months, the research interested me, even though in our case my children's birthdays don't appear to have had any beneficial or detrimental affects. My eldest was born at the end of August, the middle one in mid September and the youngest at the end of June. Matthew, the eldest, had no problems keeping up at school and has always been confident. In fact at age 7, he changed schools and we were given the chance to make him the eldest instead of the youngest in the year, which we did. I do feel he benefited from the situation of being the eldest but I don't think he would have been harmed from remaining the youngest. Alex, my middle child, was nearly the eldest in his year and although he was intelligent was not leaps above his peers and his self esteem and confidence were not high, as the report suggests it should be. Emily, my youngest, has always been one of the youngest in the year. As with the boys she is intelligent and really I can't seen any detrimental affects caused by her month of birth. All my 3 children have gone to top universities.

Whilst I obviously can't argue against the reports findings, apart from wondering if they could be statistically flawed, I do feel it needs to be analysed further. Have the social environment of the children studied been looked at, or the quality of the schools? Obviously, some children in the school year are nearly a year younger than others which will influence their school day at least at the start of their schooling. I think other factors also have an influence e.g. their positioning in the family. An August child with younger siblings can appear more grown up than a September child who is the baby of the family. Also, even though it sounds strange, I think a childs height can influence its schooling. Emily has always been small and I'm sure has been overlooked on some occasions because of this, whereas a tall August child may have been perceived as having more going for them.

Over the years, using the experience from my child psychology training, the thousands of children who have passed through Musical Minis and from bringing up my own 3 children, I have realised that with encouragement every child can achieve its full potential. Some children are slower at grasping certain concepts but with patience and perseverence they can get there in the end.

I'm uncertain as to the actual benefit of the report. If the school year is changed to 2 intakes depending on the month children are born this will still have issues as some children will have 6 months more at school than others. I can't believe that any report could ever conclude that people shouldn't have Summer babies, as that's the first sign of being a bad parent!  A good teacher should be aware of all the childs positive and negative points and guide them to do their best regardless of which month they're born in.

Have you had any issues surrounding which month you or your child were born in? Do you feel a Summer birthday can penalise your child for ever?

Photo by Flickr  Howdy