I recently read a report that said 64% of children age 4 nationwide attend some type of preschool program. Where I live it seems the percentage might even be higher. Besides a few friends who plan on homeschooling when their children are older, I don’t know of a single parent who chose to have her…
Learning All the Time
I recently watched a commercial that really disturbed me. In the commercial, a woman appeared on the screen and started talking about “early childhood education.” The image shifted to scenes of small children sitting at tables doing worksheets and then crowding together on a carpet waving their hands in the air. The woman’s voice narrated…
A Daily Dose of Adventure
Did you wake up today knowing you were going to go somewhere different, see something new, or do something that you’ve never done before? Or did you follow your same routine, talking to the same people, doing the same work, and reading the same things? Now, I’m a firm believer that you can’t get through…
The Power of the Mini Adventure
Many people live a standard, routine life. They pretty much know when they’ll get up, what they’ll be doing every day, and about what time they’ll go to sleep each night. Once in a while they’ll celebrate a holiday or birthday, or plan for a week trip, but otherwise their lives are familiar, predictable, and…
Why Mom’s Interests Matter
When your kids are not in school but learning at home and in the world, it’s easy to focus your day around what the kids are discovering. They’re learning so many interesting and unusual things that it’s exciting to learn, play and create right along with them. Now, that’s definitely an important part of your…
The Vacation of a Lifetime
Summer vacation. When you were younger it meant a time to relax, play, swim, dig in the dirt, hang with friends, stay up late reading all night, and eating popsicles until your stomach hurt. If you grew up going to school, odds are when you heard that last school bell ring at the end of…
25 Connections Game: Designing Clothes
Today in the 25 Connections game I’m going to tackle the topic of Designing Clothes. In case you’re new to these series of posts, I’m taking a topic and connecting it to 25 other ideas, resources or topics. Sometimes we might feel that our children have limited interests. How can we widen their world and…
Exploring Holidays as a Family
What is it about holidays that make those days seem extra special? How is it that even on a holiday you might not really observe, like St. Patrick’s Day or Sweetest Day, the day just feels different somehow? Part of it might be the awareness that other people ARE making a big deal about that…
25 Connections Game: Gymnastics
Welcome to the third post in the 25 Connections series I began a few weeks ago. In this game I’ll connect the topic of gymnastics to 25 other related topics or resources. Remember, we all make connections every day. The more connections we make and the more diverse those connections are the more creative, innovative…
Real Goals
There’s a lot of buzz going around lately about setting goals. If you type “setting goals” into a Google search engine you’ll get 7,770,000 results. If you believe in the importance of setting goals as a tool to help you achieve something, you probably also think this is a pretty great skill for your kids…