Have you ever used a mind map to outline a piece of writing? Maybe you’ve even used one to plan a trip or a party? What about using a mind map to help your children think about topics and subjects related to their current interests? Well, I’ve found a great free program at Mindmeister.com that…
Tag: possibilities
A Simple Everyday Dreams List
Travel around Europe for a year. Sell a screenplay. Learn a new language. Write a novel. Those are some big dreams I have. Dreams that will take a lot of hard work and dedication. Big dreams are nice to have. They’re fun. It makes you feel good thinking about them. But the problem with big…
The Key to Your Child’s Heart
*Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Krista @ Redeeming the Love of Learning. As the New Year passed, I asked my 13-year-old what he’d like to focus on more this coming year, and he responded that he’d like to become more disciplined in his learning. That was sweet news to my ears as…
Creating a System for Adventure: Monthly & Weekly Planning
Over the past week I’ve written about how I plan for mini-adventures and trips throughout the year. I first talked about how I created a Master List. Then I talked about how I incorporate my master list into a dedicated Google Calendar. If you haven’t read those posts, I’d suggest going back and reading them…
Creating a System for Adventure: Building a Master Calendar
In my last post, I talked about how to create a master list of places you might want to visit with your family this coming year. It’s really important to create a link for each place you list. This way as you go through the list, you can just click on each link and be…
Creating a System for Adventure: Building a Master List
We love to travel. Ever since my kids were 14 months old and we boarded a plane to the US Virgin Islands, we’ve gone on great adventures with them both near and far. In fact, I’m in the middle of planning a big dream vacation that we’re taking later this year. While we travel far…
5 Unusual Ideas for Celebrating the New Year
We’re almost to the end of a New Year. Has it gone fast for you? It always seems to go fast for me, yet when I reflect back at all the wonderful experiences and things I’ve done with my family during the last twelve months, it’s also seems like a long, full time, too. I’ve…
A Short Guide to Effortless Learning
I’ve recently finished reading Leo Babauta’s The Effortless Life (not an affiliate link). For those of you who haven’t heard of Leo, he writes on his blog Zen Habits about living a simple, mindful life and by creating positive habits by taking small steps one at a time. The Effortless Life speaks about having a…
How Children Can Invite Opportunities into Their Lives
In my last post, The Secrets of Expertise, I discussed Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers: The Story of Success. In that book, he points to two main reasons why many people have become super successful – putting in an enormous amount of practice in their area of expertise- 10,000 hours- and being born into extraordinary circumstance….
An Inteview with an Interest-Led Learning Dad
I knew before my kids were born that I didn’t want them to attend school. While I was pregnant I worked in a public school, and I had been reading books by John Holt and John Taylor Gatto. I could see with the 12 and 13 year-olds I worked with that when their interest was…