From the category archives:

Current Affairs

How Children Learn Best

May 13, 2011

I had my 3-year-old grandson Sebastian here this week for our usual Tuesday time together. I always enjoy watching his enthusiasm to explore and create. As I observed and played with him, I discovered something interesting about what he does when he creates, aka plays. We have a rich variety of cool stuff at our [...]

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Children Get Smarter with Video Games

May 2, 2011

My thirty-something son Orion has played video games for many years, perhaps as many as 25; and he loves them. He’s often gravitated toward the violent ones, in which he competes against other players to see who goes down first or who makes it to the end first. I’ve never worried about him becoming violent [...]

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Education that Nurtures Our Children

April 25, 2011

Our traditional approach to educating our children with its testing, grades, limiting structure and teacher-directed learning troubles me greatly. I can use words to describe what’s possible. Yet the most effective way is to show you. That’s why, when I came across this inspiring, beautifully-done video of a child-directed learning program in which children’s natural [...]

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Another Perspective on Video Games

March 16, 2011

A friend recently shared the following excerpt from “Everything Bad Is Good For You” by Steven Johnson. It is a spoof on articles decrying video games, based on a fantasy that video games came before reading. “Reading books chronically under stimulates the senses. Unlike the longstanding tradition of game playing – which engages the child [...]

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Does Academic Pressure in Kindergarten Make a Difference?

October 22, 2010

Excellent research-based article in the Harvard Review about the value of academics in Kindergarten. What works is supporting children in play and their natural development. We can trust children. All the academic efforts in the early years do not help children become more capable or to be more advanced academically than children who followed their [...]

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School is a High-Pressure Activity for Children

September 16, 2010

Children are natural learners as witnessed by their amazing ability to learn to walk, talk, reason, figure things out, imagine new realities – all by the age of 3 and without the benefit of a ‘credentialed teacher.’ Children are naturally curious and are hard-wired to learn and to want to learn. Yet research shows that [...]

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