I can’t think of a parent that doesn’t want their child to play. We know that play is, quite simply, good for kids.   Infants play spontaneously without encouragement, and sometimes despite of many distractions. As they age, our expectations of them tend to change. We encourage them, with the best of intentions, to be [...]

I have written no less than three follow-up posts about how I’m feeling about our hard school experience.  My editor (Mike) has vetoed them all, determining that there is not much to be learned from them. Agreeing that my  “processing” is really of no help to anyone but me, I’ve agreed they are better left [...]

In education, assessment is the follow-up to any learning activity. Quizzes, tests, and final products are all intended to be evidence of what children are learning. At home, we too have a less intrusive way to get a glimpse into our children’s understanding, by just listening and watching their play.   In play, children can [...]

At first glance this may look like there may have been some learning about what happens when yellow meets blue. I think that might have been going on as well, but the real fascination was with trying to get the water into the pipette.     After some struggle, Greysen is pleased with finally getting [...]

  When the Christmas tree came out, I realized that we had a nice little corner full of potential. Instead of returning our dining table to this corner, I changed this to a play space.   I experimented a bit and moved the girls’ kitchen area here, as well as a small table and chairs [...]

  We can’t do this parenting thing on our own. My husband and I have come to rely on family, friends, medical professionals, educators and my moms club, as people to turn to for advice, answers, and sometimes just comfort.   I didn’t realize the extent to which I relied on each group until today, [...]

This is definitely in the category of, why didn’t I do this sooner? After seeing a similar diaper-changing space on a Montessori blog (I confess, I can’t remember where) I moved our changing pad to the floor when Moon started to stand on her own, though I think this would have been great to do [...]

  I belong to a generation of parents who are going to changed our world.   Even though I “shared” the following quote, “One generation of deeply loving parents would change the brain of the next generation, and with that, the world” the cynic in me thought, ‘This is a bit oversimplified, isn’t it?’ It [...]

Parenting since 2010.  Feels like this should be a patch of honor indicative of the time spent honing those parenting skills that I spent so much time thinking about.  However, there are just as many days – today included – that I feel like I just started parenting yesterday. I’m in my third year of [...]

This year we will be traveling for the New Year and in wanting to keep in tradition of the girls participating in our festivities we prepped some party gear.   I bought some party hats at the local dollar store and painted them a solid silver (two coats).     The girls painted the hats [...]