Unfortunately, there are a lot of things we should have learned at school, because as a society, we cannot rely on parents to be able to do it by themselves. For example, we cannot expect all parents to teach their kids literacy and numeracy because not all of them know enough and out of those who do, not many are also good at teaching.
Motivating Kids (9)
For some kids, working together is a great motivator. Many times, when kids need to do something they do not know how to do, it is a big relief for them if someone else is experiencing the same challenges. Suddenly, they are not alone.
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Arabian Nights for Kids
It was the summer of my first year of Special Education studies and I was initially given a group of 12 kids in Grade 5. They were mostly boys (for some reason) and the dynamic of the group was problematic. The camp was located in a wonderful forest with a creek running through it and overlooked by beautiful ruins of an ancient village.
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The Book Whisperer
Eden got this nickname when she was 7 years old and her teacher complained she was reading out loud while all the other kids switched to silent reading. The teacher was concerned that reading out loud would interfere with her reading development.
To handle the need to verbalize what she was reading (a kinesthetic need), Eden started to whisper. It started with fast and unclear quiet whispers, like shorthand. she read for hours every day, so from age 7 to 20, you could hear indistinct whispers in our house at the table, in the toilet, behind the sofa, on the floor or on her bed.
All my 3 little book worms go to the public library every week and borrow 20 books for each membership card (and we have 5 cards).
For the love of reading
Kids who love reading are every parent’s dream. Developing imagination, getting exposed to richness of information and inspiring emotions through the written word are only some of the advantages of reading.
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Motivating Kids (8)
Planning is a great motivator for many kids and helps overcome many of the fears kids have. When kids learn to plan their time, their actions, their budget, their social life and their activities, they get a sense of control instead of feeling overpowered by external sources.
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15 More Life Lessons
Last year, I wrote about my life lessons in a post called “34 Life Lessons I Have Learned”. I think I have learned so many more lessons that I would like to share with you.
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Anti-Social School
In recent years, privacy has become a very hot topic. New updates to privacy notices arrive in our email almost weekly, appearing more and more complicated over time. Whether you run your own business or work in someone else’s company, you are required to keep your clients’ privacy. And, of course, you worry about your own privacy the privacy of your kids when you go online. But sometimes, this can go a bit too far and hurt more than it helps.
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How to You Can Teach Your Kids Effective Reading
Effective reading is an important tool for gaining knowledge. When I was a kid, my teachers provided us most of the knowledge we got. Today, my kids get most of their new knowledge by themselves, much of it by reading. In fact, I believe that getting our kids to love reading is the single most significant thing we can do for them.
Your kids will have to read a lot during their school years and even more during their life. So developing their effective reading skills is essential to their knowledge, development and their success.
Broadly speaking, there are two reasons for anyone to read:
1. For information and knowledge
2. For pleasure
The Value of Homework
Two weeks ago, I talked about the importance of parents’ involvement in their kids’ homework. Last week, I asked you about the best time to give kids homework. Today, I will cover the value of homework and how parents feel and project that feeling towards their kids’ homework.
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Confession of an Author
Although my mom could not read properly, my dad read a lot of books. He was a crossword puzzle and word search person and eagerly solved everything in the daily and weekend papers when I was a kid. Most of the books in our home library he won by sending his answers to the newspapers. Inside each one was a sticker saying he had won this book as a first, second or third prize. So you see, for me, books were rewards since before I was able to read.
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