A fabulous lady from MDC (Mothering.com) opened my eyes to the wonder of Barefoot Books . I ordered three books- The Gigantic Turnip, One Moose Twenty Mice and Winter King and the Summertime Queen.
If you are looking for multicultural books and beautifully illustrated books, please visit their site.
(ps there is a sale right now)
Posted on July 2nd, 2008 by karen
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Fabulous idea and worthy of lots of attention! The Bump Experiment.
What a simple idea but one that is life changing. I will introduce this idea to friends and family and hope they are inspired, as I am, to rekindle the flame of friendship, empathy and community!
Posted on June 24th, 2008 by karen
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Erin can: crawl like a crab crawl like a typical baby get up on one knee grasp small pieces of food with a pincer grasp say Mom, Da, Ba and Hi. (Ba meaning bottle or sister) wave blow kisses make sounds with her mouth and hand eat solids (noodles, fresh fruit, veggies and ri) by self feeding finds humor in her parents actions (mommy put her diaper on head) looks for hidden objects cries when mommy leaves the room uses babble to communicate needs and desires In terms of development Erin is on target or slightly ahead of what is considered typical for a 6-9month old. These changes have taken place over the course of three weeks.
Posted on June 18th, 2008 by karen
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What can be learned from a week at the Ocean?
Posted on June 11th, 2008 by karen
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So, you take your car in for repair. You know the problem but want to confirm it is X, so you ask the technician to run diagnostics. A few minutes later you are told, “:yes it is X, the car will be done later today.”
So, you go about your day and get a call stating, “No, the car isn’t ready, our technicians aren’t allowed to use the tool your car needs. They offer to call an expert mechanic who not only has the tool. but his company will sell it you for a reasonable rate.”
Being annoyed at the delay, needing your car to be working again, you agree to the tool and expert.
The next day, the expert mechanic calls saying your car failed inspection and that in order to get your car fixed, you will need to pay for more specialized tools and of course more experts.
Now, being a smart person, you decide that this is ridiculous and refuse anymore work on your car. You pickup your car and find that they took away several essentials parts to your car and now it won’t run at all, so you feel stuck using their experts and tools in order to have your car working again. You agree to the repairs so you can get your car back.
The technicians call saying it is done but really for it to run well, you need additional work and really, while you are at it, you should buy a new car because th old one really isn’t give you the best performance. In fact, they argue that in order to get the best performance from a new car, you really should start at the beginning with a big add on package that will cost you mega bucks but worth it in the end. You finally agree to th mega add ons, cause they make your new car shiny and you don’t want your car to be less than your neighbors.
Maybe you can relate to this story. What part do you relate to? Can the person be the teacher or parent? Is the first technician a first time teacher who is given diagnostics (books and manuals) but someone else holds the specialized tools he/she needs? Are you the specialized tool, someone who can share experiences and knowledge? Are you the publishing company that is tailoring your product to the consumer without looking at all the evidence? Are you the new car- the new, latest greatest research that people clamor to without keeping perspective?
Our children’s future is very bright, there are activists and change makers who are fighting the education system but they are fairly “old car” according to many politicians. It is time to embrace change, using our current tools, some new tools, experts, and ordinary people who wish to see a system of education that embraces all families and children. You can be the change! Stick up for the old car that runs well but needs a repair and tune up. Remember, the essence of childhood doesn’t have to change to fit our world, our world needs to change to fit childhood.
gotta run Erin is up
Posted on May 23rd, 2008 by karen
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Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Posted on May 17th, 2008 by karen
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Where the Wild Things Are
What is a Read Along?
A Read Along is a method of reading a book and reporting on the book.
1. To start, I will chose a favorite story to read as a family.
2. Discuss the story as a family, then send either a 1) review of the book, 2) comments or 3)your own version of the story
3.Then email me or leave a comment on my blog. (taverna@moonandme.com)
4.I will post your email (without your name or address) or comment on my blog.
5.You then pick the next book that is added to our list and the process starts again.
Posted on A
Posted on May 15th, 2008 by karen
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Catchy title, huh? It’s not mine, it belongs to James P. Comer, the Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine’s Child Study Center.
“It is important to note that the school does not provide all of these services itself! It simply serves as a hub for community-based partners to provide needed services for families and students right on the school site. That’s really what “locked in a conspiracy” means—schools and communities working together to support whole children, for their future and ours.”
Interesting idea, the school providing the “hub” for the community. When my great grandmother was alive, she spoke of her church as the place for everything. You would go to church on Sunday and catch up with your child’s teacher, the local doctor and good friends. My own experience was similar to my great grandmothers, though we didn’t chat with our pediatrician during coffee hour, rather we met with friends and had Ladies Aide, where I learned about helping others. My school experience didn’t give me any direct community, though I made friends, it wasn’t where you would go to get information.
Now, as a mother myself, I have begun to look at community very critically. I feel that the group of friends that I hold dear our my community. Do I have a central place to call home, a place where everyone comes together to help each other? I have a church home which provides some of our needs but not all. I have a school that provides very little community, well, scratch that, they do try to foster community but to me it feels forced. As the town of Fredonia, do we come together with one common goal? Will our children find a sense of purpose, a sense of being part of something bigger than them? Do our children get their basic needs met? Do our children feel that they are loved? Can we create a conspiracy?
I wonder if faced with a large scale crisis how we would react? I think there is a large scale crisis in our community, a big sleeping bear, that is getting ready to wake up and growl. We know what we want for our children and yet, we continue to sleep, like the bear who forgets to come out of hibernation. Let us take a stand and say that “All children deserve to be
Posted on May 12th, 2008 by karen
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I was pleased to find this piece of writing in my email:
Carlsson-Paige observes:
“When corporations pitch their wares to kids, it’s not just products they’re selling through the increasingly sophisticated campaigns their marketers devise. It’s also a mindset — on e that tells kids, ‘You’ll be happy if you have this toy, if you eat this food, if you look this way.’ One result is that from an early age many children get the message that happiness comes from acquiring things, which undermines their ability to find satisfaction and to meet their basic developmental needs through play and meaningful relationships with others. As we learn more about how commercialism is harming our children, we’ll see that, despite its pervasiveness, there are many ways to counteract its destructive influence.”
Carlsson-Paige suggests steps adults can take to counteract the harm to children from current social trends:
* Keep it simple with toys. Remember that fewer is better, simpler is better.
* Reduce television time, especially children’s exposure to commercial TV.
* Avoid substituting material things for emotional expression and connection.
* Find regular times to be together as a family and encourage children to contribute to family life as a way of caring rather than a means to getting a material reward.
* Help children find peace and sanctuary through connecting to the natural world.
* Help children explore their own unique talents and interests, and show your interest in their activities by making descriptive rather than evaluative comments about what they do.
* Point out ads, talk about why they exist, and ask open-ended questions that encourage children to think more about marketing, keeping children’s ways of seeing the world in mind.
* Prepare kids ahead of time for visits to a store.
* Help children learn how to handle the urge to buy without giving into it.
* As children get older, talk with them about our interconnections with the people and conditions that produce the items we consume.
You can sign up for a daily email from Childcare Exchange, Exchange Everyday.
I have voiced similar concerns in the past. Thankfully, there is hope that our children will overcome this trend!
Posted on May 7th, 2008 by karen
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Our outdoor play space is lacking in a few elements, so I am beginning to gather materials and supplies to create a Sensory Garden for the kids.
This will be a pictoral post.
Posted on May 6th, 2008 by karen
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