Blog Posts: December 2011
The Best Facebook Groups for Parents to Follow
If you've read How to Tutor Your Own Child, you probably saw Chapter 6, "iDon't Think iKnow Where My Homework Is: Helping Kids Connect and Organize for the Twenty-First Century." In it, I address how to maximize the educational impact of 21st-century technologies.
Now, I wish I could go back and augment the section about Facebook--since the book's publication, I've become much more familiar with Facebook accounts worth following. While I can't amend the book, I can share information via this blog. So here, in no particular order, are some of my favorite Facebookers. For the most part, I'm letting their sites' descriptions speak for themselves:
1. How to Tutor Your Own Child -- Obviously this recommendation is a bit biased, but I do try to provide information that will benefit parent-tutors, from book recommendations (e.g., Cheaper by the Dozen) to educational conversation starters ("The 45 Most Powerful Images of 2011") to video resources (YouTube's education channel). I have 200+ fans and would love more!
2. Children's Book-a-Day Almanac -- "Daily children’s book recommendations and events from Anita Silvey."
3. Play at Home Mom -- "We are a group of moms who have a firm belief in positive parenting and play based learning. We hope to inspire, educate, uplift, and empower you all to be the best moms (and dads) you can be. "
4. Read Aloud Dad -- "Read Aloud Dad is all about children's book reviews, read aloud tips and advice for all those who are involved with reading to and with children!"
5. Tinkerlab -- "TinkerLab aims to help parents tap into a child’s natural curiosities through creative experiments that support independent thinking, enthusiasm for the wonders of the world, problem posing and solving, and the imagination. The projects and ideas shared here are child-centered and value the processes of exploration, experimentation, and curiosity."
6. Grammar Girl -- I did mention Grammar Girl's podcast in the book, but not her Facebook page. "Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing. Covering the grammar rules and word choice guidelines that can confound even the best writers, Grammar Girl makes complex grammar questions simple with memory tricks to help you recall and apply those troublesome grammar rules."
7. I Can Teach My Child! -- "Helping you be your child's first teacher--Activities and resources for parents of children birth to 5 years."
8. Our Montessori Home -- Advice and resources from a Montessori family.
9. teachmama.com -- "My goal is to sneak in a little bit of learning for my kiddos--disguised as fun--every day."
Thanks to all of these Facebookers for their contributions to families everywhere!
Readers, what sites provide you with inspiration? Do you use any of the same resources that I do, or do you have other recommendations? Use the comment section (below) to share your favorite Facebook groups. Read Full Post.
Q&As from Parents at St. Patrick's in DC
Thanks so much to St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School (K-8, DC) for the well-organized book event yesterday! A great group of parents packed into a classroom to hear my presentation about tutoring, and they asked smart questions. I'd like to adapt parts of the Q&A here, for everyone's benefit:
Q: How do I encourage a distractable student to stay on task when I'm out of the room?
A: Ask your child how long a particular task should take. Then set a timer and challenge your child to see whether he can finish by the time it goes off. You can set your own alarm and check back at intervals (and at the end of the time) to see if the time pressure has helped your child stay focused. This can also help your child develop time management skills and a more accurate sense of how long particular tasks take.
Q: My child works too quickly. How do I teach him/her to slow down and check his/her work?
A: If your child consistently rushes--for example, when working on math problems--ask him to talk you through the process of completing a problem. As you do it, model the pace that you think is appropriate. Then ask him to teach you how to check your work. Do so slowly and deliberately, doing the process while speaking the language that you want your child to be using in his head while reviewing. It can be hard to TELL a child how to slow down, but he may change his speed if you SHOW him how you'd do it.
Q: When my child reads a book that I haven't read, what's a productive way to engage him/her in conversation about it?
A: You can certainly try, "Tell me about your book," but if you want to get more specific with your questions, allowing your child to think about the reading in a new way, you can attempt these as well: "Would you recommend this book to me? To students of a certain age or interest? Why?" "Who's the main character and what does he/she want?" "Is there something that's standing in that character's way?" "Did you think this author has a particular way of writing?" OR "Do you think you could identify this author by his/her writing? Is there something unique about it?" Asking more directed questions will allow your child to create focused responses, which will be a useful skill to have when responding to writing prompts or just trying to make a concise point in conversation.
I ran out of time at the event, so I didn't get to recommend two other ideas for reading matter. One is the book I recently raved about, Guerrilla Learning. The other is The Teacher's Calendar, an annual publication that lists each day's historical, literary, and cultural anniversaries. It's a good resource for parents and children, providing fodder for interesting, timely, and educational conversations. Enjoy! Read Full Post.
Online Educational Resources
For the past several months, I've been posting links to education resources on my Facebook and Twitter pages. I'm categorizing all the links here, for easy access. I hope you find these useful. I'll plan to update and organize this list as I accumulate links. (Last updated 12/1/11)
APPS
Leafsnap, an electronic field guide (free)
My First Classical Music App ($4.99)
BLOG ARTICLES, OTHER PEOPLE'S
"Five Favorite Museums to Visit with Kids"
List of "Top 25 Picture Books"
List of "Top 25 Teacher Mom Blogs"
BLOG ARTICLES, THIS BLOG'S
"Q&As from Parents at St. Patrick's in DC"
BOOKS
Caldecott Medal Winner, 1938 - Present
Newbery Medal Winners, 1922 - Present
Material World: A Global Family Portrait
Math for Grownups, by Laura Laing
COLLEGE
"DC parents choosing to home-school their children" (includes names of support organizations)
Don't write lesson objectives on the board.
Franz Liszt as first rock star
"A home-schooler goes to college"
NYT: Waldorf education in California: "A Silicon Valley School That Doesn't Compute"
STUDIES
"Video game playing tied to creativity"
VIDEOS
How to "Prepare for the Science Fair"
"To Remember Better, Build a Mansion in Your Mind"
WRITING RESOURCES
Jokes from McSweeney's to use as lead-ins to grammar/punctuation review
Why I'm Smitten with jaZams, a Toy Store in Princeton
I was in Princeton, NJ, this past weekend and made my first trip to jaZams, an amazing children's book and toy store in Palmer Square. Here's their site. They're also on Facebook. I see that Yelpers like them as well.