Smart Parents
We spend a lot of our time creating and sharing resources for educators and parents (who are often one and the same audience). Time and time again, we observe that families are left out of the equation when it comes to determining the primary audience for education reports, papers and articles—even though they are among the hungriest for informed opinions that can help them. Smart Parents is a blog series for parents, by parents who are navigating educational opportunities + making powerful decisions for and with their students. Learn more in Smart Parents: Parenting for Powerful Learning.
Families are Fundamental: Takeaways from The National Center for Families Learning Conference
Research shows that family engagement in learning has marked positive effects on learning measures across all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. How can we get more families engaged in their children's learning? This conference provided some fresh ideas.
Kids Can Thank Mom by Making a Meal Themselves
Let me preface this section by saying I am not an expert at having kids make the meal. I always marveled at those parents who had an amazing menu plan and activated a rotation where everyone takes responsibility to cook one meal, rotate chores, and so on. We just haven’t been that family and our schedules have never felt that predictable. So, we’ve done more “opportunistic” cooking.
Holiday Gift Ideas for Teachers and Classrooms
Does this sound familiar? Your children have some phenomenal teachers and you’d like to recognize them this holiday season, but you’re not sure what to give. Here's a guide with some ideas you may not have thought of.
20 Ways to Celebrate National Family Literacy Day
Did you know the single greatest indicator of children’s success is the literacy level of their parents? Did you know that parental involvement in their child’s reading has been found to be the most important determinant of language and emergent literacy?