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.
Place Based Education
Connecting Families Traveling the World’s Classroom
By: CJ Singer. My family has been traveling full-time for three years and developed the online community Worldschooler Connect to link all traveling families throughout the world's classroom.
SEL & Mindset
Getting Smart Gift Guide | 10 Gifts that Teach SEL
We know that prioritizing SEL is important, but we also recognize that it can be hard to do. Which is why we created this holiday gift guide listing of some of our favorite toys, books and apps that can help foster social and emotional learning.
Series
Smart Review | Galactic Hot Dogs
By: Mary Ryerse and Luke Ryerse. Mary and her 9-year-old son each have their own positive reviews for Simon Schuster's Galactic Hot Dogs series of books.
Competency-Based Education
Should I Grade-Skip My Gifted Child?
By: Jonathan Wai, Ann Lupkowski Shoplik and Susan Assouline. One effective way to help talented students remain intellectually challenged and engaged in school is to have them skip a grade. But how do you decide this is right for your child?
EdTech
EdTech 10: Super Schools
The world is a-buzz with the news of the 10 XQ Super Schools, where our own Mary Ryerse was invited to be a judge. This week’s top ten news stories offer even more super news about teaching and learning.
EdTech
EdTech 10: Practice Future Now
We're committed to exploring important education topics that aren’t yet “front of mind” and sharing what we’re learning, including these new education ideas and innovations to help us all "practice future now."
Personalized Learning
For The School Supply List: 25 Ways to Promote Effort, Attitude and Respect
Parents and teachers can do a lot of things on a daily basis to encourage positive mindsets. Here are 25 ways to help send kids back to school with positive attitudes, effort and respect.
Personalized Learning
Parenting, Learning and The Power of Place
My husband and I recently decided to put the “4 I’s” of Smart Parents into practice during this year's family vacation. Here’s what we learned about parenting and the power of place while exploring and adventuring with our daughters.
Leadership
Getting Prepared For Middle School: 7 Things Soon-to-Be Middle Schoolers Should Know
Inspired by a conversation I overheard between a grandfather and his pre-middle school grandson, here are 7 things I think soon-to-be middle schoolers should know before school starts.
EdTech
EdTech 10: Thank You For Coming Back
Here are 10 edtech stories about tools and resources we hope will help teachers out a bit this year, so they want to continue coming back and dedicating their time, energy and passion to the growth of our students.