Trustful parenting is thrown off course, in various ways, when fear prevails. By Peter Gray Ph.D. Freedom to Learn I have long been advocating, on this blog and elsewhere, for what I refer to as trustful parenting. Trustful parents allow their children as much freedom as reasonably possible to make their own decisions. They trust their […]
By Idzie Desmarais I’m Unschooled. Yes, I Can Write Unschooling is all about respecting and trusting children. So when people who have liked my unschooling Facebook page start defending the practice of hitting children, I’m baffled as well as upset. Because the thing is, and I can’t state this strongly […]
You can help your children investigate any online hoax. Shutterstock/junpinzon It’s a parent’s responsibility to protect their children from harm, no matter where that threat of harm comes from. But what if the threat is a hoax? We’ve seen recently a rollercoaster of panic from parents trying to protect their […]
It makes sense for children in the early stages of learning to read to be given decodable books. www.shutterstock.com A child’s early experiences with books both at home and later in school have the potential to significantly affect future reading performance. Parents play a key role in building oral language and literacy […]
As we look to improve the reading outcomes of our young children, more music education in our preschools and primary schools could be the answer. www.shutterstock.com Neuroscience has found a clear relationship between music and language acquisition. Put simply, learning music in the early years of schooling can help children […]
Possum Magic again, are you for real kid?! from www.shutterstock.com We often hear about the benefits of reading storybooks at bedtime for promoting vocabulary, early literacy skills, and a good relationship with your child. But the experts haven’t been in your home, and your child requests the same book every single night, sometimes […]
It takes effort and imagination, but the benefits are many. from www.shutterstock.com Contrary to the belief we Aussies are a nature-loving outdoor nation, research suggestswe’re spending less and less time outdoors. This worrying trend is also becoming increasingly apparent in our educational settings. I have devoted the majority of my teaching and […]
Moral growth is promoted when we allow little ones to act on their instincts. By Peter Gray Ph.D. Freedom to Learn commons An all-too-common belief in our culture —often held implicitly rather than explicitly — is that babies come into the world as either asocial (the “blank slate” belief) or antisocial (the “original sin” […]
By Idzie Desmarais, I’m Unschooled. Yes, I can write This post originally appeared on my Patreon in March ’17. Occasionally I’ll share an older Patreon post on the main blog, but most of them remain accessible only to patrons. Join me there to see all of them! I talk a lot about ways that […]
Encouraging children to make and use a range of maps helps develop their spatial skills, great if they want to read an x-ray, design a building or put up flat-pack furniture later in life. jeshoots.com/Unsplash When we read maps, pack the car for holidays, assemble flat-pack furniture or cut cake […]