Study Tips

(Normal Rockwell)

It's that time of year again, when students throughout the land head off to school.  For the facebook chatter we saw this weekend, it couldn't come sooner for some parents.  A recent article in the New York Times offers new research on the customary approach to studying.   According to new research, gone is the notion of setting up one study space and sticking to it.  Instead, researchers suggest switching it up.  Study at your desk for awhile and then on the couch.  Need to study some more maybe head outdoors.  It seems that when students studied the same subjects in different locations they retained more information than if they studied in only one spot.  Apparently our brains make unconscious connections between what we are studying and the environment we are in.  Another fascinating discovery made by  cognitive psychologists is that tests and quizzes are in fact great for learning.

When we struggle to retrieve facts for the test or quiz, the effort we have to retrieve the information helps us store the information more efficiently for the next time we are asked to retrieve it.  Researchers make a point of mentioning that cramming for a test is near fruitless when considering retention of information.  If we struggle to cram our brains full of information before a test, most of it will fall out after.  It seems that the type of  assessments that work best for retention are those which test the information gathered in the last study session, not high stress cram session.

Silly Grownups

(still from Mike Leigh's  Grown-Ups)

Sometimes we aren't as smart as we think we are. A survey conducted a decade ago this month through the combined efforts of the Zero to Three Organization, Civitas (a non profit), and Brio (the toy maker) revealed the awful truth about the knowledge American adults have in regards to child development.  This survey of over 3,000 Americans (some with children, some without, and some with grown children) exposed the deficit that most American adults have when it come to the world of children. It's often joked that babies don't come with an owner's manual and parenting certainly isn't taught in our schools. So most adults rely on information they receive primarily from their spouses and their mothers. Unfortunately for them this study shows that their spouses know some, but their mothers are even less informed than they are.

 

 

(Voyage en douce by Michel Deville)

This survey shaped the way we see children and the way we care for them forever.  In many ways it allowed us to see down the rabbit hole and have that moment when you realize that you don' t even know what you don't know.

The questions asked in the survey had such interesting answers that became even more amazing when we researched the topic a bit further.  Simply reading the survey and the comments made by the authors allowed us to gain a much deeper understanding into a child's world.  It also pointed us down a path filled with teachers and philosophies that changed our lives.

We are saddened to admit that if this survey were conducted today many adults would answer the questions the same.  There are many beliefs that are deeply entrenched in the adult psyche.

There is so much rich information in this survey that we are going to take the questions one at a time, but for now here is a sampling of the questions we will be speaking to in the coming weeks... Please feel free to take part in our own informal survey by leaving your answers anonymously if you wish...

Should a 15 month old be expected to share his toys?

Is a six month old too young to spoil by giving her too much attention?

How young can a child experience depression?

Does spanking your child teach them self control?

We will tackle each of these questions in posts to come. Some of them may seem hard to answer with a simple yes or no, feel free to give us your full answer.

If you want to see the whole study, we have the pdf saved and can email it to anyone who emails us. It's getting harder to find online these days.

Arrgh! Matey's

The Pirate Setting on Facebook has us so inspired! Aye, so many fabulous thin's so little time

New New York be takin' o'er Governer's Island this summer in NYC!


Shiver Me Timbers Thar Be a Pirate Camp for Yer Young Uns- it be closed to any new spogs for this season but check back next year!

Ahoy, we got a lot o' help translating from  aye Talk Like a Pirate Day.com

Arrr, this looks like fun A pence for an old man o'de sea? The Historical Seaport

Montessori and me...

Sometimes you just find great pics and aren't quite sure how to use them. Here's how we are using these. Maria Montessori!  Here is an assortment of fun pictures of children through the ages and we are going to throw in a few of our favorite Dr. Montessori Quotes!  Frankly, for some of them, writing your own caption might be more fun and we would happily welcome all submissions. Let her words be your guide...
Maria  Montessori ... "“Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.”

“If help and salvation are to come, they can only come from the children, for the children are the makers of men.”

“We cannot know the consequences of suppressing a child's spontaneity when he is just beginning to be active. We may even suffocate life itself. That humanity which is revealed in all its intellectual splendor during the sweet and tender age of childhood should be respected with a kind of religious veneration. It is like the sun which appears at dawn or a flower just beginning to bloom. Education cannot be effective unless it helps a child to open up himself to life.”

"Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world”

“We teachers can only help the work going on, as servants wait upon a master.” 

 

“And so we discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being.”

  

Shakespeare at the Castle

This is the type of summer camp that we would have died for as girls! We are big 'ol theater lovers! We were destined to love all things theater since between the two of us we have a mother who is a music teacher and a mother who teaches English Literature. How could we possibly escape a love of theater?
When we saw this, our hearts filled with joy- how much fun would this be?!
If you find yourself in the Hudson River Valley this summer, look in on Wing's Castle. An interesting place in it's own right. Peter Wing designed and worked on his castle for over 25 years. Built using architectural salvage, Wing's Castle has over seven towers and a moat that's swimmable!

Also active in local theater,  Mr. Wing created (with a little help from his friends) a day camp for elementary and middle school children called Shakespeare at the Castle. Every summer children gather and read, then edit, design, stage, and costume a Shakespeare show. They entertain their audiences with the castle and the sunset as their backdrop! Oh and swim in the moat! Love that part! We want to swim in a moat. And be Ophelia or Helena or Titania or Viola...! How can a summer's day get better!

Save the World.

(pic via living nature grove)

It's Earth Day on Thursday.  And thankfully there are enough wonderful eco friendly products that we could spend weeks posting on them all. This week we will bring you some of our favorites.
 We know this week will be full of people preaching. 
But during this week, we seem to be even more aware of the way we use the world. More aware of the waste we produce, the choices we make, ways that we can improve on our carbon footprint.  We keep coming back to education and food.
Food is such an important part of childhood. It shares space in our memories for most of our favorite times, birthdays, holidays, seasonal events....The lessons we take from childhood into adulthood about food creates our desire to honor and respect the nutrients we eat or unconsciously consume calories.

Changing the school lunch program in the United States seems vital to the survival of our nation.
Yep, we said it. Here's why.  Take away the fact that 1 in 2 children born after 2000 who are from low socioeconomic status will have Type 2 Diabetes before adulthood and that this is the first generation of children who will live shorter lives than their parents. Or the fact that there are kindergarteners in this country that weigh more than most of us did in junior high.
The way the food is processed is an energy sucking force of Jabba the Hut proportions. Did anyone else see the freezer in last week's Food Revolution. We can't bear to think of how much coal that takes a year to run.

And it seems from the pics on the fabulous Fed Up With Lunch blog that all the food we serve is in disposable containers.

But what seems the greatest tragedy is that we are compartmentialzing our food. Even with a change is the quality of food (which is fantastic and we want want want this!), children are still not being taught where their food comes from or how to cook it. 

Alice Waters, the Mother of the Organic Food Movement and the Slow Food Movement, has seen this need and has been chipping away at our nations stubborn (and horribly misguided) belief that children can only learn reading, writing, and arithmetic, sitting in a desk indoors. Her Edible Schoolyard program works with classroom teachers to integrate the garden into the core curriculum. The children help in the growing, harvesting, and preparing of the food grown.
How much better for our world if we all were ushered into adulthood knowing how to grow, harvest, preserve, and prepare our food?