A wide variety of books can keep the humdrum and mundane of everyday life from elbowing out the truly glorious and fertile growth possibilities that are so much larger than what is offered to children at home or in the standard curricula of K-12 education.
Hey! Where’s the staple regrabber!?
This year my sweet wife found two little great-horned owl ornaments at a local florist shop. We were thrilled. We are often visited by two huge great-horned owls in the late evening here in Louisville, KY.
The need for connection with book ideas and the relief and thrill they can bring, is powerful these days, more than ever.
It’s never too early to begin reading to and talking with a child. Language and communication skills are acquired from birth. Read on.
Toys are the tools children use to learn about their world. Books can diversity playtime by introducing other cultures to a child’s frame of reference.
When I was a child in school—a thousand years ago—we were taken weekly to the library and encouraged to find books we could enjoy for that week. The following week, we’d return the previous week’s choices, swapping them for a new set of books. Simple. Early on, when a book report was called for, or […]
The U.S. tradition of long summer school breaks hails from times when children lived on family farms and needed to be available during the growing season to help tend them. While beneficial for farming, long breaks from structured learning can take its toll on academic progress. The sometimes negative impact of up to 12 weeks away […]
Every so often news headlines alert us that the U.S. ranks “below average” in reading test scores, lagging behind other countries, like China, which consistently rank at or near the top. It’s probable that we’ll receive the same news again this spring after many schools dutifully administer standardized tests. Why? Because, as a whole, our education system continues […]
Last September the International Literacy Association (ILA is the largest professional literacy educator organization in the world) released the Children’s Rights to Read, a set of 10 rights associated with ensuring all children around the globe learn to read books and grow to be joyful readers throughout their lives. This is not the first time that a “bill of rights” […]
