Category Archives: EDUCATION

10.08.15
by

Rockstar Podcast #12: Japanese Immersion Kindergarten, Soccer, and New Beginnings

There was a bit of apprehension on the first day of the Japanese Immersion Kindergarten Project.

There was a bit of apprehension on the first day of the Japanese Immersion Kindergarten Project, but as evidenced by this edition of Rockstar Podcast, she is diving in.

This week’s episode (as opposed to the last episode which occurred close to 15 weeks ago) covers some pretty neat and highly deep topics like: early childhood education, the Japanese language immersion project, Soccer (Fùtbol Kindergartneränø), and other amazingly interesting topics for you. Thanks for listening to our podcast and we hope you enjoy (nnnñññññññññyoy) it!!

 

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

12.05.13
by

The World is a Classroom: Ukrainian Revolution Firsthand Account

The world is a classroom, as I am sure someone would say. No doubt about that. But what is this classroom trying to teach us? I have been thinking about this a lot recently because of the current events in Kyiv. These are heady days here, EUROREVOLUTION! Great opportunities to teach and be taught about the true meaning of democracy.

The revolution is here in Kyiv, Ukraine and it's a great learning opportunity of democracy in practice for Pappa Goob and his kids.

The revolution is here in Kyiv, Ukraine and it’s a great learning opportunity of democracy in practice for Pappa Goob and his kids.  Photo of 12/1/2013

Copyright All rights reserved by anagrudnyi  Check out his photostream, including amazing Ukrainian Revolution photos, on his Flickr.

And honestly I have felt much more threatened at demonstrations in other, more established, democracies than I have here. Here people aren’t trying to destroy the symbols of society, they are trying to get access to those symbols. The government has failed them and for the second time in the last 10 years, they want to hold someone accountable for that failure. Wow, awesome. Continue reading →

10.25.13
by

Does Scheduling Kids Activities Help… or Hurt? Economics of Parenting

I am well on my way to becoming a Tiger-mom and the results are undeniable. At 3 YY (years-young) she’s reading at a 5th grade level, a concert-worthy pianist, and just yesterday was asked to tryout for the world cup teeeee…wait. That was all a dream I had last night. This was one of those dreams where you wake up and for the first couple of seconds you are really satisfied with yourself because you’ve reached great heights and it all seems so real — yet you had nothing to do with it. Like being born rich, or Lebron James, or Gorbachev (no one can tell me that birthmark on his bald baby head had nothing to do with his success).

Striking resemblance? Based on Gorby's success later in life, I'm hoping so!

Striking resemblance? Based on Gorby’s success later in life, I’m hoping so!

Continue reading →

09.25.13
by

Commence Enhanced Sociopathic Behavior Season (or cold season to the uninitiated)

AT is a perfectly nice 3 year old. She hams it up and tries to show love as best as her little sociopathic mind will allow her. This means she commonly mistreats people she loves, but when a new person she is trying to impress is introduced, she frequently says, “I love you, Daddy” and does things that have always resulted in her receiving a great big dose of “awwwwwwww” from the newcomer. This is not unique to her, I believe all 3 year olds are sociopaths.

She really is a sweet and compassionate girl as evidenced by her love and enjoyment of that awful place we like to call the State Fair!

She really is a sweet and compassionate girl as evidenced by her love and enjoyment of that awful place we like to call the State Fair!

I was recently at her school where an expert on early childhood development and behavior was talking about strategies and tactics that employ positive guidance for misbehavior (positive reinforcement). She was saying the underdeveloped frontal lobe was the main culprit for this sociopathic behavior. We all know our brains aren’t fully developed until we are pretty much almost dead, but in very little kids, it’s amazing how little of that lobe has actually grown-in.

Continue reading →

05.30.13
by

Babies to students

What happens to you when your children leave one phase of life and move on to another? What happens to parents when babies become students? Can’t say that I have thought much about this. After nearly 9 years of being a parent of very small children I have over the last year, become a parent of still small but not as very small children.

From kids to students, the youngest is actually student-driving the car! THATS WHY ITS SO FUN!

From kids to students, the youngest is actually student-driving the car! THATS WHY ITS SO FUN!

My oldest is in second grade, so this hypothetically could have happened at least two years ago. But for whatever reason it hasn’t hit me until our middle child got half-way through kindergarten. This has its explanations (the learning problems that our second grader has, the move from the Swedish school system to an American international school) yet explanations only take me so far.

Continue reading →