Spring is seemingly defined by rain. Add some wind to the mix, and it can be hard to want to spend time outside. Here are a few ideas to get you and your child out in the weather, even if only for a few minutes to experience all that nature has to give.
The long evenings and blustery weather of winter provide the perfect backdrop to hours of reading. In our family, we wandered the library and sampled picture books, storybooks and chapter books to find new tales and old favorites to visit and re-visit through the hours of a Vermont evening by the fire. The authors and books below are the ones my entire family anticipates, whatever their age, for wintery hours of reading.
Elsa Beskow- A hundred years later, her picture … Read More...
To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark. – Victor Hugo
Children are made readers on the laps of their parents. – Emilie Buchwald
We all know the importance of reading to our children, but there are many small things you can do in the course of your time with your baby, toddler, and preschooler in addition to reading to them that will help build the foundations of reading. The … Read More...
Imagine yourself and your child standing in the library. Or if you’re like me, imagine following your almost running child around and around the library. You have this idea that you can find a perfect selection of books if you could even read one spine, but your child is too intrigued by the long rows of books to give you a chance to browse.
The following list might help you, as you can just ask your friendly librarian for particular … Read More...
We want to do so much to help our children, but life teaches us that their greatest gifts may be the intangible tools they carry inside themselves. Watching them, we see that some are born with a fully-stocked “toolchest” that will aid them on any path they choose. Other children seem to need a little more help, whether in recognizing what was there all along or in developing skills unfamiliar to their natures.
Regardless of how competent children are out … Read More...
“Great hardships and great dangers are in store for him; but he shall win through them all.”
— From Isabel Wyatt’s The Kingdom of Beautiful Colors
This quote from Isabel Wyatt came to me a few weeks back as young people in Florida were standing up to the powerful, demanding the value of their lives over the profit of an industry. Our battered, mildewed copy of the storybook for middle-grade children, from which the quote comes, carries the older, less … Read More...
As you head into summer with your school-age children, you might be trying to find ways to support the academic advances they’ve made during the school year without making summer feel like an endless extension of school. Summer and other breaks are important for letting learning sink in, giving young minds time to mull over what they’ve covered in their school time and having plenty of free time to explore other interests. Still, there is evidence that shows that longer … Read More...
Elsa Beskow was a Swedish author and illustrator whose books were published in the early half of the 20th century. Her books have been discovered by different generations, and many of her titles have been reissued within the last few years. Perhaps you have seen her titles in catalogs and wondered whether her books would be right for your child.
Her illustrations and simple stories are the allure in many of her books. Pelle’s New Suit, Peter’s Old … Read More...
Reading is important at any age and is crucial for a child’s overall learning and academic development. Getting kids to be successful readers in school is only part of the equation. Parents can foster a love of reading with their kids at home so that the desire to read and enjoy it for its own sake overlaps into the school day. Reading can help a child develop strong vocabulary, spelling, and reasoning skills while strengthening aptitudes in math and science. … Read More...
