Home Learning Environments

Before children sit down to start their work, consider a deeper look at their learning space. Is your child's working space suitable for the task at hand? Is it free from distraction? Does it remove barrier to learning? Is it a space your child actually likes to be in?

Though most of us have limited space available to us in our homes, the following quick tips will allow you to make the most whatever you have available. The key to a smooth operation is planning ahead, accounting for possible challenges, and pre-planning solutions to those challenges. A child's physical learning environment should never be a distraction, rather, an asset.

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Reducing Kids' Anxiety through Mindfulness

Why mindfulness? Though we are all doing our best to keep our kids away from today’s news, the drastically different school day, reduced playtime with friends, increased time being cooped up at home, and glimpses of adult daily worries has potentially increased some of our children's’ tendency to be anxious. You may have noticed this anxiousness manifested in a variety of ways including but not limited to physical ailments, a greater degree of emotional sensitivity, avoidance of family and friends, and perhaps more commonly through a deluge of dramatic meltdowns. You might be wondering where did my kid go and how do I get them back?! I know our family has experienced these ranges of emotions just in the span of the last 24 hours alone. What is mindfulness? While we can’t control what’s going outside our homes, we can to some extent try to control the thoughts in our heads that lead us to these more extreme, anxious reactions. This mindset, of actively and purposefully ...

Free Educational Resources for Kids

The following list of educational resources are FREE thanks to many non-profit organizations lending a helping hand during this difficult time. We will continue to add to this list as more opportunities become available. These resources are of high educational quality. However, as always, be sure to preview sites to determine the best fit for your child. If there is a link that is not free or broken please, let me know. Enjoy and have fun! Science Adventures -------- Zoo Tours ------- San Diego Zoo for Kids Live animal cams of your favorite land animals. Best for kids Prek to 6th grade. 15-30 minute activity Monterey Bay Aquarium Live animal cams of your favorite sea creatures. Best for kids PreK to 6th grade. 15-30 minute activity Zoo of Atlanta Cute live cams of Pandas. Who doesn’t love pandas? 15-30 minute activity Houston Zoo Gorillas, chimps, ant communities, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos greet you on this live web cam. Great f...

Free Math Resources

There seems to be a bit of anxiety among parents about the “new math” kids are learning these days. Isn’t math just math? Why can’t kids learn math the way we were taught? Isn’t 2+2 always going to be 4? All good questions. Whether kids are engaging in Common Core, Everyday Math, Singapore Math, Russian Math, or another equally promising program, math programs these days attempt to break down algorithmic thinking by building up a child’s number sense. In plain English, knowing the why and how behind addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division steps lends itself to knowing relationships between numbers when doing algebra, calculus, and trigonometry problems. Some math programs today are more visual, some more hands-on, some emphasize modeling, some problem solving, but all have the same end. Kids need to deeply understand why and how 2+2=4, beyond memorization of the fact alone. How do we know number sense is important? Countries who take the time to develop number sense...

Teaching and Learning at Home

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