One of the best things about toddlers is how fun they are. They are completely uninhibited and full of creativity and energy. They learn, and learn, and learn some more and love every minute of it. Having fun with your toddler can range from a planned activity to just cuddling and giggling in bed. It can range from playing, to going outside, to family vacations, to cooking together. This post pulls together some great ideas for having fun with your toddlers.

Play

Nurture Store came up with a great list of Top 5 Toddler Play Ideas especially for the Carnival of Toddlers. Head over there to read more about how to:

• Make your play space toddler friendly
• Encourage super sensory play
• Boost your toddler’s language skills
• Play grown-up
• Be inspired

On that last point, there is so much inspiration out there. Some great places to look include The PhD in Parenting Carnival of Play and my friend Allie’s great craft blog No Time for Flash Cards.  Do you like paint and play dough? If so, check out these recipes and ideas from Sixty Second Parent and Nurture Store. When you’re all done, it is time to clean up those toys and Code Name Mama has some great tips on getting your toddlers to help pick up.

Go Outside

I think one of the most important things is for toddlers to have the opportunity to go outside and play in an unstructured and exploratory environment. Let them roll the grass, pick up leaves, stroke the bark of the tree, watch the ants walking around, gaze at the clouds, and more. If you’re looking for fun ideas for things to do outside (even in the rain!), check out my Carnival of Play posts on outdoor play.

Travel

A lot of people are scared to travel with toddlers. Don’t be afraid! It can be a lot of fun, as Corinne from Have Baby Will Travel will tell you. Her website is full of amazing resources for parents who want to travel with their babies and toddlers. Codename Mama also has a list of ideas to help make travel with toddlers easier. We’ve done both structured and unstructured vacations with our kids, ranging from resorts to camping and from Europe to Cuba.

The important thing is to respect your toddler’s pace and abilities and come up with a plan that is flexible and keeps their needs in mind. Every destination has tons of great things to do with toddlers, from more structured options (like Children’s museums) to impromptu activities (like counting the stairs on the steps of a Cathedral). Travelling with a toddler is the best way to ensure that you stop to smell the roses along the way, whether you are exploring a world far from home or just the next town over.

Cook and Bake

Do you like to cook with your toddler? Involving your toddler in the food process can be one great way to get them interested in eating. Two of my readers like to get their toddlers involved in the meal planning. Check out the great meals that Housewife’s Utopia and Life With Roozle’s toddlers came up with.

I don’t do a lot of cooking with my kids, but we love to bake together. It has become a weekend tradition and now I often have to bake with one of them on Saturday and the other one on Sunday so that they both get a turn. Whether it is granola bars, zucchini muffins, or leftover cereal cookies, they love being able to help measure and mix and of course they’re happy to taste test once things are done.

As you are cooking, think about incorporating some of Sixty Second Parent’s ideas for exploring the senses of smell and taste.

How Do You Have Fun With Your Toddler?

This is just a beginning. There are, of course, so many things that you can do with your toddler. Reading was another important fun activity with my kids. What other fun ideas do you have for hanging out with your toddler?

Toddler Carnival Sponsor

 Photo credits: Toddler with bubbles from abbybatchelder on flickr.

I came across a post today that I really enjoyed. On the Camp Creek Blog, Lori wrote:

There’s a billboard in my town that makes me grind my teeth into dust. It shows a kid’s hands holding, on the left, a video-game controller and, on the right, a turtle. Then it says something along the lines of “unplug”.

She continued by explaining why the billboard bothers her:

The whole either/or mentality is what gets to me. By positing the game controller against the turtle, the message is “video games: bad, playing outside: good.” Why isn’t this a good way to get kids outdoors? Because if they reject the left side of that equation, they may automatically reject the right side. This kind of shaming argument runs a serious risk of turning kids off the outdoors.

I absolutely agree. I hate campaigns that attempt to shame people for their choices or their actions. I’ve written about this before as it relates to parents’ use of technology and as it relates to breastfeeding promotion and drunk driving ads.  Simply telling people what to do without understanding why they aren’t doing those things and without providing support to help them do those things is only going to create anger and resentment.

I think it is important to give kids plenty of opportunities to play outside and to foster a love of nature by engaging in outdoor activities with them. I also think that there are a lot of kids who spend too much time in front of the television and video games. However, I don’t think that setting up this type of good/bad equation is going to make kids suddenly turn off their video games and go outside.

The same logic applies to so many other things. Put the important/healthy thing on one side and the fun/delicious thing on opposite ends of the spectrum and you’re sure to teach your child to hate the important/healthy thing because you know that they love the fun/delicious thing.

• Math vs. Recess
• Broccoli vs. Chocolate
• Reading vs. Lego
• Kale Smoothie vs. Lemonade
• Volunteering vs. Going to a Movie
• Hiking vs. Nintendo
• Carrots vs. Cupcakes

There are so many enjoyable things in life. Some may be healthier than others when looked at in isolation and held up for an objective comparison. But life isn’t about trying to pack in as much healthy as we can. Life is about living. Enjoying a variety of different things is what makes life worth living.

If we act like we have to give up the things on the right in favour of the things on the left, we are going to make ourselves miserable. But if we give ourselves permission to have both the things on the left and the right and to enjoy them all, we’re more likely to be happy and successful.

Balancing shaming equations is not so fun. Doing math outdoors with chalk…now that’s awesome!

Image credit: stuartpilbrow on flickr

At this time of year, most parents are rushing around in a frantic panic searching for each and every item on their child’s school supply list. If your lists are anything like mine, they include a combination of the usual (24 pencils, sharpened), the overly specific (1″ white binder with pockets), and the unusual (travel chess game). If your shopping experience is anything like mine, it includes hitting the big stores to cross most items off the list while swearing about a lack of labeling of toxic ingredients (or absence thereof), and then spending way too long looking for the final elusive items (dollar stores do not carry bingo chips anymore, they only have dabbers).

Then there is the expense.  It is an expense that we are, fortunately, able to manage even if it is not always easy and does end up blowing our monthly budget. However, it is an expense, not to mention waste of time, that I resent. I think that it would be much more cost and time effective if the materials were bought in bulk, instead of having each family pay retail prices and go through the long frustrating search for those hard to find items. There are some services, like Best Tools for Schools, that allow parents to take advantage of such bulk buying, but they are not available everywhere yet. Plus there is, of course, the fact that not all parents are able to afford the long list of school supplies that are requested by the schools.

The Ottawa Citizen had an interesting article today on that topic called The dilemma of paying for school essentials. The article focused on an Ontario Ministry of Education guideline that was released in March. The guideline indicated that all fees for items that are essential for a child to succeed in school are voluntary this year. That means that parents do not have to pay for things like pencils, paper, textbooks, mandatory guest speakers, and other items that are required. This is part of a move towards ensuring that public schools are completely public institutions.

The change in policy could be helpful to families that are struggling financially. However, there is concern that even middle to upper class families will opt not to buy school supplies because it is voluntary. Ultimately, this could put a lot of pressure on school boards that are already strapped for cash. There are concerns that a lot of teachers will end up paying for even more supplies out of pocket than they already do.

The Ottawa Citizen quoted Annie Kidder, the executive director of People for Education, who noted that “The problem is really the basic question – shouldn’t our taxes be paying for all of the things we do in the schools?”  That is a good question and I think she is right on track. In a public school system, I don’t think parents should be required to pay any fees or purchase any supplies for their child’s basic education. I also think that a lot of time and money could be saved if the required school supplies were purchased in bulk by the school board (or a contractor on their behalf), rather than by each individual family.

What is your school supply list like this year?  Do you wish the school was taking care of it for you?

Image credit: Merelymel13 on flickr

It is almost time for Christmas break at most schools in North America. As children get ready to run out into the snow and enjoy a few weeks off from school, many parents and children may be looking to give a gift to their teachers to show their appreciation. In some schools it seems this is not done. In other schools everyone contributes to a group gift (which brings its own challenges). In other schools each parent is on their own, trying to decide whether to buy a gift, how much to spend, and what to buy.

Note: For simplicity sake, I’ve used she when referring to teachers in this post. I recognize that teachers can be male too and these tips would apply regardless of gender.

Our school is one of those where each parent is on their own. Some families give gifts. Other families don’t give gifts. Some spend a lot. Others spend a little. But ultimately, each year we are left with the task of figuring out what to buy for the teachers, both at Christmas and at the end of the year. We have given a variety of different gifts over the years. I some cases, I know they have been appreciated. In other cases, I hoped they would be but wasn’t entirely sure if I was making the right choice.

Top gifts for teachers

I asked people on my facebook page what they would suggest and got a lot of interesting responses. I thought I would share some of the best suggestions and some of my suggestions here.

• Gift Cards: The number one suggestion seems to be to give gift cards. This is something we’ve done in the past, including giving a gift certificate to a nice restaurant as an end-of-year present to a teacher that did wonders for my son as well as a series of smaller gift certificates to a nice breakfast place for all of the teachers at the end of the year last year. People have also suggested gift cards for book stores, coffee chains, spas or more generic gift cards like Visa gift cards that they can spend anywhere.

• Plants: Giving something green and living is a suggestion that a few people made. I think it is generally a good one. I know some people who do not like houseplants, but I think for the most part people appreciate having a bit of green around (which reminds me, now that our destructo cat is gone, we could probably add some green to the indoors in our home).

• Charitable donation: I would never choose a charity on behalf of a teacher, but I liked the suggestion that a few people made of donating to charity on the teacher’s behalf.  In Canada, the website CanadaHelps provides gift cards that the recipient can use for a charity of their choice. Or you can give gift cards for Kiva and allow the teacher to choose an entrepreneur in a developing country to support (that could become a class project of interest too if the teacher wanted to).

Other considerations when choosing a gift

A few things to ask yourself:

• Do you know the teacher well enough to give that? If you are giving a bottle of wine, are you sure the teacher likes wine? Do you know that she isn’t a recovering alcoholic? If you are giving scented products (e.g. creams, bubble bath, soap), are you sure she isn’t sensitive to scents. If you are giving food, have you considered that she might be trying to lose weight, that she may be allergic to certain things, or that she may not want to eat homemade food if she doesn’t know about the hygiene standards you keep in your kitchen? If you are giving something religious or specific to a certain holiday (e.g. Christmas ornaments), are you sure that the teachers shares the same faith as you?

• Is there something you know the teacher will appreciate? Sometimes you may get little hints over the course of the year about something you know the teacher would appreciate, but that otherwise might not be an appropriate gift. If you do know the teacher well enough, then go for it. My son’s teacher had commented on something I was wearing numerous times and asked where I bought it. We ended up getting one for her and she was thrilled with it. But if I didn’t know it was something she would want, I wouldn’t have bought an item of clothing for a teacher. Similarly, if you know something about the teacher’s interests, then that may give you hints about possible gifts.

• Will the teacher really appreciate a craft? A lot of families seem to like to give homemade crafts to the teachers. I have heard from some teachers that they don’t really want a homemade mug, picture frame, tree ornament or other craft from each child. If they receive one from each child, every year, over many years, their house will just be cluttered with them. While no teacher wants to throw away a heartfelt gift from a child, keeping 25 slightly crooked coffee mugs or dozens and dozens of homemade decorations can get to be a bit much and may not fit with the way that teacher wants to decorate her home. If she puts one child’s mug on her desk at work, and not the other, then one child is likely to get upset.

• Can you give it a personal touch? If you opt not to give a craft for the reasons listed above or just because, it doesn’t mean that you cannot personalize the gift. Having your child draw a picture or make a card is a nice way to personalize the gift and gives the teacher something she can display for the season and then easily tuck away in a keepsake box, rather than something she needs to display or use on an ongoing basis.  You can write a personal note to the teacher as well, expressing your appreciation for everything she does for your child.

Do you have any other tips? Suggestions for great gifts for teachers or other things that people should think about when buying gifts?

Image credit: Cláudia*~Assad on flickr

I want to preface this post by saying that I am not an expert in the field of education. I have done some research on this topic, but it is not comprehensive and may not even be representative. However, my readers have been asking me for a long time to share my thoughts on this topic and those requests have increased since we began our temporary stay in Germany, where homeschooling is illegal.  In the interest of full disclosure, as this may colour my thoughts on the issue, I went through the public school system in Quebec and we have chosen a small private language-focused preschool/elementary school for our children, which our son has attended for the past three years and where our daughter will be starting this September.

The right and the duty to learn

Because this will influence much of what I say in this post, I should start with my thoughts on the right and the duty to learn.

I believe in and support the Convention on the Rights of the Child‘s recognition of every child’s right to a free education. I believe that every child should have the opportunity to learn the basic things that they need to function in society. This includes, in my mind, practical skills like reading and math, but it also includes knowledge of the natural world, history, cultures, and societal issues. It includes learning and retaining facts, but also learning how to solve problems, debate issues, and apply critical thinking.

I also believe in the duty to learn. I do not think that ignorance is bliss. I believe that ignorance is dangerous and destructive. I believe it is each person’s civic duty to learn certain things, whether they want to or not. I believe this is good for them and essential for a functioning society. I do not, however, believe that everyone has to learn everything that is currently taught in the current public school curriculum. Nor do I believe that people who successfully graduate from the public school system actually retain everything that is taught as part of its curriculum.

These thoughts on the right and duty to learn have a significant influence on my opinion of different education options for our children.

Schools

I have a love/hate relationship with schools. This is coloured by my own experience in school, my son’s experience so far, and the reading I’ve done on the topic of schooling.

I love that schools:

• Provide a ready made opportunity for children to meet and play with a lot of children from different genders, cultures, and backgrounds. I don’t have to worry about arranging and supervising play dates. I just send my kid to school and it magically falls together.
• Have teachers, equipment and resources to passionately and effectively engage my children on topics and in activities that I am not able to.
• Provide a safe environment for my children to be cared for while my partner and I pursue our careers and our own life learning.
• Ensure that all children learn history and are exposed to a wide variety of beliefs and viewpoints (at least where I live).

I hate that schools:

• Require all students to learn the same things and the same time, meaning that some will be interested, some will be bored, and some will struggle.
• Are seldom able to provide the right level of support for students who are struggling in a specific area and often push it back onto the parents in the form of extra homework for them to do with the child.
• Involve significant amounts of peer pressure, bullying, overexposure to things like commercialization, sexualization, and specific gender roles that I think are counter productive.
• Do not provide enough time for experimentation, play, outdoor time and self-directed learning.
• Often use grades, rewards, and punishments as a way to keep students in line because it is easier than encouraging self-motivation and teaching common sense and respect.
• Can be abused for the purposes of spreading propaganda to youth.

These are, of course, generalizations based on my experience with schools where I live. I know that this does not apply all of the time to all types of schools, although I suspect most of these things apply most of the time. Private schools and alternative schools (sometimes public, sometimes private) are popping up in a lot of areas attempt to capitalize on the strengths of schools and address their weaknesses. However, it only goes so far.

Home Education

While I used the term homeschooling in the title of this post, which is the most common term used in North America, after much consideration I chose the term home education for the title of this section. It is the term used in the United Kingdom and, in my mind, conceptually does a better job of incorporating the wide spectrum of home education options, ranging from homeschooling according to a specific curriculum all the way to pure unschooling. Another term that is used by some is life learning, which applies to children but also to adults and signifies the importance of learning being a life long process.

I don’t have a love/hate relationship with home education in the same way that I do with schools. Perhaps this is because I don’t have any direct experience with home education as the primary education of myself or my children. That said, I am passionate about life learning for myself and hope to be able to offer my children many opportunities to pursue their interests.  Despite not having a specific love/hate relationship with home education, there are things about home education that I think  are inspiring and there are things about home education that concern me.

Before I list those things, I want to address briefly some of the reasons that people choose home education. Both my experience with home educators and my research on home education (one good example) has suggested that there are two, or maybe three, primary motivations for choosing home education. The first is ideological. This is where parents embrace a different ideology than is taught in the curriculum and object to the curriculum because it doesn’t teach enough about their own ideology and/or teaches things that are directly contrary to that ideology. The second reason for home educating is pedagogical. This is where the parents believe the structure or curriculum of the public education system is pedagogically unsound. They believe, sometimes passionately, that children are able to learn much better outside of school than they can inside school. The third reason, which is one that appears to be more prominent in recent years among my cohort, is that the available school(s) are not a good fit for the child or the family. This could be because the child is struggling in school and not getting the needed attention. It could be because the child has learning difficulties that result in a classroom setting not being a good place to learn. It could be simply because classes are crowded, teachers are stressed, and there are more social problems in the school than in the past. Or it could be because the family moves around a lot (e.g. for one parent’s job) and they are able to provide more stability and consistency to their children through home education.

These reasons for choosing home education are important to understanding what inspires me and what concerns me about home education.

I’m inspired that with home education:

• Children often get much better academic results with much less time spent sitting at a desk, which gives them more time to spend outdoors, playing, and participating in all aspects of family life.
• Children are freer to pursue their own interests.
• There is more self-motivation and less coercion and force involved in learning. This, in turn, encourages children to learn more rather than getting the attitude that learning is boring and uncool.
• Children are not as exposed to negative cultural and societal influences.
• More parents take an active interest in their child’s education.
• Children are free to learn at the time of day that best meshes with their personality and body rhythm, rather than according to the ringing of a bell.

At the same time, there are things that concern me about home education:

• I worry that parents who homeschool for ideological reasons may be shielding their children from the realities of the world (other belief systems, other cultures) and their selves (sexuality, gender issues, personal expression), which I believe is dangerous for the individual and for society.
• I worry that a small minority of parents who homeschool for ideological reasons may be doing so specifically to pass on discriminatory and hateful viewpoints to their children.
• I worry that parents who take their children out of school out of frustration with the school system (generally or for their specific child) may feel forced into home educating their children when really the school system should be changing and adapting to address those concerns.
• I worry that children who grow up under the guidance of the most gentle, patient, loving and inspiring parents without being exposed to teachers who are strict, ineffective, jerks, play favourites, or use coercive methods may not learn how to deal with those types of people before entering the workforce and may be at a disadvantage (although to be fair, a lot of today’s schooled youth aren’t dealing with them themselves anyway – they are getting mommy and daddy to do it for them).

It is certainly the ideological issues that I mentioned in the first two bullets that concern me the most. I think the other two are more easily circumvented or dealt with.

In the United States, the National Center for Education Statistics says that 30 percent of American families that homeschool do so primarily for religious reasons. Realistically, I do not think that there is any reason why parents cannot teach their children about their faith outside of school hours. Therefore, choosing to school your children at home for religious reasons means that there are things that are taught in schools that you don’t think your children should be exposed to. While there are probably some instances of inappropriate curricular content, I think that is better addressed by suggesting changes than pulling your children out. My guess is that in most cases, among those who homeschool primarily for religious reasons, there are perfectly reasonable and factual things taught as part of the school curriculum that the parents do not want their children to learn (evolution, birth control, homosexuality, other religious beliefs). This, I think, is problematic.  Then, in the extreme, and in a very very small minority of cases, are parents who actively teach their children hatred (e.g. white supremacy, antisemitism).  This is downright dangerous. Note: green text added above to clarify that I didn’t mean “in most cases” among ALL homeschoolers, just among a specific subset.

I know that a lot of people view lack of socialization as a concern with regards to homeschooling. I don’t see it that way. I think that most homeschooling families do participate in a variety of activities with friends and family that allows their children to be effectively socialized. The only times I worry about the socialization factor is where parents actively avoid socialization with certain types of people (races, religions, sexual orientations) for ideological reasons, but that goes to my previous point.

Back to rights and duties

So where do I stand on schooling versus home education? I’m on the fence.

I believe more strongly in the child’s right to an education than I do in the parent’s right to raise their children any way they want. That said, I see many flaws in the current school system and the many benefits to home education. From that perspective, I don’t blame parents for wanting to pull their children out for pedagogical reasons or just because it isn’t working for their child or their family. But the ideological reasons, the ones that involve immersing your children in your beliefs and shielding them from others, are not my cup of tea.

I also believe in a civic duty to not be ignorant. This means that if you believe something, being exposed to other beliefs should help you to confirm your beliefs, rather than threaten them. Parents with specific belief systems should be prepared to explain to their children why they believe those things, rather than just pretending it is the only thing you possibly can believe. I also believe that to participate in society, as a citizen, people should have a basic understanding of history and social issues. This means that when you participate, as a citizen, and attempt to influence political decisions or address community issues, that you should have a basic understanding of how we got to where we are today. So if important things were left out, because a parent shielded their child from it or because the child chose not to learn it, that puts us at a greater risk of bad history repeating itself.

I don’t think it matters if a child learns to read at age four or age nine. I don’t care if a child learns to add and subtract at a desk or by doing real life activities. I don’t think it makes a difference if you learn world geography first and then local geography later or the other way around. But I do believe that there are certain things that all citizens should learn. Those are the things that should help  reduce hatred, war, and discrimination. Those are the things that allow children to learn about and assert their individual rights. So things like good sex ed programs, which significantly reduce teen pregnancy rates or things like comprehensive religious culture and ethics programs that teach children about different beliefs, viewpoints, family structures and relationships are extremely important. Parents who chose home education should be required to teach their children those things (and are in some jurisdictions).

In Germany, homeschooling is illegal. Children have to go to school. They go to schools where they learn about things like the World War II and the Holocaust, in hopes that history doesn’t repeat itself. Despite those efforts, the neo-nazi scene is growing, with one in seven German teenagers (14.4%) having attitudes deemed highly xenophobic. Is the school environment contributing to the growth of the neo-nazi movement? Or would the movement be even bigger of right extremists were allowed to homeschool their children and teach them that the Holocaust is a lie and foreigners are ruining their lives?

My firm belief, and the reason I avoided writing this post for so long, is that there are no easy answers when it comes to education. Nothing is perfect, everything has risks, lots of things have to change.

In my reading on parenting and children in Germany, I came across a booklet aimed at children that explains their rights to them. In general, I think it is a great idea to inform children of their rights. However, I draw the line at propaganda in support of contentious legislation.

Here is a rough translation from one section of Die Rechte der Kinder (The Rights of Children):

My Education

Eight year old Sita, a girl from India, has to spend each day making rugs. She can’t go to school. Andrea, an eight year old girl from Rostock (Germany), doesn’t want to go to school. She doesn’t get along with her classmates and doesn’t have any fun in class.

Sita cannot and Andrea does not want to go to school. But both of them should go to school. It is a requirement of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 28 says: One thing thing has to be free for all children and a duty: going to elementary school/primary school. It isn’t always fun, but people who go to school will be able to read everything, calculate important things, and have a profession. That gives them a greater chance to earn enough money for themselves and their family.

Therefore, India has to ensure that Sita goes to elementary school/primary school and Germany has to ensure that Andrea goes to school. Sita is unfortunate: her country, India, has not yet fulfilled its requirements under Art. 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This demonstrates again that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is only useful if individual countries do something to make it a reality. Because education of children and youth is a big expense for the state, they were very careful in formulating Art. 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. That can be seen in the time after elementary school/primary school: when Andrea is finished with elementary/primary school, she is required to continue going to school. That is in German law. But the Convention on the Rights of the Child does not include anything about a duty to go to school after elementary/primary school.

Here is the actual text of Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (relevant part bolded):

1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to education, and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular:

(a) Make primary education compulsory and available free to all;

(b) Encourage the development of different forms of secondary education, including general and vocational education, make them available and accessible to every child, and take appropriate measures such as the introduction of free education and offering financial assistance in case of need;

(c) Make higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every appropriate means;

(d) Make educational and vocational information and guidance available and accessible to all children;

(e) Take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of drop-out rates.

2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that school discipline is administered in a manner consistent with the child’s human dignity and in conformity with the present Convention.

3. States Parties shall promote and encourage international cooperation in matters relating to education, in particular with a view to contributing to the elimination of ignorance and illiteracy throughout the world and facilitating access to scientific and technical knowledge and modern teaching methods. In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developing countries.

Here is how I interpret Article 28:

• Every child has the right to an education.
• Every country has the duty to provide a public education system to their citizens.
• Parents do not have a duty to send their children to school. They do, however, have a duty to ensure that their children are educated and a right to send them to a public school.

I think it is important to distinguish between an education and a school. Just because education is compulsory, doesn’t mean it has to take place in a school. The requirement for children to be educated should be separate from the state’s duty to ensure a free education for all (which is probably most effectively provided through a public school system).

Germany, obviously, has decided that Schulpflicht (the duty to go to school) is important. It is set out in a Nazi-era law, but one that remains still today (note: Compulsory school existed in much of Germany prior to the Nazis, but was made into a national law by the Nazis). Homeschooling is not allowed and parents can be fined, have their children taken away, and/or be jailed for refusing to send their children to school. Whether that is appropriate or not will be the discussion of another post (still collecting my thoughts), but pretending that the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that children be educated in schools is pure propaganda in my opinion.

Photo credit: OttMomGo from Tales of life with a girl on the go. We had so much fun checking out the butterflies with you and Reid!

Children who have the opportunity to learn a second language are given a world of opportunity. It opens up new opportunities in terms of who they can communicate with, what they can read, and where they can travel with ease. It is a partial cure for closed-mindedness. Those are the obvious benefits.

But learning a foreign language also has broad cognitive benefits. According to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language, it:

• is beneficial to the development of problem solving abilities, memory skills, reading abilities, ability to hypothesize in science, and even mathematics*
• correlates with higher academic achievement, including standardized tests and college level academic performance

Overall, there seems to be a correlation between learning a second language and overall intelligence and open mindedness.

Image credits: Plastic Earth by Brooks Elliot and Pop Quiz Math Clock by _ES both on flickr

*I found it interesting that students who take time away from the study of mathematics to learn another language still do better on mathematics tests than the students who were doing more math (source).

What is the best way to help your child learn a second language?

There are many different ways to learn a foreign language and I have had the opportunity to be exposed to a lot of them over the years.

I grew up speaking only English at home, but learned French in a French immersion program in school. I also learned some Spanish and Italian in college, learned a bit of Japanese from friends and on my own, and studied German at university. I spent a few years living in Germany, where I met my husband. My husband grew up in Germany, spoke  French and German at home and went to a German school where he took English and French as foreign languages. We speak English (me) and German (my husband)  with our children at home and our son is in his third year at a trilingual school where they speak French, English and Spanish (our daughter starts next year). On top of our own experiences, we have many friends here and overseas who have taught their children multiple languages using many different formations and techniques.

In this post, I want to share some of what I have learned and experienced about second language acquisition. I want to explain what usually works and doesn’t work and why. I want to encourage you to give your child the opportunity to learn a foreign language even if you don’t speak one yourself.

The earlier the better! The younger your child is, the easier it will be and the greater the benefits to the child. What are you waiting for?

If you or your partner does speak a foreign language

If you or your partner speaks a second language, you are at a significant advantage. Whether you are a native speaker or learned the language as a second language yourself, you can use your linguistic abilities to pass the language on to your children. There are a number of different approaches that you can use:

• One parent, one language: With one parent, one language, each of the parents will choose a language and speak that language consistently with the children. If only one of the parents speaks a foreign language, the choice is easy. If both parents do, either one can speak the foreign language but ideally it should be the parent who spends the most time with the children (i.e. speaking Chinese with mom all day long would be more beneficial than speaking Chinese for an hour with dad in the evening). This is a great technique when the parents want to teach the children two different foreign languages (e.g. community language is English, one parent speaks Polish, the other one speaks Spanish).

• One place, one language: With this technique, different languages would be spoken in different places. For example, the family might choose to always speak English at home and always speak Spanish when outside the home. This can be a good technique for expat families living in a foreign country where they might be ostracized for speaking their home language in public. They can safely teach their home language to their children at home, but speak the language that they are expected to speak when out in public. It can also be useful when you are trying to institute the foreign language as the home language to not have multiple languages circulating in the home environment.

• Parents speak foreign language only: If the parents do not speak the community language or if they really want to ensure that their children become fluent in the foreign language, it may be useful to have both parents exclusively speak the foreign language. This happens often in immigrant families where the parents have not mastered the language of their new home. While we opted for one parent, one language, I now wish we had used this technique instead (i.e. both my husband and I speaking German exclusively with the children). They would have still learned English from my mom and in the community, but this may have made them more willing and more comfortable speaking German.

• Mix: Some families mix things up. Each person speaks whatever language they want, whenever they want. Popular opinion used to be that this would be way too confusing for children and they would never sort out their languages. However, more recent research shows that as long as you are not mixing within a sentence, then mixing might not be that bad after all. In reality, this is probably where we have fallen. My husband does end up speaking a lot of English to our children. I try to make up for that by speaking some German to the kids. We also throw in some French and a bit of Spanish here and there for good measure.

Children will have a strong tendency to favour the community language wherever you live. So no matter how much language immersion you give them at home, they may not actively choose to speak the foreign language with you. Don’t see this as a failure. It is reality. Even if your child never speaks a word of the other language, if you have spoken it frequently at home, your child will have been exposed to it enough to take away some of the benefits of second language acquisition. That said, there are things you can do to encourage them to speak the foreign language, but I wouldn’t advise forcing them to do it.

If you don’t speak a second language

If you do not speak a foreign language, that does not mean that all is lost. There are plenty of ways that you can give your child (and yourself!) the opportunity to learn. These ideas can also be used to reinforce language learning in cases where one of the parents does speak a second language, especially if that parent is not the primary caregiver of the child. Not all of these will necessarily be right for all families or all children. You can pick and choose what will work for you, depending on your preferences, finances and school situation.

• Foreign language school: If you are fortunate enough to live in an area where there are schools in different languages (where we live there are French school boards and English school boards), you could consider sending your child to a school with children who speak another mother tongue. Plenty of children enter kindergarten at schools where they do not speak a word of the language their peers speak and they quickly learn the other language.

• Immersion programs: You can choose a school that has a second language immersion program or at least foreign language classes that your child can participate in. The disadvantage with this type of program is usually the lack of access to native speakers. Instead of learning French in a French environment and playing with French speaking children, your child would be learning French in French class with a bunch of other English speaking children. Immersion programs are better than nothing, but certainly not as advantageous as being completely immersed.

• Weekend or evening classes: A lot of immigrant communities that want to preserve their language will have Saturday classes that their children go to. This can range from play groups to more formal learning. Another opportunity would be for you to attend evening classes and then bring home what you learned and share it with your child. Teaching what you have learned to your child will benefit your child and also reinforce your learning.

• Learning with your child: You can choose to learn a language along with your child.  This is a great option for home schooling families. I used to be on a message board about raising bilingual children and there was one woman who let her son choose the languages they were going to learn and then they learned them together.This can either be a very big investment or an extremely frugal activity. You can invest in buying DVDs with movies and language lessons, CDs with songs and lessons, books and magazines, dictionaries, and so on. Or you can use a combination of the library and the Internet to build your own materials. Online you can find pronunciation guides, You Tube videos (like the Passe Partout example below), dictionaries, and much much more. There are even websites where you can hear the sounds animals make in different languages! You can also combine arts and crafts with language learning by doing things like making a language Bingo game. I just discovered a blog called Bilingual for Fun that looks like it may have some good ideas and experience on it.

Passe Partout

• Vacations: Try to travel somewhere with your child where the second language is spoken. If you are in the United States, some obvious easy options are Quebec, Canada (to the North) and Mexico (to the South). Try to get out of the touristy areas where people are likely to speak English and find spots where your child will be exposed to more of the native language. Staying at small bed and breakfasts and visiting local playgrounds can be good ways to hear the language being spoken. You can also use the opportunity to pick up some materials (books, DVDs, etc. in the foreign language).

• Nanny or babysitter: If you need to hire someone to take care of your children, consider hiring someone who speaks another language. This will give your children significant exposure to a third language. We know one family where the children learned French and English from their parents and Turkish from the nanny. When the family traveled in Turkey without the nanny, their five year old was the one who communicated for the family at hotels, restaurants, tourist information, etc.

• Play dates, play groups and playgrounds: A great way to reinforce language learning is through play. If you can find native speaking families to have play dates with, find language oriented play groups, or find playgrounds where children speak another language (e.g. the playground in China Town in your city), this is a great opportunity for your children to hear real people speaking the language they are learning at home.

Regardless of the approach or the tools that you take, keep it fun and mix things up. Using a mix of different techniques will keep your child interested and reinforce what has been learned.

Your experience? Your questions?

Have you learned a second language or taught one to your children? What was your experience like? What challenges did you face? What resources or techniques would you suggest?

Are you interested in exposing your children to a second language? What is holding you back? What questions do you have?

A few times as I’ve wandered through the bookstore with my kids, I’ve been hit in the face with the shelf full of Bible stories and children’s bibles. I’ve glossed over references to God and Jesus in supposed mainstream kids books. Sure, there are lots of nice stories out there that have no reference to religion and we have bookcases full of those at home. We also have a few religious stories (like Noah’s Ark) that we read and use for what they are: stories, nice stories, interesting stories.

But when it comes to the questions about where we come from, how we got here, and what all of this means, there aren’t a lot of obvious choices for the atheist, agnostic or humanist family. So I was thrilled to learn about Charlie’s Playhouse, a company that makes toys and games for kids that are inspired by Charles Darwin.

Their products include a Giant Timeline Floor Mat where kids can learn all about the evolution of life on earth by looking at pictures and reading about 67 creatures that have existed over the 600 million years of life on earth. The floor mat is nice and sturdy and rolls out over 18 feet. My kids love unfolding it in the hallway and running up and down an exploring the various creatures. We recently went to a reptile show at a local event and when my kids got home the first thing they wanted to do was to open the timeline and find the creatures that looked like the ones that they saw at the show. It was fabulous watching them connect these animals that live today with their ancestors on the mat and learning about the evolution of different species while they were at it. There is also smaller version of the timeline that can be hung up as a poster.

Charlie’s Playhouse also has a set of Ancient Creature Cards. Each card has information about a creature including illustration, fun facts, size comparison figure, and more. My son loves looking through the deck, checking out the pictures, and finding ones that are still alive (some are extinct and some are living).

My son is 4 years old and obsessed with dinosaurs. That obsession, as well as the natural curiosity that develops at around that age about who we are and where we came from, made for ideal timing to introduce toys and games like this. It is fun and interesting, while at the same time giving us tools to help introduce our kids to science and make sense of the world.

To read more about Charlie’s Playhouse you can also read the guest blog post by owner Kate Miller, Inside Charlie’s Playhouse, over at one of my favourite blogs, The Meming of Life.

Disclosure: I was provided with a free copy of the floor mat and creature cards in exchange for doing a review. I always provide my own true opinion of products that I review and will not hesitate to name the positive and negative features of products.

More secular fun, games, books, and parenting resources:

• Children’s Books About Evolution and Charles Darwin: A bibliography of kids books that teach about evolution and Darwin’s work.
• Parenting Beyond Belief and Raising Freethinkers (by Dale McGowan): Books for parents to help guide you through the process of raising ethical, caring, thinking kids without religion.
• The Meming of Life: Companion Blog to Parenting Beyond Belief.
• Charlie’s Playhouse Blog: Companion Blog to Charlie’s Playhouse Products

Part of the Carnival of Play at PhD in Parenting. Hope you’re having fun!

What kid doesn’t love getting covered with paint, glue, glitter and goo? If you want to break out the fun and the giggles, give your child an opportunity to practice fine motor skills, and maybe create some nice homemade toys and decorations as an alternative to crazed consumerism, then this post is for you!

I’m sure there are many blogs and posts out there touching on arts and crafts and I’m only going to list a few of them here that I have read extensively and can highly recommend.

No Time for Flash Cards

Allie at No Time for Flash Cards has been working with preschoolers for more than 10 years. Via her blog, she shares wonderful ideas for arts and crafts and books that she has tested out with her son.

Her blog is full of wonderful craft projects, complete with step-by-step instructions and pictures of her son working on the crafts. Most of the crafts come along with a book and/or a song to go along with them, making the theme and the fun complete.

Some great ones include:

• Peacocks
• Spider Craft and Spider Cookies (yum!)
• Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss (The Cat in the Hat)
• Clothes Pin Stegosaurus

Her posts are nice and easygoing and make jumping into crafts with kids seem easy. But it isn’t always that way. She gave her readers a glimpse of the little mishaps and bloopers that come with the territory in Outtakes By Request.

Imagination in Parenting

Annie at Imagination in Parenting is a wonderful photographer and also a mom of twins that enjoys making homemade food, gifts and crafts. Her blog is full of wonderful inspiration with beautiful photographs chronicling her ideas and thoughts. Whether you are looking for ideas for crafts and other homemade things or just need some beautiful pictures to brighten up your day, go and give Annie’s blog a visit.

One of her recent posts was on paper making with her twins. She has step by step pictures showing the process of creating the gorgeous final product. A great rainy day project for her kids.

Half Pint Pixie

One of my favourite attachment parenting blogs is Half Pint Pixie. In addition to being an attached mom, she is also a vegan and crafty Irish mom. For Christmas, she worked diligently on a basket of felt food for her daughter. This may be more of a project for the adult or for older kids, but certainly makes a wonderful homemade set of toys for younger children and I’m sure there would be a way they could help out if you did want to make it a collaborative craft project with the little ones.

If you go to her Felt Food Finale post, you can see the end product and find links to the individual posts and the patterns for the individual pieces that she worked on.

She also has lots of other craft ideas, including some of these:

• Felt Wooden People and Their Island
• Quick and Easy No Sew Spring Fairies

Enjoy!

A Few More Posts

Beyond those three blogs that frequently have excellent arts and crafts ideas, there are a few posts I have come across lately that I really loved.

How to die Easter eggs naturally – a tutorial: Amy @ The Crunchy Domestic Goddess put up this wonderful step by step tutorial on dyeing eggs with natural foods. I’ve put this on my list to do next year for sure (we didn’t get around to dyeing eggs this year, but I think my kids will be the perfect age to enjoy it next year).

Language Bingo: I learned about the Unplug Your Kids blog through Lynn @ Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile. The blog, about living a TV-free life,  includes a weekly unplugged project that includes some fun arts and crafts ideas. As a multi-lingual family with kids that love Bingo, I was enthralled by this week’s project to create language bingo cards that have a picture on one side of the cards and the word in the foreign language written on the other side.

This post is part of the Carnival of Play from April 1 to April 15 at PhD in Parenting. Hope you’re all having fun!