Almost as soon as our son was born, we got these words of advice from friends and family with older kids. ‘Try and enjoy every minute of it, because the days might feel long but the years will go by…
Located in a predominantly white suburb of Boston with a primarily white student population of 3- to 6-year-olds, the administration and teachers at our school wanted to think through our role in the systemic racism in our country. Can a…
As academic expectations in public elementary schools have become more demanding over the past decade, some educators have turned to the outdoors as a means of providing meaningful, relevant and tangible experiences for their students. The Forest Kindergarten movement, which…
Adecade into her optometry career, Marina Su began noticing something unusual about the kids in her New York City practice. More of them were requiring glasses, and at younger and younger ages. Many of these kids had parents who had…
We carry our cultures with us in everything we do. They’re all around us—in the activities we give our time to, the roles we ascribe to, the language we speak, the food we eat. When children see their families’ culture…
You may be thinking, “I can barely get my child into clothes – how am I supposed to dress my child for cold, wet, and snow?” Most of each day, Apple Orchard learners are outside, so dressing for the weather…
New research shows that the biggest effect of early education isn’t on children’s test scores but on their resilience as teenagers and adults Does preschool help children become more successful adults? Twenty-five years ago, I thought that there wouldn’t be…
For some time now we’ve seen the school work that used to be done by first and even second graders now given to kindergartners — and even preschoolers are doing academic work instead of learning through play. One of the…
It was front and center in a slide show of other people’s beautiful kitchen renovations: one of those artsy wooden “House Rules” signs. Rule Number 7, showcased in the biggest script of all and sandwiched between “Show compassion” and “Love…
“My kid has outgrown picture books.” I hear this often when enthusing about a new picture book and offering to pass one along to a friend. It’s the kind of thing parents will say with a certain amount of pride…