Matt Hannon was in preschool when he started getting into trouble. Teachers quickly labeled his mischievous behavior — like cutting his hair under the table — problematic. His kindergarten teacher warned that if Matt didn’t stop using “potty words,” she…
Last year, my son Finn came home from school and announced that he wanted to play the French horn. Naturally, I signed him up. A few weeks later, we got an email from the music director politely letting us know…
Standing at the creek’s edge, my son carefully drops his wooden boat into the water. He follows his classmates along the banks, guiding their boats with the attached knitted string, a small parade of colorful sails and bright rubber boots. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2017/08/18/why-kids-deserve-a-preschool-that-lets-them-play/?utm_term=.6d7ae1b467dd
As you know, at the heart of our school is a belief that children need to be engaged in play-based learning while immersed in nature. Since we are a school on a farm we spend a substantial amount of time…
The loss of a pet is often a child’s first experience with death. Understanding the unique ways that children view pets and respond to their passing can help parents to ease the grieving process. Joshua Russell, an assistant professor of…
We raise our girls to fight stereotypes and pursue their dreams, but we don’t do the same for our boys. By Claire Cain Miller June 1, 2017 We’re now more likely to tell our daughters they can be anything they…
One early morning this past February, before the frost melted or the sun fully rose, 20 small children gathered in a scabby municipal park in Pankow, the northernmost borough of Berlin. The sky was gray and the ground was gray,…
Under the distant gaze of a city skyline, cows and chickens wander through rows of sprouting vegetables; clear glass greenhouses dot the periphery. It sounds like an ordinary urban farm, but on this particular site, the wardens are toddlers. Read…
15 years ago I was deep in a search for a preschool for my son James. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for, but trusted that I’d know when I stumbled across it. . One morning we visited…
As soon as I walked into Celia Rojas’s prekindergarten class in Union City, N.J., I was sucked in by the hum of activity. Art plastered the walls, plants were hanging from the ceiling, and in every nook there was something…