So you've been scheduled 10-15 minutes to drill the teacher about your child's performance and well-being at school. You've just received your child's school report and have a number of issues to discuss. How do you make the most of your brief meeting?
Topics: Teachers, High School, Primary School
In an increasingly digital age, it's easy to view handwriting as a dying art. Few people own fountain pens; most written correspondence is tapped directly into devices. In Finnish schools, children are no longer taught cursive (joined-up) writing but move straight to keyboards two years after learning their letters.
Topics: Literacy, Primary School, Preschool, Prep
As young as eight, I would hop on my bike after school, cycle a few blocks and knock on my friend's door to see if they could play. We would kick balls in the street or ride to the woods for fort building and games of tag and 'capture the castle'. If my parents worried, they never showed it.
Topics: Teens, High School, Primary School, Social Skills, Friendship
When my boys were little, I used to compare them (unkindly maybe) with puppies. Providing they had plenty of affection and were allowed to run around a lot outside, they were happy. Preschoolers are natural little whirlwinds of energy and need masses of exercise. Physical activity keeps little ones fit, healthy and strong, helps them relax and sleep better and is FUN!
Topics: Social Skills, Preschool, Prep, Health, Sport
There are some wonderfully creative, thoughtful parents who scour Pinterest for novel ways to present a sandwich or jazz up the contents of their kids' lunch boxes. And then there are the frantic, time-short parents whose main concern is how quickly they can throw together some (healthy-ish) packed lunches before dashing to work/doing the school run. This blog is for the second category.
Topics: Parenting, High School, Primary School, Food, Preschool
It's the mum's rite of passage I knew nothing about until my eldest started school: Plastic contacting the school books.
It came as a shock. I didn't even know this was a 'thing'. Yet, in the very first week (as I was still navigating school runs, lunchboxes and missing school hats), I was tasked with covering 15 exercise books in assorted sizes by the following Monday - with no instructions.
Topics: Parenting, Primary School, Homework, Craft