How Children Succeed

I have tremendously enjoyed reading the book How Children Succeed.  Both as a parent and as an educator I am regularly asking myself what do kids need to make it in the world? Are they receiving all the opportunities and life experiences to succeed in whatever they choose to do?  What exactly do children need in both cognitive and non-cognitive abilities to move through adversity to success?
Paul Tough weaves his way through current research in neuroscience, psychology and education reform to shed light on what the experts are saying about character and child development.  I highly recommend this book to any person working with children of all ages and parents trying to navigate the difficult waters of raising children of character and resilience. 

San Diego Area Writing Project

Camp searching is in full swing!  Friends and neighbors are talking about the latest and greatest camps that they hope to have their children attend.  Here is one I wanted to share that has a writing focus: The San Diego Area Writing Project.  This 2 week summer camp is located on the beautiful campus of UCSD.  The focus of this camp is to develop, inspire and help young writers in grades 3-10 find their own voice in writing.

Please check out the link below.  I hear registration fills up within days, so register early.  I hope to see you there.

http://sdawp.ucsd.edu/programs/young-writers-camp/index.html

What should my child be learning in each grade?

I began to think about this question once my first child entered first grade.  I began to ponder what was expected of her in her year of education and what I was expecting from her school.  The first place I turned was the California State Content Standards.  Each state has created and is implementing a core set of education standards for students in each grade in their state.  The California education standards can be found at: http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/index.asp

Once on this page you can open PDF packets for English Language Arts adopted in 1997, Mathematics adopted in 1997, Science adopted in 1998, and many others.  The packets are nicely arranged by grade level and organized by topic with a description of what students should master within these parameters.

After reading the first grade standards I felt a bit disappointed in what was being expected of my first grader, particularly in the areas of history and social science.  At my local library I picked up a book from the CORE Knowledge Series titled What Your first Grader Needs To Know, by E.D. Hirsch.  I have found this series tremendously helpful from year to year.  The CORE Knowledge movement is on a mission to create a national set of education standards that all students across the United States can learn.  I found the material at each grade level to be slightly more vigorous and in depth compared to my state's standards. 

As I read through What your First Grader Needs to Know, by E.D. Hirsch, I began to ask my child questions from the book to see if she was learning any of the material presented there.  While in the history section I asked her if she studied history in school and she answered, "What is that?"  That was very insightful and I began to take on the task of working through the history section of this book.  Through the summer we picked a few sections out of the history topics and did a few really fun summer projects in Ancient Civilizations and The Egyptians.  It was great fun!  I highly recommend the CORE Knowledge Series and their website where you can find detailed lesson plans that you can use at home.  All lesson plans are organized by grade and educational topic:
http://www.coreknowledge.org/mimik/mimik_live_data/view.php?id=1833&record_id=269

We have since done a fabulous unit on the Civil War and slavery in America.  It was just fabulous!  I hope you enjoy these resources as you think about what you hope for in your child's education!

Fabulous At Home Resource Guide To Great Books For Your Children

                                                                                                                                                               

I came across Read for the Heart in a homeschooling magazine last year.  Even though I am not a home schooling parent I saw a free magazine at the library about education, so of course I grabbed it!  Read for the Heart is a must have if you enjoy reading with your children and have exhausted your own list of must read children's books.

Teaching my kids to read and exposing them to a variety of quality literature continues to be one of my highest priorities in their educational development.  The study of great literature was not in my college repertoire, unless you consider Organic Chemistry and Structural Bio-Chemistry quality reading.  In light of this I found my parenting desires and my abilities at odds.  I often found myself frustrated with what to read next with my children.  I also struggled to find that which would be wholesome and rich in content for their growing minds and hearts.  

This is when I came across this book.  It has a wonderful introduction to the history of children's literature and the author's early experience with books.  The chapters are nicely organized by type of book: Picture Books, The Golden Age Classics, Children's Fiction, Fairy Tales and Fantasy, History and Biography, Spiritual Reading for Children, Poetry, and Music, Art, and Nature.   There are hundreds of books listed in the pages of this book, each with a short description of the recommended book.

My goal is to read my kids through this entire book.  I am starting with the very first chapter and working  myself through from there.  I picked up my first batch of books today from the library.  Hope you can join me in reading through this great resource.   
Happy Reading!