Why Free Play Is the Best Summer School
The more time children spend in structured, parent-guided activities, the worse their ability to work productively towards self-directed goals.
Jessica Lahey, June 20, 2014
The Upside of Downtime
The scientific case for doing nothing more often — and its surprising rewards.
In the mid-1980s, physician and author Victoria Sweet, MD, was doing her internal-medicine residency at San Francisco’s Kaiser hospital. She worked 110 hours a week, getting time off only every fourth night, after a 34-hour shift. It was then that Sweet discovered the necessity of a little idleness.
The Case for Preserving the Pleasure of Deep Reading
Annie Murphy Paul | June 3, 2013
Why Kids Should Be Allowed to Act Out (Scenes) In Class
Physically acting out a written text—as an actor would walk himself through the gestures and emotions of a soliloquy during rehearsal—is an effective way to commit that text to memory. For adults, this process of enactment imbues abstract words with concrete meaning, fixing them more firmly in our minds.
The Ten Commandments of Social Media
Reinventing my Social Media Presence: A Jewish Educator’s Rant
by Rabbi Arnold Samlan
How to Talk about the Holocaust
Rabbi Sarah Reines
Only a couple of miles from my daughter’s elementary school, two planes flew into the World Trade Center. Around the city and across the nation, parents were forced to make quick decisions about how to keep sons and daughters safe from the shadow of a chilling new reality. Psychologists and school counselors advised us to keep the televisions off while our children were home and withhold conversing about 9/11 while they were within earshot.
The 10 Real Plagues of Passover
Each year, the thought of Passover makes me want to run away. It’s a labor-intensive, heavy-on-the-sighing holiday, especially in Israel. The traditions and message are nourishing, but for me they get lost in the pre-holiday hype, in the burden of preparation, and in the myriad prohibitions which turn us back into disgruntled slaves.
5 Ways To Connect To Judaism Between Holidays
Nina Badzin, March 12, 2015
The last hamantaschen has been devoured, and the Passover cleaning will not start in earnest for a few weeks (at least not for me). We are Jews between the holidays. Yes, we always have Shabbat, but in these weeks when there’s a lull in both the excitement and the pressure of a holiday, it is the perfect time to turn inward and to explore other ways to feel and act Jewish.
The 8 Essential Kinds of Books That Every Kid Should Own
Why Purim is So Much More Than the Jewish Halloween
Rivki Silver
Since Purim is a holiday that’s not necessarily on the radar of people unconnected to the Jewish world, whenever I find myself needing to quickly explain it, I usually end up calling it the “Jewish Halloween.” There are enough similarities to warrant a comparison. They’re both fun, involve dressing up in costume, a significant amount of nosh, and parties. Also liquor, depending on how you do Halloween.
Why Reading On A Screen Is Bad For Critical Thinking
"Think fast!"
As kids, that's what we used to say at school recess when tossing the ball around. Is "Think fast!" what we're now saying when we read?
To the Furious Mom in the Target Parking Lot
By Lisa Sadikman
Trying to cope with the rough moments of motherhood when we don’t think we can overcome our own anger and frustrations.
What Is Mindful Parenting?
By: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.
Author, 'Mindfulness for Beginners: Reclaiming the Present Moment -- and Your Life'
Your Child, Your Tree
By Eliezer Shemtov
A child needs the same things a tree needs... Earth. Water. Sun. Air...Much has been written about how best to educate a child.
What better source to look for guidance in this matter than the Torah, whose very definition and purpose is "teaching."
We find that the Torah likens man to "a tree in the field" (Deuteronomy 20:19). There are many reasons given for this linkage.
Let's explore the connection as a paradigm for education.
We Tell Kids to ‘Go to Sleep!’ We Need to Teach Them Why.
By Anne Murphy Paul
Some of us can sleep anytime.
Credit: KJ Dell’Antonia
Homework, Sleep, and the Student Brain
MAY 7, 2014
Glenn Whitman
Director, The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning
No Time Outs
November 26, 2014
My oldest daughter is the kind of kid that is interested in color theory, other people's emotions and the point of our existence. She'll sit in front of a sheet of math problems while happily tapping her toes through each formulation. She is so much fun and so much depth. She is also still so much 5 year old; her imaginary games are rich and usually feature time travel, assumed scientific theories and inventions along with some sort of princess and cackling witch. She is a real, true joy.
The Disease of Being Busy
By Omid Safi, (@ostadjaan), Weekly Columnist
I saw a dear friend a few days ago. I stopped by to ask her how she was doing, how her family was. She looked up, voice lowered, and just whimpered: “I’m so busy… I am so busy… have so much going on.”
Almost immediately after, I ran into another friend and asked him how he was. Again, same tone, same response: “I’m just so busy… got so much to do.”
The tone was exacerbated, tired, even overwhelmed.
How Play Wires Kids’ Brains For Social and Academic Success
By Jon Hamilton
When it comes to brain development, time in the classroom may be less important than time on the playground.
“The experience of play changes the connections of the neurons at the front end of your brain,” says Sergio Pellis, a researcher at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. “And without play experience, those neurons aren’t changed,” he says.
