It’s been pretty quiet around here during the Christmas break, but if you look around, I hope it’s obvious that I’ve been quite busy behind the scenes!
It’s OK Not to Share! 2014 Read Along (+ a Giveaway!)
If you happened to read yesterday’s guest post from Heather Shumaker, I’m guessing you’re already hungry for more. And that’s great news, because you’re about to get whole lot more!
Read Along Series: Last Child in the Woods (Parts 5 and 6)
As I prepare to launch back into full-speed blogging, I realize I’ve got a few loose ends to tie up. One of those is the Last Child in the Woods Read Along. I’ve really enjoyed going on our many summer adventures with the wisdom of this book mulling about in my mind. I’ve been able to see experiences in a different light, pay more attention, and try not to take things for granted.
Read Along Series: Last Child in the Woods (Part 4)
Read Along Series: Last Child in the Woods (Part 3)
When my husband and I were dating and newly married, we made a lot of camping trips to the national parks near our home. I clearly remember one day, while hiking in the Narrows we passed a family hiking, the husband with a toddler in a backpack carrier. We looked and each other and said we’d be that family.
Then we had kids.
Read Along Series: Last Child in the Woods (Part 2)
In Section 1 of Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv writes about our society’s apparent disconnection from nature. After describing the deleterious effects of what he has called, Nature Deficit Disorder, he wraps up the section by pointing out, “deficit is only one side of the coin.” In Section 2, he discussed the other side of that coin: “natural abundance”. [Read more…]
Read Along Series: Last Child in the Woods (Part 1)
Richard Louv wrote Last Child in the Woods almost 8 years ago. I first read it (actually listened to it) back in 2008, and as luck or providence would have it, I began to reread it recently on a family trip to Zion National Park. It was the perfect backdrop for diving back into this motivating call to reconnect children (and ourselves) with nature.
Mind in the Making: Q&A with Ellen Galinsky
I hope you all enjoyed the Mind in the Making Read-Along series. I’m so glad that I read it, and I’m quite confident I’ll be going back to it again and again.
I’m also thrilled that Ellen Galinsky has offered to answer some of the questions you had about the book, and offer more insight into how the book came about, and the hopes she has for its influence.
I found her comments fascinating, and I hope you will too. The Q&A is broken into three parts (you’ll find them linked below).
Here are some of my favorite excerpts:
On the writing process…
“And then there was my feeling about the way many parenting books do guilt us. Some books that I had read in college and graduate school and had loved before I had my own children, felt different after my children were born. I remember literally throwing one book into the fire because it was such a guilt-trip book. Who needs that? We want to be inspired, not blamed. We are (unfortunately) far too fast to blame ourselves without needing anyone else to do it.” [Read more…]
More Mind in the Making: Your Questions for Ellen Galinsky
I hope you enjoyed reading Mind in the Making. I know I did! What an amazing resource! It’s a book I hope all parents and early childhood professionals will take the time to read, and more importantly, implement.
Mind in the Making Chapter 7
I was captivated by this chapter from the introductory paragraphs. As Ellen Galinsky writes about comparing two contrasting images — that of an ever-curious infant, and that of an apathetic middle to high schooler — I thought of my own experiences with these contrasting groups. Her pointed questions on page 298 are similar to those I’ve asked myself, “What happens to extinguish that passion? What happens to dull their eyes?”