Lots of “new” things are coming up fast… new teachers, new classmates, new school clothes, new learning material, new afterschool activities. Why not help your kids to get their outside-of-school lives better organized with a new bedroom arrangement? Starting with
Color De-Coding
Depending on your child's reading level, use color coding to help kids see patterns in spelling, vocabulary or grammar. For instance, if your child is learning to read, find an article in a magazine at home or print out a
Summer Reading Recommendations for the “Word Smart” Child
Most kids that like flexing their linguistic mind muscles will devour the age-appropriate book lists at your local library over the summer. Here are a few additional suggestions that you may not know yet… All ages: Dark Emperor and Other
Now You’re Cooking!
It most likely won't take much convincing to get your linguistic child to read or verbally practice language arts over the summer. But you can stretch both your child's verbal and math skills by trying “worldly” recipes together. Whether you
Summer Reading Recommendations for the “Nature Smart” Child
All ages: Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night. By Joyce Sidman. Twelve poems celebrating the night are accompanied by prose about nocturnal flora and fauna. Newbery Honor Book Farm. By Elisha Cooper. Experience life on a very real farm with
Environmental Experiments
Set up a summer-long experiment to see how small changes in environment affect plants. Begin by planting identical plant seeds or young plants in 5 different containers (you can use cut off milk cartons or plastic bottles as your pots)
Worldly Words
Learn about a different aspect of the world around you each week this summer! Brainstorm topics about the natural world that your child finds interesting, then put those topics in a hat or bowl. Have your child draw one topic
Summer Reading Recommendations for the “Music Smart” Child
All ages: Story of the Orchestra : Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music and the Composers Who Wrote the Music! By Robert Levine. The book is divided into two major parts: composers and their associated musical periods,
Calculation Composition
Musical notations are intrinsically tied to mathematics. Whether the fractional notes need to add up to a complete measure, each measure needs to be equal to the time signature, how the written notes are essentially “graphed” on the ledger or
Skillful Singing
For most adults, recalling the alphabet goes hand-in-hand with singing the tune, as do many of the concepts we learned in school. For musical kids, this effect is even more pronounced. Chat with your child about some of the language