Did you know that the city of London uses e-learning platforms and support for all of its schools? The LGfL, or London Grid for Learning, is an e-learning platform used by all students and teaching staff in the city. Here’s another one. Did you know that every university in Switzerland is linked to the Swiss Virtual Campus? That is an e-learning platform that links all of the colleges together. Students can take online classes from any school in the country through SVC.

E-learning platforms and support make education more accessible, more individualized and at the same time more standardized for all of the learners who use it. There are administrative advantages to e-learning platforms, but the learner reaps the most benefit.

More Accessible Education

Continue reading “E-Learning Platforms And Support – A Solution For Left Behind Children?” →

Coaching for Life

In today’s competitive world, success is often synonymous with winning, be it on the playing field, in the classroom or in the workplace. In order to achieve a competitive edge, many are turning to fee-based professional coaching. And what was once a field limited to a handful of sports, now has a reach in all areas of personal and professional accomplishment. But is buying your way through a coach the best way to attain personal growth? This case study will examine the expansion of the coaching industry, its applications in a wide range of disciplines and its successes and pitfalls.

Parents hire skills coaches for budding stars, but can they teach leadership, fun, passion for sport?
In Washington, parents pay pro soccer players up to $150 an hour and non-pros $75 to instruct children in the sport.
In the San Francisco Bay area, baseball players as young as 8 are on waiting lists for $50-an-hour pitching lessons.
In Knoxville, Tenn., personal trainers can fetch up to $70 an hour working with pre-college athletes.

This is the latest twist in youth and high school team sports: private lessons for specialized skills or strength and conditioning.

Continue reading “Let the kids play” →

For any teacher, surviving the school year and keeping students both educated and entertained can be a challenge. Having all the right supplies on hand from September onwards can be of great help. Here are some suggestions for what any educator should be looking for on their next trip to a teacher supply store, whether that teacher supply store is located online or off:

The Basics – Even though most schools send a school supply list home to parents every summer and students should report for their first day of a new semester with a backpack full of new school supplies that are not always the case, especially at a time when some parents simply do not have the money to purchase everything on those lists at one time.

Kids, and not just the younger ones, are also often very forgetful creatures and their brand new pencils and crayons are often left on the counter at home in the rush to get out of the door. Finding a good teacher supply store that offers discount school supplies to teachers who buy things like pencils, crayons, and notebooks in bulk can mean that teachers can keep an “emergency supplies drawer” and pay just a few cents for each item in it.

Continue reading “Essentials an Educator Should Purchase at the Teacher Supply Store” →

Think about standing in front of a bookstore rack teeming with titles on a topic about which you want more information. Or scanning through possible sources in the electronic card catalog that might be appropriate to your needs.

Or perusing the stacks of professional resources on display at a educators’ conference or convention. How do you decide what to pick up? How do you determine what is worth reading?

Often, our dilemma is not that there are no resources available. Instead, we are more likely to feel inundated by possible materials that could meet our needs. You may be forced, perhaps within a limited time period, to make a choice, and in some cases spend money.

Students experience a similar challenge when they undertake research projects. They may confidently sally forth to the library, only to discover a few minutes later that there are more potential sources related to their topic than they can possibly handle.

Overwhelmed, many adopt a default strategy to make their choices, settling for the source that appears to be the easiest. The rest are relegated back to the shelf, even though some of them might have been better suited for what the student was looking for.

Teaching/Learning Activities

How can you get a “read” on a book before you actually have to read it? Helping students size up a possible resource is a critical component of the research process. Take a look:

Continue reading “Getting a ‘Read’ in Five Minutes” →

Following on from the success of the “Working Without Walls” project I have done with previous classes, the second half of last year saw skills being shared with colleagues throughout school in shared planning/shared teaching sessions – CPD that I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed being involved in and which has seen the learning platform being increasingly used for learning throughout the school.

So it’s time to look at some ways in which we can move the project forward as a whole school – and so starts a year which I think is going to be enormously exciting for us! If you’ve been following my tweets recently, you will know that I am getting very excited about this weekend because I am off for an e-twinning workshop.

e-twinning is a great opportunity to work with other schools from around Europe in collaborative projects and one reason I am particularly looking forward to the trip is the opportunity to establish lasting relationships with other teachers which will lead to sustainable, planned collaborations.
Continue reading “International Collaboration in Education” →

Do you ever have the feeling that you are not making any progress with your child´s education? It´s like you’ve been trying some etiquette rules (could be as simple as saying please and thank you) or make her clean her room, for instance.

Well, let me tell you one thing: there is no such thing as not making any progress with a child.

Do you know why? Because children are always learning and they are always picking up on things, so even if you feel stagnated, they are not.  And we also tend to let simple achievements pass by when in fact they are tremendous in the long run.

Let me give you a practical example. My daughter is 3 years old, I’ve been telling her to go and help herself with water for months (years, I can barely tell), I let the water easily accessible for her. Well, one day she just helped herself and from then on she´s been quite independent in that field.

Continue reading “Is your kid not learning anything?” →

In The Gypsy Mama’s Guide to Real Traveling with Kids, you can find advice on how to make your travels safe and fun with kids from all ages. The two authors (Jenn Miller and Keri Wellman) have experience in traveling with kids from the early months to teenagers, they have four children each.

I get asked questions about traveling with children all the time, and I have many answers, but this is a complete book on the topic, I highly suggest it. This is an affiliate link, but I really think it can help many families to make a dream trip happen.

I really loved the examples of games to play at home before getting on the road, like the ones about safety rules, airport and train security or tips on how to help your baby nap on the road. The two families were doing all kind of games, making it all fun for the children.

There are tips from packing (try the one bag rule), with lists of what they bring, healthcare options and emergency care conducts, besides what to do when a child is having a tantrum on a plane or how to work up the guts to let your teenager travel alone for the first time.

Continue reading “The best guide to traveling with kids” →

A 7-year old neighbor came to play in our house. My 5-year old and the boy played a little and then drew a little. Luísa was very protective of her pencils. She wanted to grab whatever he was using. The thing scaled up and she finally bit the boy in his arm.

When I heard the boy crying, I attended him immediately. I asked him if he wanted some water, offered him ice, which he accepted and empathized with him: ¨I’m sorry, that must really hurt¨. He was very upset. Luísa wouldn’t answer to anything I asked. She didn’t want to help care for the boy. Soon enough though, they were playing again.

A little later, his mom came and as he went to tell her what happened he got emotional again and started crying. His mom reacted with: ¨Luísa, why are you so mean?¨ and ¨I heard you like to bite, who was it that you bit before?¨

I felt really bad. I didn’t want Luísa to be labeled and we had taken care of what happened. But I understand the boy getting emotional again, and his mother having an emotional reaction. And I was feeling very disappointed that Luísa didn’t want to help the boy. After they left, I was insisting that she made a picture to the boy to say she was sorry. She didn’t seem sorry at all, she wasn’t doing it.

Continue reading “What if your kid hits?” →

Not too long ago, I was not aware of unschooling or mindful parenting. Now I understand why they go together and will always attract interested parents in organic living and getting out there in the world to see it by themselves (aka traveling).

I found Tara Wagner’s blog The Organic Sister a few months back and it made all of this much more clear to me. It became a great source to find other blogs and writers on these subjects too.

I also had a few coaching sessions with Tara that really helped me to handle better my relationship with my daughter. She has a special way of addressing people´s doubts and concerns.

I´m happy to have Tara talk a bit about these things herself here on Tripping Mom, so let´s get to it.

Can you tell Tripping Mom readers a bit about what your blog/life is about?

Tara: We’re a family of three, living life authentically and on our own terms. We travel full-time, learn without school, and work in more unconventional ways. My son, Zeb, is 11 and learns at his own pace by following his passions. My husband, Justin, is a jack-of-all-trades and I am a writer and blogger, photographer and unschooling and mindful parenting coach.

How can you describe unschooling and mindful parenting?

Continue reading “Interview with Tara Wagner on Mindful Parenting and Unschooling” →

Interactive Writing is a Kindergarten-Grade 2 teaching/learning activity that promotes a strong reading/writing connection.

It helps children who are learning to read and increases their learning to write. As children work through the text, their own writing helps lay the foundation of understanding necessary for successful beginning reading.

Interactive writing promotes the “building up processes” and the “breaking down processes” Marie Clay described. Interactive Writing promotes the reading/writing relationship for the following reasons:

Continue reading “Interactive Writing – Writing Helps Reading at K-2 Level” →