Where Does Learning Begin?

Where does learning begin for children? That is one of the questions parents ponder as their child begins to grow and develop. Certainly we know that institutional learning takes place as we release our kids into the care of a day care, pre-school, or other form of out of the home location. But, of course, true learning starts much earlier.

Learning begins as a child bonds with his/her parents, siblings, or other close contacts in the daily environment. Parents and others can guide that learning in desired directions in preparation for the other forms of learning a child will encounter intentionally or unexpectedly.

Among the tools a child needs as she/he develops is the ability to read and also to use and understand language. One of the most successful and valuable bonds that a developing child can share with a parent, sibling, or other nurturing influence is the sharing of stories, poems, and other forms of child literature.

Children get prepared for reading and language by being read to and talked to using engaging words, concepts, and characters. These begin to instill basic learning tools, Listening, comprehending, questioning, articulating, imagining, attention span all prepare a child for his/her lifetime of learning.

It is to the basic level of parent/child contact that my "Stories with Their Poems" are directed. Engaging a child's attention in a non-violent, content rich, wholesome episode in which my animal characters deal with some of the basic questions of life is where learning develops and begins to grow. As my characters encounter their challenges they confront that basic skill in solving or resolving issues that everyone faces. My stories teach children that there are ways to resolve difficulties that results in self-sufficiency and self-confidence. All this happens in an entertaining and witty venue of imagination.

Check it out at: www.myhouseplayhouse.com

Back to School Starts with Reading and Language

The yellow buses will soon be rolling to signal the beginning of another school term.

Regardless of what age or grade level a child has achieved the key to a successful academic year begins with reading and language. To achieve, to advance, to learn children must have sharply developed reading and language skills. Not all children develop these skills in the same way at the same time in the developmental journey.

Therefore it is incumbent that parents join the effort to assist children in reading and language development. These important skills begin at home where the child is most familiar with his/her
surroundings and thus usually free of those barriers that present themselves in more public spaces. Children, when tutored and coaxed gently and positively, begin to develop an interest in connecting with the world through the enjoyment of books and other print material. This exposure will enhance a child's ability to vocalize ideas and feelings. The richness of words and the magic of a broadening vocabulary can help children gain much needed self-confidence as they enter the public domain of school sharing themselves and their gifts with others, often from very different backgrounds and experiences.

We at My House Playhouse believe that children develop reading and language skills in a variety of ways, including reading and listening to stories that bring them vividly into the realm of wholesome imagination. Stories, poems, and puppetry offer children tools with which they can learn to read, use language, and develop important personal and social skills. This process can never begin too early.

"There's A Monster in My Closet" (a poem by Angela Ames Hollenberg)

There's a monster in my closet,
He lurks there every night.
He comes out when I'm really scared
And gives me an awful fright.

He opens up my closet
And creeps toward my bed.
That's when I pull the covers up,
Way over my head.

As I lay there sleeping
Afraid to raise my head,
I peek up over the covers
And he's standing by my bed.

If these covers stay much longer
Way up over my head,
I'll suffocate and then who'll care
That there's a monster by my bed?

Quality not Quantity

Parenting is an awesome task. In today's modern world the average adult is pulled by the constraints of career, home, family, and often time care for our elderly parents. We just don't have the time to devote to all of our responsibilities. Among the greatest obligations an adult parent has is the obligation we have for nurturing and teaching our kids. Overworked and over-scheduled adult parents are frantic for ways to meet parental obligations. For those of us who have been there we look back and see that it was not the amount of time we devoted to being parents but the quality of the time we set aside for our children. Emotional connection, intellectual development, and time for fun with our youngsters is the most important functions we parents have. For early childhood helping our kids develop a wholesome imagination, basic reading and language skills, and a good time for child AND parent are important undertakings. Parents are stressed and if we share that stress with our kids they will learn to be stressed too. So it is our task to first find a way to enter the parent - child world ready to engage, share, and grow with our kids!