inspirations and ideas

In my silence here, I still needed a place to collect the wonderful things that the internet brings around.  It amazes me how I can wake up on a Saturday morning and before my first cup of coffee is finished, I've looked at inspiring spaces in Melbourne and watched videos about service design in Montreal.  It is impossible to take a break from finding things.

I invite you to come over to that space and take a look at what I've been looking at for three months.

bakers and astronauts tumblr

No School For Babies

"Direct instruction really can limit young children's learning.  Teaching is a very effective way to get children to learn something specific - this tube squeaks, say, or a squish then a press then a pull causes the music to play.  But it also makes children less likely to discover unexpected information and to draw unexpected conclusions."

Alison Gopnik, Why Preschool Shouldn't Be Like School

Lullatone - Experiments Around the House from lullatone on Vimeo.

Suing the preschool?

It's difficult to read an article like this - I'm sure there are many opinions on something like this, but unfortunately there is not a discussion happening on The New York Times Website.

The school in question, York Avenue Preschool, states that their curriculum focuses on Social Emotional, Cognitive, Language, and Physical Development.

There are so many factors here - the school, the parent, the child, the classroom community, the standards set by New York State, the family's relationship with the school, the curriculum, the school's image of the child and philosophy on education.