• Tot School

Archive for February, 2009


Feb
27

Toddler Smarts on Display

by heather

Here’s how Pomme has been showing off her developing smarts this week: According to her, the one on the bottom is a cat, the one at the very top is a pig, and the rest are whales.  The spots are eyes.  She has labelled her drawings before (usually as whales lol), and she has drawn [...]

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Posted in Family, Homeschooling, Kid stuff | Comments (0)

Feb
27

School is Not for Socializing — Out of the Mouths of Public Schoolers!

by heather

I just read this blog post, by a high school teacher struggling with a severely disabled child in her classroom who is very disruptive.   His aide is apparently not on the ball, he gets into fights, screams through classes so other students cannot hear the teacher. This teacher is quite rightly questioning the whole rationale [...]

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Posted in Homeschooling | Comments (13)

Feb
27

New at Eco Child’s Play — Bust the Baby Brain Boosters!

by heather

Spurred by the recent CBC broadcast on The Hurried Infant, my latest post on Eco Child’s Play in my ongoing series of “Baby Essentials That Aren’t” focuses on those baby brain-building “edutainment” toys, methods, and associated foolishness.  Please check it out and share it, Baby Essentials That Aren’t, Part 6: Baby Brain Boosters     [...]

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Posted in Babies, Eco-stuff | Comments (0)

Feb
25

Woohoo! I’m in With the Cool Kids!

by heather

I am such a nerd. And, usually, unashamedly so.  Yet I struggled all my pre-adult life as being the one on the outside, the one not in the know, the one on the outskirts just peering in, the one who is just missing something that the others all seem to know instinctively. When I started [...]

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Posted in Homeschooling, Random Musings | Comments (3)

Feb
24

Video: My 2-year-old Can Crack Eggs– Montessori, Practical Life, and Cooking Skills

by heather

As I’ve mentioned before, we are following a Montessori-inspired philosophy with Pomme’s toddlerhood. Following her interests, she has ample opportunity to learn through self-motivated exploration.  At this age, the emphasis is more on “Practical Life” skills than on ‘academics.’  She learns primarily through observation, imitation, and experimentation, as indeed human beings are designed to learn! [...]

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Posted in Family, Homeschooling, Kid stuff | Comments (3)

Feb
24

The Hurried Infant and Child on CBC

by heather

Have you listened to CBC’s Ideas lately?  The last two Monday nights, they’ve been playing a series criticizing the current trend towards earlier and earlier academic instruction.  They’ve taken apart Baby Einstein, blasted schools that eliminate recess, disparage the practice of filling our preschoolers with factoids rather than allowing them the freedom to learn the [...]

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Posted in Babies, Homeschooling, Kid stuff, Random Musings | Comments (2)

Feb
23

Fair Trade Coffee Just Us! Justice

by heather

If you liked my previous post on coffee, you’ll love my latest post at Eco Child’s Play.  I’ve expanded the original post to provide more information on the Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op, their efforts towards sustainability, variety of products, and history.  Please check it out!            

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Posted in Eco-stuff | Comments (1)

Feb
22

Rockin the CSS

by heather

Like the new theme? I liked the clean simplicity of this one, but I really wanted the cute date calendar graphic rather than the boring old “February 22nd” text.  It’s a visual thing, it snazzes up the site, and gives quick focal points for the eyes. But, this theme didn’t have those.  So, I played [...]

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Posted in Random Musings | Comments (1)

Feb
22

Yet Another Theme Change

by heather

Yeah yeah, I’m pathetic… those pink tulips were starting to drive me batty, and the site seemed to be really slow too.  So I’m trying a couple new ones… I like the overall look of this one, though there are some slight detail issues with it, like how it seems to randomly advertise my plugins [...]

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Posted in Random Musings | Comments (0)

Feb
20

In Memoriam: Hilda Mabel Smith Fyffe

by heather

My grandmother died today. Hilda Mabel Smith, as she was born, grew up in England.  She met a dashing young Canadian soldier during WWII and fell in love.  They were married and had a son, and when he came back to Canada, she came with him.  She was a “war bride.” Samuel Fyffe, her husband [...]

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Posted in Family | Comments (3)

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