Why children need school holidays
Schools are closing all around the country for the long summer holidays this week and I’m sure many parents are gritting their teeth and bracing themselves for the increased chaos awaiting them when they get home from work and the inevitable nagging chorus of “We’re bored! What can we do?” Admittedly school holidays don’t necessarily […]
Education: A teacher’s frustration
Elizma Vlok, a friend and teacher posted the following on her facebook page recently and I totally agree with the sentiment. I become incredibly angry when parents expect teachers to “educate” their children … I obtained a 4 year B.Ed. degree so that I can TEACH your child and yes, I am more than prepared […]
What to do if your child has a slow handwriting speed
Having slow handwriting can be very distressing for children during timed tasks such as tests and exams. I often get panicked phone calls from the parents children in higher grades about this. Unfortunately a slow handwriting speed is usually only identified in higher grades, when children simply can’t keep up with volume of work required. […]
Violence in schools
Violent behaviour in schools has undoubtedly increased in recent decades. For a short period following the Morne Harmse (Samurai sword killer) case things seemed to have calmed down and education specialists and teachers were all keeping their fingers crossed, hoping that was the last violent attack – but recent incidences of violence suggest that we […]
Benefits and disadvantages of homeschooling
With the increase in technologies that enable parents to work from home and from relatively remote regions I find that more and more parents are considering homeschooling their children. Added to this is the disillusionment many parents feel with the traditional schooling system and it’s overall failure to produce self-directed learners. Here are some […]
Unschooling
For a while now I’ve felt that something needs to change in our current mainstream education system – I’m just not convinced that it’s working the way it should. I’ve seen the flaws from both perspectives: For the most part the kids I work with are completely disengaged from the content they are expected to […]
Kids learning activities – Three fun ways to increase your child’s general knowledge
With the ever increasing volume of academic work that children are required to master, general knowledge topics are often neglected both at school and at home. A good general knowledge is considered an indicator of intelligence; it enriches us as people; helps us understand the world as a whole and at the very least, makes […]
Kids learning – guiding principles for parents
With so many different types of Education programmes, products, philosophies and schools of thought out there it can be incredibly confusing for parents to know how to stimulate a young child’s development or how to approach teaching and learning with older children. Children all learn in different ways, but no matter which school of thought […]
Things to consider when choosing a school
When it comes to choosing the right school for your mainstream child, these are some of the things to consider: 1. What does your gut say? (It might sounds flaky, but I consider your first instinct when it comes to schools to be the most important. Parents usually know their children better than anyone and know […]
Kids learning to read: visual figure-ground perception
Visual figure ground perception refers to the ability to distinguish a figure or object from it’s background and is a vital element to reading. This ability enables emerging readers to focus on words and letters and ignore background prints or blots and smudges on a page. Practice this skill by letting your emerging read information […]
