Category Archives: Education

The Kindergarten Economy

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Everyday I pack a snack for Primo in his green metal lunch box. He goes to half day Kindergarten so the snack is just something to get the kids through the morning and keep them alert. Early in the year I put two things in his lunch because there were a couple of kids that didn’t have anything and he liked to share with them. Once all the families got the snack memo I didn’t need to send two things in his box but I liked to give him the choice and he usually had something left over to share with his brother on the ride home. Lately I’ve started to notice that the snack he has left over is not the snack I sent him with in the morning. Take yesterday for example when I sent him with a cheese stick and an orange. When I picked him up he had a cheese stick but it was a different brand than I gave him, and in place of the orange was a grilled cheese sandwich. I asked Primo where this new snack came from and he told me how he shared his orange with one kid and gave his cheese stick to another in exchange for the sandwich. Then he got another cheese stick from a different kid because he shared his cashews with her last week. There seemed to be this whole snack time market place that Primo maneuvered like a wall street trader. He turned fruit snacks into cookies and orange slices into gluten-free grilled cheese. I was never good at trading food in the lunch room economy but it looks like Primo is making good use out of his negotiating skills. These are the real life skills that will serve him well once he finishes school.

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PCPO Conference: Building Lifelong Learners

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Tower built with kids on my helper day at pre-school

I am on the board of Segundo’s Co-Op Preschool and one of my jobs is being the schools representative to the PCPO ( Parent Child Preschool of Oregon). The PCPO is a non-profit umbrella organization for more than 65 Co-operative Preschools in the North West and every year they have a conference for parents and teachers with workshops like Early Math Concepts, Positive discipline, and Enhance you Marriage, Improve you Parenting. You can see a full list of the workshops available this year by checking out the Conference Brochure.

This years conference is Saturday March 3, 2012 at Athey Creek Middle School in West Linn, OR. The day is broken down into three workshops, two in the morning and then one after lunch. For each of the workshop times there are a number of options to choose from and something there for everyone. The goal is to build lifelong learners with us as parents and with our kids. The Co-op model works on the principle that we learn as much as the kids do by participating in the class room and taking that out into our days.

If you are a parent or teacher with preschool to first grade age kids in the Portland area then I highly recommend this conference. The price of $50 if registered by February 24, or $60 at the door is an incredible deal for the wealth of knowledge in each of the workshops. Modeling lifelong learning starts with us as parents, and the opportunity to tap into all of these great sessions will keep us on that journey.

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He’s got a ticket to ride and he don’t care

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Last year, as a birthday present, I was given the board game Ticket To Ride by my Sister and Brother in Law. We played the European version while on summer vacation the year before and I loved the game. It is an easy to learn strategy game that can be played with two to five people and depending on the way the cards fall anyone can win. Those with the better strategies do better in the long run but the same person doesn’t win every game. After getting the game for my birthday we hadn’t had a chance to play it until this Christmas when we dusted off the box and taught my family how to play. Over the week that my brother and his family were here we played ten to fifteen games. Beautiful won more than anyone else but everyone had at least one win to call their own. After the holidays ended Primo asked to play the game that we were all having so much fun with so I set up a modified version of the game to play with both boys.

Segundo does not have the patience to play even a toddlered down version of the game so we let him do his own thing, placing trains down willy nilly. Primo on the other hand took to the game like daddy takes to a fresh hop IPA. He was quickly able to figure out where he needed to go to get his trains from Duluth to El Paso, and after a couple of games even started to pick up some secondary strategy. He knew to grab cards he would need later if the card he needed now wasn’t available. Ticket To Ride turns out to be a great game, with some minor rule changes, for a five and half-year old to pick up some critical thinking in a fun environment. I worked it so he won his first couple of games but as he got better I started to play it straight up, trying to win. There are still times when he comes out on top but we no longer let him win. He threw a fit last night when I beat him pretty bad but we took the opportunity to talk about sportsmanship, winning and losing, and playing the game for the fun of it and not just to win. He rallied and we played again today he was much better when he lost. He told me that he knew that my Seattle to New york route is what won the game for me and he was right. I’m under no misgivings that my kid is super smart but I love seeing these clear signs of his development as he picks up strategy and cause and effect. Soon I will get him working on card counting and keeping a poker face for our father son trips to the casino.

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The art of taking it apart

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The collection of discarded and non-working gadgets has been growing so the boys and I gathered some of them together to do some creative deconstruction. We pulled up chairs to the work bench, gathered some screw drivers and other tools, and set about taking apart and exploring the old electronics. Primo took the screws out of a pair of computer speakers that no longer had any connection between the volume they put out and the position of the knob meant to adjust the sound. We cut the wires connecting the power supply to the circuit board and I had the boys tell me how they thought it worked. I’m not much of a flesh and bones techie but that didn’t really matter. We weren’t try to reverse engineer anything, rather we wanted to explore through destruction. We wanted to take apart the items on our table and see if we could put them back together if we needed to. Once we talked about how the speakers worked the boys started pulling off the transistors and capacitors with pliers.

Sometime down the road we will try to build simple machines but I want to get the boys correctly using tools and having fun taking things a part to see how they work. The more we take a part the more we see how similar things are inside and how the differences determine how the electronics work. I don’t know if they’ll catch the engineering bug like their Grandpa Tom Tom but I hope they will have a healthy knowledge of how things work and to fix the things they can. I also hope that they will see the art and creativity in how things are put together and how they come apart.

Popularity: 6%

Pumpkin Patch Kids

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The older kid, Primo, has been sick the last couple of days. Super sick too, not just the feeling the blues but throwing up on daddy multiple times. I feel bad for him but come on. Getting thrown up on once is part of the deal with being a parent but he seemed to wait for me to comfort him and then let it loose. Grammie and mommy were here and they got no chunks hurled on them, but me, I got a multitude. Monday was evacuation day in Primo’s little body and then Tuesday and Wednesday were sleep it off days. The kid was like his papa back in the day sleeping off a weekend of revelry. He woke up and looked at breakfast before going back to sleep on the couch for 3 hours. Then would be awake for a minute to get some water before taking a 5 hour nap. The rest was good and by Wednesday night the kid was back to pissing off his brother and eating food.

Thursday morning I had to wake the boys up for school and get them dressed, fed, and in the car rather quickly. Luckily I am a world class dad with gathering skills and we made it to school in plenty of time. Segundo had a trip to the pumpkin patch so it was important to get Primo dropped off and get on our way. Only thing was Primo wasn’t in on the plan. That or he was deliberately sabotaging it to tarnish my world class dad image. Either way we did not get the kid dropped off at school because he was not emotionally or physically ready to get back into the learning fray. he latched onto my leg and used all manner of crying, whimpering, and coercion to get me to take him back home. The problem was we weren’t going home, we were going to the pumpkin patch, and had I known he wasn’t going to school today we had a sitter for him. But I canceled that when we left for school and now I was in a pickle. I knew he wasn’t really that sick anymore but that he was not ready for school. I didn’t want him to take over Segundo’s class trip by being the cool big kid that can jump from the high hay bale to the ground. Little brother needs to be his own man at his school so I felt bad. I also didn’t want to reward skipping school for the pumpkin fun land either but thought it better to error on the side of nurture. Going home and skipping the patch was also a terrible idea since Segundo would get punished for big brothers issues.

So we went to the pumpkin patch and let Primo know that he would not being joining in any of the reindeer games. We walked to the pumpkins while the rest of the class rode in the trailer behind the tractor. We carried Segundo’s pumpkin back to the hay maze and watched as he maneuvered the rows with his friends. We sat to the side and ate our own apples while the pre-school kids sat in their circle and counted apples and corn stalks. When it came time to climb the hay pyramid I let Primo loose to play. He was magically healed when we arrived at the pumpkin patch but I let him know that I was frustrated with his actions early in the morning. He will go to school tomorrow, we have talked about it. But today he played hooky without stepping on his brothers game.

 

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Manga Guides to all sorts of subjects

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Lately I’ve been reading a bunch of Graphic novels and really enjoying the story telling medium. I was not much of a comics kid growing up though I do remember reading my cousins Richie Rich comics when we would come to visit. It wasn’t until well into adulthood that I got ahold of a series of comics and really connected with the genere. Recently I was sent a couple of Books from No Starch Press to have a look at and it seemed to go right along with this new found appreciation of graphic novels and comics. The books were The Manga Guide To The Universe and The Manga Guide To Physics. Manga was a genere that I had not really had chance to explore and these books were an interesting entrance into Japanesse comic style.

The Manga Guide To The Universe combines comics, explanatory paragraphs and diagrams, and even a little history of Japanesse culture using a couple of High School characters to guide us through. Answering questions like “Is Earth the center of the universe?“ and “What’s it like at the edge of the universe?” with graphic story telling and in depth explanations. I liked how the comics lead you into a subject and then the more technical part came at the end. There was almost a softening up and easing into new subjects before getting into the meat of the information.

The Manga Guide To Physics uses the same format of comics and paragraphs but this time we are reading about Megumi, an all-star athlete that needs a little help with her Physics. The Law of action and reaction, force and motion, momentum, and energy is covered but through story. There are even lab exercises in the book for the reader to put what they are learning into action. This seems like a great book for those students taking physics right now as well as those that just want a refresher course on the basics. Having not taken Physics myself it was kid of fun to dig into the subject right along with Megumi.

I don’t know that I am a big Manga fan and I think that you should be to fully appreciate these books. While the subject matter is great I think that a familiarity with the comic style would help. If you like Magna already or know someone that does then these are the books for them. They deal with complex subjects in a fun narrative way. There are Manga titles on a wide range of subjects at the No Starch website so if Physics and the Universe don’t grab you attention maybe Statistics, Calculus, or Relativity will. Check the wide range of titles at the site and start learning a new subject or catch up with one you may have forgotten.

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Back to kindergarten plan A

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Way back in March I wrote a couple of posts on the School choice issue. We were in the proces of turning in our applications for the charter schools and our Portland Public School choice form. Since then we settled on our Neighborhood school after not getting in to any of the Charter Schools and changing our mind about the Public school that we got into. We were excited to start the school year firmly established in our local school and the first couple of days were great. Primo loved his friends and the new teacher was excited to be there. She even brought in a sub that played guitar while she had a certification class. We were riding our bike to pick him up each day and he was tired but happy. Then we got the call that our spot on the waiting list of Trillium Charter School was up and would we like the last spot in their Kindergarten class.

So we had the decision, stay with the local school that we wanted to be part of the change of making the school better, or go to the established Charter school that seems to be a great fit for Primo and the way he learns. We thought about it a little bit and didn’t make a decision until visting the school but it was an easy decision in the end. Trillium is smaller school with high parent involvement and a project based teaching style that both Beautiful and I love (and that is no small feat finding a program of teaching that we both agree on). When I told Primo that he might be switching schools he said “it’s OK daddy, I will make friends at the new school too.” After all this we are going to have him write a book on dealing with change since at 5 he seems to have a good handle on the subject.

He has made friends but it has taken a week or so. The rest of the kids have been together from Pre-school on so he had some barriers to over come. Just like when he came into Pre-school and broke through the established social connections he’s making friends again. Friends that write notes to him about how much they love him being in their class. The school day is shorter so it looks like Beautiful’s dream of me getting back to paying work will have to wait, but we are all really excited about the amazing opportunity we have. It feels like we are in a Private school way out of our pay range instead of a free charter school in the public school district. We fell lucky and know our son is getting a great education. There is a likely spot for Segundo since siblings get preference in the lottery process but we will make that decision when he is ready.

Popularity: 6%

Cooking with Kids thanks to Whole Foods

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Last week the boys and I went to Whole Foods downtown and learned to make “Lazy Lasagna” with chef Matt Talavera. We were there with a couple of other parents who blog to make a healthy meal for our family and to learn about a couple of things Whole Foods is doing in Portland and around the nation through their Whole Kids Foundation. The kitchen was situated above the store with huge windows overlooking the ailes of shoppers and food. We grabbed our spot on the end of the table, pulled up a couple of chairs so the boys could reach the ingredients and got started making a tasty beet salad to eat there and Lasagna to take home and share with Grandpa Tom Tom when he comes to visit this week.

The boys were adventurous eaters and commented on everything they tasted like the annoying, precocious, and cute kids that they are. Primo said that the sweetness of the caramelized nuts went well with the saltiness of the goat cheese, and they ate every bite of the beet salad. They had fun building the layers of the lasagna and getting there hands messy with sauce and cheese and then licking them clean. When we were finished you could see how proud they were of the dinner they made and I can’t wait to relive the story when we eat their meal with Tom Tom. Including kids in food preparation not only encourages them to be creative adventurous eaters but also helps build an understanding of where food comes from and what different tastes add to meals.

After the meal was prepared we got a chance to taste a Lasagna that was cooking as we assembled ours and it tasted great. It was a simple meal made with fresh ingredients and all of us enjoyed every bite. We brought our tupperware home and told Beautiful all about how the boys are now chefs too. A cooking class with your kids is a great activity to think about doing by the way. Let me know if you want any of the recipes from our time and if you live in Portland be sure to check out The School Lunch Shakedown Tour at Sunday Parkways, OMSI, or Chapman Elementary School. you can find more information below:

The School Lunch Shakedown Tour Wheels Around Portland

 

WHAT:         Whole Foods Market and B-Line Cycles will be cruising around Portland giving away free salad shakers – healthy salads layered with fresh vegetables in shakeable containers – to children and families at five different locations Sept. 24 and 25. The tour promotes the new Whole Kid’s Foundation School Garden Grant Program, which provides grants for school and community gardens.

During this rolling tour, kids who sign a pledge to eat healthy school lunches will be entered into a drawing to win one of two $250 gift certificates to the Bike Gallery. (One boy and one girl winner will be selected.) By making the pledge, kids (12 and under) will earn a one-year membership to the Whole Kid’s Club which entitles them to a free healthy food item each time they visit a local Whole Foods Market store.

Information will also be provided to parents, letting them know how they can apply to the Garden Grant Program on behalf of their neighborhood school or community garden.

 

WHEN:         Saturday and Sunday September 24 and 25

 

WHERE:       OMSI Power to the Pedal event, 1945 SE Water Ave.
Saturday, Sept. 24, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Chapman Elementary School Swift Watch, 1445 NW 26th Ave.
Saturday, Sept. 24, 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Sunday Parkways at Woodlawn Park, NE 13th Ave. and Dekum St.
Sunday, Sept. 25, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Sunday Parkways at Alberta Park, NE 22nd Ave. and Killingsworth St.
Sunday, Sept. 25, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

Sunday Parkways at Fernhill Park, NE 37th Ave. and Ainsworth St.
Sunday, Sept. 25, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m.

 

COST:           FREE

 

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Back To School boost with Emergen-C Kidz

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School is back in session and we have had a busy start to the academic season. Segundo has started pre-school and Primo has already switched schools in Kindergarten. Along with the start of school we have had the start of cold season. Both boys have gotten sick after only one week of hanging out in the germ factories of school class rooms. Luckily we were sent three boxes of Emergen-C  to help fight cold season and compliment the morning vitamins the boys are already taking to boost their immunity and over all health. It’s not just the boost immunity to combat the contact with more kids that we like about Emergen-C, there is also the Kidz Pledge that the company is doing to help provide necessary vitamins to kids:

 For every box of Emergen-C Kidz® sold, we will donate 25 cents to Vitamin Angels, to provide essential nutrients to one child for one year, helping reduce childhood mortality worldwide. For every pledge, we will donate an additional 25 cents† to Vitamin Angels, which means your commitment to your family’s health and wellness can help save a life too!

You can go to Emergen-C Kidz Facebook page to see more information about the pledge and take it your self as well as find great recipes for incorporating Emergen-C into treats, get free samples, and download tips to help kids stay healthy and active. Check out the Facebook page, take the pledge, and help keep our kids healthy. My boys have made Emergen-C part of their vitamin regiment and not only like the taste they like the process of stirring in the powder and watching the reaction in their glass of water. Now with a balanced diet, plenty of exercise, and immune boosting vitamins we should be ready to face this new school year and stay healthy year round.

“I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Emergen-C and received samples to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Popularity: 3%