Quotes about Education

The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.

~Sydney J. Harris

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

~Albert Einstein

 

  The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.

~Robert Maynard Hutchins
 
My idea of education is to unsettle the minds of the young and inflame their intellects. ~Robert Maynard Hutchins
 
Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.
~Aristotle
 
Education is the movement from darkness to light.

~Allan Bloom

What are some of your thoughts or favorite quotes on Education?

Kids and Board Games With Benefits!

Aside from the “soft” benefits like spending time together as friends or family, traditional board games can teach young children such things as hand-eye coordination, visual perception, letter recognition, color recognition and number/shape recognition. Games can also teach children how to “play by the rules,” how to interact with others and ultimately, how to be a good sport.
For young adults, there are many games that are good for building critical thinking skills. For instance, checkers, chess and some card games require serious thought in order to excel. Computer games can be good for strategic thinking, as well.
Here are four games teachers and parents might explore to build financial skills and mental agility...

Kids and Board Games with Benefits:
Life
The latest version of Life takes players through a thought-provoking simulation of a person’s life from high school through retirement, with jobs, marriage, kids and many other big life decisions to be made along the way.
Payday

Games that get kids thinking about life, money and jobs!

Want to teach kids to make their money last? Consider the game of Payday. Using a 31-day calendar for the board, players try to make their monthly pay check last. Just like the ‘real world’, players have the choice of investing, taking out loans or going for a long-shot gamble – none of which provide any guarantees for success.
Monopoly
The best-selling board game in the world, Monopoly helps young people learn the basics of economics. It provides the opportunity to learn fundamental money concepts and the rewards of wise spending decisions.
Careers
Introduced in 1955, the winner of this classic board game is the player who achieves their life goals the soonest. Before the game begins, each player determines whether they want to pursue fame, money, happiness or a combination of all three. Success in achieving their goal depends on the path they take through the game.

What is your favorite game? Why?

25 Things to Do With Kids This Summer!

 Nothing to do this summer? Don't let it happen to you....use your summer wisely with 25 tips to kick off your creative thinking! Let's see where it takes you!

25 Things to Do With Kids to Kick Start the Summer:
1. Catch fireflies or bugs in a jar, study them and then let them go.
2. Take pictures of the kids having fun and make a scrapbook!
3. Eat watermelon outside, and let the juice run all over the place!
4. Walk in the grass barefoot with the kids.

5. Use lotion, soap, or shampoo that smells like coconuts.

6. Make homemade popsicles in paper cups and eat them on a hot day.
7. Get out the kids' watercolor paints and paint a picture of summer means to you.
8. Collect seashells and save them with some sand in a decorative bowl.
9. Make strawberry shortcake.
10. Make thank you cards for everyone who has helped you out.
11. Eat your favorite summer fruits and berries.
12. Go swimming as a family.
13. Have a water balloon fight.
15. Go for a nature walk along the beach or a wooded path.
16. See the sunrise.
17. Have a picnic.

18. Watch the sunset.
19. Make playdoh.
20. Read a chapter book aloud to your kids.
21. Make homemade ice cream in a Ziploc bag.
22. Sit outside and sip iced tea.
23. Make fresh lemonade.
24 Camp out in a tent in the yard.
25.Make a commitment to learn something new!

Thought for the Day- What do you wish to inspire today?

"One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested."
~ E. M. Forster

I had a color mixing given to me to do with the children. It called for lots of teacher direction...not my style...ahem. I revised it. The children did it on their own- mixing fabulous colors in ice cube trays with eyes droppers,small brushes and cups. They loved it...
"Let's do it again!"
I asked them how we could continue it. They decided to continue it outside, in the water table in the ice cube trays.
They learned so much more on their own and from one another.
The sense of community it created, the friendships....not to mention the 'colors' that came out in their own personalities.

A Fragile Piece of Blu

“No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement.”
~Florida Scott-Maxwell

I had met some of the parents during pick up time after school. I make sure to give them charming anecdotes about their kids…then…I noticed something strange about ‘Stacy’s’ dad, Corbin. He would reach into his wallet at times…sniff something…and go about his merry way. E-GADS! Drugs? Goodness-gravy…how could I be sure? I mean the man was always neat as a pin and never showed any sign of anything. I went to my director and asked her how to go about the situation.
My director was on good terms with the family…the dad actually went to the school when he was a boy. The next day I was summoned in the director’s office with the dad, my director, and Nana…Corbin’s mother. Everyone was smiling and laughing.
I sat down beside Corbin.
“Oh! So glad you’re here Ms. Barbra, Corbin has something to show you-hee-hee” Giggled my director.
“Yes, what’s left of it…” Nana laughed, slapping her knee.
Out of his wallet, Corbin pulled out a small square of robin’s egg blue fabric. It was badly tattered around the edges…it looked like a portion of a child’s blanket.
I looked…squinted at it, and looked at everyone….(was this a joke?)
Nana socked Corbin in the arm. “Well, tell her its name…you’re a grown man, and this is a fine mess you’ve gotten us in-You’re lucky she didn’t call the cops on ya!”
Corbin blushed, “Uh…yeah…Ms Barbra, this is, ‘BLU’.”
“Excuse me?”
“Blu…what’s left of my old blanket I had as a kid…”
Nana interrupted, “He never could let go of the darn thing-had it since he was three! Didn’t even want me to wash it way back then …AND this is where it has led us. He likes to give it a sniff every now and then…”
“Ma!” Corbin said putting his hand to his forehead.
I bit my lip……..HARD.
“Nana taught here at this school, you know.” My director whispered to me as their conversation continued.
“…Oh anyway, love you, Corbie… I’m glad you don’t take the drugs.”
“I love you, too, Ma…and it’s, ‘DO’ drugs, Ma.”
“…Huh? Well how would a nice boy like you know that?!”

Bawl on a String

“When someone asked Abe Lincoln, after he had been elected president, what he was going to do about all his enemies, he replied,
“I am going to destroy them. I am going to make them my friends.”

There was a ‘pincher’ in a class near mine. He targeted a ‘screamer’. It got to the point where the ‘pincher’ merely laid a finger on the ‘screamer’ and fabulous ballet of nurses and faculty would come running from everywhere to see what “hatchet murder” was taking place. Well, the powers that be decided that these two children move up together in my class. I worked closely with the parents, faculty, and spoke regularly to both the children. There would be no added attention to the situation till I got to the bottom of what was REALLY going on.
It turns out…if you hadn’t guessed already, these two had socialization issues. They were naturally drawn to each other but, didn’t know how to engage socially other than…well, pinching and screaming…and yes, they were annoying each other…and everyone else in their, “getting-to-know-you-phase”. Thankfully, we had a floater I could use that would shadowed the boys through their friendship process. They cried regularly, were offended on a whim, and need lots of teacher guidance when problem solving.
It all took time… but the boys eventually understood how to be friends with each other and with others.
I don’t believe I have ever seen a child look at another as ‘an enemy’. Little kids will argue or even fight…but ten seconds later they are playing together….happily. As a parent or teacher we can use that-there are teachable moments for children when they are receptive….teachable moments for us ‘big people’,too…if we are REALLY paying attention.