Monthly Archives: January 2011

Turning Kids Into Readers: Seven Tips I Never Learned from Schools

I knew having three kids would make me a more humble parent, I just didn’t realize how much more humble! When it comes to reading, each of our kids has taken a different path. We have one who was a … Continue reading

Posted in Education | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Spanish Immersion in Costa Rica: Unexpected Highpoints for My Kids

If you read last week’s post about our family’s experience learning Spanish in Costa Rica for a month, you no doubt got the impression that it was a fairly trying adventure, but an adventure nonetheless! My summary at the time … Continue reading

Posted in Family Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Learning Spanish as a Family in Costa Rica

Two summers ago our family traveled to central Costa Rica for a month to live with a local family and learn Spanish at a language school.  Our kids were 11, 9 and 6 at the time. I’d conceived of the … Continue reading

Posted in Family Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Fall-back Skills

A few years back, I got my haircut from a woman new to our local salon.  She looked quite young, and later told me she was a part-time college student in her late twenties who cut hair 2 days a … Continue reading

Posted in Life Skills | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Teaching Kids About Microfinance

For Christmas this year, Todd’s sister, Annie, gave each of my kids a $25 gift certificate to Kiva, an online microfinance organization.  Ever since I discovered Kiva it has been one of my favorite, inspirational nonprofits. Sometimes when I’m having … Continue reading

Posted in Teaching Social/Emotional Skills | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments