earlyed

In honor of the Week of the Young Child, we are thrilled to announce our partnership with the DC Public Library in support of the Sing, Talk, and Read early literacy campaign!

It’s never too early to give your child a smart start. The Sing, Talk & Read DC initiative, led by the DC Public Library, shows parents how to make singing, talking and reading to their very young children a part of their day, every day.

By using surprisingly simple daily practices, you can put your child on the path to success! Learn how singing, talking and reading with your little one now, will help them later in school.

You can watch us discuss the campaign on Let’s Talk Live (NewsChannel8) and offer examples of how you can turn your everyday routine into a fun learning opportunity.

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D id you know that your child’s best learning happens through their everyday routines, experiences, and conversations? In fact, researchers found that the amount of language children hear in the first three years of their life plays an important role in their future learning abilities. The power of simply talking with your child can make all the difference.

Families that have children in child care often ask me how they can create opportunities for developing their child’s communication skills when they aren’t with their child all day.  I share that their daily routines provide ample opportunities to enhance their child’s communication skills, as well as provide meaningful interactions with their child.

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Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, High-Scope, Bank Street… what in the world do these names all mean!? Most likely you’ve never come across such terms, unless of course… you started looking for a preschool! If all these early education approaches got your head spinning, this “Preschool Teaching Philosophies” blog series is for you!

In this first post, we’ll give an overview of five common preschool philosophies. Later in the series, we’ll have a specific post on each one and provide more details to help you understand the differences and decide on a program that works best for you and your child.

Teaching philosophies explain how a school approaches learning, which in turn might shed light on whether your preschooler will do well with that particular learning method or in that particular environment. So what preschool learning approaches are there?

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T

his weekend as I cleared out the basement in hope of making some room, I found a box full of baby clothes. I was too attached to give it all away, but didn’t really want to continue to have it sit in the basement collecting dust. A brilliant idea came to mind: I decided to give my daughters, Eva (4) and Maya (2), some of the newborn clothes to play with and dress up their dolls. Seeing those sweet items around the house once again reminded me of when they were oh so tiny! It turned out to be a big success, the newborn onesies fit their Ikea dolls perfectly and were the highlight of the day!

What your child will learn:
– Fine motor skills: practicing to put on shoes, tying laces, buttoning onesies, buckling overalls, etc.
– Pretend play, which builds skills in many essential developmental areas.

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When I needed to find a daycare and a preschool for my girls, I spent days on Google, on the phone, and then visiting child care providers. I visited 16 centers before settling for the one that felt right for us. In this post I will share 10 tips that I hope will help you in your search for finding great and affordable child care.

1. Start your child care search early, as far as a year in advance, especially if you live in a concentrated urban area like Washington D.C. or San Francisco. This is even more important if you will be looking for an infant. It’s usually more difficult to find space for an infant than for a 3 or 4 year old because of the teacher-to-child ratio: for infants, you must have 1 teacher for 3-4 infants (depending on the State) but for a 4 year olds, it’s around 10.

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