The five best reading programs for kids. Homer, Teacher Your Monster to Read, Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, DIY Tip: Reading by Osmosis, Reading Eggs

Parents are the best teachers because they are able to provide their children with mastery learning and personalize their education. By learning about communicating with children and using the right curriculum tools, parents can provide a better education to their child than any classroom teacher.

This is an especially difficult time to be a parent. Before COVID-19, parents, living far from in-laws and friends who could help with childcare, faced few options for quality care. Many companies provide little to no benefits for parents. An on-site daycare, even at a large corporation, is a scarce luxury. And then, there are parents who live in childcare deserts, with a hugely limited number of seats per child. Then, with COVID-19, companies demanded that parents complete full-time jobs while watching their children and educating them. Parents are in a double-bind, not enough time to spend with their children and few resources available when they need to be away to earn money to feed, clothe and educate them. 

The best reading programs for kids, reviewed by tens of thousands of parents, tested with a group of a dozen kids (and approved for “fun factor,”) and vetted by trained teachers and child life specialists. If you’re looking for a great reading program for kids,, these are the best ones we’ve found to help them learn to read - and love learning to read.

Discover how to help families and kids struggling from the impact of the pandemic on food insecurity, mental health and k12 education. These are three organizations where you can donate or volunteer time to make a major impact for families and kids. #givingtuesday

According to Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, children learn through modeling - and especially by watching and copying you, their primary caregivers and role model.  So what better opportunity to model empathy and persuasive communication skills than a Thanksgiving diner, especially if you’re fortunate enough to come from a family with a wide range of political views. Even luckier if you have a family member whose political or religious views - and the manner they express them -  makes you especially irate!  

Besides the obvious boost to your kid’s future resume, learning to code offers many benefits including developing creativity, problem solving skills and resilience. With the emergence of hackathons, coding can also be a highly social activity in a time where all of us are longing to connect.

Modular Learning can be a supplement or a replacement to school. When a family does Modular Learning, it means they have decided to take ownership over their child’s education, choosing from a variety of modules (curriculum, teachers, classes, social groups) to design or enrich their child’s education. A module can include school if that is of benefit to their child’s education and social, emotional and intellectual well-being. Or school can be replaced with other modules such as trips to the library, a well-designed curriculum led by a teacher, parent or childcare provider a learning pod or a compilation of classes.

In the typical classroom model, teachers start with a lesson and then give students homework/problems to solve to reinforce learning. What if we did the opposite, starting with homework, then giving lessons or pointers as needed?

Rather than taking place at one institution at one time using a standardized curriculum. Modular learners set their own goals for their children’s education, childcare and social life, creating a unique mosaic of resources , drawing from digital apps, workbooks, teachers, experts, other families, local classes, community groups, cultural organizations and even world travel. It’s a diverse and inclusive community of teachers, artists, makers, investors, healthcare workers, techies, community activists applying innovative education techniques as they emerge and pioneering the future of education starting with their own children.

Can kids teach themselves? Or do they need guidance from an experienced teacher? Or is it a balance of both? The radical philosophy of unschooling embraces children’s rights, insists that learning happens as naturally as breathing and that when children are left to their own devices, there’s no limit to how far their learning can go.10 great books on self-directed learning.

Best summer camps in San Francisco with space available for 2021

An overview of teaching strategies for parents and caregivers. These tools can be used to help kids with homework, engage them in learning all the time and improve communication.