by Ben | Aug 29, 2016 | Uncategorized
Why, you might ask, given that I run an education centre, would I be writing an article about the merits of children spending time more time playing? While grasping academic basics is essential in building a foundation for learning, exploring the outdoors and using...
by Ben | Jul 27, 2016 | Uncategorized
“ ‘Tis the Winter of our discontent,” mused Shakespeare. Dictionary.com tells us that while “Summer is a period of fruition, fulfilment, happiness, or beauty,” Winter is “a period characterised by coldness, misery, barrenness or death.” Most of us would admit that we...
by Ben | Jun 1, 2016 | Uncategorized
Most of us with children have no doubt looked at their work and realised that far more of what is taught is done so from a problem-solving point of view than when we were at school. And yet too often we (parents and teachers alike) still insist on getting straight to...
by Ben | Mar 30, 2016 | Uncategorized
Studies reveal that we now have a shorter attention span than a goldfish. According to a study by Microsoft, on average we have the ability to focus for a mere 8 seconds! This photo shows a man so engrossed in his phone that he misses a humpback whale swimming past...
by Ben | Feb 28, 2016 | Uncategorized
One of the most common complaints heard by a Maths teacher must be, “Why do we need to learn this?” Even though schools now approach all subjects with a more integrated approach, it is often still difficult to explain to a 13 year-old that it is necessary to...
by Ben | Nov 29, 2015 | Uncategorized
Have you bought an iPad or tablet for your child for Christmas but don’t know what to load it with? There are literally thousands of apps on offer and some of them are more desirable than others. Play them yourself My first piece of advice, if you have young...
by Ben | Sep 29, 2015 | Parents, Testing, Uncategorized
Most of you should now have NAPLAN results for your children. After looking at all the dots, bands and triangles and then reading all the negative press that NAPLAN gets, you might be asking yourself what the point of it all really is. Purpose While I am not a fan of...
by Ben | Aug 2, 2015 | Uncategorized
You’ve rushed from work, just managed to pick up the kids from school just as the bell rang, made it home in one piece and now it’s time to think about getting dinner started. Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to chase the kids around the house to try to get...
by Ben | Jun 27, 2015 | Effective Learning, IT and Education, Teaching
It used to be that you could control how much you wanted your child to use technology, but these days the current trend towards using iPads and laptops at school means that our children are using such gadgets at an earlier age and also in environments other than the...
by Ben | May 29, 2015 | Effective Learning, Motivation, Teaching
Your child walks through the door and you ask, “So, what did you do at school today?” to which you usually get a response of “Not much” or something similar. While you might just think that he/she is typically absent-minded the truth is that we only retain a small...