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The Green Mama > school

  • Understanding How to Turn Learning Disorders & Differences & Dyslexia into Gifts

    Can Learning Challenges Be Gifts in Disguise It was a great surprise when I realized my clearly bright, gifted daughter struggled with reading, writing, counting… really, with words and symbols of all sorts. In some ways, I continue to be shocked by it though we are years past her official diagnosis and our family’s embracement…
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  • Anti-bacterial hand soap and your child: a dirty clean?

    It’s school time again; and in every school bathroom in North America you can hear the “splat, splat” sound of anti-bacterial soap squirting onto the hands of school children everywhere. So, what does the science tell us about anti-bacterial products and just how bad are they for our children’s health?

  • Spirit Bear

  • Computers vs. Playgrounds: It’s a no brainer!

    A Cracked Foundation Attachment and Addictions How virtual parenting is destroying children. A Cracked Foundation profiles how attachment formation is an underlying causal factor for the recent rise in child mental illness and addiction. Mixed Signals Technology Balance Connection to technology is disconnecting child development. Mixed Signals covers research related to the impact of technology…
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  • School of Thanks: Teaching kids to care in today’s world

    I want my kids to know how good they’ve got it. Don’t we all?

    Like most Middle-Class parents in North America, I parent with a lot more: I obsess about their educational experiences, rush off to the doctor at the first sign of a rash, and worry about which summer camp will be the most enriching.

  • Fairytales make kids smarter

    I’ve been doing a lot of research recently on the profound effects that media has on children. I take getting my children into nature, limiting their media, and encouraging play seriously. These parenting techniques are backed by science and are proven to be some of the best ways to raise healthier, and smarter, children. Yet, a person needs to sleep in every so often (except not my children). Or survive long car rides, airplane trips to Gautemala, anyway…. you get the picture…

  • How to Get Rid Of Lice Naturally (and Prevent It): Home Remedies that Work

    All the kids were lined up in rows in the gym.  It was the day the public health nurse came and combed through everyone’s heads looking for lice. That is the way it was done when I was young. Judging how often I am getting notes from my child’s school, head lice is just as frequent now as then and just as frequent in North America as in Central and South America.

  • Can children be taught to care? A Green Mama Story.

    I am back in Guatemala for the second year with my children. Last year we came for almost 4 months and my eldest daughter attended a special, multi-cultural, Waldorf school in a small Mayan village. From chicken pox to chickens, it was a life-altering experience that I wrote about in a series of articles on this site. I also published an article about our trip and the school we visited in EcoParent Magazine.

  • The Green Mama’s Guatemalan Adventures: Escuela Caracol, Guatemala’s International Waldorf School

    Escuela Caracol is a large reason of why I decided to move my family to San Marcos la Laguna, Guatemala for three and half months.

  • Green Cleaning in Schools: The Green Mama Guide to healthy, safe, clean schools

    THE GREEN MAMA’S CHEAT SHEET FOR SAFER, HEALTHIER CLEANING IN SCHOOLS

    You are a teacher or school administrator and you want to go green but aren’t sure where to start? The answer is probably right in front of your eyes: the soap next to the sink, the bottle of bleach for spraying down the tables, the window cleaner in the cabinet.

  • How to green your child’s school: a guide to a healthier, greener classroom

    Ideally every school setting would be green and healthy. After all, your child will spend 1/3 of his or her day there.  Studies show that more than half of U.S. schools suffer from problems related to indoor air quality (which is typically more polluted than outdoor air even in the best situations). Indoor air quality issues can affect teacher retention, student performance, (and ultimately) school funding.

  • Boring playgrounds are unsafe says New York Times

    The New York Times warns that your child’s playground might be boring them to death (or at least into a phobia).

    It’s summer time and parents everywhere are crowding onto playgrounds with their children. Me included. And I am shocked at just how boring they have gotten. Gone are the days when playgrounds were thrilling places: climbing to the top of a huge jungle gym, teetering 5 feet off the ground and screaming at my little brother not to drop me, or hurdling around on a tire swing until getting sick.

  • What YOU can do to green your child’s classroom

    The first day of school: it is a blessing and a challenge.  When your child is at home, it seems easier to be in control of their safety. Then one day your child goes off to their first day of school (think cute little back pack and a last wave as they disappear through the door) and everything changes. “My teacher said…” becomes a routine saying at home and all of the sudden your baby is demanding that you start recycling.