The Classroom is Only a Baseline

May 14, 2009 By 45 Comments

This is the 200th post at Writer Dad.

In lieu of balloons or red roses, rainbows or high fives, I’d like to make an announcement.

Homeschool rulesThis is the post I was originally going to run on Monday, before I decided to run Cindy’s birthday card instead. Thank you so much to everyone who sent her such wonderful birthday wishes. We read all your comments and emails out loud together. It is truly touching how magical words can be, even when only in black and white across a brightly lit screen.

As you know, Cindy and I have been gradually piecing our primary project together – a writer’s workshop aimed squarely at the budding future of our civilization. An essential component of our overall framework is Cindy’s online voice. Some of you already know her from her first online home, Namas Daisy, but this is not about that site.

Namas Daisy was started back in October, and has since then been a bit like a toy batted about the kitchen floor by the playful paws of a pet tabby. The site was started as a means for Cindy to dip her toe into an unfamiliar world so she could slowly saturate herself with the sights and sounds of our inevitable future. Today we are parting the curtains on a brand new site. This one’s all business.

CindyPlatt.com is Cindy’s brand new classroom. Cindy is seasoned with over twenty years of experience. Some of those years have been spent in the classroom, some at a furious clip pacing the hallways of change, and the remainder spent molding the young minds ripest for reaching.

Never in my life have I known a single soul with more to say about the current state of education and the teetering lip where it lays against our future. She has plenty to say for all parents and teachers, but her focus (at least for now) is on home schooling parents and those families who feel as though lessons learned in the classroom are merely a baseline.

Today I’ll hold brevity close, as I would like you to check out CindyPlatt.com. It is striking because it was designed by my partner David Wright, and beautiful blogs are the only kind we build over at the Inkwell. But it’s imbued with intelligence because of the well worn wisdom of my one and only wife.

Check it out and sign up for our Children Write the Future newsletter if you haven’t already.

Thanks!

Writer Dad

Filed Under: Home School Tagged With: , , , ,

How to Give Your Child a Limitless Life

May 3, 2009 By 52 Comments

istock_000001228374xsmall-copyThe world is on fire.

An inferno of evolution is sweeping the planet, pushing us faster and farther than ever before. Communication is now instant and it is those with the sharpest skills to clearly communicate who will be the ones to mine the most from the future’s rewards.

Skilled communication isn’t innate, it is taught. Too often in this right here and now however, it isn’t taught well enough. I look at the world around me and sigh; I cannot fail my children by preparing them for a world that is already sinking in the tar of extinction. I want my children to live a limitless life, and know it is verbal currency that will pay their way.

Many of today’s schools are not meeting the needs of our young writers. They need consistent modeling, time to write, a prompt or topic, and honest response and feedback. They also need exposure to a wide range of genres, text, prose and poetry.

Ask yourself the following questions. Do you know where your child is in the writing process? Where is your child developmentally?

  • Are they an emergent writer, with a basic awareness of sights and sounds?
  • Are they a developing writer, starting to insert stylized sentences into their writing while making connections to real world ideas and internal emotions?
  • Are they an independent writer, who has already internalized the writing process and exhibits their fluency with rich vocabulary and a fundamental understanding of mechanics?

Knowing where your child is at this moment will help you determine where they need to go.

My wife Cindy has been teaching now for twenty years. Her specialties are reading, writing, and early childhood development. We’ve discussed building an online school since back when five minutes for a static page was considered a speedy download. An outstanding institution must be built brick by brick or plank by plank. The virtual world’s no different. After many months of planning, our first wing of the school is nearly complete.

Our Writing Roots Writer’s Workshop will not be fully ready until September, but we will be accepting a pilot group of young writers at the beginning of summer. Spots will be given on a first come first serve basis and space will be limited.

Please sign up below if you are interested. Whether you are in public school, private school, or home school – this is for you. The newsletter is free and will offer regular tips for teaching your children to be a better writer, along with information on our upcoming pilot program. Hope to see you there.

Writer Dad

Sean Platt is a ghostwriter and dad. Receive updates in your inbox or RSS reader (for free!), twice weekly!

Filed Under: Home School Tagged With: , , , , ,