Best Books for Grandparents

We know it takes a village to raise a child and parents aren’t the only ones who need support when your trying to grow citizens for the future. We have handpicked some of the best books to support grandparents to understand and work with little ones in new ways. The Gardener and The Carpenter by…

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Top 5 Books on Challenging Behaviors

If you have a toddler or a preschooler it is likely there will be challenging moments in your household. You’re not alone we all have them. There are a slue of books out there that claim to be the key to helping parents change children’s challenging behaviors. I have some sad news, they won’t. These…

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Best 3 Infant Care Books

If you or a friend have a baby on the way we highly recommend the RIE (Resources for Infant Educarer) resources. We have read a lot of other stuff that is out there but none of it matches up to the works of Magda Gerber and her associates. These infant books are low guilt, holding…

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Top 4 Favorite Parenting Books

Weeding through all the parent books out there can be overwhelming to say the least. We have read and reviewed a lot so we want to give your our top four!   Baby Knows Best by Deborah Carlisle Solomon – Hands down best gift for expecting parents. “Baby Knows Best” is a simple, modern, and…

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Quarterly Reflective Practice with Deb Curtis

January 20, 2018 Deb Curtis is returning to Charlottesville to work through a reflective practice with teachers! Participating educators will commit to a year of quarterly meetings for one week day each quarter and the Saturday following. ​Each quarter, the group will meet at the observation program and begin by discussing the focus of the…

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Teachers as Researchers Institute

January 19th, 2017 Deb Curtis, co-author of Visionary Director, Learning Together with Young Children, and Designs for Living and Learning is came to Charlottesville for a three day reflective practice institute! Teacher, administrators, and teacher educators from around the country joined us to reflect on how to make learning visible, learn alongside your students, and…

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Academic Vs. Play Based Programs

In some discussions and writing, you have referred to programs as academic. Parent’s Ask: It seems like you refer to academic as a negative thing, why? When would you have children in a more academic setting? Our Neighborhood believes children learn through play. We are social constructivists who believe children learn best in the context…

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“Stay” with New Baby on Way

Parent Question We have noticed our two year old has been saying “stay” a lot to both of us when it is time to part ways (e.g., at dropoff, when we’re putting him to bed).  We think it is probably related to changes or anticipated changes related to baby’s arrival. Do you have any advice…

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Rough Touches Continue

Parent Question Question here based on the Just a Minute Rough Touches session you did. When my 18 month old hits or scratches her dad or my face, usually while we are carrying her, we grab her hand and say, “That’s too rough.” followed by a “Do you need to be rough? Let’s go find…

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