Helpful Hints

I got this from Patti M.

DID YOU KNOW?

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. That's how the primates do it.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in a double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper.

Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, - Set heat to med-low and heat until warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works!

Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done. Easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You will frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount of frosting. Also eating less sugar and calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Round Table: Food Policy Under Obama

FYI

And while I am waiting for the thing to download, and we are on the subject of food, I got an email this morning for the recipe for Piggy Pie. It seems one of the children is particularly fond of Piggy Pie.

The actual recipe comes from a book I read on Medieval food and cooking. The original was a honey based recipe, and I "foxed" it by adding ketchup.

The recipe I regularly use at school has pork, but chicken can also be used. You bake the meat, and especially the pork until all the fat is cooked off. Then, using a pair of kitchen sheers, you cut the meat into bite sized pieces and put it in a heavy bottom (so the mix won't burn) pot with equal amounts of ketchup and brown sugar and fruit juice. You boil this mix for about 20 minutes. It can be served on whole grain noodles or brown rice, or as a sandwich material. Kids really love this stuff. It saves in the refrigerator a week once cooked.

This meal was initially used in a Medieval week during a banquet just for the kids, and they liked it so much we have made it part of our fall and winter and spring fare. It's a favorite. We will be having it on Tuesday. I bought a 10 pound roast, so there will be plenty.

One of these days, like in the next couple of weeks, we expect to have our food inspection. This will mean a check on how we are doing at providing food to children. I'm looking forward to this because we have worked so hard this year to make every single meal we serve to our children outstanding.

The video is from Food Navigator and is about the Obama Food Policies. This is the kind of thing I look at all the time.

New Water Guidelines

Here's an article from Food Navigator about water guidelines. the article talks about obesity and it stresses getting all the junk drinks out of the schools. Water is the glue for all metabolic functions in the body. It's a good article and well worth the read.

Go Here.

New Book: The Attachment Connection

There is an excellent new book out by Ruth P Newton entitled The Attachment Connection - Parenting a Secure & Confident Child Using the Science of Attachment Theory.

This book sorts out the facts from the fiction about parent-child attachment and shows how paying attention to the emotional needs of your child during the first five years of development can help him or her grow up happy, secure, and confident.

The book talks about brain development at each stage of growth. It helps parents use reasonable, easy to implement guidelines based on sound science to foster secure attachment, healthy social skills, and emotional regulation.

It begins before the child is born and carries the reader through age five.

The book is easy to read, and offers parents lots of scenarios to make points and to illustrate, through exceptionally good writing, the mistakes we all make as parents. It's upbeat and positive. I really like this one.

I've had the book on my desk four months and have read parts of the book on and off for those four months and can't put it away. It's really quite good and well worth buying. For anyone interested in how children grow, develop or how the brain develops, this is the book for you.

The book is published by New Harbinger Publications and can be seen at

www.newharbinger.com.

Our Friday Report

It's a been a great week! The kids have been great about the play and many of them have learned at least some of their lines. We are encouraging parents to read the whole script with them so that the children will know when to come in with their line or lines. It should be a wonderful play.

I'm really impressed with the children's ability to color this year. We have been working with the little kids and teaching them to think first before they color. They have begun to understand what it means to turn out something they can be proud of. My best colorers are Zoey and Trevor.

We've talked about the Pilgrims this week, and we've read the lives of Sarah Morton and Samuel Eaton. The children are impressed with how much the Pilgrims had to work. They are interested in what it must have been like to wear lots of petticoats. Meme remembered that one of the household jobs Sarah Morton had was to scoop the animal poop and put it in the garden. Luke remembered that there was poop, but he couldn't place the importance. Addie remembered that Sarah had to milk the goats.

We played the old "name game" that we've played for years at the GS. We choose a category, like animals, and go around the circle of kids and each child names something in the category without naming something someone else has named. If you can't think of one or if your repeat an animal, then you have to sit out. We had Andrew, Isaac, Nathan, Alex W, Alex H, win today. It's a fun game and the kids like this kind of thinking and storing knowledge.

We started two adorable twins this week. They are the cutest kids. They are really enjoying themselves at the GS. We also started a little girl in Miss Kelly's class whose mother pulled her after two days because Mom didn't want to come to any of the parties or participate in the life of the school, and because she worked, thought she should be excused. Also, she thought the very idea of field trip was endangering the lives of the children at the Garden School. She said she really liked our program, but...

If you really like the Garden School program, then you understand that the life of the school depends on the extras, the parties and the trips. It's a whole child program; we are not a day care, and we care about the development of the entire child. The trips help teachers teach, and offer something special that allows kids to think about more than the four walls of the building we attend school in. The parties are celebrations around celebrating times. We have eight parties: Grandparent's Tea; Halloween; Thanksgiving Play; Christmas; Valentine's Day; The St. Patrick Day Play; Spring Sing and Book Fair; Awards Day. These events are 45 minutes long and can be a lunch break.

We had some regular meals this week: today we had homemade pizza, yesterday we had roast chicken. The kids liked the bean and sausage soup on Wednesday. We had hot dogs on Tuesday and chili on Monday. They seem to like fruit salad in a cup served with a pick. Most of our problem eaters are simply in the habit of not eating. It's not that they can't or won't, but that they simply have never really had to eat anything, so they have habitualized not eating.

Please look at the wonderful art work accumulating for Thanksgiving. The kids do such a nice job.

Have a great weekend!

Teacher News

From Education Week:

Here's an article about what the Democrat’s agenda includes: expanding preschool, recruiting teachers, increasing funding for charter schools, and amending the No Child Left Behind Act.

For the entire article, go HERE.

Give Kids a Smile Day

Dear Parent,

On February 6, 2009, the Indiana Dental Association, in partnership with the American Dental Association, will host the 7th annual Give Kids a Smile Day. Dentists across the state are
opening their offices to donate dental care to children from low-income families.

To participate in Give Kids a Smile, the child must meet thefollowing requirements:

• The child must be 16 years old or under.
• The student must not have access to dental insurance and be unable to afford regular dental care, OR if the child has Medicaid, the family must not have a dental provider.

If your child is in need of dental care and meets the requirements mentioned above, please
follow the directions below. This is a one-day only event. Appointments are required
because many offices cannot accept walk-in patients.

Scheduling an appointment for Give Kids a Smile is as easy as 1, 2, 3

1. Call (800) 680-9302 and an operator will confirm your eligibility, and take the
following information to provide to a volunteer Give Kids a Smile dental office:

• Name
• Phone number
• City where you live
• Number of children who need treatment

2. A local dental office will call you to set up the appointment time.

3. Show up at the scheduled appointment time. Appointments are on a first-come
first-served basis and cannot be rescheduled.

Sincerely,
The Indiana Dental Association

The play

Good morning!

It's play season! Yeah, and to ad to that a yet bigger yeah, Miss Kelly is directing it! This is probably the most difficult thing we do at the Garden School. But that's an opinion based on doing plays for years. The most difficult thing to accomplish is coordinating all the scenes and getting the kids to remember the dialogue and not letting frustrations claim your mood.

Miss Kelly is digging in and making it her own. She is such a good teacher and such a delight to have at the GS. Her work is so careful and deliberate. I know this play, like everything she does, will be outstanding. I am delighted to delegate this task to someone I have complete trust in. Her exemplary work makes it an easy hand over. I really feel the young teachers should have the experience of doing this because it adds a special something to ones teaching strategy.

My own personal appreciation goes out to her as well because the anxiety of performing is really tough on all the senses. You wake in the middle of the night for days wondering if it will work, remembering lines in your sleep and having that awful restless sense that somehow something is missing. As I mentioned, it is probably the most time consuming project we handle, and it takes all of us, but at the center is the teacher who is directing the children. It's really her work that makes or breaks the play.

This year, yours truly will be tackling the backdrops and set; Mrs. St. Louis is adding to her costume collection; Miss Amy is doing crowd control and working on fund raiser; and it goes oh so well.

Most of you have received a copy of your child's lines. Please have your child memorize his or her line or lines and know what comes before those lines. Please read the whole scene to your child so he knows when to say his line or lines. This would be an immeasurable help.

Costumes will be provided.

Hyperactivity by Judy Lyden

I've been thinking a lot about hyperactivity these days. Perhaps because I see the hyperactive in a different light than most people. I see hyperactivity from the inside rather than from the outside. The question of hyperactivity begins with the question itself - what is hyperactivity?

When you read about it, the experts say, "It's a disease treatable with certain mind altering drugs." That's a bit far to go for someone like me who is as hyperactive as they come. I don't believe I'm mentally ill nor do I believe I need mind altering drugs! So I have to go back to the question of precisely what is Hyperactivity?

Suppose we take a different road into the whole meaning of hyperactivity? Suppose we legitimize hyperactivity for a few moments by saying it's a personality type much like other personality types. Let's look at some other personality types to compare:

There is a personality type of the quiet withdrawn person who rarely speaks and spends a lifetime letting others take the lead. This person rarely starts a conversation, has few friends, and spends a lot of time alone. Would you find this person mentally ill and needing medication? Probably not because this person does not bother anyone.

Let's look at the artistic type. This person is often up and down like an umbrella. They are always finding some weird quirky thing that they talk about with great interest. They constantly produce little craft items with their hands or with their minds. They often make nothing into something. They save and display all measure of things because of the shape or the color or the shadow that the object casts. Would you find this person mentally ill and needing medication to change his or her personality? Probably not because he or she produces interesting things to look at.

What about the athletic type? This person is always thinking about movement and going. This person runs, jumps, lifts, and exercises for full pleasure of the movement. This person is often competitive, arrogant, off putting when it comes to strength and energy or the shape of his or her body because it's the whole focus of every conversation. Is this person needing to be slowed down by medication, and can you call this person mentally ill? Probably not because we get a lot of pleasure from sports and the heroes we call sportsmen and women.

The comedian is always trying to get a laugh and will often disrupt conversation, will disrupt a whole room and draw unnecessary attention to himself and his own brand of the funnies. He will do nearly anything to make people pay attention to him. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but we wouldn't medicate him because sometimes he makes us laugh.

Now let's look a the hyperactive personality. Hyperactivity is just that - a body that is most comfortable when it is moving. Unlike the athlete who desires movement to hone his body and to become more skilled, the hyperactive is uncomfortable when his motion is stopped. Sitting for any length of time will often make the body cramp and tingle and ache. When you direct the hyperactive in competition or the movement of any sport, the product is superb. It's a match made in heaven.

At the same time, the hyperactive is often artistic and often creates whole worlds for himself because he has the energy and interest in "doing." Most hyperactives will create and recreate their worlds with anything that's near just to have something to do. Sitting or doing repetitive work is as alien to them as creating is to most non- hyperactives. That is unless they can do two things at once like making and watching, or singing and dancing, or doing and talking.

Many hyperactive people are comedians and want the attention of others. They are driven to "do" and make people laugh and cry by their never ending actions.

And last but not least, the hyperactive can be very lonely and keep to himself because there are few others who really understand the intense drive inside them that is screaming for others to turn up the crank. Hyperactive personalities view the world in high speed much like a 78 record. Unfortunately, the world's record turns in 33.

So why is the hyperactive regarded as mentally ill and needing medication?

There are two types of hyperactive personalities: directed and non directed.

The directed personality is well formed by parents who understand their multidimensional child and who direct that child every day to make sure that ALL his talents shine every single day. They don't give the child a break in their demands to do, do, do, and do more until the child drops. Lots of chores, lots of responsibilities very early, and lots of sleep. Lots and lots of calories are served and lots and lots of hours of sleep are mandatory for a directed on target hyperactive. It's a matter of getting up every day charged and ready for a day of go, go, go, do, do, do! As long as there is "production" there is no problem, but then there is the other side.

The non directed personality has been ignored, denied, disliked and suffocated by a well meaning parent who only wants his or her child to "be like everyone else." What these parents don't understand is that their super child will never be "like everyone else." The hyperactive personality is many personalities in one, and the overriding need to do, do, do, will make the suffocated child a mess if he is not directed by the parent. Without direction, the child has no boundaries, no scheme, and ultimately a life filled with chaos. All his energy goes to distruction and disruption.

It's an exhausting job to direct such a personality. The worst thing a parent can do is to medicate one of these personalities and try to force his elephant personality into a nice kitty or a nice doggie. He is and will always be an elephant, and an elephant needs room, food, and a place to roar. Medication makes a child feel lost and alone. He is frightened by his parents inability to regard him with the esteme he deserves. Hyperactive children see their young worlds in a very different light than other children. They are keenly aware of the differences between what they are and the next child.

What most hyperactives think is that most normal people are dullards and lazy. A well formed hyperactive will be bored by most people and will go quiet after a while simply because the communication track has no value to him. A good comparison is sitting a hungry person in front of a slice of pizza and 4 ounces of milk. That's fine for most people, but the hyperactive needs the whole pizza and the whole gallon of milk!

Put two hyperactives together in a room and you have a whole new set of rules. Ever listen to two or three hyperactives talk? It's like a playing two or three records all at once and everyone knows what everyone else is saying and it all makes sense. The non hyperactive goes home sick with a headache, and the hyperactives all go home supercharged and ready to rake six acres of leaves.

The theme songs for hyperactivity are: energy begets energy; the more you do the more you do; nothing is too hard, to long, to much; tired is for sissies; is that all there is?

And the sad thing is, none of this is acceptable to the non hyperactive. The personality type is considered obnoxious and arrogant and much in need of slowing down, so we medicate him into normalcy. Thank God we didn't medicate Alexander the Great, or Theordore Roosevelt, or Davy Crocket or St. Paul.

Halloween

Good morning!

We had a delicious day last Friday. We had our breakfast and climbed aboard the bus early and left for Boonville and the nursing home we visit there. The residents just loved the visit. We sang and sang and sang, and the children were so animated; it was adorable. The songs were precious and the delivery could not have been better.

Our costumes were delightful - lots of fairy princesses and Spidermen; a football player, a zooologist, a cheerleader, a zombie, and dozens of other wonderful make believe characters. It's always so much fun when parents get involved and help a child with a costume.

The party was fun. It was short, as it should have been. This is a time for kids not adults. It's important for the children to have lots of time to trick or treat when they get home. Having them in costume and something in their stomachs is important.

All our teachers dresssed up and so did some of the parents. The kids loved it. Five children, however, had no accompanying adult at the party. Two children were in tears because nobody was there for them. Teachers are very concerned about the failure of these families to appear at the party. Party days are part of our curriculum. In a culture of "reduction" for suitable children's activities, it's important to salvage what we can and include a party once a month to exercise celebrations and make the child the focus of the day. These parties are 45 minutes long. Is that too much time to spend on a child? Feedback is appreciated.

This month, our focus is on the big Thanksgiving play. Children will be given lines to learn and costumes will be provided. We will practice the play two hours a day. The play is on Firday, November 21 at 3:00.

The play allows us to learn about the life of early Americans and the Native Americans who came together to share what they had. Plays are great fun and the kids learn to cooperate with one another in whole new way. It's a great learning experience.

This week out theme is Pilgrims. Please ask your children what they have learned about Pilgrims!

Campbells For Schools

I like to browse the Food Navigator's articles every week. This week I found an article on the Campbell's company. The article is about changing their formula in order to make it available to school children. Right now, the regular Campbell's soup formula does not have enough nutrition to serve in early childhood places. I can't serve their soups and have it count as a food.

The new formula still includes transfats and has a high sodium of 480 mg per serving.

The other foods I am not allowed to serve are boxed macaroni and cheese and canned spaghetti. These foods do not have enough nutrition to count as "food." Mostly they are bulk calories and contribute to obesity in children. One parent told me once, "But she will eat it." This is not a good reason to serve a non food item to children. Years of eating these kinds of foods will increase holes in the intestines which is called diaviticulosis. This increases the cause and potential for bowel disease.

For more on the article go HERE.

Something for Moms

I got this from Susie E. and thought it was hilarious. I know there are lots of dads who do all these things, and we'd like to hear from them. Is there one of these for men?

The Next Television Survivor Series

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, and complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of 'pretend' bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.

Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time--no Emailing.

Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment.

He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care.

He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.

The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep fingernails polished and eyebrows groomed.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties.

They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.

They will need to read a book to the kids each night and in the morning, feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair by 7:00 am.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name. Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

The kids vote them off the island based on performance. The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.

If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years eventually earning the right To be called Mother!

Good Morning!

There's a snow storm in New York. That's exciting. It means we are finally leaving summer behind and entering the lovely "darker" seasons. It's great for the kids to experience such wonderful seasonal changes. As you have probably noticed, the leaves are just beginning to change. I remember when they were pretty much down by Halloween, and we tromped through them on the way from door to door. Such an exciting time !!

Yesterday Miss Amy tirelessly kicked off the fund raiser. She has done a fantastic job finding just the right thing, and we are all very excited by all her efforts. This is what makes the GS a wonderful place to be. It's what I always call the "care taking" element. The GS has always been a safe haven for many people at many times. We built our little school with the idea that it was more than a school. It was a "place to be" for families. That's why we do the parties and the picnics and the field trips. A child's life is greater than any one of those things, and so those things become a part of a child's life, which in turn is part of a family. We serve families and that's our mission.

The fund raiser helps our little place with the extras we couldn't afford otherwise, and having someone as warm and happy and enthusiastic and brilliant as our Miss Amy makes the school the kind of place people want to be a part of and that's what makes it a success.

Please take note of your children's art around the school. You are welcome to take it home on Friday after the party. If you don't collect it, we will send it home on Monday.

Goblins!

The Pirate Candy Coins from China

Here's an article from Food Navigator about those candy coins from China. It's the real scoop:

For the article go HERE.

A New Taste Treat Delight!

I provided healthy snacks at the Literacy Fair at Chandler School last night. It was a nice evening with Mary Jo Huff as the entertainment. My job was to provide healthy treats for all the parents and children. I used the usual treats our kids get at the Garden School. I served chocolate cake, ginger bread cookies, chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon muffins, cranberry and walnut muffins and peanut butter pie for 200. It was well received.

It's funny how parents are always leery about strange food for their kids, but once they tried the cookies and muffins, most of them came back for the recipes. Food is mostly only thought about when we are hungry or when it's right in front of you. Preparing food is a skill, and it takes a lot of thought. When you consider how much food makes or shakes our health, it's worth the time and effort to make it count NOW not when we suddenly find ourselves with heart or kidney trouble and it's too late. Children today have the arteries of 40 year olds because of what they eat, and that's not going away any time soon.

This morning I'm publishing a great article from World's Healthiest Foods about sea vegetables. This is our new thing. I must the Asian store for this I'm sure, but ... well you read the article and see if you think it's something to try:

Go HERE for the article.

A History Lesson for a Sunday

I got this from Edith.

If any of you have ever been to a military funeral in which Taps was played?

This little history lesson brings out a new meaning to Taps.

Most of us have heard the haunting song, 'Taps'. It's the song that gives us that lump in our throats and usually tears in our eyes. It all began in 1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison 's Landing in Virginia. The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land. During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the Captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention.

Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began pullinghim toward his encampment. When the Captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead. The Captain lit a lantern and suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out. Without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army.

The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial, despite his enemy status. His request was only partially granted. The Captain had asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for his son at the funeral. The request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate. But, out of respect for the father, they did say they could give him only one musician. The Captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth's uniform. This wish was granted.

The haunting melody, we now know as 'Taps' used at military funerals was born. The words are:

Day is done ... Gone the sun From the lakes ... From the hills ...From the sky . All is well. Safely rest .. God is nigh.

Fading light .. Dims the sight .. And a star ... Gems the sky Gleaming bright from afar .. Drawing nigh.

Falls the night. Thanks and praise ... For our days. Neath thesun ... Neath the stars... Neath the sky. As we goThis we know .. God is nigh.

I too have felt chills while listening to 'Taps' but I have never seen all the words to the song until now. I didn't even know there was more than one verse. I also never knew the story behind the song and I didn't know if you had either, so I thought I'd pass it along.

Please remember our Armed Forces every day.

The Garden School Tattler

Good morning!

It's a lovely rainy day, and do we ever need rain!

As you have probably not noticed, we have had our front garden FINALLY done by Miss Amy's family. It looks marvelous, and it's guaranteed to stay put! We are trying to get the garden tilled and a new place for the strawberries for next spring. That will do it until next spring.

Looking ahead is an important part of running the school. Looking at the children and what they will need in the immediate future as well as the long range future is the only way of managing their education and their young lives away from home.

Manners, appropriate responses, the ability to listen, the ability to put the right appropriate answers with a question, and the ability to understand the rules and follow directions are things that a child will take with them into a very unfriendly world!

One of the things we have had problems with this week is a failure to use the bathroom at assigned times. We have eight assigned times to use the toilet and to wash our hands. Children are welcomed to use the bathroom at any time with the exception of being out on the playground. If they must use the bathroom, they may, but they must turn in their medals for the privilege. Here's the problem. We all line up to USE the bathroom, and they play and never get the job done. They are all asked, "Did you use the bathroom," and the answer is always yes, and then about five kids will get to the playground and say, "I have to go to the bathroom."

A teacher must take the child to the bathroom and leave only one teacher watching the kids, or send the disobedient child to the bathroom hoping that the teacher indoors will stop what she is doing and keep an eye on the child. Mostly, it's a "fool around" problem, and the child sent is only interested in the new toy.

We eat in a very orchestrated manner. We all wash our hands, we sit at our table with our hands in our lap and wait for everyone to be seated. We take roll for the food program, we are told what is on our plates, and we pray and then we eat. The kids are wonderful at this and it makes table time such a joy. We have increased our eating and our manners by 100%.

In the afternoon, we have a fast an furious French class. The children again go to the bathroom and wash their hands after eating, and then straggle into French class. I start teaching when there are five children present. We start with hellos and then move to song or prayer or animal identification. When everyone is gathered, we count, or review vocabulary. This straggle in method of organization keeps the stragglers from disrupting the class. They come in and sit and start right away. But this doesn't work for every class.

Yesterday we did a world social studies and world map thing with both the little group and the big group. Some of the children in Miss Amy's class were able to identify North America, South America, Africa, and Asia. It was amazing how much they have learned. The younger children loved the map and are learning to color, so it was not a waste of time for them.

Today is a fine arts day in the PM. We will do theatre after lunch. The kids really like this. I think today we will do the story of The Little Red Hen.

We are writing the Thanksgiving play now, and it looks really cute. We will cast it next week, and begin our practice shortly after Halloween.

Have a great day!

The Garden School Tattler

Good morning!

Another spectacular day - weather wise! It's a day for just about any kind of clothing. The sun will be bright and very warm, and there will be a nice little chill in the air on the playground. Toward the end of afternoon recess, the sun will be very warm, and the children will be hot and thirsty. Yesterday we had bug juice on the playground and today, we just might do the same thing. Bug juice is lemon aid with a berry juice blend.

Yesterday we looked at Europe with an emphasis on Italy. We had a story from France - Puss in Boots. I love that story because of all the possibilities and the fact the wonderful cat takes advantage of just about every raw material around him. If you are going to do something great, do it like Puss with gusto and nerve!

We are hoping that we can kick off this year's fundraiser on Thursday. We are waiting for the brochures to arrive.

Today is Africa day. We will take a tour of Africa by book and by film. We will eat peanut encrusted chicken, rice with peanuts and yams and pineapple for lunch. Peanuts came from Africa as did yams. It will be a favorite lunch.

The new playground toy is a smashing success. It's always completely filled with lines waiting.

If our fundraiser is successful, we will be able to buy the new fence, but also put the sandbox back together with great new "covered" sand. We will be able to buy some new trucks and cars for outside use, and a new wagon or two. We are always looking for pea gravel options.

Our children spend more time on recess than any other early childhood place because we don't nap. We play and learn instead of sleep. This makes our kids tired at the end of the day, but tired at the end of the day is better than wired at 10:00 p.m. because they slept all day.

The K-1 class is beginning to collect bugs. We want to do this with our middle class, Miss Amy's class as well, but we need cigar boxes. If you have any, please bring them to school.

Have a great day!

The Garden School Tattler

Good morning!

It's going to be a great week for "outside!" With a chill in the morning and sun all week, and temps climbing into the higher 60s and 70s we couldn't ask for nicer weather. I hope it holds for Halloween because the kids will be quite comfy in their costumes.

This week is The World of Nations week. United Nations Day is this week, and we will be beginning our look at the world of nations. Today we will find out about Central and South America and the Spanish roots. We will eat a traditional lunch from Mexico. I looked for quinoa and couldn't find any at Schnucks.

This weekend Miss Amy and I went to lunch and discussed our fundraiser. We will be sending out letters this week about it. It is strictly volunteer, but all your help is needed and appreciated.

We got the big prize for the Beautiful Baby Contest. Amy and I bought a delightful teeter totter airplane at Rural King on Sunday. It seats seven. It was ten dollars more than what we made with the contest. This kind of little fundraiser allows us to buy the big kinds of things we ordinarily couldn't buy. We operate on a shoestring. Teachers salaries are low and expenses are high, and we are always robbing Peter to pay Paul, but that's the way a small business is. We had roof damage during the storm, and the bill was $600.00. Luckily, Mr. Phil and Mr. Terry were able to put it right for 1/3 of that.

We know tuition is high and it's a struggle for most parents. That's why we try to provide all your child's art supplies and most of your school supplies. The extras have to come from donations and fundraisers. Right now, we desperately need a new fence, a sand box upgrade and work on the front yard. A small business is always a work in progress.

We also thought about doing an in school, last of the day, Discovery Toy party as a convenience to parents. Discovery Toys are great toys and very educational, but you can't just buy them. We thought if we had a display at school at the end of the day, parents could look at them. They are great for Christmas. Christmas is coming up quick. I need some feedback on this ;-) If we do this, the school will get a portion of toys which we will keep for January.

Halloween is our next big event. We encourage the kids to dress up and wear their costume all day. We have three nursing homes to visit Halloween day, and we thought we would take the kids out to lunch. Then in the PM there is a party at 3:00. We will tidy the children and have them ready to leave the GS at 4:00 for trick or treat.

Thanksgiving follows with our play on the Friday before Thanksgiving. It's a big month!

The Garden School Tattler

Good Morning!

We had a wonderful day out yesterday. We went to Angel Mounds and had a delightful hour at the museum. The inside of the museum has changed so much over the years. There were lots of other visitors and one lady from Eastern Europe who was just fascinated by what she was reading.

Our children were well behaved, but really wanted to bolt.

We got to see and touch all the tools that the ancient Native Americans, the Mississippians used. There was a drill the kids liked especially. We got to see and touch a lot of animal hides and a wooden canoe.

Then we went out on the property to see the grounds. We walked around the whole thing. It was a glorious day! Nathan found a skeleton of a snake, and he decided he would donate it to the museum. We gave it to his friend Haley who works there. It was really so cute.

We picnicked at the Fortress of Fun and then came home to some stories and play at school. All in all a great day!

We are so waiting for the leaves changing. Perhaps by Halloween we will get to see some colors.

Another Reason to Serve Milk at Dinner!

Vitamin D has been in the news a lot the past few weeks. Everyone is talking about this quiet little vitamin. Doctors tell women, "Take vitamin D" because "You probably aren't getting enough." But we never learn why we should and what will happen to us if we don't.

There was a study done recently about how children don't get outside enough. The old days of play, play, play outside are gone, and that children are consuming great quantities of soda pop and leaving the milk in the refrigerator. They are missing the vitamin D, but we still don't know why.

We make sure that every child is served three cups of milk every day at school. We also make sure that every child goes outside for at least 1.5 hours a day.

There has been a new study about milk and Parkinson's Disease, and this testing is not controversial at all. It seems that patients with Parkinson's have much less vitamin D in their bodies than they should. Same with Alzheimer's patients.

Another good reason to serve milk at dinner - and to everyone! For adults milk, with its vitamin D, might just postpone old age another few decades. The source for vitamin D is the sun and the basic food source is milk, so drink up and go outside more!

To read the article on the new study, go HERE.

Trouble is...There's No Time for ME!

Here is a wonderful article for all our moms and dads who never put themselves first. If you are exhausted and overworked to the point of tears, you need to read this article from the Spark People. It's about taking time for self as a legitimate goal. As always, our prayers go out each day to our families, our friends and those who are suffering.

For the article from The Spark People go HERE.

The Pumpkin

We made a neat new dish today. We baked a pumpkin whole. It was stuffed with ground chuck and rice. It was soooooo easy. We had some tiny pie pumpkins at school. I have been wanting to make something out of the pumpkins for a long time, and this week while we are studying Native Americans, I thought it would be a great time to do that "something."

I cut the top off and reamed out the pumpkin which was probably the hardest part of the job. After reaming, I put already cooked hamburger and rice which was about 50/50. I salted it somewhat and used a little pumpkin pie spice. I baked the pumpkin for about 1.5 hours at 350 degrees.

I made a cheese sauce to put on top of the finished product.

Cheese sauce is easy. You melt about a tablespoon of butter in a sauce pan. You mix about 1/4 cup of flour into the melted butter until you have a paste. Add two cups of milk and bring to a boil. Add 5 slices of American Cheese - not cheddar because it will taste like soap - and a teaspoon of dry chicken bouillon. When it's thick and actually looks like you want to eat it, add a glob of sour cream. Use a whisk as a tool.

When I got home from school, I made another stuffed pumpkin for Mr. Terry. This time I used vegetables like mushrooms and leeks and walnuts, and made a bouillon sauce for it. Instead of rice, I used bulgur. It was very nice. It didn't need the cheese sauce.

We had corn, applesauce, and flat bread with cheese as the rest of our meal.

If you have any questions about this pumpkin business, let me know. It was a real success with the kids.

The Garden School Tattler

Good morning! Another fine day. Although it's been unseasonably hot, it's been dry and I think a lot of us are kind of enjoying this. I'm still looking for the fog, rain, overcast blustery day, but this will do for now. Today will be another 85 degree day, so shorts, shorts, shorts, please!

On Friday, we had a visit from PBS. Steve Burger came by to record the kids about their thoughts on the creative process. We had an art class, and then the kids were free to build, or do art as they wanted. It was a very productive morning. Steve was fascinated by the children's ability to work and to play at that work. He spoke to a lot of the kids about what they had done, and then he followed the boys into Miss Amy's classroom to talk about their building a house on the carpet. He was very interested in the Garden School's core curriculum - the arts.

I told him that no matter the standards, a child is MUCH more likely to be a better student who has a lot of art and music, because most school work is a matter of "what to do" to get it right. Whereas art is a matter of "how to do" and the question "how" lends itself to more depth of thought, more possibilities, more creativity, a broader ability to tackle any problem. That's why we do art in the classroom every day, and we try to make our art projects as open ended as possible.

The program will air on November 11. More details later.

This week our theme is Columbus and the Native American. We will look at Columbus's voyage and what he discovered when he got here. We will look at the Native American as a stone age person and what that means in a world that was rapidly changing.

On Thursday, we will go to Angel Mounds for a tour and then go out to Fortress of Fun for a picnic before returning to school.

This week we will be sampling some Native American foods a la Americana. Watch the meal binder in the front of the school for details.

Another exciting week.

Food of the Week

One of the ten perfect foods is kale. Not sure I've ever eaten it, but you can trust I am going to try soon. Kale has been given a place among the ten perfect foods list along with broccoli, sweet potatoes, raspberries, eggs, yogurt, quinoa, almonds and two more I can't remember now.

Trying new foods with children means making it attractive and desirable. We've been trying new foods with the kids every week just like we're trying new life skills. This is one of our kids climbing down from the Survive Alive House.

For more on Kale from World's Healthiest Foods go HERE.

Blueberries

Want to know why blueberries are one of the best fruits for your kids? Here's an article from Food Navigator that has all the information. You can be sure we will be having blueberries on the menu this week!

To read the article on blueberries click HERE.

Early Childhood - What it Should Be by Judy Lyden

Early Childhood Education is a passion with me. Sometimes I think my passion is a means to set the story straight. As a very neglected and brutally abused child, I want to reorder the world. Sometimes I think my passion is more related to "seeing all they can do."

As an early childhood educator, my experience with teaching the youngest class teaches me that the more you offer a child, the more intellectual gas you put into his tank. And that doesn't only apply to the brightest and the strongest. It applies to all the children.

Offer a child ten minutes a day of story or art, and you get a child mildly interested in stories and art. Offer a child an hour of wild and crazy art with colors and textures and you may help develop an artist. Offer a child a foreign language, and he may discover the world of linguistics. A real experience with theatre and acting and the sky is the limit.

Children gain their love of real work from doing real work at school and having the right person tell them they are wonderful. Not every child will be thrilled with every subject, but every child needs every subject to discover what does thrill him and what makes him excel as a whole person.

Offering children new intellectual experiences at three, four, five, six, and into grammar school is what every early childhood place should be doing. The nice thing about the years before grammar school is that the freedom of the hours lends a creative approach to framing in time so that there are many things all day every day.

Fitting everything in is the hard part. And some things are better every day like foreign language. Children need to hear the new language spoken as often as possible, and they need to learn expressions that they can learn and say. Once a week is not enough time spent if you want children to really learn to experience a new language and understand what language means.

Theatre, on the other hand, is one of those things that is very consuming all at one time. To do theatre every day would be exhausting. But there should come a time when a school is working on a play, and all the kids are involved from morning to night for several weeks in a row. It's a good way of teaching "plan, do and review" as a life lesson, as a means of understanding organizational skills.

Then there are the other subjects like science. Science is a constant "work in progress" or something that curiously invades our lives every day, but something we don't often take the time to look up or do anything about. So science class should be a meeting place where we discuss all those neet things we saw this week and need to share. It's also a time to be introduced to new natural ideas.

Then there is music. Music is a more than once a day thing. Music is like praying twice! It's the song of our hearts being creative with our world. Kids need to sing every day, they need to play music with their hands and understand music in their minds. Listening, playing, singing, dancing, and the sound of poetry are all parts of music that need to be engaged, and setting aside at least one daily time is essential.

But there are other things that involve learning like culture, like holidays, like weather, like nutrition, like exercise, like friendship, like building and sewing and clay. All these things should have a time planned out by the people who say they love your child.

A good early childhood program should be inventive and creative and wide open for every possible experience because children need this. Parents need to treasure all their children do.

The Garden School Tattler

The winner of our beautiful baby contest is Kylie!!! Yeah Kylie!!! :-))))

Kylie won with a whopping $20.45. Andrew was our beautiful boy with a whopping $20.02 Runners up were Austin and Jaylen. Congratulations. Our proceeds will go to buying a new piece of playground equipment. Thank you all for such a beautiful event. Pictures will be returned tomorrow.

We want to thank the parents for supporting us during the conference. Without a great group of parents, it would not be possible. Teaching needs a breath of fresh air once in a while, and this conference really hit the mark. All of us are using what we learned and the kids are having a lot of fun with their new words. It is always surprising what children don't know. Too often we take for granted that they understand what we read and what we say. Many times that is not so. So we are being very aware of what words we use. We want our children to have the very best vocabularies in the city.

This week is Fire Safety Week. We will be going to the Survive Alive House on Wednesday. It's a great experience for the children and makes them very aware of home safety. We will be giving out grids for parents to help children draw their home and create a fire escape route. Parents will be encouraged to work on a family escape plan. Children will be given information about getting out of the house safely. We hope this can be a family learning experience.

Report cards will be going home with children on Monday. In many respects they are the kinds of report cards children will receive for years. In other respects they are a specialty of the Garden School. Please read the key. It says the children's work ethic, ability and contribution to class are either excellent, good, average or poor. Nobody fails!

Please notice the new "French Word Wall." These are the French words your child is learning this week. They have to do with fire and fire equipment.

An English vocabulary word wall will begin soon. We are very excited about our new focus on vocabulary.

This week will be extraordinarily hot. Please be kind and send your child in long pants.

Shape Up Shoe for Christmas

OK, I'm the downer of the moment, but Christmas IS just around the corner. I knew that when I realized we are in the month of October and Halloween is weeks away. The holiday season is a tough season for any woman who works, or any man who is left without a woman. If you're like me, the holiday list grows every single year. It's hard enough to get all the kids covered, but those people you love who have nearly everything...

One of my distributors sent the most fantastic product - The Shape Up Shoe. I unwrapped this shoe and thought, "What is this?" But all of our teachers tried on this wonderful toy and found that wearing this marvelous shoe for half an hour was exactly what the promise says - like exercising ferociously! It's shaped strangely, and if you actually roll with the shoe, it strengthens your legs and you can feel it right to the navel.

For children needing more exercise, this is a real possibility. Many children don't want to exercise simply because they haven't. Kids will find these shoes fun, and they will strengthen muscles and make running and jumping more of a pleasure.

My distributor said:

Every woman knows that exercise is so important to a healthy lifestyle but finding the time to work out is extremely difficult.

With work, family and social commitments most women are just too busy for the gym.

Now there is an amazing new way to exercise while you are simply walking around each day!

Shape Up Shoes offers a convenient way to get fit and firm up your body.

By wearing these innovative yet comfortable shoes only 30 minutes a day, you will notice a positive change in your legs, glutes, and core musculature.

Wear these fabulous fitness shoes while doing menial, everyday tasks that need to be completed and you are on your way to a toned and fantastic new body! ShapeUpShoes

Noah's Ark

This is truly amazing! Cannot even imagine the work, time, and money that went into this venture. It's also amazing to see how large this is - and that the fact it is to scale of biblical times. Enjoy. This is a working Replica of Noah's Ark Opens In Schagen , Netherlands

The massive central door in the side of Noah's Ark was thrown open Saturday for the first crowd of curious Pilgrims and townsfolk to behold the wonder.


Of course, it's only a replica of the biblical Ark , built by Dutch Creationist Johan Huibers as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible.

The ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That's two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house.

Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold. A contractor by trade, Huibers built the ark of cedar and pine. Biblical Scholars debate exactly what the wood used by Noah would have been. Huibers did the work mostly with his own hands, using modern tools and with occasional help from his son Roy.


Construction began in May 2005. On the uncovered top deck - not quite ready in time for the opening - will come a petting zoo, with baby lambs and chickens, and goats, and one camel. Visitors on the first day were stunned. 'It's past comprehension, ' said Mary Louise Starosciak, who happened to be bicycling by with her husband while on vacation when they saw The ark looming over the local landscape. 'I knew the story of Noah, but I had no idea the boat would have been so big.'

There is enough space near the keel for a 50-seat film theater where kids can watch a video that tells the story of Noah and his ark.



Huibers said he hopes the project will renew interest in Christianity in the Netherlands , where church going has fallen dramatically in the past 50 years. ''If You Need Help, Ask God. If You Don't, Thank God''... 'Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.' Psalm 23:6

When there is nothing left but God, that is when you find out that God is all you need. Live today to the fullest because tomorrow is not promised.

Easy Homemade Costumes from Craft Magazine

If you think this costume is cute, it's nearly free - it's a make me at home. We’re all feeling the squeeze from the economic downturn but that doesn’t have to mean cutting corners on family fun this Halloween. Craft magazine illustrates how to make fun and funky costumes for your kids with a visit to your recycling bin, sewing box or local craft store – much easier than standing in line at a crowded costume shop and a bit easier on the wallet, as well.

You can quickly and easily whip up these five amazing kiddy costumes using supplies you probably already have on hand, plus a bit of creativity. These custom-made outfits also have more staying power than most flimsy store-bought costumes, and you'll love how cheap and quick they are to make. Follow the links below for full instructions:

Bee: http://craftzine.com/halloweenkids/#bee
Monkey: http://craftzine.com/halloweenkids/#monkey
Lego: http://craftzine.com/halloweenkids/#lego
Sushi: http://craftzine.com/halloweenkids/#sushi
Pirate: http://craftzine.com/halloweenkids/#pirate

The Garden School Tattler

In a world desperate for the extraordinary, we learned this week about taking a traditional and extraordinary approach to teaching.

We had a wonderful time at the Department of Education Conference. We sat in classrooms for hours learning lots of really valuable things and gleaned many ideas for our little school. I think parents will see some BIG changes.

The Garden School is a good school, but as we agreed on the way up to Indianapolis, there is always a better mouse trap.

The focus of this reading workshop was vocabulary. The premise is: if a child is not familiar with tier 2 vocabulary, he will not read well. He will be constantly skipping over or looking up words and it will limit his reading fluency. What are the tier 2 vocabulary words? They are words like obnoxious, ferocious, dramatic, facetious, oblong, grapnel... or any word that is low usage.

People fly through conversation that is easy on the brain and refrain from using really descriptive words or colorful descriptions. We rarely use a tier 2 word in conversation. If you add up all you say in a day, your tier 2 words would be fairly limited. But in your reading life, those words are present, and in a growing child's reading life, those words - rarely heard- become a stumbling block.

Children are supposed to hear these words in the world - one of those world places is the classroom. Now there are all kinds of words - words that describe, words that move, words that apply to bits and parts, words that illustrate, words that direct and many other words. Our new job is to present those words to your children every single day.

Instead of reading a story, the teacher will read through the book and pick out the tier 2 words and bring them to the children's attention. But just telling a child what the word means won't make him learn. Studies show that a robust approach to teaching while using a repetition of 8-12 times will actually allow a child to remember a word and be able to use it. He must play with the word and make it belong to him.

Every single subject ( geography, social studies, science, health, art, music, theatre and drawing) need to engage a child in the words that bring that subject to life and use.

Too often we assume that children understand want we say and how we say it. One of the things that we have done since our creation is to provide our children with a growing vocabulary, but using words and saying words is not enough. Providing children with an opportunity to "own" these words at a very early age is the goal.

We will need your help in using our new vocabulary words with your children. We will be creating a word wall with words we encourage your children to "own." Please take a look every day and take one of these words home (in your head) and play word games with your child.

And just a little BTW info for parents who love this kind of thing, we were able to divulge information about the GS at the conference, and we were a shining light. One principal said, "I wish your program was at my school." Another professor from Pennsylvania said, "I want to send my grandchildren to your school."

So now what we have to look forward to is more fun work and a better result in having these children learn tier 2 words. Please pay attention to what your children are learning and saying.

The Garden School Tattler

Greetings on another dry and brittle day! It's great for the kids because it's warm and it's dry, but it's killing the garden! This weekend I watered our poor grape vine, our cherry tree, the strawberries and the herb garden and what's left of the vegetables and vines. I think next year there will be a soaker out there. I don't want to talk about what's going on at home - even with daily watering. I even had to water my pond!

Today is a GREAT day! Lots to see and do. We're going out to the farm early - about 8:45, so we'll make sure we call all our stragglers at about 8:15. We're going out to Mayse farm for a tour, a hay ride, a run through several mazes and the hay castle. Every child will get to pick a pumpkin. Then it's off to Newburgh for a romp at our favorite park and a picnic lunch. We will have such a discovery day. I can't wait!

Then tonight, after a 12 hour day, the teachers are going to drive up to Indianapolis for a conference. I was quite interested in the vote positioned in the side bar here on the blog. Two people voted they preferred that teachers do professional development on the weekends. We usually do, but most really good workshops are during the week. Professional development is usually not an add on but part of the work week. Glad to know four of our parents are glad we are doing this. It does give us a boost as teachers to perform better with new ideas.

I am giving a workshop for the local branch of the National Association for the Education of Young Children in October. My workshop will be "The importance of Family Dining." I've offered workshops nearly every year for years. I'm not crazy about public speaking, but I think these local workshops are important. If you have an anecdote for my workshop, please let me know.

Report cards will be out next Monday.

We want to thank all the parents and grandparents who brought such a nice array of sweets and salty treats to school on Friday. Your support helps us so much. Many left over goodies will go on our picnic today. The kids will be thrilled.

Next party is Halloween.

Investing Money in Early Childhood? by Judy Lyden

Of all people, you would expect me to be excited about the promise some of the candidates running for President who are saying if they are elected, they will increase spending for Early Childhood. Not so. I'm not an advocate of spending without a plan. As with most government programs, when billions are dumped into a pot, that pot takes off running and is never heard from again!

Early Childhood Education is a very important issue to me, and that means being careful with the funds. Edith and I started our little corner of the world each with a whopping $80.00. We started off simply with a bag full of toys, a stack of books, and a lot of plans and a lot of heart. In 12 years, the GS has grown into a respectable school. Sure we've made mistakes, but not billion dollar mistakes!

When you look at the national picture of education, no two government representatives would agree on even what early childhood is. The truth is, most representatives can't give you a straight answer concerning early childhood at all. They don't really know very much about it. So the idea that someone even at the top is eager and willing to throw billions into something they know little about is alarming at best. "But if you give the money to people who DO know about early childhood..."

Yeah, yeah, but that never happens. What does happen is that a particular favored group gets a lot of money to build a spectacular building someplace as a show place for education. Now ditto this nationwide and presto bingo, we've spent billions. But the level of early childhood never really gets any better. Most funds go into buildings, and that has nothing whatsoever to do with early childhood. When buildings stand as the shining example of how we invested in early childhood education, there really is no improvement at all.

I'm a grass roots builder. I see every problem solved from the bottom up. If our nation wants really good early childhood education, it begins on every block with parents talking to one another about what they want for their children, and then turning a garage into that very special place. It's really that simple.

Children don't need a state of the arts building. They need people who love them and teach them. They need people who are there and promise to be there for them, teaching and struggling every day; people who keep those promises. Early childhood is short. It begins at birth ( some believe it begins before birth) and it goes through age eight. There is the infant stage - about a year; the toddler stage - about two years; the preschool stage - about three years and is finished by first, second and third grade. Once children go to big school, the foundation we commonly call early childhood is pretty much over. So what we are talking about are three different cares: infancy, toddlerhood, and preschool (including kindergarten).

I'm an advocate of in home care for children under three. I think homes do better than institutions on all levels. At three, it's time for kids to start to learn. Sometimes a home can cut it, and sometimes it can't. But no matter what, the idea of pouring money into a private home is almost silly. It's the home, the environment, the care provider who is the key here - and no amount of money will change those basic things or make them better. It's the tenet of the home which is the selling point for childcare.

At three, a child has shuffled off his infancy and toddlerhood and is ready to learn, but once again, he doesn't need a state of the arts building. He needs solid caring teachers who can teach him what he wants to know. You can buy that with more Federal funds for salaries, but it wouldn't take billions of dollars and probably shouldn't.

The real problem with early childhood education is ultimately a problem with staff. For decades, nobody really believed just how important the zero to five formative years are. We believed as a nation that anyone off the street willing to sit with the kids was all that was needed. We believed that we could warehouse hundreds of kids under one roof with a play space no bigger than a king sized bed. We could throw unthinkable food in their direction counting ketchup as a vegetable, provide fewer than one toy per child, and nap them half the day, and presto bingo, we have acceptable "Early Childhood."

Changing that idea starts at the bottom not at the top with more money thrown away. But the powers that be would disagree.

In my town, the local high brow magazine declares the same terrible childcare institution as "the best childcare in the city" every year. In reality, this place is a blight to childcare anywhere. The administration refuses to allow teachers to teach anything to the children including letters or numbers. The teachers never read to the children, never take them outside. The meals are horrible, scanty and there is often too little to share among the kids who are hungry. Licensed teachers are penalized for having an education. The children are expected sit hour after hour in tiny noisy rooms where they are also expected to sleep, eat and go to the bathroom. There are no field trips, no adventure, no stretches. And THIS is the best childcare in the city? So says the local magazine, and so says the funnel of money our government pours into this horrible example year after year. Money, by the way, that is used to buy doors and floors and concrete play spaces. In my humble opinion, it's a lost cause from the beginning because doors and floors and concrete won't elevate childcare to a learning discovering environment. No amount of funding will ever manage to change the face of early childhood when administrations have little concept of what the meaning of the expression "to explore" means to a child.

So throwing tax dollars away are not going to make early childhood any better. What is going to make it better are the loving efforts of parents. This will elevate early childhood to the kind of positive experience children will carry with them all their lives. Only parents can make early childhood better by helping those of us who provide childcare be responsible for all we do for the young child. It is through cooperation that we will together raise the expectations of the early classroom to the heights it should be.