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Unpacking empathy
This pandemic has brought to light what many people have known for some time: how crucial it is for us to develop social and emotional skills in our kids. What some people have dubbed “soft skills” are in fact foundational building blocks for developing students who can face a constantly changing world.
Thoughts on beginnings and endings
Beginnings and endings are not finite moments at the start or end of segments of our lives, but instead they are moments of transition that help move us from one stage of our lives to another.
During pandemic, consider easing screen time limits
An expert rethinks her blanket objection to giving kids too much time on screens.
Safe outdoors activities for the summer of Covid
Socializing and group activities might be problematic this summer, but there are still plenty of great outdoor activities you can enjoy with your children
Helping children cope with social isolation in a pandemic
Children are social creatures. Spending time with their peers, learning how to navigate personal dynamics and dramas, is an essential part of growing up.
Stressed by acting as parent and teacher? Here are 6 tips
Balancing being both parent and teacher can be stressful. Here are six tips to help you manage stress and ensure that your child is getting as much educational benefit as...
Helpful Resources for Parents Teaching from Home
Many parents are finding themselves teaching children at home. Here we share resources and educational activities to keep your children engaged.
11 At-Home Activities for Preschoolers
Here are some of our favorite activities for preschool kids (and their parents!). Plus, additional resources for keeping your children engaged at home.
Explore our many articles on Whole Child education
Helpful Resources for Parents Teaching from Home
April 20, 2020
Many parents are finding themselves teaching children at home. Here we share resources and educational activities to keep your children engaged.
Search All Cognition Articles
Helpful Resources for Parents Teaching from Home
Many parents are finding themselves teaching children at home. Here we share resources and educational activities to keep your children engaged.
11 At-Home Activities for Preschoolers
Here are some of our favorite activities for preschool kids (and their parents!). Plus, additional resources for keeping your children engaged at home.
Appreciating Wonder In Early Childhood
Compositive Primary Director of Inquiry Clare Hammoor explores how questions from young people signal both a wondering about the world and a sense of wonder that the everyday world can...
Math Apps May Benefit Children Under 6
Studies indicate interactive math-based learning apps benefit young children
The Three Key Lessons I've Learned as a Parent
Heather Mock, Compositive Primary Head of School, shares the lessons she’s learned as a parent about accepting and encouraging your kids to be themselves.
Unstructured Outdoor Play Key to Child Development
An interview with pediatric occupational therapist Angela Hanscom on TimberNook’s approach to unstructured outdoor play.
Recognizing and Coping with Your Child’s Anxiety
Studies show that more people suffer from anxiety today. While we often associate stress and anxiety with adults, children are also affected.
Compositive Primary & The Whole Child
Head of School Heather Mock shares how the Compositive Primary approach to whole child education nurture health and well-being in our children and gives them a say in what they...
Parenting Myths You Need to Know
As a parent you’re stressed out, worrying that you aren’t doing everything correctly. Here are seven common parenting myths debunked by the WaPo.
To Raise Successful Kids, Let Them Fail
By not allowing your kids to learn by failing, you put them at risk for greater failure later in life.
Too Much Screen Time Linked to ADHD
A recent study by Canadian researchers coupled with new guidelines issued by the Word Health Organization have reignited the debate about how much, if any, screen time parents should allow...
This Old School Toy Can Boost Your Child's Learning
If you want to develop your child’s executive functioning skills, ditch the high-tech toys and go old school.
Mother.ly: Reading the Same Books to Your Kids Makes Them Smarter
Reading a book over and over can help children improve vocabulary and comprehension.
Executive Function Deficits Start Early
The air traffic controller of the brain can exhibit signs of deficiency as early as kindergarten and result in learning curves that are difficult to overcome.
Arguments for Limiting Kids’ Screen Time
Young children have easy access to smart phones and tablets, but how are these devices affecting their developing brains?
The NYT: The Case for Creative Play in a Digital Age
The American Academy of Pediatrics advises parents of young children to go for high-quality traditional toys rather than elaborate digital ones.
Outside: How the Outdoors Makes Your Kids Smarter
The freedom to move and play outside inspires creativity and improved brain function
Ivanhoe: Learning Music Makes Kids Smarter
Five years ago, psychologists at the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California studied how learning music might affect brain development in young children. They used MRIs...
New Research Backs the Compositive model
To some of us, the fact that a debate still rages in corners of the education world about whether cognitive development or social-emotional, physical and other needs should take precedence...
Give Your Child the Gift of Intentionally Lazy Parenting
Intentional laziness parenting allows children to practice and develop important skills.
Washington Post: Educator: In Finland, I realized how 'mean-spirited’ the U.S. education system really is
Finland performs at or near the top of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) exams since the exam came into existence in 2000. PISA tests students every three years and...
Helping your child develop essential middle school skills
The middle school years are a vital developmental stage, during which our children must learn to navigate choppy waters with as little parental interference as possible. Phyllis L. Fagell, a...
Miami Herald: Teaching kids about the arts helps develop their social, emotional skills
When you introduce your children to museums, dance and theater, you’re exposing them to more than just a fun extracurricular activity, you’re introducing them to the world of art, culture...
The unintended biases of free-range parenting
Free-range parenting, a kind of antidote to the helicopter parenting that has plagued our society for the past couple of decades, has become a fad. But for some parents, it’s...
Homework needn’t be a battle of wills: expert
The Washington Post’s excellent parenting column lays out several strategies for taking the struggle out of homework.
Cleveland Jewish News: Inspiring children to be philanthropic can better shape their future
Engaging in philanthropic activity teaches children compassion and empathy.
Academy for Global Citizenship focuses on health & sustainability
Academy for Global Citizenship students are wholly engaged in their school, their community, and the world around them. That engagement takes many forms, but two stand out: wellness and sustainability.
Bustle: 'Wow in the World' Is NPR's First Podcast For Kids (And Their Adults, Too)
NPR is launching its first ever podcast for kids focusing on science, technology, inventions, and kid-friendly news stories.
HuffPost: Kids Who Love Art
Fostering a love of artistic expression in your kids helps them think more creatively in all areas, and can be a fun family activity. There are many ways to encourage...
Popular Science: Reading with your baby will help her for the rest of her life
Pediatric development researchers looked at the quality and quantity of books shared with kids age six months through 4.5 years to see whether reading more high quality books improved their...
Stanford Social Innovation Review: Developing Breadth of Learning
How can schools equip young people for adult life if they don’t know what jobs they might be doing or how they will live? Actually, it’s even worse than that. The...
HuffPost: Making Time for Creativity is Crucial for Kids
The first exposure children have to creativity as a concept is through guided play. Though young children are curious by nature, creativity is slightly more structured, and can be cultivated...
North Shore News: 5 skills the visual arts teach your kids
The visual arts help young people develop essential creative problem-solving skills that extend far beyond the studio, to reach how they see the opportunities in front of them, no matter...
Mom.Me: Preschools Are Getting Rid of All Their Toys for the Sake of Kids
Absent of toys, kids have the chance to create their own games and pursue their own ideas. In toy-free time children don’t play with finished toys, rather they develop their...
Compositive: A quick look at Denver’s Logan School
At its core, Logan is all about whole education. The school’s approach is to engage students through their own, self-identified interests and passions.
Miami Herald: How to talk to your children about politics — and respect of others’ views
Our society will likely become more polarized politically. It is vital that children have the tools to navigate this new world as they move into adolescence and adulthood. To accomplish...
HuffPost: Kids, Chemistry and Uncontrollable Giggles. What’s going on in Preschool?
“There are so many ways to bring science home and get your kids excited about it. By exposing our kids to opportunities at home and school, we are helping them...
Business Standard: Language gap between rich, poor kids begins in infancy
Children’s early exposure to a rich set of language practices can set in motion the processes that they use for learning to read, including the vocabulary and background knowledge necessary...
WBUR Boston: Why Thousands Of American Parents Are Sending Their Kids To 'Russian Math'
The Studio of Engaging Math in Boston helps children figure out mathematical principles for themselves rather than spoon-feeding them. Curriculum at the school is based on Russian teaching traditions that...
At Bricolage, academics are the driver
Allowing children to fail is an important aspect of the innovation class at Bricolage Academy.
Compositive: Bricolage overview
Bricolage Academy in New Orleans views diversity as a means toward a bigger end: advancing real equity for all kids.
North Carolina Public Radio: Free Music Lessons Level Playing Field For Low-Income Kids
Researchers have found connections between learning a musical instrument and improved academic outcomes. One study led by Nina Kraus, a professor and neuroscientist at Northwestern University, found that music instruction improves children’s...
New School San Francisco uses inquiry-based learning
An innovative public charter school in San Francisco blends rigor and passion in inquiry-based learning
How should technology be used in whole-child education?
In this technology obsessed world, some schools believe kids learn best when they connect to each other, their teachers, the natural world, and materials they can touch and feel.
MUSE School leads with the Whole Heart
“How do we encourage our students to be good people? You start with the heart and you go from there.”
MUSE School - Where passion leads, the whole mind, whole child will follow
A school with authentic passion-based learning, crafted by and for each student.
Compositive: MUSE School overview
More than many schools we’ve visited, MUSE embraces all of the B4Kids domains, and integrates them to great effect.
Compositive: Waldorf reaches the heart from various angles
“Here we develop the thought life, feeling life, and will life. We try to bring these three aspects of being into balance.”
Compositive: At Waldorf, movement is a key component of education
Eurythmy: language and mathematics in movement at the Waldorf School.
Compositive: Waldorf - A century in the Whole Child education arena
The Waldorf School: “We educate the will and the human being.”
Compositive: Anansi Charter School - teachers’ perspective
How does Anansi Charter School embody whole child education? Two veteran teachers shared their thoughts.
Compositive: Anansi Charter School overview
Anansi places a great deal of emphasis on social-emotional learning, and in building a caring, trusting community where students and teachers treat each other respectfully, where bullying is non-existent, and...
Compositive: Anastasis - Knowing the whole child
At Anastasis Academy, the school year begins with two days of one-on-one meetings between students and teachers to assess a student’s preferred learning style, brain dominance (right or left) and...
Compositive: The Anastasis whole-child ‘report card’
In a school that focuses on providing each child with an education based on his or her passions, strengths, and learning style, a one-size-fits-all report card makes little sense.
Compositive: Anastasis - An intimate, whole-child centered school
Located in Centennial, Colorado, just south of Denver, Anastasis Academy is a 56-student, K-8 private Christian school that has achieved worldwide recognition in the five years since its founding. Anastasis’s...
Compositive: Creativity Challenge Community (C3) overview
It’s not often that you find an intimate community inside a monolithic public middle school building, but there are exceptions, and Creative Challenge Community (C3) is one.
Compositive: Hidden jewel - William Smith High School
The search for schools that embody at least some facets of whole-child education can occasionally find gold in the unlikeliest places.
Unpacking empathy
October 25, 2020
This pandemic has brought to light what many people have known for some time: how crucial it is for us to develop social and emotional skills in our kids. What some people have dubbed “soft skills” are in fact foundational building blocks for developing students who can face a constantly changing world.
Search All Character Articles
Unpacking empathy
This pandemic has brought to light what many people have known for some time: how crucial it is for us to develop social and emotional skills in our kids. What some people have dubbed “soft skills” are in fact foundational building blocks for developing students who can face a constantly changing world.
Thoughts on beginnings and endings
Beginnings and endings are not finite moments at the start or end of segments of our lives, but instead they are moments of transition that help move us from one stage of our lives to another.
During pandemic, consider easing screen time limits
An expert rethinks her blanket objection to giving kids too much time on screens.
Helping children cope with social isolation in a pandemic
Children are social creatures. Spending time with their peers, learning how to navigate personal dynamics and dramas, is an essential part of growing up.
Develop Your Child's Emotional Intelligence With These Parenting Tips
Psychiatrist John C. Panepinto shares three parenting tips for developing emotional intelligence and resilience.
Appreciating Wonder In Early Childhood
Compositive Primary Director of Inquiry Clare Hammoor explores how questions from young people signal both a wondering about the world and a sense of wonder that the everyday world can...
The Three Key Lessons I've Learned as a Parent
Heather Mock, Compositive Primary Head of School, shares the lessons she’s learned as a parent about accepting and encouraging your kids to be themselves.
Embracing Play at Compositive Primary
Director of Inquiry, Clare Hammoor, visits the University of Denver to join the "Theatre Imagination" class and describes a collective observance of how process moments of wild play.
Recognizing and Coping with Your Child’s Anxiety
Studies show that more people suffer from anxiety today. While we often associate stress and anxiety with adults, children are also affected.
Social & Emotional Learning Key to Better Eating Habits
Psychology Today explains why teaching nutrition doesn’t result in better eating habits, but teaching self-regulation and emotion management skills does.
Compositive Primary & The Whole Child
Head of School Heather Mock shares how the Compositive Primary approach to whole child education nurture health and well-being in our children and gives them a say in what they...
Boost Your Child's Confidence on the First Day of School
Kids often need words of encouragement on the first day of school. Here are tips from Mother.ly.
Parenting Myths You Need to Know
As a parent you’re stressed out, worrying that you aren’t doing everything correctly. Here are seven common parenting myths debunked by the WaPo.
To Raise Successful Kids, Let Them Fail
By not allowing your kids to learn by failing, you put them at risk for greater failure later in life.
How to Help Boys Form Closer Friendships
Gender stereotypes can influence identity development. We must show boys how to achieve emotional intimacy to avoid struggles in relationships later on.
NYT: Team Sports May Help Children Deal With Trauma
Basic components of team sports, including training, working hard and learning to win and lose, help children develop resilience
This Old School Toy Can Boost Your Child's Learning
If you want to develop your child’s executive functioning skills, ditch the high-tech toys and go old school.
'World's Worst Mom' Talks Free Range Kids
Giving kids freedom helps shed anxiety — theirs and yours.
One Stone Encourages Students to Uncover Passions
One Stone’s approach to developing learners who drive their own learning based on their passions is well worth emulating in schools.
Blending Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning
A report released by the Aspen Institute stresses the importance of integrating the social, emotional, and academic components of every classroom to enhance learning for all students.
Even Toddlers Can Learn Grit
Babies as young as a year old can be taught skills like grit and perseverance by observing adults struggling and then succeeding to complete a task.
Are Educators Promoting Growth Mindset the Wrong Way?
Praising a student’s effort rather than innate abilities has been seen as promoting a “growth mindset,” but new research suggests this praise might backfire.
Compassion as a Success Strategy
Positive emotions like compassion build both grit and grace. And people who do the best are the people willing to share credit and cooperate.
An Introduction From Compositive Primary's Head of School
When we take the time to focus more on creating a warm, loving, rich environment for our students, we allow our students to take shape in their own amazing ways.
Psychology Today: The Secret To Teaching A Child Empathy
Raising a child who cares about how their actions impact others is critical to developing character and maintaining healthy relationships.
The NYT: The Case for Creative Play in a Digital Age
The American Academy of Pediatrics advises parents of young children to go for high-quality traditional toys rather than elaborate digital ones.
New Research Backs the Compositive model
To some of us, the fact that a debate still rages in corners of the education world about whether cognitive development or social-emotional, physical and other needs should take precedence...
Forbes: How to Raise Generous Kids
By age three, children are typically developing awareness of other people’s feelings, so it’s the perfect time to introduce children to the joys of helping others.
Fatherly: Resilient Kids Come From Parents Who Do These 8 Things
Letting your kids fail and talking to them about it goes a long way.
Motherly: 11 simple ways to raise grateful kids
With Thanksgiving approaching, gratitude is on all of our minds. You may feel grateful for visiting family, for a cozy fire to sit by, or for your mom’s famous stuffing...
Motherly: 10 powerful phrases to tell your child instead of 'good job'
Focus on your child’s abilities, strengths, qualities—things you want to encourage as they help our children become more confident, feel more capable, able to take risks, to rally from mistakes,...
Helping your child develop essential middle school skills
The middle school years are a vital developmental stage, during which our children must learn to navigate choppy waters with as little parental interference as possible. Phyllis L. Fagell, a...
Forbes: Encouraging Gratitude In Kids Reduces Materialism, Study Finds
Materialism, especially in children, interferes with overall emotional function and increases the risk of mental health issues.
Miami Herald: Teaching kids about the arts helps develop their social, emotional skills
When you introduce your children to museums, dance and theater, you’re exposing them to more than just a fun extracurricular activity, you’re introducing them to the world of art, culture...
The unintended biases of free-range parenting
Free-range parenting, a kind of antidote to the helicopter parenting that has plagued our society for the past couple of decades, has become a fad. But for some parents, it’s...
Homework needn’t be a battle of wills: expert
The Washington Post’s excellent parenting column lays out several strategies for taking the struggle out of homework.
Science Daily: Sharing voluntarily makes young kids happy
New findings provide fascinating insights into the psychology of preschool age children, and the first evidence that sharing under social norms is less emotionally rewarding than sharing voluntarily: Preschool kids...
NYMAG: How the Self-Esteem Craze Took Over America
Intense focus on self-esteem as a goal in and of itself in the 1980s and 1990s has had a long-lasting impact on every aspect of American life. The self-esteem craze...
NBC News: Want Compassionate, Confident Kids? Do This.
Anything we want for our children — if we want compassionate communities, compassionate schools — it really begins with each of us individually as parents.
HuffPost: To Nurture Compassionate Children, Start At Birth
Researchers have found when parents and caregivers talk about their babies’ experiences and what they’re feeling with them in nurturing and supportive ways, we strengthen their ability not only to...
Cleveland Jewish News: Inspiring children to be philanthropic can better shape their future
Engaging in philanthropic activity teaches children compassion and empathy.
Academy for Global Citizenship focuses on health & sustainability
Academy for Global Citizenship students are wholly engaged in their school, their community, and the world around them. That engagement takes many forms, but two stand out: wellness and sustainability.
The Baltimore Sun: Raising thoughtful children in a thoughtless world
“There are a million and one things you will be responsible for teaching your child before they reach adulthood. From taking their first steps to obtaining their first job, as...
Michigan State University: Teaching children the value of collaboration and teamwork can help them develop empathy.
With ongoing societal issues like bullying and youth mental health concerns, teaching empathy to children is more important than ever.
The Washington Post: All this emphasis on self-esteem could be setting our kids up for a fall
Since the middle of the last century, self-esteem has been touted as the most important character trait in young people to ensure a happy, fulfilling life. However, research shows that...
Compositive: A quick look at Denver’s Logan School
At its core, Logan is all about whole education. The school’s approach is to engage students through their own, self-identified interests and passions.
Miami Herald: How to talk to your children about politics — and respect of others’ views
Our society will likely become more polarized politically. It is vital that children have the tools to navigate this new world as they move into adolescence and adulthood. To accomplish...
The New York Times: How to Build Resilient Kids, Even After a Loss
“As parents, teachers and caregivers, we all want to raise resilient kids — to develop their strength so they can overcome obstacles big and small. Resilience leads to better health, greater happiness and...
Education DIVE: North Carolina district commits to social-emotional learning and assessment
Buncombe County Schools Administrators have decided that closing the gaps in social-emotional skills would be equally important as closing academic skills gaps — in part because improving social-emotional skills would...
Compositive: At Bricolage, nurturing heart through empathy and identity
At Bricolage no one shies away from honest talk about race, privilege, and inequities. Kids who attend Bricolage will not graduate believing the world is colorblind.
At Bricolage, academics are the driver
Allowing children to fail is an important aspect of the innovation class at Bricolage Academy.
Compositive: Bricolage overview
Bricolage Academy in New Orleans views diversity as a means toward a bigger end: advancing real equity for all kids.
North Carolina Public Radio: Free Music Lessons Level Playing Field For Low-Income Kids
Researchers have found connections between learning a musical instrument and improved academic outcomes. One study led by Nina Kraus, a professor and neuroscientist at Northwestern University, found that music instruction improves children’s...
The Straits Times: Parents teach their kids compassion
Volunteering as a family can help children become more compassionate and engaged with others. Engagement with causes greater than the self help children develop a sense of purpose and meaning...
New School San Francisco uses inquiry-based learning
An innovative public charter school in San Francisco blends rigor and passion in inquiry-based learning
How should technology be used in whole-child education?
In this technology obsessed world, some schools believe kids learn best when they connect to each other, their teachers, the natural world, and materials they can touch and feel.
The Washington Post: No, honey, you can’t be anything you want to be. And that’s okay.
If parents promote the idea that success is primarily determined by variables within our child’s control, even such noble things as skill and effort, we are ignoring the overriding influence...
MUSE School leads with the Whole Heart
“How do we encourage our students to be good people? You start with the heart and you go from there.”
Compositive: MUSE School overview
More than many schools we’ve visited, MUSE embraces all of the B4Kids domains, and integrates them to great effect.
Compositive: Waldorf reaches the heart from various angles
“Here we develop the thought life, feeling life, and will life. We try to bring these three aspects of being into balance.”
Compositive: Waldorf - A century in the Whole Child education arena
The Waldorf School: “We educate the will and the human being.”
Compositive: Whole Heart education the Anansi way
In her 24 years running Anansi Charter School, Michele Hunt has refined a highly effective approach to Whole Heart education by combining the best features of a variety of programs.
Compositive: Anansi Charter School - teachers’ perspective
How does Anansi Charter School embody whole child education? Two veteran teachers shared their thoughts.
Compositive: Anansi Charter School overview
Anansi places a great deal of emphasis on social-emotional learning, and in building a caring, trusting community where students and teachers treat each other respectfully, where bullying is non-existent, and...
Compositive: Anastasis - Knowing the whole child
At Anastasis Academy, the school year begins with two days of one-on-one meetings between students and teachers to assess a student’s preferred learning style, brain dominance (right or left) and...
Compositive: The Anastasis whole-child ‘report card’
In a school that focuses on providing each child with an education based on his or her passions, strengths, and learning style, a one-size-fits-all report card makes little sense.
Compositive: Anastasis - An intimate, whole-child centered school
Located in Centennial, Colorado, just south of Denver, Anastasis Academy is a 56-student, K-8 private Christian school that has achieved worldwide recognition in the five years since its founding. Anastasis’s...
Compositive: Creativity Challenge Community (C3) overview
It’s not often that you find an intimate community inside a monolithic public middle school building, but there are exceptions, and Creative Challenge Community (C3) is one.
Compositive: Hidden jewel - William Smith High School
The search for schools that embody at least some facets of whole-child education can occasionally find gold in the unlikeliest places.
During pandemic, consider easing screen time limits
July 28, 2020
An expert rethinks her blanket objection to giving kids too much time on screens.
Search All Health & Well-Being Articles
During pandemic, consider easing screen time limits
An expert rethinks her blanket objection to giving kids too much time on screens.
Safe outdoors activities for the summer of Covid
Socializing and group activities might be problematic this summer, but there are still plenty of great outdoor activities you can enjoy with your children
Helping children cope with social isolation in a pandemic
Children are social creatures. Spending time with their peers, learning how to navigate personal dynamics and dramas, is an essential part of growing up.
Stressed by acting as parent and teacher? Here are 6 tips
Balancing being both parent and teacher can be stressful. Here are six tips to help you manage stress and ensure that your child is getting as much educational benefit as...
The Three Key Lessons I've Learned as a Parent
Heather Mock, Compositive Primary Head of School, shares the lessons she’s learned as a parent about accepting and encouraging your kids to be themselves.
Is Screen Time The Culprit?
Screen time can come in many forms, and not all of it is bad for kids.
Unstructured Outdoor Play Key to Child Development
An interview with pediatric occupational therapist Angela Hanscom on TimberNook’s approach to unstructured outdoor play.
Romper: 9 Books To Help Your Child With Their Anxiety
From conquering specific fears to addressing chronic worry, these stories make child anxiety much easier to comprehend.
Recognizing and Coping with Your Child’s Anxiety
Studies show that more people suffer from anxiety today. While we often associate stress and anxiety with adults, children are also affected.
Social & Emotional Learning Key to Better Eating Habits
Psychology Today explains why teaching nutrition doesn’t result in better eating habits, but teaching self-regulation and emotion management skills does.
Compositive Primary & The Whole Child
Head of School Heather Mock shares how the Compositive Primary approach to whole child education nurture health and well-being in our children and gives them a say in what they...
To Raise Successful Kids, Let Them Fail
By not allowing your kids to learn by failing, you put them at risk for greater failure later in life.
How to Help Boys Form Closer Friendships
Gender stereotypes can influence identity development. We must show boys how to achieve emotional intimacy to avoid struggles in relationships later on.
Activity Can Help Kids Do Better in School
The premise at Namaste Charter is simple: Healthy, active kids do better in school.
NYT: Team Sports May Help Children Deal With Trauma
Basic components of team sports, including training, working hard and learning to win and lose, help children develop resilience
The Mental Health Benefits of Journaling
Emotional stress can be difficult for a child to express. Mental health experts advocate children keeping a journal to let out these emotions safely.
'World's Worst Mom' Talks Free Range Kids
Giving kids freedom helps shed anxiety — theirs and yours.
As a Parent, are you a Carpenter or a Gardener?
This episode of the “Hidden Brain” podcast explores what it means to parent like a carpenter or a gardener and how that affects growing children.
How Your Parenting Style Can Influence Your Child's Eating Habits
This article from the Washington Post identifies parenting styles that can influence children’s eating habits.
The NYT: The Case for Creative Play in a Digital Age
The American Academy of Pediatrics advises parents of young children to go for high-quality traditional toys rather than elaborate digital ones.
Outside: How the Outdoors Makes Your Kids Smarter
The freedom to move and play outside inspires creativity and improved brain function
New Research Backs the Compositive model
To some of us, the fact that a debate still rages in corners of the education world about whether cognitive development or social-emotional, physical and other needs should take precedence...
Keep Your Preschoolers Moving
Developing good physical activity habits needs to begin at a young age, and last through a lifetime.
Washington Post: Educator: In Finland, I realized how 'mean-spirited’ the U.S. education system really is
Finland performs at or near the top of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) exams since the exam came into existence in 2000. PISA tests students every three years and...
Whole Education and Adverse Childhood Experiences
It’s pleasant to imagine that all children are well-adjusted, happy little creatures, soaking up knowledge and experiencing live joyfully. While that’s the case with many kids, the sad truth in...
Helping your child develop essential middle school skills
The middle school years are a vital developmental stage, during which our children must learn to navigate choppy waters with as little parental interference as possible. Phyllis L. Fagell, a...
Academy for Global Citizenship focuses on health & sustainability
Academy for Global Citizenship students are wholly engaged in their school, their community, and the world around them. That engagement takes many forms, but two stand out: wellness and sustainability.
Romper: Kids Should Get Outside 3 Hours Every Day, Expert Says & Here's How To Make It Happen
“There’s so much value in kids creating play schemes on their own,” says Angela Hanscom, an occupational therapist and expert on childhood concentration and fine motor skill development. “Kids who...
Michigan State University: Teaching children the value of collaboration and teamwork can help them develop empathy.
With ongoing societal issues like bullying and youth mental health concerns, teaching empathy to children is more important than ever.
Los Angeles Daily News: Nutrition: Changing behaviors for children’s eating habits starts with structure
If you would like your child to be a healthy eater, one of the smartest ways to achieve this is to make sure he or she sees you being a...
U.S. News and World Report: Are Smartphones Helping or Harming Kids' Mental Health?
New research suggests smartphones can increase risk of attention and disruptive behavior issues in children.
Business Insider: Most American kids aren't getting enough physical activity — and that could wind up costing the US billions
Too little physical activity among children now and later will translate into heart attacks, diabetes, cancer, and billions of dollars of avoidable health care costs. The importance of establishing healthy...
US News and World Report: Timing of Lunch, Recess May Determine What Kids Eat.
New findings in a study on the timing of lunch and recess could help schools develop policies to promote healthy eating and exercise habits for kids, study authors say. “Overall,...
The Straits Times: Parents teach their kids compassion
Volunteering as a family can help children become more compassionate and engaged with others. Engagement with causes greater than the self help children develop a sense of purpose and meaning...
Compositive: MUSE School: Engagement through sustainability
Sustainability is more than a buzzword at MUSE.
Compositive: MUSE School overview
More than many schools we’ve visited, MUSE embraces all of the B4Kids domains, and integrates them to great effect.
Compositive: Waldorf reaches the heart from various angles
“Here we develop the thought life, feeling life, and will life. We try to bring these three aspects of being into balance.”
Compositive: At Waldorf, movement is a key component of education
Eurythmy: language and mathematics in movement at the Waldorf School.
Compositive: Waldorf - A century in the Whole Child education arena
The Waldorf School: “We educate the will and the human being.”
Compositive: Anansi Charter School overview
Anansi places a great deal of emphasis on social-emotional learning, and in building a caring, trusting community where students and teachers treat each other respectfully, where bullying is non-existent, and...
Compositive: Anastasis - An intimate, whole-child centered school
Located in Centennial, Colorado, just south of Denver, Anastasis Academy is a 56-student, K-8 private Christian school that has achieved worldwide recognition in the five years since its founding. Anastasis’s...
Compositive: Creativity Challenge Community (C3) overview
It’s not often that you find an intimate community inside a monolithic public middle school building, but there are exceptions, and Creative Challenge Community (C3) is one.
Compositive: Hidden jewel - William Smith High School
The search for schools that embody at least some facets of whole-child education can occasionally find gold in the unlikeliest places.
Develop Your Child's Emotional Intelligence With These Parenting Tips
March 10, 2020
Psychiatrist John C. Panepinto shares three parenting tips for developing emotional intelligence and resilience.
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Develop Your Child's Emotional Intelligence With These Parenting Tips
Psychiatrist John C. Panepinto shares three parenting tips for developing emotional intelligence and resilience.
Compositive Primary & The Whole Child
Head of School Heather Mock shares how the Compositive Primary approach to whole child education nurture health and well-being in our children and gives them a say in what they...
Compassion as a Success Strategy
Positive emotions like compassion build both grit and grace. And people who do the best are the people willing to share credit and cooperate.
STEM Highlands Ranch
STEM Highlands Ranch is an example of how technology can be a great bridge between disparate communities, making the world a smaller place, and bringing the Compositive capacities alive in...
New Research Backs the Compositive model
To some of us, the fact that a debate still rages in corners of the education world about whether cognitive development or social-emotional, physical and other needs should take precedence...
Forbes: How to Raise Generous Kids
By age three, children are typically developing awareness of other people’s feelings, so it’s the perfect time to introduce children to the joys of helping others.
The Atlantic: Why the Myth of Meritocracy Hurts Kids of Color
For those marginalized by the system—economically, racially, and ethnically—believing the system is fair puts them in conflict with themselves and can have negative consequences.
Forbes: 10 Ways Parents Can Teach Their Children To Be Leaders
All parents want their children to be successful. Parents naturally want kids to be viewed as courageous leaders, willing to take on any challenge. However, instilling leadership traits in children takes...
The Washington Post: 10 ways design thinking can help you raise resourceful kids
Design thinking is a method of problem-solving that relies on empathy, observation and careful listening. Design thinkers don’t believe in one right solution, so they continuously generate and test ideas...
The Washington Post: What should students know about religion? New guidance on teaching it in public schools.
“The study of religion from an academic, non-devotional perspective in primary, middle, and secondary school is critical for decreasing religious illiteracy and the bigotry and prejudice it fuels. [This knowledge...
Romper: 10 Children's Books About Immigration & Refugees That Teach The Importance Of Cultural Diversity
“Life for families around the world isn’t always as easy; sometimes families don’t feel safe or like they fit in. These books may help children better understand their neighbors, whose...
PBS: How media literacy can help students discern fake news
“Recognizing bias in news stories is one form of media literacy. Spotting when the news is totally fabricated is something else entirely. How can teachers help students tell fact from...
UCLA Newsroom: Teaching kids how to distinguish fake news from real news.
Teachers can use real-world articles and topics to teach students literacy skills, while at the same time developing a thoughtful and skeptical approach to the media they consume.
Academy for Global Citizenship focuses on health & sustainability
Academy for Global Citizenship students are wholly engaged in their school, their community, and the world around them. That engagement takes many forms, but two stand out: wellness and sustainability.
Compositive: A quick look at Denver’s Logan School
At its core, Logan is all about whole education. The school’s approach is to engage students through their own, self-identified interests and passions.
Miami Herald: How to talk to your children about politics — and respect of others’ views
Our society will likely become more polarized politically. It is vital that children have the tools to navigate this new world as they move into adolescence and adulthood. To accomplish...
Compositive: At Bricolage, nurturing heart through empathy and identity
At Bricolage no one shies away from honest talk about race, privilege, and inequities. Kids who attend Bricolage will not graduate believing the world is colorblind.
The Straits Times: Parents teach their kids compassion
Volunteering as a family can help children become more compassionate and engaged with others. Engagement with causes greater than the self help children develop a sense of purpose and meaning...
New School San Francisco uses inquiry-based learning
An innovative public charter school in San Francisco blends rigor and passion in inquiry-based learning
MUSE School leads with the Whole Heart
“How do we encourage our students to be good people? You start with the heart and you go from there.”
Compositive: MUSE School: Engagement through sustainability
Sustainability is more than a buzzword at MUSE.
Compositive: MUSE School overview
More than many schools we’ve visited, MUSE embraces all of the B4Kids domains, and integrates them to great effect.
Compositive: Waldorf - A century in the Whole Child education arena
The Waldorf School: “We educate the will and the human being.”
Compositive: Anansi Charter School - teachers’ perspective
How does Anansi Charter School embody whole child education? Two veteran teachers shared their thoughts.
Compositive: Anansi Charter School overview
Anansi places a great deal of emphasis on social-emotional learning, and in building a caring, trusting community where students and teachers treat each other respectfully, where bullying is non-existent, and...
Compositive: The Anastasis whole-child ‘report card’
In a school that focuses on providing each child with an education based on his or her passions, strengths, and learning style, a one-size-fits-all report card makes little sense.
Compositive: Anastasis - An intimate, whole-child centered school
Located in Centennial, Colorado, just south of Denver, Anastasis Academy is a 56-student, K-8 private Christian school that has achieved worldwide recognition in the five years since its founding. Anastasis’s...
C3: Student-teacher-parent agreements
Creativity Challenge Community places a high value on creating a strong sense of community. School staff is far more intentional about community-building than what you might see at a more...
Compositive: Creativity Challenge Community (C3) overview
It’s not often that you find an intimate community inside a monolithic public middle school building, but there are exceptions, and Creative Challenge Community (C3) is one.
Compositive: Hidden jewel - William Smith High School
The search for schools that embody at least some facets of whole-child education can occasionally find gold in the unlikeliest places.