Dear Parent,

There is no domain – except perhaps politics and religion – richer in polemics than children’s education. Parenting is a battlefield of controversial concepts. Here are some examples:

• Nature vs. Nurture;
• Genetics vs. Experience;
• Ability vs. Effort;
• Play vs. Work;
• Gifted Children vs. Advanced Children;
• Moms vs. Dads;
• Beta Moms vs. Alpha Moms;
• Parents vs. Teachers;
• Hot-Housing vs. Preschool;
• Half-Day Kindergarten vs. Full-Day Kindergarten;
• Home-Schooling vs. Private School vs. Public School;
• EQ vs. IQ;
• Creativity vs. Academic Skills;
• Constructivism or Self-Directed Learning vs. Drills and Rote Learning;
• Discovery Math vs. Singapore Math;
• Whole Word vs. Phonics;
• Flashcards vs. ABC;
• Pampering vs. Discipline;
• Spanking vs. Time-Out;
• Let-Them-Cry vs. Co-Sleeping;
• Bottle-Feeding vs. Breastfeeding;
• ADHD Drugs vs. Hyperactivity Myth;
• DVDs vs. Books;
• Computer Games vs. Exercise;
• and so on.

Thanks to the Internet, people have a lot more information today about everything than even 10 years ago. However, more information does not always mean better information. It’s certainly not easy for parents to feel confident about their educational choices when, most of the time, even experts disagree.

This is why, at Edukey, we are looking everyday, all over the world, for the most practical and effective educational methods. We hope the following articles, selected during the last month, will help you in your quest for the parenting truth.

Best Regards and Good Parenting!

John Debonneville
Co-founder and Editor
Edukey Ltd

Kindergarten

Full-Day Kindergarten

June 3rd, 2007

If every family with young children had a stay-at-home mom or dad, the need for full-day kindergarten might not be so urgent. Of course, those parents would have to appreciate the importance of early childhood learning.
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Early Learning

Don’t Call my Kid Smart

June 9th, 2007

Nothing strikes quite like the truth, and James Stigler delivered it to me right on the chin with an excerpt I came upon from his book Learning Gap: Why Our Schools Are Failing And What We Can Learn From Japanese And Chinese Educ . In the book, Stigler, a UCLA professor of psychology, sets out to discover why students in Asia regularly outperform American students in math.more

Parenting

Positive Attitude Learned at Home

June 10th, 2007

Too often, we assign the responsibility for the social and academic prospects of our children exclusively to our school system, its administrative staff and teachers. more

Basic Skills

What’s the Secret to Raising Bright Children?

June 12th, 2007

The study found that by the time that the kids were three years old the offspring of graduate parents were ten months ahead of children from relatively unqualified parents in vocabulary, and a year ahead in their comprehension of sizes, shapes, colours, letters and numbers. more

Dads

Father’s Importance No Laughing Matter

June 12th, 2007

If you turn on your television today, fathers on recent sitcoms like “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Still Standing” and “According to Jim” portray men as the lowest form of family member. They are childish, needy, whiny and altogether hopeless.
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Early Math

Battle over Math in New Jersey Drives off a New Schools Chief

June 14th, 2007

Dr. Brooks, a superintendent on Long Island, is the latest casualty in the math wars, felled by parents who complain that their children have failed to learn basic skills in one of the top-performing school districts in New Jersey.
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Child Motivation & Self-Confidence

Stereotypes Negatively Affect Women’s Academic Performance

June 17th, 2007

A recent study shows that women exposed to academic stereotyping demonstrate poorer scholastic performance than women who are not exposed to such stereotypes. more

Moms

Has Alpha Mum Had her Day?

June 17th, 2007

How to spot a beta mum and How to spot an alpha mum. more

Early Learning

Never Too Young for a Head Start

June 20th, 2007

Even after Emilie Montgomery’s three-year-old son, Fraser, was diagnosed with a language disorder, the comments kept on coming: Boys are late talkers. Why bother with a special preschool? He’s just a late bloomer. more

Advanced Children

Firstborn Children Are the Cleverest

June 22nd, 2007

Firstborn children score significantly higher in IQ tests than their younger siblings, according to a large study of 250,000 military draftees in Norway. more

Child Discipline & Behavior Management

Help your Brother Learn Less Violent Ways to Discipline Kids

June 30th, 2007

I was reared in a family in which spanking and yelling at children were a common form of discipline. In fact, it was the only form of discipline. My family laughed when I said that I would never hit my own child.
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