Tag Archives: pregnant

Two Books Down

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This may be a recurring theme this summer: reading. I’m currently in the middle of reading my third book (a bit behind schedule) and I’m looking forward to catching up. I actually am looking forward to it. If you’ve been reading this blog (or my fatherhood blog) for very long you’ve probably encountered a good deal of talk about technology. I use computers a lot, I value the internet, and I’m quite interested in any new technology because despite the problems (and there are often many) new technologies are the future way of doing things… and I want to be … Continue reading →

Summer of Woes

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Summertime is supposed to be filled with laughter and joy for those in the academic world. The summer is for resting, relaxing, and sipping on iced drinks from a folding chair in the sunshine. Summertime means you’ve completed that final test, graded that final paper, added those final grades to your transcript and have fewer worries until the fall semester begins those concerns anew. This is not true for me this summer and I only recently realized how bad it is going to be. Over 5,700. Go ahead… read that number again. Feel it labor your mouth into forming the … Continue reading →

Reading to Baby

I know how important it is to read to a child every day. I went to college to be a teacher. The importance of reading out loud to children on a regular basis was drilled into my head. I know that it improves a child’s vocabulary, helps them speak and write correctly, and teaches them the mechanics of reading and writing (reading/writing left to right, top to bottom, etc.), to name a few. The benefits are countless. And yet, I don’t read to my 8-month-old very often. I always thought I would, but it hasn’t turned out that way. Some … Continue reading →

Exploring the Computer With Your Preschooler

Now, if your preschooler is like mine, she probably knows her way around a computer. After all, my daughter has seen me type away at mine since she was born. Perhaps her first memories are of nursing on my lap as I type, who knows? We limit screen time in our house, and that includes computer time. However, aside from learning the valuable skills of pointing and clicking, computer time can be educational. Here are some ways that you and your preschooler can explore the world of the internet. We love Starfall. It has levels like the ABCs for the … Continue reading →

The Dreaded Swimming Lessons

I love swimming, and so does my daughter. From these two statements, you might assume that we would adore swimming lessons. You’d be dead wrong. When my daughter was a toddler, I decided that I would inspire myself to get out of the house and sign up for some swimming lessons at the local pool. While I thought that baby and toddler swimming lessons were a little silly, I figured that having a particular time scheduled for swimming would help my sorry self get to the pool. We enjoyed the lessons until the instructor decided that all of the toddlers … Continue reading →

Winnie the Pooh: Milne vs. Disney

After contemplating the character of Mickey Mouse last month, I started to think about one of my favorite Disney characters: Winnie the Pooh. I realized I didn’t remember reading the original stories by A.A. Milne. Disney purchased the rights to Winnie the Pooh in 1960, so any Pooh I’d ever known belonged to Disney. I wanted to see how he compared to the original. Good news for fans of Disney and Pooh alike: much of what we love about the character is taken from the original stories. Many of the classic adventures of Pooh are lifted directly from A.A. Milne’s … Continue reading →

From Olympus to Egypt: Rick Riordan’s Latest Series

Thanks to Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series, I can’t look at the Empire State Building in the same way anymore. I bet countless readers across the country feel the same. As we gaze up at the New York City skyline, look out across the Hoover Dam, or rest upon any other major landmark in the United States, there will always be an impulse in the back of our minds or in the corners of our eyes to search for hints of mythic Greek gods, monsters, and entrances to fabled underground labyrinths. Now Riordan is about to revive … Continue reading →

“A Christmas Carol”: Spectacle with Substance

The snowy cobblestone street is packed with vendors, stalls, patrons, and carriages. Shawl-wrapped women brandish roasted chestnuts in bundles of newspaper, crying, “A shilling a piece.” Men in black silk top-hats push their way through the crowds, eager to return to their business while children scamper from one end of the road to another, laughing and shrieking in play. As the road widens and the market fades to the distance, the sound of the children’s boots smacking on cobblestone slows, then halts. A lone, hunched, and gnarled figure hobbles across the street, causing the children to retreat as quickly and … Continue reading →

Should You Teach Your Child to Read Before They Go To School?

Should you teach your child to read before they go to school? It’s a question that people often have differing opinions about. My mother taught me to read when I was four years old. As far as I can see it was one of the best and most loving things she did and she did plenty of other loving things. So when my son was four it seemed only natural to teach him to read. We started over with a combination of phonetics and flash cards. By the time he went to school he could already read well. Fortunately his … Continue reading →

Disney Launches New Digital Books Website

Books are the latest digital trend. From the Kindle to downloadable PDF novels, it’s increasingly possible to read just about everything online. Disney Publishing Worldwide is one of the latest companies to jump on the bandwagon, launching the new Disney Digital Books website. After logging on to the site, kids can access hundreds of books based on familiar Disney characters. They can also create a customizable profile, entering their age and listing their favorite books. Stories at all reading levels are provided. For example, beginner books feature Winnie the Pooh or the Little Mermaid. Meanwhile, more advanced readers may choose … Continue reading →