Author Archives: Paula

Emotional Education: “The Next Step” TV show

Posted on December 30, 2015 by Paula

Having been advised to seek explicit teaching of emotional concepts for my kids, I’m really excited to discover a new show on ABC3 called The Next Step. These high school kids are elite dancers, so there is a background of … Continue reading →

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MPS Grounds Master Plan ~ Brief & Community Consultation

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Paula

“The Schoolyard is a Place to Make Friends” Moreland Primary School (MPS) is a small, growing state school.   There are 300 students and enrolments have increased by 100% over the last 5 years. Parent involvement has increased impressively over the … Continue reading →

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First Music Exam

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Paula

As a small follow-up to Helping Your Kids Learn Music I thought I’d share some videos of where my nine year old is at. These three recordings are from the final rehearsal for his Grade One AMEB exam. The Busybody … Continue reading →

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Intergenerational Learning & Coaching

Posted on September 16, 2015 by Paula

Parental coaching has great potential to benefit kids’ education. It has been mostly ignored by the education system, with the notable exception of reading. Parents are actively encouraged to read to their preschoolers and listen to their young school aged … Continue reading →

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So, you want to be a boyfriend…

Posted on September 12, 2015 by Paula

At barely nine years of age, my child is not old enough for romantic attachment. I was a little surprised to watch him devour a book with relationships as a central theme.  The Origami Yoda books are well written from … Continue reading →

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Helping Your Kids Learn Music

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Paula

Reading to our kids and listening to them read is something we take for granted these days. Parental coaching has a profound effect on learning and should be applied to more than just reading. This article provides some ideas on … Continue reading →

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Mummy, What Shape is Juggling?

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Paula

When my six year old child – out of the blue – asked me what shape juggling is, I was excited and perplexed.  I eventually worked it through with paper and pencil, and discussed it with him at great length.  … Continue reading →

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Squishy Electric Circuits

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Paula

Squishy Circuits is a home-made play-dough technology for introducing children to electronics. This simple parallel circuit contains four AA batteries in a case, connecter wires, six coloured LEDs and some conductive playdough. Everything you need to know about getting started, … Continue reading →

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Respecting Emotions

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Paula

The stern face and the cross voice are coercive emotional tools, which tell the target person that they are not ok. Coercive emotion can be devastating for some people, but there is currently little-to-no social prohibition against using it on … Continue reading →

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Twelve Tone Play

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Paula

Twelve tone music breaks many of our expectations about music. It removes our sense of what is musically “right” and “wrong” and broadens our repertoire of musical shapes. This makes it a great platform from which to discover and explore … Continue reading →

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