Parenting for Peace

My recent Pecha Kucha presentation "Turning Learning Inside Out" is up online at the international PechaKucha website, so check it out! It's an opportunity to learn more about Integral Education and my path to it from a very (one might almost say naked) personal perspective. 

I also put together an article for this month's local Asheville publication WNC Parent focused for parents of children going into the early grades, and what recent research has to say about social and emotional skills in young children. We're lucky in Asheville to have lots of education options that aknowledge the importance of social/emotional intelligence in our children, and dare I say it, the program at Odyssey Community School is especially innovative and cool and focused on cultivating these important skills.

And just for fun, here are a couple of interesting education articles on Metacognition in children and how it affects their growth. Teaching kids to be self-aware, self-organized, and reflective (and helping them know how they learn) offers tools that will remain with a child for his or her whole life's journey. I recently saw the quote below in my Facebook feed and given the recent attacks on Beirut and Paris, these skills seem especially relevant and important.

When I feel scared or sad or just depressed, as if there is no way through the anger and hatred present in our world today, I remind myself how many people are doing good work in the world, sometimes in the ugliest, hardest places, but sometimes in other seemingly insignificant places, like this small, sleepy North Carolina town.

And in preparation for Thanksgiving, I am thankful for all the faculty at Odyssey and their many gifts and for the time I spend in my own life and in my workplace creating the peace I want to see, not just for my generation but for the generations to come.