Free Poetry Workshop Taught by Papa Green Bean

 

Free Poetry Workshop by Papa Green Bean

Hey Everyone,

I've been given the honor of leading a poetry workshop for the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest.  This is an annual event held here in Bellingham, WA, my home town. 

Sign up by clicking this link: Papa Green Bean's Poetry workshop

There are hundreds of entries every year from all ages. Poets may only enter one poem per year, so the chances of being selected is low. Ten poems are selected as 'Walk' winners. These poems are mounted outside the Bellingham Library for a year. The next fifteen poems chosen are 'Merit' winners. These are placed on Bellingham city buses for a year. 

This year, after five or six poems not being chosen, my poem in 2020 was a 'Merit' winner! Winners read their poem at a special ceremony, and a local artist creates an illustration based on their inspiration to the poems. Here is mine:

Here is the link, again, to join the workshop. The Sue C. Boynton Poetry contest has a particular fondness for encouraging youth in the art of poetry. Many young one's poems are selected each year, along with older folk like me! 

This workshop will be designed for children, many who have never written a poem before. However, to be sure, it is open to writers, and wanna-be poets of all ages. So, feel free to attend. 

It will be a virtual event on zoom. Here is the direct link.

Papa Green Bean's Poetry workshop

Warmly waving,

Papa Green Bean

Whimsy Park: A Reading with Papa Green Bean: 2 pm PT Saturday October 24th

 

Whimsy Park: A Reading and Conversation 

with Papa Green Bean and Christen Mattix

Sponsored by Village Books

2 pm PT Saturday October 24th 

This will be an online Zoom event. Click on the link below for details, then hit the, CLICK HERE TO ATTEND to register. 

Whimsy Park:A Reading and Conversation

Whimsy Park is my first book! It is a book of children's poems for ages 5-12 officially, but in reality ages birth to 100+! 

This is Rubber Band!

Whimsy Park: Poems for the Whole Family is Published!

 Whimsy Park

Poems for the Whole Family 

Well, my first book is published. It is a beautiful book of 40 poems written by yours truly, Papa Green Bean.  The illustrator is Christen Mattix, and she created 40 matching watercolor illustrations. Here is the cover. Pretty cool, huh? This is a rubber band, and she is a philosopher! The white cat has her own poem also. But the birds just make a few cameos.

 

 

I hope you will let me know if you'd like a copy. Right now, I only have the paperback version, but it turned out so well. I am perfectly pleased. When the hardcover version comes out it will be available on Amazon. 

Best to everyone during this most peculiar of summers.  One of the benefits of believing in play-based learning is that missing classroom time is not nearly as big a deal as many so called experts would lead you to believe. If a child has free-time to play at their own pace in a non restrictive environment, then great imagination is produced. It's not necessary for the adults/parents to step in. They can do their own thing while simply maintaining an eye on the child from afar. The best learning takes place when the children let their elders be!

 I'll keep you all up to date on Whimsy Park.

Cheers,

Papa Green Bean

My Favorite Early Learning Resources

Papa Green Bean's Top Twelve 

Here is a treasure chest of free resources for parents. Give each a look and please follow the ones you like. They are the best of what I've seen anywhere—honestly helpful and inspiring.

1) Teacher Tom's Blog  (Age Range 2 - 5)

Teacher Tom is my favorite early learning writer. He understand children like no other I know. He posts five times a week. If you have a Facebook account, please like his Teacher Tom page. It is often my favorite read of the day. Tom Hobson is the only employee of the Woodland Park Cooperative School in Seattle, Washington. In his words, "The children come to us as 2-year-olds in diapers and leave as "sophisticated" 5-year-olds ready for kindergarten. The cooperative school model allows me to work very closely with families in a true community setting." 

I love when my dad reads Teacher Tom's blog!

2) Forty Short Films for Early Learning  (Age Range: 1 - 6)

The Department of Education in Zurich, Switzerland has created an astonishingly beautiful series of forty films—less than five minutes each. They are "designed to support professionals who work in early childhood education, care and upbringing: In the areas of family support, parental counseling and education. For this reason, the short films are available in 13 languages with extensive expert commentary."

Play based learning is the best!

Why Is Conversation So Important?

  Listening Is An Art

A few years ago, my father was visiting my daughter and me with his partner, Maureen, a certified master gardener. This was their first time in Minnesota—and it was early summer. We had been walking around a lake, and were now sitting on a park bench. Maureen started a conversation by describing the flora surrounding the water and how the vegetation was quite different from her parks in Georgia. I agreed and mentioned the invasive species, Kudzu, prevalent in the south but nonexistent in the Midwest. My father said looking at my daughter, "I'm glad you enjoyed your classes this year." Maureen began to explain that invasive species are quite different regionally. My dad interrupted, "What books are you reading, Anna?"

My father-in-law, Don, does the same thing, except one-on-one which is even worse than in a small group. When there are four people you can divert into two two person conversations if need be. But with two people? I started, "Jen and I have been working on a few children's books in our spare time." Don replies, "I see that there must be a sailing club out on the bay." Arrrgh! (Don is a good man—he and my mother-in-law have been married 52 years. See All Are Significant.)

Granted, men interrupt more and are generally worse conversationalists than women—take the presidential debate between Trump and Clinton as an embarrassing example. However, conversation is an art form, I say. Conversation is a skill. And it is not taught in school. It is not taught in college. It isn't taught anywhere. It is learned from day one as a baby—as a noticer.

Data, Not Destiny

It's Just Data, Not Destiny

Here is my summary of Teaching with Poverty in Mind by Eric Jensen—Chapter 2: How Poverty Affects Behavior and Academic Performance.

Introduction

• There is no shortage of theories explaining behavior differences among children. The prevailing theory among psychologists and child development specialists is that behavior stems from a combination of genes and environment. 

• Genes begin the process: behavioral geneticists commonly claim that DNA accounts for 30–50 percent of our behaviors, an estimate that leaves 50–70 percent explained by environment.

• This tidy division of influencing factors may be somewhat misleading, however. First, the effects of the nine months a child spends in utero are far from negligible. 

Free Range Learning (3 of 3)

Free Range Learning

How Homeschooling Changes Everything

Introduction

No one, after reading Free Range Learning with an open mind, can justifiably argue in defense of formal K–12 schooling. However, it would be a disservice to Laura Grace Weldon’s considerable grasp of the human spirit to simply recommend her book for parents of home schoolers. Everyone should put this handbook in their bookcase after marking it up half as much as I have!

Due to the extensive material I wanted to include, this post has been divided into three separate posts. This is part three of three. One final post including all three parts will follow tomorrow. Part one of three was posted two days ago, with part two of three posted yesterday.

A future inventor in action

Ethics, Spirituality and A Greater Good

ü  When adults insist on compliance in their children—true understanding is usurped—encouraging moral immaturity.

ü  Many adults continue to assert that children do best raised with more punitive, heavy-handed methods. That is shortsighted. The real underpinning of civilization is cooperation.

ü  We can be mindful of where we put our parenting energy.

Ø  It’s easy to notice children squabbling for five minutes and ignore two hours of peace.

Ø  What we consistently notice is amplified.  What we recognize persists.

Ø  If we habitually notice the worst in a person, even though we are trying to bring about improvement, we unwittingly reinforce these negative behaviors.

Ø  For a child whose self-image is forming, this principle is even more important.

Ø  Noticing when a child has done something right helps to strengthen not only that behavior, but also the motivation behind that behavior.

Free Range Learning (2 of 3)

Free Range Learning

How Homeschooling Changes Everything

Introduction

Although Free Range Learning was written as a handbook for parents contemplating or already taking the home schooling initiative, any parent, teacher, or professional in the field of education would do well to read this gem. It could change your entire way of living, let alone thinking, as this book asks first and foremost for a more benevolent and serene world. I’m in.

Due to the extensive material I wanted to include, I will split this post into three separate posts. This

is part two of three. Part three will follow tomorrow, with a fourth post containing all three parts in one. Part one of three was posted yesterday.

Slow down, and smell the curiosity...

Trust, Empathy and Cooperation

ü  Demonstrating our trust in our children sends them a potent message.

ü  This is a continuum that begins at birth. When a parent is consistently responsive to a baby’s cries, the infant forms a sense of security.

ü  Infants have a biological need to be held, carried and cared for tenderly.

Ø  Deprivation of physical comfort in the formative years is a root cause of violence.

Ø  Infants and toddlers often spend many hours a day in car seats, carriers and other restraint devices.

Free Range Learning (1 of 3)

Free Range Learning 

How Homeschooling Changes Everything

Introduction

Thanks, Laura!

Laura Grace Weldon’s Free Range Learning combines insightful wisdom, tender compassion, and vibrant understanding in helping the reader see the potential in meaningful, real-life learning. What it means to grow up and parent in a respectful, engaged, and joyful family. Her handbook transforms boundaries—or does away with them altogether. She is a kindred spirit.

I would like to share my favorite bits of Free Range Learning—with mostly direct quotes. Apologies for the many salient points that I leave out within the 275 pages of this inspirational ‘go-to’ reference
book.

Due to the extensive material I wanted to include, I will split this post into three separate posts. This is part one of three. Parts two and three will follow on consecutive days, with a fourth post containing all three parts in one. 

The Wisdom of Laura Grace Weldon (tasty morsels of her unique thinking)

Education as Life, for Life

ü  The child’s wondrous progress from helpless newborn to a remarkably sophisticated five-year old happens without explicit teaching. In fact, most of a child’s learning is so continual that it goes unnoticed.

Ø  Toddlers experiment like enthralled scientists. They rapidly develop a grasp of everyday physics.

Ø  They master nuances of social interaction long before they can speak in sentences.

Ø  Their comprehension expands much more quickly than their growing vocabulary. Often, children seem to ignore what they aren’t ready to learn, only to return to the same skill or concept later with ease.

Ø  What they do is intrinsically tied to why they do it, making the learning process purposeful. They are confidently in charge of their own instruction.

Ø  They require little fanfare for their achievements, as mastery gives them more than enough satisfaction.

ü  Experiential learning, along with the guidance of parents and other elders, is precisely the education known throughout the majority of human history. Schooling is the experiment.

Neurons That Fire Together—Wire Together

Developing Young Minds: From Conception To Kindergarten

Preface

Dr. Rebecca Shore’s landmark book, Developing Young Minds: From Conception to Kindergarten, introduces an essential paradigm shift in perspective that is needed on educating children. 

Introduction: The Scientist In The Crib  

Everything we do with and say to babies alters their brain biologically and neurologically—ultimately changing their lives. Cognitive stimulation is occurring naturally around babies because, literally, everything is new to them. In educational terms, the baby is born a student ready to learn. Their very existence is focused around learning to adapt to their new world. This is an enormous responsibility, not just for parents but also for society as a whole.

Developing Young Minds From Conception to Kindergarten

Conception–K Schooling: Rich Rewards and Returns

My schooling begins at birth, people!

Huge sums of federal and foundation funds have been injected into the education system—school reform efforts— over the last half-century in an attempt to bridge the learning gap. No silver bullet has surfaced. How can so much hard work, so much money, and the best intentions fail to produce some kind of “best practices” that work for educating our children?

Perhaps the critical question is not “How do children learn best” but “When do children learn best?” 

Discovering (and Building On) Your Child's Natural Strengths

Each Human Being Learns Differently

There really isn't a definitive "difficult" child. The child who is most challenging is the one who doesn't think like we do. Much of what we perceive as our children's deliberate efforts to frustrate us are actually a difference in perception. If we can learn to recognize and appreciate their learning sensitivities, as opposed to true disobedience, we will become more knowledgeable and happier parents—and the child will be too.

My strength is painting the walls, hahahaha!

As I read Cynthia Ulrich Tobias's excellent book, The Way They Learn, I began to understand the truth about each newborn’s uniqueness in a deeper manner. Many parents expect their children to learn the way they did. And many children will grow up loving their parents' teaching models. As Tobias declares, "Parents rarely intentionally frustrate their children".

Youth Library Cards

Common Sense is the New Wisdom 

Hop on down to the local library

with toddler in tow

Scoot on over to the librarian

with toddler on toe

Order a library card in toddler's name

Then dance and hoot 

until you get the boot!

PGB

Papa, please put my library card on our refrigerator with a really good magnet

It came as rather a surprise when I read an article in The University of Washington's Columns magazine about "The New Mindset, Turning Research Into Better Living." The first example of UW's "innovation imperative" was a nursing professor who "discovered" that premature babies gained weight and developed faster if they were rocked and could hear the sound of a heartbeat.