Conn and Hal Iggulden have created a remarkable book. The Dangerous Book For Boys is a guide to all things interesting and adventurous that boys of a certain age should know and do:

• Secret Inks
• Juggling
• The Ten Commandments
• The Five Knots Every Boy Should Know
• Coin Tricks
• Seven Wonders of the Modern World
• Books Every Boy Should Read (an annotated list)

…and many more. The authors are not trying to be cool or build self-esteem -- nor do they talk down to their audience. The Igguldens just state the facts as they are. In fact, their writing reminds me a bit of C.S. Lewis in his Narnia tales.

The section "Girls" is my favorite example: “We thought long and hard about what advice could possibly be suitable...the subject should be mentioned here – as delicately as possible.” And later:  “Be careful with humor...One joke, perhaps, and then a long silence while she talks about herself.” And later: “Play a sport of some kind. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it replaces the corpse-like pallor of the computer programmer with a ruddy glow. Honestly, this is more important than you know.”

Thanks to HarperCollins to providing the book. Being toddlers, Benjamin and Jonah are not ready for this book yet, but I know we will have fun going through it in a few years. It’s a perfect addition to our future homeschool curriculum!

I’ve written on the subject of raising bilingual kids twice before. And now for Part 3 as I review two Spanish DVDs we recently received...

The boys are both speaking too much quite a lot these days and are beginning to distinguish between English and Spanish. For example, if they say something in English about a picture in a book and I ask a follow-up question in Spanish, they’ll answer me in Spanish. And especially with Benjamin, you can see him thinking about this – sometimes he’ll nod and answer “Ye – [pause] - Si!”

As planned, I started a Spanish-language playgroup that – along with regular visits from Abuela – has been the best way to keep the boys regularly hearing, thinking, and speaking Spanish.

And for the last month they’ve been watching two fantastic videos from Whistlefritz: “Los Animales / The Animals” and “Vamos a Jugar / Let’s Play.” Maria, the friendly and engaging host is a native speaker (THANK YOU!) and sings and talks with children and puppets exclusively in Spanish (THANK YOU!) throughout the video.

The boys were already familiar with some of the music - including folksongs “Los Pollitos” and “Vengan a Ver Mi Granja” - from their Jose-Luis Orozco CD. And though it would be better to show live farm animals and real backgrounds instead of puppets and computer-generated graphics, I understand that those sorts of features raise production costs. And besides, toddlers aren’t terribly discerning about these types of aesthetics, are they? I mean, they’ll snuggle every night with a stuffed dog whose nose is split open and has stuffing falling out.

Regardless, these two Spanish-language videos are the best I've seen for toddlers and preschoolers. And now when I sing “Buenos dias, amiguitos! Como estan?” like Maria, there’s a chorus of “MUY BIEN!” and Jonah pretends to shake maracas.

Check out the Whistlefritz site for more detailed info on the DVDs – or just to see their adorable logo. When the colorful logo with whistling mouse appears at the beginning of the videos I am as excited as my boys! You can also read what other parents have to say about the Whistlefritz DVDs at Parent Bloggers Network.

I have added “Los Animales” to my list of resources for introducing children to Spanish and I hope Whistlefritz continues to publish many more videos! We’ll be customers, both for our own use and for gifts!

As a Mom, a future homeschooling parent, and someone who’s always been interested in learning and intelligence theories, I found Your Child’s Strengths by Jenifer Fox an engaging and thought-provoking read.

While not groundbreaking per se, Your Child’s Strengths is a well-organized resource worth delving into if you are involved with children in any way.  For, as Fox herself points out, “Everyone who has a role in raising children has an important part to play…”

Defining strengths as “the things that we do that make us feel energized and alive when we do them,” Fox suggests choosing to see the strengths in each child instead of the weaknesses.  Like Mel Levine’s A Mind At A Time (that I read a couple of years ago) this book’s underlying premise is that we should bolster each child’s self-esteem through “positive psychology.”

In the first half of Your Child’s Strengths, Fox explores and explains the negatives of the current educational system.  But her discussion is not limited to a critique; she then goes on to provide tangible and realistic recommendations to transform the methods of modern schooling.

The latter half of the book is full of real-life examples and detailed practical application, which I always appreciate.  Mere abstract philosophy is sometimes difficult to translate into daily curriculum, especially when one doesn’t have much time for pensive reflection (as is the case with most parents and teachers). 

In the section on assessing children’s strengths, Fox provides several examples for those working with children too young to accurately self-assess.  For instance, older children can write about which activity is most appealing, but for younger children:  “Find three pictures of characters engaged in a variety of different activites…. ask her several times if she would like to do the activity the characters are doing.”

Fox also includes an enlightening section entitled “13 Moments in History:  A Brief History of Educational Theory,” a survey of educational philosophies from different eras and cultures.  Likewise, Appendix C – a list of web sites, schools, and companies – is another valuable resource for philosophy and curriculum development.

While I don’t completely agree with the premise and goals of Positive Psychology, there are several useful and thought-provoking concepts that make Your Child’s Strengths worthwhile reading for any educator.  Personally, I connect more with the Charlotte Mason approach to education – which is not mentioned in this book – but I plan to research and incorporate several ideas/approaches mentioned here as well.

Thanks to Parent Bloggers for providing the book for this review.