World Cup Montessori

We had a World Cup viewing party at Post Oak School yesterday.  Fajita lunch with birthday cake, too, since it is my birthday tomorrow. Red, white and blue balloons.  It was fun to watch the game with lots of people from school and as I read the paper today, to realize what a national celebration it was.


Here's a story by Lisa Falkenberg from this morning's Houston Chronicle.  Lisa usually writes about state and local political issues.
The story gets doubly funny when it goes all Montessori!

National Institute for Play (Really!)

This is serious stuff. The science of play.   Stuart Brown, founding director of the National Institute for Play,  is interviewed on my favorite early-early-Sunday morning radio show, "On Being" with Krista Tippett.  "Play, spirit and character."


"Who knew that we learn empathy, trust, irony, and problem solving through play — something the dictionary defines as "pleasurable and apparently purposeless activity." Dr. Stuart Brown suggests that the rough-and-tumble play of children actually prevents violent behavior, and that play can grow human talents and character across a lifetime. Play, as he studies it, is an indispensable part of being human."




So when I brought my remote control helicopter back to work today, so I could fly it out of the wind in the school gym, I did so with a sense of higher purpose.




Lighten up.  Seriously.  It's good for your soul. It's good for your creativity.  And that's good for all of us.