Your child is learning more now than in school

Is your summer flying by?

It sure feels that way over here.

We’ve taken a couple of trips, spent a lot of time in the pool and the local zoo, a little time at the beach, and doused our kids in way too much sunscreen.

During the summer, kids are out of school and enjoying friends, family, and freedom…

and that’s when some of the best learning happens.

After spending 15 years in the traditional school system as a teacher (and 24 as a student…K-12 + undergrad + grad school), I’ve come to appreciate just how much of our learning in life comes from outside the classroom walls.

Most of it does, in fact.

Children are learning the most when they are:

• exploring the forests and creeks near their house
• navigating the public transport with you in the city or the airport
• Trying a new food, a new slide at the playground, a new art medium, a new art style, or anything new at all
• learning social cues and navigating relationships through play, at the playground or on the soccer field
• unleashing their imagination with their dolls or action figures on your living room floor
• making a mess or a masterpiece on a canvas
• drawing in their sketchbook.
• and just being children!

Children learn best when they are engaged in what genuinely makes them curious.

Often this is outside of school, and the summer can be the best opportunity for this.

I started Kids Cartoon Academy last year because I had grown tired of my high school students arriving to my classroom in August jaded and cynical, having lost their curiosity and creativity.

I started Kids Cartoon Academy to help families keep that creative spark alive in their child.

Most of my time in schools was actually as a teacher of Reading and Writing, but what I found was that kids were losing their love of reading at the same time they lost their love of art, and their creative spirit in general. It’s all one and the same.

So let’s make the most of this summer, and keep our kids curious and creative, by letting them play, run wild, and explore.

Stay creative,
Daniel