The site is “a ten minute, commercial-free daily news program” geared to middle and high-school students.
If you’ve been looking for ways to get your teens interested in the news, I recommend bookmarking the CNN Student News site and showing it to your kids. It’s geared to them, so it’s a bit more hip, clean and concise than the main CNN site.
Regular readers of this blog know how much I love books. I’ve co-chaired the Book Fairat our kids’ school for several years, taught Junior Great Books (another program I strongly support) and, for a brief time, considered starting anotherblog devoted to books. I love books. I encourage my kids (and others’) to read.
I also promote philanthropy. Each year I believe more strongly that we all need to challenge ourselves to find ways to be more generous and giving.
Wouldn’t it be great to somehow combine reading and giving? Hmm…
So last week, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, when the Pearson Foundation gathered together a group of bloggers, authors* and others to announce the launch of the site, We Give Books, I was happy to attend.
*Including Pulitzer Prize winning author, Dave Barry!
How does it work?
Here’s the gist: We Give Books encourages parents or caregivers to read with their kids and then donate a book to a charity selected by the reader. Read a book, give a book. For every story you read on the site with (or without!) your child, they donate a book! The reader’s only obligation (if you even want to call it that) is to read the online book. Pearson/Penguin then donates the book directly to the charity you and your child selected.
These are some of the folks behind this initiative.
How easy is this?
1) Choose the charity
2) Read a book
3) Click to donate
For every book read on the site, the Pearson Foundation will donate a book to a worthy charity (selected by the reader(s)) of the book(s) from among those listed on the site).
Just give it a try. The site is very easy to navigate. Your youngest kids can participate in turning the pages of the book. In fact, I recommend that you get your kids involved from the start. Tell them a little about the charities, let them choose which one they like most, then let them pick the first book. I bet you’ll read more than a few (and then donate more than a few).
Mark Nieker, President of the Pearson Foundation, believes “We Give Books gives parents an opportunity to read with their children, and its innovation is that it surrounds reading with those important conversations that can start a young person on a life of giving.”
You can still have that special, quality time with your child in your lap, reading a story but now it’s interactive and helps other kids! This site puts an interesting twist on story time in our hi-tech world.
The only thing that I believe could make this even better and more current? If they had an iPad app for it.
I’ll bet it’s just a matter of time.
Visit We Give Books. And let me know what you think.
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Note: I wrote this review as part of a campaign by Mom Central on behalf of We Give Books and received coffee and a gift certificate. But I would have told you about it anyway, because it’s right in our sweet spot and it’s just that good.
My favorite part? It’s too hard to choose.
hi-res color iBooks, the keyboard dock, the revised iCal (that looks much better (and resembles my ancient(no, wait, did I ever actually use one of those?)Filofax)) or the ability to view all my apps on a larger screen.
Honestly? It is so very tempting for me. To say the least.
I was in a bus filled with middle school kids today and they were all atwitter, excitedly chattering away about how each and every one of them wanted to get an iPad. Mmmhmm. Those naysayers on Twitter don’t know what they’re talking about. This baby is going to be sizzling hot. I can feel it.
What about you?
Just another gadget you don’t need or want? Or are you dreaming about it and frequently thinking about it? Giving up your Kindle for this thing? Or sticking with your hardcover bestseller?
Hmmm….
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No, I did not get an iPad. And, sadly, this post is not sponsored. It should be noted, however, that Stephen Colbert got an iPad because, well, because he shamelessly begged for one. David Pogue, my absolute all-time favorite technology reporter (in fact, my dream is to do a tech review vlog with him! Or, okay, at least to participate in his next “I Want an iPhone iPad” movie – I can sing!), did not get one!! Outrageous! So…I am prepared to shamelessly beg for one.
Do you think it’s important for your kids to play sports? How about music?
I believe that music benefits our kids, and I strongly encourage parents to support funding for school music programs. They help our children in more ways than many people know or acknowledge. For one man’s knowledgeable perspective, watch this video:
As parents, we hope to instill good values in our children, but how do we know when they learn the lessons or whether they even hear us?
Over the years I’ve wondered…
Do they learn from what we do? How can we be sure?
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a list of lessons, or a credo, if you will?
Then, one day last week, my son handed me a typewritten sheet with the heading, “Life and How to Live It.” He explained that, after teaching the class George Washington’s 110 Rules of Civility, his teacher told the class that she wanted each of them to write a credo.
This is what he wrote:
Life and How to Live it
Keep your head level. You’re no better than the next guy.
Stick together. If a bunch of fish group together, it scares away the shark.
Always remember what’s important in life. Your hair doesn’t matter as much as your SAT score.
Be yourself. Just because someone else jumps off a bridge doesn’t mean you have to.
Don’t depend on others to make you happy. If someone doesn’t like you anymore, it doesn’t have to be the end of the world.
Keep a good balance of work and play. Ever seen The Shining?
If you think of it as fun, it’ll go by a lot faster.
Violence isn’t always the answer.
Remember to give as much as you get and get as much as you give.
Always know what path you’re on—and how what you’re doing will affect you long-term.
Always know which way is up and which way is down.
STUDY. What college you go to matters a lot more than Sunday Night Football.
Sleep actually DOES matter. You aren’t any cooler if you stay up till midnight.
Whenever you do anything that you think might not seem right, even the slightest bit, ask yourself: Would I like this if someone did this to me?
And always, ALWAYS, be nicest to the ones you love.
After reading it, I smiled, thanked him and gave him a great big bear hug. Every bullet point represented little lessons taught over the years. Most came from those lectures where I thought I was talking too much and wondered whether his eyes were glazing over, whether he was thinking about football rather than listening to what I was telling him. Others came from experiences and morals gleaned from stories about my family members. I recognized all of them. Remembered every conversation, every moment we talked about these ideas.
Hooray. Simply, hooray.
There it was — years of talking, teaching, leading, discussing, and guiding summed up by a page of bullet points. He told me that he could have written more, but had to keep it to a page.
“That’s fine,” I thought. “More than good enough.”
Parenting provides no feedback or bonuses, no accolades or pay raises, so how do we know whether we’re doing a good job? We hope for moments like these and when we get them, we cherish them.
At the end of the day, it’s not about us. The measure of our parenting, if it even exists, will be shown by our children’s character as they become young adults. We really don’t know for certain whether they will be responsible citizens, contribute to society, or make a difference in the world. But at least we can breath a little sigh of relief knowing that they hear our words and emulate our actions.
I’ve written many posts about books, my love of books and my experiences with book fairs. My daughter and I have hosted many podcasts about books – from picture books to Twilight. It seemed only natural, then, that I would create a blog about books. Currently under construction, the new blog seeks to assist its readers with the sometimes overwhelming task of finding books for their kids. As the years go by, it becomes increasingly difficult to find good books for my middle schooler. At the same time, I find more friends asking me for recommendations of good books for their kids. The new site will tackle those challenges and more.
Stay tuned. I’ll let you know as soon as the site is ready for prime time.
Yesterday, that question was the hottest topic in the lunch with my cooking club. The consensus? Our kids should do chores. Not only does it help us around the house, it also helps prepare them for life.
In this article, Annys Shin explains how to get your kids to pitch in.
We all say that we want to raise responsible children so that, when they leave us, they easily transition into the work world as productive members of society who can live on their own. it may be funny to talk about kids coming home from college dropping off many bags of laundry and asking, “What’s for dinner?” but wouldn’t it be heartwarming and make you feel proud if, instead, your offspring (at that point adults not children) return home and cook dinner for you and your spouse? No laundry in hand because they finished it all at a laundromat on campus?
As our children grow, we are slowly releasing them into the world. We are not doing them any favors when we do everything for them. Whether motivated by guilt or some seemingly selfless martyr syndrome, parents who fail to train their children to care for themselves are shirking an important responsibility.
My apologies to my regular readers. I know I’ve been a little AWOL this past week. I spent most of it dedicating my time to a book sale at one of my kids’ schools. Remember the book fair last fall? Well…this event was markedly different from that one.
For decades, our PTO has run the fair in the fall. We have dozens of volunteers and even make a floor plan for the set up. We buy funky decorations and just go all out. In some years, the co-chairs have even served passed hors d’oeuvres for the teachers during their special preview day. We toned that down a bit, but still…we make a ton of money, have a lot of fun and, most important of all, we get books (thousands of them!) in the hands of kids and their teachers.
But last week’s shindig was supposed to be different. Not as big, not as much planning, not as many volunteers.
