Required staple if toddlers in the discovery learning phase

Toddlers in the home permanently or for holiday visits? 
Go ahead and pick up the Mr Clean Magic Eraser variety pack

The end of year blogosphere is filled with posts the best of, the top 10, thanks, and I am still honing my time management skills with the toddler. As with many 2 year olds, the discovery of pens, pencils, crayons, and markers is one aspect of discovery learning. For the holiday she received the Step 2 Deluxe Artist Desk to support her creativity and discovery learning. Washable markers and crayons are the tools we would like them to use everyday but every now and then the toddler acquires a pen. For some reason walls are required as one canvas choice during the discovery learning phase of creativity and boundaries. 

As much as you want to encourage wall art using chalkboard paint or IdeaPaint, being a tenant in leased housing does not allow one to do what they would do to walls if they were home owners. As many of us discover ink doesn't always come out of clothes and can be challenging to remove from walls depending on the wall covering. So I thought I would try Mr Clean Magic Eraser Variety Pack.

It worked. The standard canvas is back to the Step 2 Deluxe Artist Desk but I know if the toddler decides to use the wall as her canvas we can recover without major meltdowns.

I am still looking for options to repair the tips of the styluses. Part of her discovery learning is removing the soft tips. Until then, we will work through the bundle of 14 colorful stylus universal capacitive touch screen pen. Any recommendations on replacing the soft tips removed by the discovery learner?

Here is to making it through another day, another week, and enter 2013 with health, happiness, tinkering, practicing platform agnostics, and learning from others as well as our decision making processes.

Comments, +1s, and reaction check boxes are always welcome.

Little Brother - A book with something for everyone

I came across Little Brother while consolidating recommended reading lists from leaders. After taking a break from required reading for school, Little Brother seemed interesting for a few reasons listed below.

Cory Doctorow's article Security Literacy: teaching kids to think critically about security from the May 2008 Tor/Forge Newsletter.

Cory's blog post, June 2012 Students assigned to cheat on exam use doctored Little Brother cover and many other methods featuring James Caroland, US Navy/US Cyber Command and Greg Conti, West Point.

Tracey Hughes shares course materials she developed with her Grade 10 students in Peterborough, Ontario to remix, adapt, and reuse. Cory's post: Remixable Grade 10 course materials for Little Brother. 

You can read about Little Brother on Cory Doctorow's site or Wikipedia. Or the many book reviews published over the last four years.

You can donate the book to educators and librarians in the United States, Canada, Indonesia, Kosovo, Taiwan, United Kingdom and choose to be an acknowledged as a public donor or added to the anonymous count.

You can download Little Brother at no cost based on Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).

While Little Brother is categorized as Juvenile Fiction or Young Adults (YA), people of all ages can learn from the story, which is interwoven with real issues, real sites, and credible resources.

Whether you are a tinkerer or learning about today's students, your children, and/or grandchildren to the credibility offered in the Afterwords by Bruce Schneier and Andrew "bunnie" Huang and the Bibliography with references to techno-countercultural writings to websites such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Pirate party and Cryptome there is something everyone can connect with in Little Brother.

Little Brother was adapted and directed by Josh Costello into a play/stage version in San Francisco, CA. Josh made a few changes because novels and plays are different. Little Brother is supported by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Custom Made family of donors.

If you are gifting for your avid reader or your favorite library, Little Brother should be on your list. Homeland, the follow on to Little Brother will be released February 5, 2013. You can read an excerpt from Homeland.

Cory Doctorow Bio

Have you read Little Brother? Gifted the digital or printed book? Received it as a gift? Did you see the play? What do you think?

Pause for the Cause

Like many people this week we celebrated things to be thankful for but part of my reflection was on my withdrawal from my doctoral studies one year ago. While caring for little JJ as a custodial G Parent, my life has changed for the good, the bad, and the fugly. I am just taking a "Pause for the Cause" and will continue to be an autodidact.

• I remember attempting to explain to my Academic Advisor on why she didn't get my reason to withdraw. It was not an easy decision.
• I don't have as much time to blog.
• I read more than interacting with my social media streams.
• I empathize with those dealing with depression in their own families.
• Poopy diapers are still as stinky as one may remember.
• I am thankful that none of us remember our baby teeth coming in.
• I am thankful to my mother for being there during the process.
• I am thankful for the adults in her life who continue to show her love, regardless of what her parents are going through and the adjustments we make since we were not in the same life social circles before she came into the world.
• Prices of diapers and child care have kept up with the times.
• Family counseling only works with those who participate.
• You still need the village to raise the child.
• Glad the National Zoo is still free.
• I love how playgrounds have improved over the years.

For those who care for babies and toddlers, I have no idea how you keep up with your techspertise, social media, and the things you want to do in life every day. Transitioning from an empty nester to a custodial GMama has been enlightening, frustrating, enjoyable, and transformational.

While I will not make my personal goal of completing my doctorate degree in the first five decades of life, I will return and accomplish this goal before the sixth decade of my life. Life isn't over...I am just taking a "Pause for the Cause".

In the meantime, little JJ continues to tinker with techy gadgets although she wants everyone else's gadgets. She uses gadgets for different reasons and different apps. She still likes to write and draw with washable markers on paper and the bathtub (Thanks Crayola). Buy hey maybe this is a restart on my next thesis as a participant researcher in the process?

So as a unique ed techie, I will find time to blog which may consist of books I am reading, compare/contrast the techie differences between lil JJ and her mother's techie experiences, lessons learned but all things digital with Lil JJ are kept more private. She can make the decision about her digital footprint when she is a little older.

As you reflect on another year of giving thanks, what are you really thankful for?