First Fridays: Mighty Ugly Craft Challenge

Friday, January 6
4:00pm
Glen Park Public Library

Take the Mighty Ugly Craft Challenge to make a creature that is not cute-ugly but ugly-ugly. Craft materials will be supplied, but feel free to bring anything you would want to work with.

For kids ages 6 and thru 18.

Write Your Will Workshop

Write Your Will Workshop
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
 
6:00pm -7:30pm
 
Glen Park Branch Library
2825 Diamond Street
 
Stuart Bronstein, an estate planning and probate lawyer in San Francisco for more than 30 years, will lead participants in creating their own wills. Everyone will be able to leave the workshop with a fully functional will. Bring a blue non-erasable pen.
Space is limited. Please stop by the Information Desk or call 415-355-2858 to register.

What Is Your Child Practicing This Week?

     For a while in these posts I want to pursue the "Land of Easier". Making practice time easier at home would make piano so much more productive and pleasant.  In the last post I covered three ideas which seem worthwhile for all parents. Let's look at the third idea and start on the ground level. Prepare yourself to try new ways to infuse your practice time with your child with more calm and help them enter the "Land of Easier". Wouldn't it be great if you, as a parent, had a magic wand to make hard things easy? It is time you told your child that you really don't have a magic wand. But, you can make things easier.

       If your child is under eight they need you to be there when they practice. You, as the parent, need to know what their assignment is for the week. That means if you weren't there at the lesson it would be really important to sit down the evening of the lesson and talk about what is expected for the week. If you wait more than 24 hours your child will remember very little of what happened at the lesson. That will make practicing hard. The parent knowing the assignment for the week is important for all ages. This allows you to listen from afar and know if progress is happening. Look at the assignment book together. Ask questions which allow your child to recall. You don't need to be pushy, this experience is for recall. This will work even if you were at the lesson. You can learn what your child remembers and compare it to your memory, mentally. You have heard this before, it is not new, but it doesn't always happen and trust me, if you start with this step again, practicing will be easier. 
   Stay tuned for more steps to making practice easier.