This blog is dedicated to helping you, your students, or your family by giving you tools and ideas for building a flourishing, meaningful life! If you want to read posts from our old blog/website, you can view it here. Our old blog is a diary of our first year of living, working, and learning together.
Forget about the Ivy League – preparing your kid for life past college acceptance
It’s graduation season! Which means it’s time for 22-year-olds across the world to walk across a temporary stage in their mortarboards and awkwardly large robes as their parents and siblings cheer them on for their accomplishments. Maybe your kids aren't there yet, but I’d bet you've been dreaming of this moment for years. You've reached …
Continue reading "Forget about the Ivy League – preparing your kid for life past college acceptance"
Extracurricular Overload! Raising Comprehensive (Not Overwhelmed) Kids
Kids' schedules these days seem like a cross between a superhero's to-do list and the president of a small nation's planner: 6:30 Wake Up 7:00 Shower and Breakfast 7:15 Swing by the store to pick up some last minute project supplies 7:50-2:30 School 2:30 Art Lessons 3:30 Yoga Kids 4:30 Guitar Class 5:30 Soccer Game 7:30 Dinner 8- …
Continue reading "Extracurricular Overload! Raising Comprehensive (Not Overwhelmed) Kids"
Why It’s Okay to Be Afraid of Starting A New Thing with Your Kid’s Education [and do it anyway]
“Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth. — Pema Chodron Last week I addressed why you should feel proud to innovate your kids' education. I talked about why it's important to take risks, because without taking risks there can't be any rewards. And while I realize that it's hard to ignore …
A Purpose-Driven Life: When Was the Last Time Schools Cared?
Sometimes working in education feels like a shouting match about what skills kids should learn: "Science, technology, engineering and math," screams the governmental officials afraid of their tanking economy "Don't forget creativity and art," yells the TED crowd "We also need entrepreneurship," rallies the Teach for America and charter school movement "And let's not forget …
Continue reading "A Purpose-Driven Life: When Was the Last Time Schools Cared?"
3 Reasons You Should Feel Proud to Be Innovating Your Child’s Education
If you've ever taken steps to innovate or stray from the beaten path in your children's education, odds are you've probably heard the following refrains a million times. They can come from friends, colleagues, or even your own parents: "How will your kid ever get into college if they don't go to a normal school?" "Your …
Continue reading "3 Reasons You Should Feel Proud to Be Innovating Your Child’s Education"
Our 5 Step Guide to Goal Setting with Your Kids
In one of my favorite TedxTalks of all time, thirteen year old hackschooler Logan LaPlante begins his presentation with a really inspiring observation: “When you’re a kid, you get asked this one particular question a lot, it really gets kind of annoying. What do you want to be when you grow up? Now, adults are hoping for …
Continue reading "Our 5 Step Guide to Goal Setting with Your Kids"
4 Ways to Help Your Kids Discover Their Interests
When and how did you discover your interests? Was it in a class with a special teacher? Did one of your parents take you along on weekends to go hiking or to museums? At Armada, we believe in young people becoming comprehensive and having the time and space to develop their own unique interests. When …
Continue reading "4 Ways to Help Your Kids Discover Their Interests"
Our 7 Best Tips for Hiking with Kids
When you think about Beijing, hiking and the outdoors probably don’t spring immediately to mind. You’re far more likely to imagine a crowded, busy, sprawling metropolis, and you’ll probably throw in some pollution, too. That’s pretty much the picture that I had when I was first thinking of moving here to work at Armada. What …
Messy Lessons: 4 Pieces of Advice for Cooking with Kids
Our learner Emily and I share a passion for food and cooking. It’s fun for us to share stories about enjoying food with our families, but even more fun to get in the kitchen and enjoy creating something yummy together. In the kitchen, we embody equal parts mad scientist and curious child. Baking has been a favorite …
Continue reading "Messy Lessons: 4 Pieces of Advice for Cooking with Kids"
Education Unbounded 