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JANUARY 2015

FREE

Massachusetts’

Premier Magazine For Families Since 1996

THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF PLAY: HOW PLAY PAYS OFF FOR YOUR CHILD WHY PARENTS CAN’T DO 2ND GRADE MATH

L O O SCH

! s e l u R

SURPRISING SECRETS OF PTO SUCCESS WHAT YOUR 5-YEAR-OLD REALLY NEEDS TO KNOW TO START KINDERGARTEN

COMMON CORE & STANDARDIZED TESTING: A BREWING STORM?

Discover the

Jan 11 Million Dollar Quartet January 9 - January 11, 2015

Delight

of the arts coming to life!

16 Sesame Street Live: Make a New Friend January 16 - January 18, 2015

Feb

Jan

9-11

Feb

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET

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4 The Australian Bee Gees Show: A Multimedia Tribute Concert Wednesday, February 4, 2015

5 50 Shades! The Musical Parody Thursday, February 5, 2015

7 Live And Let Die: A Symphonic Tribute to Paul McCartney and The Beatles Saturday, February 7, 2015

13 Flashdance: The Musical February 13 - February 15, 2015 Generously sponsored by UniBank

25 Peter and the Wolf along with Hansel and Gretel: Classic Tales Told Through Music and Dance Wednesday, February 25, 2015

28 Wild Kratts Live!

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Mar 1 Dancing Pros Live Hosted by Alan Thicke, Featuring Chelsie Hightower Sunday, March 1, 2015

6 I Love Lucy: Live On Stage March 6 - March 8, 2015 Generously sponsored by Commerce Bank

Feb

Mar

15 Sherlock Jr. Featuring Buster Keaton, Accompanied

by Clark Wilson on the Mighty Wurlitzer

13-15

Sunday, March 15, 2015

15 Brian Regan Sunday, March 15, 2015 Generously sponsored by Southbridge Savings Bank

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22 Jay Leno Sunday, March 22, 2015 Made possible through the support of WinnDevelopment.

27 Frank Carroll presents An Evening with The Priests to Benefit St. John’s Food for the Poor Friday, March 27, 2015

Apr 7 Stephen Dubner Tuesday, April 7, 2015 Presented by The Worcester Economic Club

For packages, performances, and tickets visit

TheHanoverTheatre.org or call 877.571.SHOW (7469)

STAY IN TOUCH

Get the inside scoop on auditions, cast parties, photo opportunities, contests, discounts, special promotions and more. Sign up for our online newsletter, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter

Discounts available for members, groups, kids, students, and WOO Card holders.

Worcester Center for Performing Arts, a registered not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization, owns and operates The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts.

2 JANUARY2015 3

Cornerstone Academy Educating all learners in grades K-6

An elementary preparatory school that celebrates the individual.

TOURS

Tues. Jan. 13 and 27th • 9:00 a.m.

Sign up on our website.

The best snowmen begin with a solid foundation. Give your children the best educational foundation.

Let it begin at Cornerstone.

• Offering Transitional Kindergarten and full day Kindergarten through Grade 6 curriculum.

• Small class sizes, personalized attention.

• Solid academic foundation complemented by art, Spanish, music and physical fitness.

• Highly qualified faculty trained to adapt curriculum to your child’s ability.

• Intellectually enriching environment.

• State of the art technology utilized in all classrooms.

5 Oak Avenue • Northboro, MA 01532 • 508-351-9976 www.cornerstoneacademy.org BAYSTATEPARENT 2 3

4 JANUARY2015 5

IS YOUR CHILD

reaching his

POTENTIAL B OT H S O C I A L LY AND ACADEMICAL LY?

Learn more by visiting NGCC and seeing our programs in action.

Next Generation Children’s Centers Celebrating Over 20 Years As A Leader In Early Childhood Education Learn how we help your child succeed

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866-711-NGCC

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NGCCenters.com BAYSTATEPARENT 4 5

NGCC_Ad_Question_IsYourChildReaching_BSP_4C_9x1075.indd 1

11/13/14 12:16 PM

Child Development Network is Proud to Announce the

“CDN CARES PROGRAM”

Directed by Dr. Renee Folsom of Johns Hopkins-Kennedy Krieger Institute

CDN CARES

the Center for Autism Research Education Services

The goal of this center is to use state-of-the-art knowledge in the proper diagnosis of autism and to include evidence-based practice into targeted educational and related services.

• Current estimates indicate that 1 out of 88 children age 8 years will have an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

• Every day new therapies crop up that claim to “cure” autism, and this makes it difficult for parents to decipher scientifically proven therapies that address the symptoms of autism from simple quackery.

CDN is proud to welcome Renee Folsom, PhD. She brings a wealth of experience and expertise working with children, adolescents, and adults at Johns Hopkins-Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Center for Autism and Related Disorders and UCLA’s The Help Group.

She joins a team of dedicated professionals at CDN who will strive to help your child achieve his or her personal best.

The Child Development Network, LLC Lexington, MA • 781-861-6655 www.CDNKids.com

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table of contents JANUARY 2014 VOLUME 19

1.

3

NUMBER 9

things we learned

while making the january issue

When compared to children of the 1980s, only 1 out of 12 children today have normal core strength and balance, experts say. Turn to page 10 and find out the surprising reason why.

2.

Students entering college are offered an average of eight credit cards their first week of school, yet fewer than 1 in 4 report feeling that they know enough about personal finances. Learn how area financial institutions are helping educate students about critical credit issues on page 46.

70 74 7 in 10 college seniors who graduated from public and private nonprofit colleges in 2013 had student loan debt, owing an average of $28,400. Head to page 54 and discover why community colleges are an affordable option, with one important caveat.

features

RIPE: Wintertime Farmer’s Markets: Fresh Doesn’t Stop With the Snow DISHIN’ WITH THE DIETITIAN: 2015 Healthy Wishes for You RIPE BITES: Bake Away the Winter Blues

8 8 9 12 14 16 17 17 19 29 60

3.

65 67 68

in every issue

10

The Critical Importance of Playtime: What Parents Don’t Know

34

Mother-Daughter Book Clubs: Fighting Malicious Media and Building Strong Women

advertising directories

72 73 73

PARTY - KIDS. PARTY - MOMS, SERVICE DIRECTORY PRESCHOOL & CHILD CARE DANCE, GYM & ENRICHMENT, ADVERTISER’S DIRECTORY

WELCOME: A Letter from Our Editor MEET OUR SPECIAL GUEST: Cover Model Kevin MEET OUR CONTRIBUTORS CAMP: TimberNook — Not Your Typical “Nature Camp” SPECIAL NEEDS: Living the Wildcard Life FINALLY FOREVER: Welcoming a Child – and Dismissing Any Fears JANUARY’S CHILD: Meet Zeke CIRCLE OF FRIENDS: Area Adoption Events OUT & ABOUT: January Calendar of Family Events WOMEN’S HEALTH: Moms and Wine: Fun, Relaxing Break From Reality or Potentially Harmful Trend?

LET’S GO: Inside Affordable Boston-Area Options for Live Family Entertainment OUR JANUARY FAVORITES: Facts, Finds and Freebies TAKE 8: Meet New Massachusetts First Lady Lauren Baker

school rules!

38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 59

So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling?

Homeschool or Not: Best Practices for Every Child What Your Child Really Needs To Know To Start Kindergarten Why Can’t I Do 2nd Grade Math?

Theory Behind Common Core Math Education That Makes “Cents” A Brewing Storm? Common Core & Standardized Testing in Massachusetts The Surprising Secrets to PTO Success GLAD Promotes the Creation of Middle-School GSAs Community College: An Affordable Start — If You Do It Right PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD: We Want to See Your Food Art! BAYSTATEPARENT 6 7

meet team

welcome to

baystateparent

I had a great time planning this month’s issue because with a focus such as education, there are so many powerful story ideas to explore.

There will always be a wealth of issues to examine — academic, social, extracurricular and more — that impact Massachusetts children and their families.

No parent would argue the importance of education but there is always disagreement about how it’s delivered. On one hand there are the proponents of standardized testing, who advocate the practice saying it makes schools better by benchmarking a child’s progress as a continuous way to measure improvement, not to mention a school’s performance as a whole.

How do we know where students and schools are falling short without data that outlines what is done well and what needs improvement?

How do we keep teachers and administrators accountable otherwise?

On the other hand, there are those who say standardized testing has gone too far, forcing educators to teach to a test, not to the best interests of the child. They say there are too many tests, too much rigor surrounding the curriculum,

too much standardization and too much paperwork that is taking teachers away from what they love most — the art of teaching.

For Massachusetts public schools, standardized testing is at a crossroads. The 16-year-old MCAS test appears to be on the way out, although official word has not been made. This year, school districts were given a choice: They could either continue to administer the MCAS or trial the new PARCC exam.

PARCC is suspected by many as a candidate to replace the MCAS, but official word is not expected until the fall.

If your child is in the testing window this year, he or she will be taking either MCAS or PARCC. Doug Page looks at the issue of standardized testing, talks to state education officials for their thoughts — even new Gov. Charlie Baker — and explains the difference between the two tests. A Brewing Storm? Common Core & Standardized Testing in Massachusetts starts on page 48 and is well worth your time.

In a similar controversial vein is Kathy Sloan’s story Why Can’t I Do Second Grade Math? Whether you call it “new math” or “Common Core math”, most parents’ reaction is the same: red-hot frustration over the fact their children are not adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing the way they were taught, which leaves adults unable to help with homework and wondering why the methods have become

so complicated. It’s a whole new world over the dining room table these days and most parents don’t like it. Kathy talks to educators who explain the theory behind the math methods, why it seems so needlessly complicated, and what educators are really trying to teach.

Read it on page 44.

Heading into the social aspects of school, we examine the move to start Gay-Straight Alliance groups at middle schools. Traditionally viewed as high school-level organizations, experts say GSAs help all students regardless of sexuality by promoting a safer, more supportive environment.

Check out the success one GSA has enjoyed at an Arlington middle school on page 52.

And outside of school, Michele Bennett Decoteau goes inside The Surprising Secrets to PTO Success on page 50. PTOs have it harder than ever these days, battling a multitude of other organizations for family and friends’ fundraising dollars, with an all-volunteer staff of crazy-busy parents. Michele talked to PTOs that shared their best tips on how to raise money and reduce volunteer fatigue.

That’s just a peek at our fantastic lineup for this month. Read on and, as always, I would love to hear your thoughts. Reach me at editor@ baystateparent.com.

M e li ss a

baystateparent publisher KIRK DAVIS

creative editor in chief MELISSA SHAW 508-865-7070 ext. 201 editor@baystateparent.com creative director PAULA MONETTE ETHIER 508-865-7070 ext. 221 pethier@holdenlandmark.com senior graphic designer STEPHANIE MALLARD 508-865-7070 design@baystateparent.com

advertising director of sales REGINA STILLINGS 508-865-7070 ext. 210 regina@baystateparent.com account executive MARIE COREY 508-735-0503 marie@baystateparent.com account executive DEBORAH MEUNIER 508-450-9718 deb@baystateparent.com account executive KATHY PUFFER 508-865-7070 ext. 211 kathy@baystateparent.com

Melissa Shaw, editor presidents KIRK and LAURIE DAVIS

meet our special guest

Kevin

Our cover model this month is 11-year-old Kevin of Roslindale, who shared some fun facts with us.

How old were you when you started modeling?

I was 9 years old.

What do you enjoy the most about modeling?

The pictures and the different poses you can do.

8 JANUARY2015 9

photographers AMANDA GOODALE SASHA PEDRO ADAM PERRI ASHLEY VASSALLO copy editor BRYAN ETHIER

Do you have any hobbies?

Playing sports, drawing, and acting.

baystateparent

What is your favorite subject in school?

Math.

is published monthly with a main office at 22 West Street, Millbury, MA 01527

What is your favorite book?

Eragon by Christopher Paolini What is your favorite winter activity?

Skiing, snowboarding and sledding.

www.baystateparent.com It is distributed free of charge throughout Massachusetts. cover photo

BY

Steven King PHOTOGRAPHY

Meet Our January Contributors Western Mass native Amanda Collins is a writer and editor who grew up in Belchertown, and now resides in Sturbridge. She is the proud aunt of six nieces and nephews and is the editor of baystateparent’s sister publication, The Millbury-Sutton Chronicle. On page 46, Amanda examines the statewide Savings Makes Cents program, which teaches Massachusetts school children the basics of money, saving and banking.

Growing Together in Music ©

Paula Collins is a mother of two from Shrewsbury who this month shares her thoughts on Living the Wildcard Life on page 14. Paula talks about life with her 16-year-old son Tucker, who has Down Syndrome, and dispels common misconceptions about the genetic condition and the people it affects.

• Try a Free class

Is your PTO tired, worn out or burnt out? Need new ideas? Read Michele Bennett Decoteau’s The Surprising Secrets to PTO Success on page 50, in which she talks with successful groups and experts who share which activities are raising the most money for their schools. And on page 65, Michele takes a look at the growing Winter Farmer’s Market scene, telling you where you can find fresh produce and a multitude of other local goods this winter. A Central Massachusetts-based writer, editor and mother of two, you can find her online at micheledecoteau.com.

This month, Joan Goodchild tackles two topics. First she takes a look at the community college option, a path some graduating seniors are taking to lay the foundation for a four-year degree without acquiring a mountain of debt. Read Community College: An Affordable Start — If You Do It Right on page 54. She also examines another popular topic: moms and wine. There are plenty of wine brands designed to appeal to women these days, and usually no shortage of friends willing to enjoy a glass at the end of the day. But is the line between safe, social drinking and dangerous consumption becoming blurred? Joan looks at both sides in Moms and Wine: Fun, Relaxing Break From Reality or Potentially Harmful Trend? on page 29.

Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur is a freelance writer, editor, and blogger who grew up in Chicopee and has called Springfield home for many years. She is a homeschooling mother of three, making her an expert for this month’s story, So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling? on page 38.

Medfield father of two Doug Page examines an issue that will affect more than 200,000 Massachusetts school children this spring — standardized testing. Doug details the differences between the two tests offered this year and talks to state education officials and advocates about potential changes, including new Gov. Charlie Baker. Read A Brewing Storm? Common Core & Standardized Testing in Massachusetts on page 48.

Michelle Perras-Charron is a freelancer, runner (sometimes), and mom to four growing (way too fast!) boys. A southern girl at heart, Michelle traveled coast to coast with her Air Force spouse for the past 20 years. They have recently made Belchertown their “forever home” because they love the community, the people, and the beauty of Western Mass. She also writes for her local community paper, The Sentinel. This month, Michelle outlines the critical importance of play and how it impacts everything from a child’s balance to his or her ability to pay attention in school. Read The Critical Importance of Playtime: What Parents Don’t Know on page 10. Michelle also looks at a popular New Hampshire camp that’s getting kids back to nature and good, old-fashioned outdoor play.

Read TimberNook: Not Your Typical “Nature Camp” on page 12.

Sara Pokorny is a freelance writer who lives in Amherst and is a proud puppy mommy to Link and Piper. She’s interviewed everyone from Mike Tyson to the late Joan Rivers, but still names the time she talked with the mall Santa Claus as her favorite story yet.

This month, Sara examines common misconceptions surrounding adoption and talks to experts who set the record straight in Welcoming a Child – and Dismissing Any Fears on page 16.

Amanda Roberge is a longtime freelance journalist and artist who lives in North Central Massachusetts. She and her husband have been raising their three daughters to be loving and kind, but also (and perhaps more importantly) to be excellent pranksters, karaoke singers and master roller-skaters. On page 42, Amanda talked to educators who explain What Your Child Really Needs To Know To Start Kindergarten.

Mother of three Kathy Sloan has heard our cry and will deliver the answer in Why Can’t I Do 2nd Grade Math? On page 44, Kathy talks to educators who explain the rationale behind Common Core math. Here’s a hint: They’re not trying to drive us insane. In a second story, Kathy looks at the impact of Mother-Daughter Book Clubs and how they can help young girls navigate tough issues and express themselves.

Check out Mother-Daughter Book Clubs: Fighting Malicious Media and Building Strong Women on page 34.

• Now Enrolling For Winter Classes For toddlers to ten-year-olds!

piano, theory, ear training, note reading, singing, ensemble playing, composition & SO much more!

508-898-3888 nemusicacademy.com

Come Play for a Day or Stay All Day!

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Open Play Monday - Saturday Birthday Parties Drop Off Care Moms Groups, Holiday Parties and Playdates Parenting workshops Parents Night Out Designed for children ages 1 to 12 years Play Passes are available* Summer Camps

*Passes are not accepted towards special events

Bring in a non-perishable food item to receive $1.00 OFF admission. Valid until 2/15/15.

Visit our website www.playtownexpress.com for additional details Bring in this coupon and receive 1 complementary ADMISSION when you bring a friend to play! (siblings excluded)

150 Cordaville Rd, Southboro, MA 01772

508-480-0022 BAYSTATEPARENT 8 9

­THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF

playtime: WHAT PARENTS DON’T KNOW

BY MICHELLE PERRAS-CHARRON I awake at 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday to the sound of plastic wheels coasting with purpose across wood floors. It is loud. It is a bit unwelcome at this hour. I recognize it as the sound of my 2-year-old riding his scooter through the house. Yet I don’t yell out, or interrupt, because I know that although he just woke up, he can’t help it. He must begin playing — and moving. He does this because it’s what his body wants him to do — move. His little body craves movement.

And yet what do children often hear? “Sit still.” “Slow down.” “Stop fidgeting.” “Be careful.” “Don’t run/ jump/spin/climb on that!” Parents, caregivers and teachers are often telling them to do the complete opposite of what their body wants and needs them to do. As parents, we’re worried about our child getting hurt. Likewise, school administrators are worried about liability, as are towns and cities that maintain public parks. Note the lack of merry-gorounds, high slides, and swings with large swing spans on today’s school playgrounds and public parks.

“It’s not that we’re bad parents,” says Angela Hanscom, pediatric occupational therapist and founder 10 JANUARY2015 11

of TimberNook, a Barrington, N.H., camp that seeks to reconnect children with nature. “It’s just that we don’t know.”

Hanscom, whose work focuses on sensory and attention issues, founded the program with one goal: to foster healthy development of children by getting them back outside where they can be inspired by the environment, think for themselves, and be challenged.

“It’s an opportunity for kids to just be kids again,” she adds. “Restricting movement causes problems.”

Hanscom says movement turns on the vestibular (balance) system, which in turn supports a child’s ability to pay attention, regulate emotions, and fine-tune visual skills.

“The whole balance system is really critical and can affect everything,” she notes. “In order to develop a strong balance system, kids need to move their body in all directions.”

The vestibular system consists of tiny hair cells inside the inner ear. When we move our heads from side to side, the hair cells move and help develop our balance system.

If we are upright all the time, or sitting still, the hair cells are not being stimulated, which means our

balance system is not developing, Hanscom explains. In other words, by telling children to sit still, or not giving them ample opportunity for movement and playtime, adults are interfering with the development of this balance system — and there are consequences.

When compared to children of the 1980s, only 1 out of 12 children today have normal core strength and balance, she says. More children are falling, getting hurt, and are just generally clumsy.

“Teachers tell me that kids are falling out of their chairs in class or hitting too hard when playing tag,” she adds.

“This isn’t a behavior problem, it’s a balance problem.”

More and more, children are in an upright position all day, which does not allow for proper development of the vestibular system. Less and less do we see children rolling down hills, spinning around on merry-go-rounds, swinging high, climbing trees, and hanging upside down. Yet according to Hanscom, this is exactly what children need to be doing.

She and others in her field believe that this lack of movement plaguing today’s children is in part responsible for many of the attention problems

children have in school, including the rise in the number of children being recommended for ADHD testing.

Teachers find the children in their classrooms are fidgety and unable to pay attention.

“Children start fidgeting because their bodies need to move in order to ‘turn their brain on’ to pay attention and learn,” Hanscom says.

Jeanine Fitzgerald, human behavior consultant, family coach, and director of the recently opened Fitzgerald Institute in Northborough, agrees.

“Play is not a luxury but rather a crucial dynamic of healthy development at all ages,” she says.

“Yet in today’s culture, children are pressured more than ever to perform and achieve so they will one day be successful adults.”

But how do we define “successful adults”? Is it the child who grows up to make a six-figure salary and garner accolades for their academic prowess? Or is it the child who grows up to be a caring, empathetic, contributing member of the community who understands how to function as a member of our society?

“Wellness is not always about doing something productive,” Fitzgerald adds.

Donna M. Denette, co-founder and executive director of Children First Enterprises, a non-profit child care organization in Granby, believes that having appropriately developed social skills is a critical piece in child development, and something that children must develop through unstructured play with peers.

“Play is the primary vehicle for learning for young children,” she says. “It is the way human beings — and, in fact, the young of most species — are programmed to learn. Think about even an older child or adult with something new, or a problem to solve; we use the expression, ‘Let me just play around with this for a bit.’ We intuitively know that ‘playing around’ with things allows us to understand them on a deeper level.”

Denette explains that preschoolaged children are at a critical stage in which they are learning socially based skills such as self-regulation, empathy, and emotion management.

These are skills that cannot be “taught” per se, but are learned through their interactions with peers.

“They are, through play, trying on roles, experimenting with social limits, testing their personal boundaries, learning who they are as individuals and as members of a group,” adds Denette. “They also learn the tolerance levels of the group for certain behaviors and attitudes.”

These are important life skills for

this reason, many children revert to simply playing tag.

What can parents do to ensure their child is getting the playtime and movement they need for healthy development? Parents need to advocate for longer recess times, get their children outdoors into nature, and give them downtime to just get bored and play, experts say.

“Children will naturally seek out what they neurologically need on their own,” Hanscom adds. “They don’t need an adult to tell them how to play.”

And while Denette’s advice to parents encouraging unstructured play seems obvious, it is a point that often goes unheeded by the worrisome, helicoptering parents of our generation — myself included.

“Mostly, parents need to provide opportunities — backyards, neighborhoods, parks, camping, recess, playgrounds, anywhere children might gather — and then step back and allow unstructured play to occur,” she says. “Trust your child. Send them messages that you believe they are capable.”

So the next time my 2 year old is running in tight circles to the point of falling down, as he often likes to do, I’ll refrain from telling him to “Stop that!” because he is moving, and playing — and it is what he is meant to do.

Professional, Affordable Theatre for Every Generation!

PINOCCHIO Jan. 30-Feb. 22, 2015

se to on

Influenced by Japanese traditions of Kabuki, Noh, and Bunraku puppetry, but with a modern edge!

or or ld

ul ws nd ic ho c, he to y? ng ld

of this across our nation. There seems to be a constant procession of children committing egregious acts of violence against their peers.

They are often good students from a solely academic standpoint. Many are left scratching their heads as to why these “good students” would lash out in such an extreme manner.

Could it be they lacked the socially based skills necessary to navigate their way through middle and high school amongst their peers? Where are the leaders, the peacemakers, and the mediators in our schools?

“With each passing generation, our relationships to others, nature, and a higher power have become more disengaged,” Fitzgerald says.

“Our authentic need for ‘being with’ and belonging has made the consequences of this growing isolation dangerous. According to current statistics, the United States has become one of the most addicted, medicated and obese societies in the world.”

Most parents would agree that children today do not get enough playtime and outdoor time, both at home and at school.

“It takes kids 45 minutes to get in to what I call ‘deep’ play,” Hanscom says. “First they have to decide who, what, where, when, and how before they can begin to play.” This decision making alone can take up to 15 minutes, and then recess is over. For

Winter/Spring 2015 at Wheelock Family Theatre

he ng g. ir to

er hy s. re m be

children to learn, which they will carry with them into adulthood and act out as members of our society.

And according to Denette, allowing children unstructured opportunities to “play around” with these social interactions also allows children to discover their own strengths.

“The children with leadership abilities emerge, and their leadership skills are honed and reined in by the group response,” she says. “It is also here that the ‘mediators’ and ‘peacemakers’ emerge. Each child really begins to express their personality type and, most critically, the power of the social group is exerted upon extreme behaviors, thus limiting them.”

Denette cautions there can be consequences for children lacking unstructured playtime.

“I believe that one factor in the decrease of self-regulation and executive functioning skills in children is coming from the loss of unstructured play time,” she notes.

“Unstructured play, by its nature, allows for and encourages some risk-taking and social extremism, which gets self-limited by the power of the group and/or through natural and logical consequences. Studies are now showing links between the loss of unstructured playtime and decreases in socially-based skills in children.”

No one need look far to find evidence

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www.WheelockFamilyTheatre.org BAYSTATEPARENT 10 11

COUNTDOWN TO SUMMER CAMP

TIMBERNOOK: NOT YOUR TYPICAL

‘Nature Camp’

BY MICHELLE PERRAS-CHARRON

At

first glance, TimberNook appears to be a typical nature camp. However, it is not a place where kids go to learn about nature. Rather, it is a place in nature where kids go to learn about themselves. Through play in the natural environment, campers and their peers learn that they are independent, that they are competent, and most importantly — that they are capable.

Located in Barrington, N.H., TimberNook is a camp geared towards getting kids to think for themselves, challenge themselves and explore nature unhindered by adult fears.

“We are a therapeutic camp for all children, which is designed to foster healthy development at 12 JANUARY2015 13

all levels,” says founder Angela Hanscom.

Hanscom, a pediatric occupational therapist, began TimberNook after noting the lack of children playing outdoors, as well as a rise in the number of children in need of occupational therapy. She couldn’t help but wonder if these two things were connected.

“I realized there was a need,” says Hanscom, who decided to put her skills as an occupational therapist to work for all children, not just those with special needs, when she opened TimberNook in 2009.

In the beginning, TimberNook was what you would expect from a camp. Hanscom says it was very organized, camp directors were doing what you would expect them to be doing — directing —

and children were busy going from one scheduled activity to the next. Children likely went home exhausted and spilling over with stories of all the fantastic activities they participated in. Isn’t that what camp is all about?

“After the first year, we realized, that’s not what it’s all about,” Hanscom says. “We want to let kids be kids.”

Recognizing early on that children attending her camp just wanted to play, Hanscom added more free play, allowing children to become more freely immersed in the environment around them.

“As occupational therapists, we believe that children learn through play and that a child’s ‘job’ is play,” she adds.

So TimberNook staff took a big

COUNTDOWN TO SUMMER CAMP step back from directing and instead empowered campers to entertain themselves by using their own creativity and imagination to design their own ideas for how they wanted to play.

“We’re there to facilitate, or if they need us,” Hanscom says.

“But everything we do is childdesigned and the child’s idea. We simply foster that because play is all about choice.”

For example, Hanscom explained that if campers are learning to tie knots, TimberNook integrates this skill into play by having the children design and make a ladder for use in an obstacle course of their design. Using a fallen tree, children learn how to cut rungs for the ladder, then use their newly acquired knot-tying skills to assemble the ladder. Campers are learning and using basic life skills, as well as working together to create something for play.

“It’s more about how can the environment inspire a child or foster healthy development of the child,” Hanscom adds.

To highlight the therapeutic benefits of nature at TimberNook, Hanscom uses the example of searching for frogs in a mud puddle.

During the search children use their sense of balance to negotiate

their steps through the mud. They are also visually scanning the water for frogs as they navigate the mud. They use their sense of touch as they feel the wet water under their feet and then search the water with their hands. There is a social aspect as the children converse with one another during the hunt. And lastly, the sounds of nearby birds help to orient their bodies to the space around them, which develops spatial awareness.

“It’s why we call it ‘the ultimate sensory experience’,” she says.

“All of the sensations help the neurological system to integrate the body.” Integration is important for our bodies because, as she points out, if the visual system is not integrated with the balance system you’re likely to get hurt.

A strong advocate for unstructured outdoor play and the importance of movement for children, Hanscom hopes more places like hers will come to exist in the future, whether part of an after-school program that takes kids into the woods behind their school or an outdoor camp such as TimberNook.

“We’re trying to set an example and set off a chain reaction in child development,” Hanscom says.

Children’s Performance Series PETER & THE WOLF / HANSEL & GRETEL

Feb 25, 2015

School Show 10:00 AM • Public Show • 6:00 pm

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SPECIAL NEEDS

Living the Wildcard

Life

BY PAULA COLLINS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVEN KING

In the delivery room there was chaos.

We had been here before, so we knew something was wrong with the baby simply because there were too many people in the delivery room.

My husband asked, “What’s wrong?” and the doctors responded with the weirdest answer we could have imagined: “We think he has Down Syndrome.”

We both looked at each other and didn’t need words to communicate the thoughts slamming into our brains: Think? Isn’t this something they should know? On a guttural level I knew this was only the beginning of a lifetime of “think” and we have begun a journey of “know.”

That first day, I looked at my son Tucker and said: “We are going to change how people view Down Syndrome.” I knew we could do it; I just had no idea at that time that he would be my clone with a genetic wildcard.

People think Down Syndrome kids are all the same. Basically you’re taking your chromosome map and throwing in the wildcard — that’s what Down Syndrome is — an extra chromosome in my house referred to as “the wildcard”. My child isn’t going to be anything like yours or anyone else’s because he started with his parent’s chromosomes. My kid is 100% me with the wildcard, an extra 21st chromosome.

Full of determination to prove people wrong, he hasn’t stopped surprising us yet. Tucker is funny, loveable, stubborn, loyal, a gifted photographer, and happens to have an extra chromosome that I swear has some musical element attached to it.

We have survived the ups and downs by being able to find humor in the moment instead of freaking out. The beauty of this child is that

he takes everything at face value. It is a deficit and an incredible gift. We are often hung up on the “why”, but he doesn’t stress over the why, he just lives in the moment and accepts what is.

People think that kids with Down Syndrome are always happy. Tucker has his moments when he is definitely not happy, we can attest to many of those, but it’s more that he knows what’s really important in life. Tucker doesn’t care about getting a present for Christmas; he cares about who we’re going to see for Christmas. Every single weekend he asks, “Who’s coming over?”

I began posting “Tucker moments of the day” a few years ago on my Facebook page because I believe that moments make a life. I wanted to share some of these absolutely priceless gems with family and friends, but had no idea it would be something to which they all looked forward with such enthusiasm. It made me realize how truly blessed I am to have: • A 16-year-old who asks me every

day, “How was work today?” and really wants to know.

• Someone who pours his soul into you with every hug.

• A boy who automatically gets up and unpacks the groceries when you come home.

• A teenager who wants to be with you all the time.

• A kid who crawls into your bed in the morning and hugs you because you’re not up yet.

• A 4–year-old who used to be genuinely surprised that you came home after work each day and greeted you with a hug so tight you would have thought he thought you were never coming back.

• A son who supports his older brother’s every performance, regardless of how it goes, with the sentiment, “You were AWESOME!” every time.

• A young man with no sensor on his thoughts and feelings, even when the

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sentiment is embarrassing but true.

It’s not hard to find the humor in a world that is insistent on political correctness when you have a teenager with no sensor.

• An athlete who would give up easy points to help his teammate score instead.

• A dance party after every movie as the credits roll that often involves cheers and high-fives from surprised audience members who stayed to watch and makes me laugh every time as it reminds us to “dance like no one’s watching.”

I’ve been asked what I would say to parents who discover there is a probability that their unborn child may have Down Syndrome. My answer: If you could get a kid who loved you unconditionally forever, would you take it?

People think children with Down Syndrome are not smart: another huge misconception. They’re incredibly smart, incredibly intuitive. Tucker has a people sense that’s insane. I have a pretty good people sense, and if I can size somebody up in 10 minutes, he can do it in 5.

In my opinion, the one thing you should never tell the parent of a kid with special needs is, “God gives you what you can handle.” So in my next life I’ll come back as a wimp? It’s just a weird comment and people say it

all the time. It’s almost insulting to parents of traditionally developing kids: You’ve got the perfect kids because that’s all you can handle!

A close second on my list of “Worst Things You Can Say” is “I’m sorry.”

Why do you feel the need to say something? What are you sorry about? And to that I say, “Really? I’m not.”

I remember talking to my friend within days of my son’s birth, noting, “So, he’ll work at Burger King instead of being a brain surgeon.” She looked at me and replied, “How many of our kids do you think are going to be brain surgeons?” We both burst out laughing! It was the greatest response ever.

At the end of the day, what defines a successful life? Money, homes, family, contentment? Down Syndrome may limit someone’s ability to make it to the top of the income scale, but how many of us do that? In many ways Tucker seems more successful than me already: He often sings in the car, “I love my life….” which always makes me wonder if I could sing that tune at any given moment. Perhaps we are not in a position to judge what makes someone’s life “valuable” or successful. Everyone must make their own choice, but I know from personal experience that a world without Down Syndrome would be a very dull world indeed.

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FINALLY FOREVER

Welcoming a Child – and Dismissing Any Fears The truth behind common adoption myths

BY SARA POKORNY

The prospect of welcoming a child into a family through adoption can be very exciting, but it may also come with feelings of uncertainty and questions. Some considering foster care or adoption may eventually balk at the idea because of preconceived notions that may not necessarily be true.

The truth behind some of these queries varies depending upon many factors. For one, there are several types of adoptions, such as infant adoption of newborns in the United States; state adoption, upon which age varies, but usually involves older children; and international adoption, of which both age and country may vary. Answers will also depend on the situations of the adoptive and birth families.

With this in mind, we spoke to several professionals involved and familiar with the adoption process to lend some extra information — and hopefully alleviate unease — behind common misconceptions.

“If a court terminates a birth parent’s parental rights or a birth parent signs a surrender/consent to adoption, the birth parent has no legal right to ‘take their child back’ once that child has been legally adopted,” said Barbara Carulli, M. Ed., LCSW, Director of Adoption Services at Berkshire Children & Families in Hadley. “This requires that appropriate legal steps are taken and documented prior to filing for adoption. An adopted child/ youth may choose to have contact with a birth parent or even to live with a birth parent [after they turn 18].”

There is, however, the option of an open adoption, if adoptive parents wish for the birth parents to remain involved.

“It’s all regulated by the court,” noted Ronya Campbell, Director of Adoption and Foster Care at The Home for Little Wanderers in Boston, “where birth parents can have a once a month, once a year visit, at a certain location or at a visitation center.”

A biological parent can take back an adopted child.

This is one of the largest looming fears for individuals and couples looking to adopt. However, there’s no reason to fret, thanks to the legal process.

Adoptions are a lengthy process, often taking years to finalize.

Many envision the adoption process as one that drags on for a lengthy period of time — but that’s not necessarily the case. On a case-tocase basis, some adoptions may take

16 JANUARY2015 17

longer than others, but it’s a process that has been estimated to last from as little as 6 months to as far out as 18 months.

“According to Massachusetts law and regardless of the type of adoption, a child must live with their pre-adoptive family for at least 6 months before an adoption can be finalized,” said Susan Wilson, LICSW, Clinical Coordinator at The Home for Little Wanderers in Boston. “For most domestic and inter-country situations, an adoption will legalize in 7 to 8 months, depending solely on a particular court’s schedule.

A DCF [Department of Children and Families] adoption can occur within that same time frame, but will typically take between 12 and 18 months.”

There are many factors that can influence the time frame, such as the child’s legal status, service needs, and the best time for the adoptive family. Marla Allisan, JD, LICSW and Director of Full Circle Adoptions in Northampton, said it’s best to talk with individual programs and ask for statistics.

Adopted children are not as welladjusted as those who live with both biological parents.

This is a concern mainly for those

who are adopting children of an older age. The bottom line is that a particular behavior is never guaranteed in any child and that applies to children who are adopted and those who are not.

“Children who are adopted will have some unique identity issues to deal with, but adopted children are as diverse as children who live with families they were born into,” Carulli said. “Some are well adjusted, high functioning and developmentally on target, while others have many challenges. Exposure to early childhood trauma interferes with healthy development and such children will need caretakers and service providers who can help them heal from their trauma. Being adopted by a loving, stable family can provide a child with their best chance at recovering from early deprivation and living a productive life.”

There are also many services in place that work with both adoptive children and parents on any issues of concern.

“There is considerable professional attention to ways to identify and nurture childhood ‘resilience’ — the capacity of children to strive and thrive despite abuse and neglect,” Full Circle’s Allisan said.

FINALLY FOREVER “The capacity of children to heal, grow and flourish should never be underestimated.”

And that healing and support can begin even before the actual adoption.

“We try our best to identify and put a lot of supportive services in place to help families in that pre-adoptive phase that are working through the adoption, to support them through some of the challenges that come up,” Campbell said.

After the adoption is finalized, the birth mother is abandoned with no support to overcome the loss.

Adoptive families may also be concerned for the birth family — what happens to them once the process is over?

“Birth parents are offered lots of support, though it’s up to them if they want to take it,” Campbell said.

“It’s a very challenging process, so we make sure there are many services out there to walk them through it. It may be a clinician going to visit with them in the community to answer questions or just be there to listen and talk through things.”

“We believe strongly in counseling before, during and following the contemplation of an adoption plan and also where biological parents decide to parent,” Allisan added.” It is our observation that elsewhere in the United States, particularly in states which allow attorneys to handle adoptions, that the clinical aspects of service to expectant parents may be minimal. Massachusetts is an agency state. Agency-led adoptions often include more clinical supports, including pre- and post-placement counseling with highly experienced adoption clinicians.”

There is also an option for the birth parents to still stay in the know about the adoptive family even if visitations or an open adoption are not something they favor.

“Adoption workers may continue to maintain contact with birth parents for years after an adoption, facilitating exchange of information between adoptive family and birth family,” Carulli said.

International adoption is easier and cheaper than domestic adoption.

In a world in which we see celebrities opting to adopt outside of the country many are left wondering why. Is that the easier, less-expensive way to go about it? Though it does depend on a case-by-case basis, it would seem that the answer is: not necessarily.

“International adoption is often expensive and more complicated than domestic adoption, because there are two countries’ adoption laws and practices to be complied with, INS (Immigration and Naturalization

Service) requirements, and additional costs involved with traveling to and residing in another country while completing the adoption,” Carulli said.

“In adoption, ‘easier’ is often in the eye of the beholder,” Wilson added. “Each path (Department of Children and Families, domestic or international) has its own unique challenges and benefits. New regulations governing international adoptions have made adoption from other countries more challenging for U.S. citizens. These regulations are aimed at protecting the rights of children and birth parents, coupled with more aggressive efforts to locate adoptive resources inside of countries that have traditionally permitted their children to be sent abroad.”

Adoption costs a lot of money, so only the very wealthy can afford it.

Again, it depends on the type of adoption, but if you aren’t in a high tax bracket, it won’t hinder you from bringing a child into your home.

“Adopting through DCF is free, adopting domestically or internationally have costs associated,” Wilson said. “These costs vary significantly from agency to agency and between countries.”

“Adoption from foster care costs nothing to the adoptive family, and adopting families may receive adoption subsidy from the state after the adoption is finalized,” Carulli added. “Domestic infant private adoption can be too expensive for some families, as there are no subsidies for agencies/programs providing these services, so fees have to be charged to the adopting families. Even so, it is not necessary to be ‘rich,’ and there are many middle-class families who have found a way to afford private infant adoption.”

Information on the agencies we spoke with: Full Circle Adoptions & Family Building Center, Inc. 39 Main Street, Northampton www.fullcircleadoptions.com Expectant Parent Free: 1.800.452.3678. Email: adoption@fullcircleadoptions.com Berkshire Children & Families 220 Russell Street, Suite 200, Hadley 413.584.5690 berkshirechildren.org The Home for Little Wanderers 10 Guest Street, Boston 888-HOME-321 or 617-267-3700 thehome.org

JANUARY’S CHILD

Zeke Ezekiel, who prefers to be called Zeke, will turn 17 in two months but still hasn’t given up on his dream of being adopted by a family.

This young man of Caucasian and Hispanic descent enjoys going fishing and playing sports like baseball, basketball, football and dodgeball. He hopes to be a police

officer or a firefighter when he grows up. Zeke has developed strong relationships with the people in his life. He has a great sense of humor and is considered to be kind and fun loving by those who know him.

At school, Zeke works hard toward his academic and behavioral goals.

Math is his favorite subject. He has some emotional difficulties and needs the support of a twoparent family in which he can be the youngest or only child in the home.

Legally free for adoption, he would do well in a family that shares his love of the outdoors.

For more information regarding Zeke, please contact Department of Children and Families (DCF) Adoption Supervisor Eileen Griffin at 978-353-3629. The Worcester DCF Office hosts monthly informational meetings for those wishing to learn more about the adoption process in general. Please call 508-929-2143 for specific information about the next meeting.

CIRCLE OF FRIENDS Sunday, January 4 — The Enchanted Ice Adoption Party. Jordan’s Furniture, 100 Stockwell Drive, Avon. 9 a.m.-11 a.m.

A private event open to homestudied families and families who have begun the process of working with an agency and waiting children.

Register at mareinc.org.

Tuesday, January 6 — Southern Region Adoption Info Meetings, Mass. Department of Children and Families. Jordan’s Furniture Reading: IMAX Conference Room, 50 Walker’s Brook Dr., Reading. 6 p.m.-7p.m. RSVP to 978-557-2734.

Saturday, January 10 — Making The Pieces Fit. Adoption Associates, 34 Lincoln Street, Newton. 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m. For adopted children ages 9-12, this group focuses on identity development, self-esteem improving, confidence building and communication skills.

Participants will use expressive arts and conversation to reflect their unique perspective of themselves. To register, call 617-965-9369 x3. adoptionassociates.org.

Wednesday, January 14 —Adoption Information Meeting, WHFC Main Office, 38 Edge Hill Road, Waltham.

6:30 p.m.- 8:30 p.m. Preregistration required at whfc.org/events.

Saturday, January 17 - Monday, January 19 —Massachusetts Approach to Partnerships

in Parenting (MAPP) Trainings. Justice Resource Institute, 132 South Main St. Berkley.

9 a.m.-5 p.m. 508-821-7774.

Wednesday, January 21 — Boston Region Adoption Info Meetings, Mass. Department of Children and Families, DCF Boston, 451 Blue Hill Avenue, Dorchester. 4 p.m.-5:30 p.m. RSVP to 508-894-3830.

Thursday, January 22 — Online Adoption Information Meeting. 8 p.m.-8:45 p.m. Register at whfc.org/events.

Monday, January 26 — Southern Region Adoption Info Meetings, Mass. Department of Children and Families, Canton Police Station, 1492 Washington Street, Canton.

6 p.m.-8 p.m. RSVP to 508-894-3830.

Ongoing — The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children offers an after-hours telephone hotline that provides emergency assistance to foster kinship and pre-adoptive families when the DCF offices are closed. The helpline is available 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. on weekdays and 24 hours on weekends and holidays. The number is (800) 486-3730.

If your group or organization is holding an adoption information or support group and would like to have information posted for readers of baystateparent, please email editor@baystateparent.com.

BAYSTATEPARENT 16 17

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Photo courtesy deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum

OUT& ABOUT

Cambridge’s American Repertory Theater rings in the new year with its version of the classic fairy tale, “The Light Princess” on Jan. 3.

Photo courtesy Puppet Showplace Theatre

Photo courtesy Belmont Studio Cinema

Photo courtesy American Repertory Theatre

Children can engage in Artfull play at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln throughout January.

“T.I.M.” is just one of many movies featured during Belmont Studio Cinema’s 12th Annual Family Festival, Jan. 16-19.

It’s “Lollipops for Breakfast” at the Puppet Showplace Theatre on Jan. 31.

BAYSTATEPARENT 19

OUT&ABOUT MELTDOWN WARNING: Before you pack up the mini-van, please confirm your destination. Although we’ve done our best to ensure accuracy at press time, things can and do change…

Photo courtesy Puppet Showplace Theatre

not visible to the naked eye, including experimenting and interacting with time lapse and infrared photography. Free with admission.

Members free, adults $14, children 2 to 18 $8, children under 2 free. ecotarium.org.

The CactusHead Puppets perform “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” at Brookline’s Puppet Showplace Theatre on Jan. 18.

1 Thursday Arts, Crafts & Conservation. Franklin Park Zoo, 1 Franklin Park Rd., Boston. 10 a.m.1 p.m. Enjoy winter-themed arts and crafts, and learn about animals and their habitats while escaping the winter chill. Adults $17.95, children ages 2 to 12 $11.95, children under 2 free. zoonewengland.org.

Zoolights. Stone Zoo, 149 Pond Street, Stoneham. 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Enter a winter wonderland of tree-lined paths lit by thousands of twinkling lights and meet reindeer up-close during nightly photo opportunities. Members and member guests $6, nonmembers $7. zoonewengland.org.

2 Friday Vacation Week Drop-in Craft. Framingham Public Library, McAuliffe Branch, 10 Nicholas Road, Framingham. 1 p.m.-3 p.m. Start the new year off right by creating a winter-themed craft and browsing through the wide selection of books for all ages. All ages welcome.

(508) 532-5636.

Frozen. Worcester Public Library: Main Branch, 3 Salem Square, Worcester. 2 p.m.-4 p.m.

Enjoy this Disney favorite along with a popsicle.

Free. worcesterpublib.org.

Curious Cubs: Winter Survival. Franklin Park Zoo, 1 Franklin Park Rd., Boston.

20 JANUARY2015 21

10:15 a.m.-11 a.m. Early explorations into the animal kingdom, discovering how our animals and animals around the world survive supercold temperatures. Registration required. For children ages 3 to 4. Members $8, nonmembers $10. zoonewengland.org.

Tales from the Wild. South Shore Natural Science Center, 48 Jacobs Lane, Norwell.

10:30 a.m.-11 a.m. A half-hour of storytelling that will delight young listeners. Free with admission. Adults $7, children 2-15 $3, children under 2 free. southshorenaturalsciencecenter.org.

First Friday Night Free. The Discovery Museums, 177 Main Street, Acton. 4:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Explore the museums for free on the first Friday night of every month. Food donations accepted for Open Table of Concord and Maynard and the Acton Food Pantry. discoverymuseums.org.

3 Saturday Vacation Week Drop-in Craft. Framingham Public Library, McAuliffe Branch, 10 Nicholas Road, Framingham. 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Start the new year off right by creating a winter-themed craft and browsing through the wide selection of books for all ages. All ages welcome.

(508) 532-5636.

Discover the Unseen World. The EcoTarium, 222 Harrington Way, Worcester. 10 a.m.5 p.m. Explore how scientists uncover things

Idea Hub: Hands-on Engineering and Design. MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Ave., Building N51, Cambridge. 11 a.m.-noon.

Explore topics in design and engineering with artistic circuits, 3D programs, and a variety of other hands-on making and tinkering topics.

Recommended for children ages 12 and up.

Free with admission. Adults $10, youth under 18 $5, children under 5 free. mit.edu/museum.

Feeling Frozen? Franklin Park Zoo, 1 Franklin Park Rd., Boston. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Meet some of your favorite winter princesses, along with winter-themed crafts and story time. Guests are encouraged to wear their favorite fairytale inspired outfits. Adult $17.95, children ages 2 to 12 $11.95, children under 2 free. zoonewengland.org.

The Light Princess. American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge. 11 a.m. & 2 p.m. This playful and witty adaption of George MacDonald’s classic fairy tale follows a young princess cursed to live without gravity. Admission $15. americanrepertorytheater.org.

4 Sunday Music & Movement. Boston Children’s Museum, 308 Congress Street, Boston.

10:30 a.m.-noon. Sing along to music that gets all ages moving while children meet their peers and participate in group activities.

Free with admission. Members free, adults $14, children ages 1 to 15 $14, children under 1 free. bostonchildrensmuseum.org.

Circo Comedia. Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center, 333 Nahanton Street, Newton. 11 a.m. & 1 p.m. Starring the fantastic duo Jean Saucier and Patrick Côté, this thrilling and unpredictable performance uses their distinctive style of humor, acrobatic tricks, daring feats, magic, and eccentricity to please all ages.

Recommended ages 5 to 12. Tickets required.

Members $11, general $13. bostonjcc.org.

5 Monday 2 to 4 Year Old Storytime. Framingham Public Library, McAuliffe Branch, 10 Nicholas Road, Framingham. 10 a.m. (508) 532-5636.

MFA Playdates. Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. 10:15 a.m.11:15 a.m. Story time and looking activities

in the galleries, followed by art making.

Recommended for children ages 4 and younger with adults. Free with admission. Adults $25, children 6 and under free. mfa.org.

Poetry Writing Workshop. Newton Free Library, 330 Homer Street, Newton. 7 p.m.8 p.m. Children learn the fundamentals of poetry before exploring their own poetic creativity. Registration required. For ages 8 to 9.

Free. newtonfreelibrary.net.

6 Tuesday Baby Time. Worcester Public Library: Main Branch, 3 Salem Square, Worcester.

10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Enjoy a 30-minute lap-sit for babies and their caregivers with books, stories, and songs, followed by a halfhour of social time. For children birth to 18 months with caregivers. Free. worcpublib.org.

ASD Friendly Afternoons. The Discovery Museums 177 Main Street, Acton. 1:30 p.m.4:30 p.m. A dedicated room will be available to welcome families with a child with an ASD to orient them to the campus and programs, and provide a quiet space for children needing a break from the stimulation of the museums.

Pre-registration required, space limited. Adults $11.50, Seniors $10.50, children $11.50, under 1 free. discoverymuseums.org.

7 Wednesday Mammal Munchkins. South Shore Natural Science Center, 48 Jacobs Lane, Norwell.

9:45 a.m.-10:45 a.m. Learn about mammals and their forest friends through games, music, creative movements, crafts, and free play.

Registration required. Ages 18 months to 3.5 years (with a caregiver). Members $6, nonmembers $9. (781) 659-2259.

Baby Massage and Yoga. Worcester Public Library: Main Branch, 3 Salem Square, Worcester. 10 a.m.-11 a.m. Massage and yoga led by an early intervention clinician.

For birth to 12 months with caregivers. Free. worcpublib.org.

Artfull Play. deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, 51 Sandy Pond Road, Lincoln.

10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Fill your day with art and play through experiences in deCordova’s 30-acre Sculpture Park and museum, providing a unique opportunity to engage with art, materials, the environment, and new friends.

For children ages 2 to 5 with caregiver. Free with admission. Adults $14, students $10, children under 12 free. decordova.org.

8 Thursday Free Thursdays at the ICA. Institute of Contemporary Art, 100 Northern Ave.,

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Music and Movement with Miss Bernadette. The Discovery Museums 177 Main Street, Acton. 9:30 a.m. Explore sound through singing and playing. Move, make music, listen, learn, and get a multisensory workout with a professional musician and licensed music educator. Adults $11.50, Seniors $10.50, children $11.50, under 1 free. discoverymuseums.org.

Yoga for Kids. Shrewsbury Public Library, 214 Lake Street, Shrewsbury. 10 a.m.11 a.m. For preschoolers and up (and their partners). Registration required. Free.

(508) 842-0081.

Toddler Time. Worcester Public Library: Main Branch, 3 Salem Square, Worcester. 10 a.m.11 a.m. Stories, songs, rhymes, and fun for toddlers. Registration required. For ages 18 to 36 months. Free. (508) 799-1671.

Tots Community Playgroup. Touchstone Community School, 54 Leland Street, Grafton.

10:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Morning indoor fun with your child all while escaping the cold outside.

Free. touchstoneschool.com.

Tales from the Wild. South Shore Natural Science Center, 48 Jacobs Lane, Norwell. 10:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m. A halfhour of storytelling that will delight young listeners. Free with admission. Adults $7, children 2 to 15 $3, children under 2 free. southshorenaturalsciencecenter.org.

Maleficent. Newton Free Library, 330 Homer Street, Newton. 3:30 p.m.-5:15 p.m. Come

watch Disney’s Maleficent to learn about the bad fairy’s side of the story. Free. newtonfreelibrary.net.

10 Saturday Northeast Organic Farming Association Winter Conference. Worcester State University, Sheehan Hall, 486 Chandler Street, Worcester. All day. Featuring over 60 workshops, exhibits, keynote and all-day seminar, includes a children’s conference for ages 3-12. Adults $65 member, $81 nonmember, children $35. nofamass.org.

Photo courtesy Karen K and the Jitterbugs

er

Boston. 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Reflect, be inspired and provoked, and use your imagination that is offered through public access to art, artists, and the creative process. Free. icaboston.org.

Sculpture Park Snowshoe Tour. deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, 51 Sandy Pond Road, Lincoln. 10 a.m. & 12:30 p.m. Take a guided tour of the Sculpture Park after a snowshoe lesson. Cost includes instruction, tour, and admission. For ages 8 and up. Members: adults $12, children $10, nonmembers: adults $20, children $14. decordova.org.

Beyond the Spectrum. Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. 10:20 a.m.-noon.

Designed for children on the Autism Spectrum, this class will explore how artists have used color to express feelings. Recommended for children ages 8 to 12. Tickets $9. mfa.org.

Bob the Magic Guy: “Magic for Smart People”. Regent Theatre, 7 Medford Street, Arlington. 10:30 a.m. Part of the Regent Theatre’s Fifth Annual “Magic Month”, Bob has bewitched audiences from New England to the Virgin Islands captivating youngsters and oldsters alike. Members $7, adults $10, children over age 2 $8, children 2 and under free. regenttheatre.com.

Joanie Leeds & The Nightlights.

The Center for the Arts in Natick, 14 Summer Street, Natick. 11 a.m. Joanie Leeds is one of the premier children recording artists on the

Musical favorites Karen K and the Jitterbugs take over Club Passim in Cambridge on Jan. 31.

scene today, ensuring kids and parents will be dancing in the aisles. Adults $10, children $8. snatickarts.org.

Free Concert. Framingham Public Library, 49 Lexington Street, Framingham. 1 p.m.3 p.m. Hear a variety of classical, jazz and other musical genres performed by The Performing Arts Center of MetroWest Faculty - piano, violin, trumpet, voice and more. framinghamlibrary.org.

Dolphin Tale 2. Newton Free Library, 330 Homer Street, Newton. 2 p.m.-3:45 p.m.

A group of sympathetic humans help a dolphin with a damaged tail in this heartwarming sequel to the surprise 2011 hit. Light refreshments will be provided. Free. newtonfreelibrary.net.

Wild by the Fire. Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary, 208 South Great Road, Lincoln.

2:30 p.m.-4 p.m. Come meet some feathered creatures, learn how they survive the cold, and make a sweet treat for the birds before enjoying some cocoa and cookies. Register ahead. All ages. Members $12, nonmembers $15. (781) 259-2206 or massaudubon.org.

Snow Shoe Shuffle. Blue Hills Trailside Museum, 1904 Canton Avenue, Milton.

2:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Learn about snow shoe basics and then hit the trails; if there is no snow, hit the trails in hiking boots. For ages 6 and up. Register ahead. Members $8, nonmembers $10. massaudubon.org.

For more events, visit www.baystateparent.com Looking for parenting support?

UMass Memorial Medical Center and New England Prenatal and Family Education offer classes for expecting women, new moms, their families and support persons.

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OUT&ABOUT

LEAVE YOUR ADULT AT HOME. With eight peaks of terrain and snow you can count on, Sunday River is the perfect place to be a kid, or just feel like one again. Call 800-543-2754 or visit SundayRiver.com.

Maleficent. Waltham Public Library, 735 Main Street, Waltham. Enjoy a family movie on the big screen with surround sound. 2:30 p.m.4:15 p.m. Free. waltham.lib.ma.us.

Frozen Havdalah. Temple Kol Tikvah, 9 Dunbar Street, Sharon. 4 p.m.-6:30 p.m.

Celebrate the end of Shabbat with a kosherstyle pizza dinner and then snuggle up as kids sing along to the movie Frozen, and the adults have some grown-up conversation. Feel free to come in PJs, and bring pillows and blankets.

Recommended for children under 6 with family. $20 per family, walk-ins $25. Register online. bostonjcc.org.

Especially for Me! Free Evening for Families with Deaf or Hard of Hearing Children. The Discovery Museums 177 Main Street, Acton. 5 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Join in all the fun during this special free evening for families with deaf or hard of hearing children in conjunction with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program of Children’s Hospital Boston. ASL Interpreters will be available. Pre-registration required. Both museums open. Adults $11.50, Seniors $10.50, children $11.50, under 1 free. discoverymuseums.org.

11 Sunday Debbie and Friends. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline.

10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Parents and kids join in this interactive “variety show” featuring new and fan favorite songs in a diverse array of musical styles including rock, pop, country, reggae, and Broadway-esque tunes.

Recommended for children ages 3 to 10. Adults $11, children $8. coolidge.org.

Artfull Explorations. deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, 51 Sandy Pond Rd., Lincoln.

1 p.m.-3 p.m. Fill your day with art and family through group explorations of Sculpture Park installations, Museum galleries, and the themes and artists of the day. Recommended for ages 2 to 12. Free with admission. Adults $14, students $10, children under 12 free. decordova.org.

Queen Elsa at the Oval. Worcester Common Oval, 455 Main Street, Worcester.

2 p.m.-4 p.m. Come meet Frozen’s Queen Elsa for pictures and autographs. Free to meet Queen Elsa. Admission for open skate, skaters ages 6 and up $2, children under 6 free, skate rental $3 with $25 deposit per rental.

(508) 635-6900.

Find Your Happy Place.

Martin Luther King Jr. Mitzvah Project.

Temple Beth Sholom, 50 Pamela Road, Framingham. 2 p.m.-4 p.m. Read a story

about the Jewish response to “giving”, then work as a community and give back to those in need. Recommended for families with children ages 3 to 10. Register online. $20 per family, walk-ins $25. bostonjcc.org.

12 Monday 2 to 4 Year Old Storytime. Framingham Public Library, McAuliffe Branch, 10 Nicholas Road, Framingham. 10 a.m. (508) 532-5636.

Poetry Writing Workshop. Newton Free Library, 330 Homer Street, Newton. 7 p.m.8 p.m. Children learn the fundamentals of poetry before exploring their own poetic creativity. Registration required. For ages 8 to 9.

Free. newtonfreelibrary.net.

13 Tuesday Baby Time. Worcester Public Library: Main Branch, 3 Salem Square, Worcester.

10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Enjoy a thirty minute lap-sit for babies and their caregivers with books, stories, and songs, followed by a halfhour of social time. For birth to 18 months with caregivers. Free. worcpublib.org.

14 Wednesday Mammal Munchkins. South Shore Natural Science Center, 48 Jacobs Lane, Norwell.

9:45 a.m.-10:45 a.m. Learn about mammals and their forest friends through games, music, creative movements, crafts, and free play.

Registration required. Ages 18 months to 3.5 years (with a caregiver). Members $6, Nonmembers $9. (781) 659-2259.

Puppet Playtime Winter Open House.

Puppet Showplace Theatre, 32 Station Street, Brookline. 10:30 a.m. Featuring Brenda Higgins and Phil Berman, meet new friends during freeplay then enjoy a demonstration of selected songs, stories and puppet shows from “Puppet Playtime.” Recommended ages 3 and under.

Register ahead. Free. puppetshowplace.org.

Suzuki Musical Afternoon. Newton Free Library, 330 Homer Street, Newton. 1 p.m.1:45 p.m. Join the Suzuki School of Music for a musical afternoon. Pick up ticket at Children’s Desk 30 minutes before program begins. Free. newtonfreelibrary.net.

Valentine Making Workshop. Worcester Public Library: Main Branch, 3 Salem Square, Worcester. 4 p.m.-5 p.m. Create a card to enter the Worcester Historical Museum Valentine Contest. Recommended for ages 3 to 13. Free. worcesterpublib.org.

For more events, visit www.baystateparent.com 22 JANUARY2015 23

OUT&ABOUT

15 Thursday

$18, children under 13 $5. Performance also on Saturday, Jan. 17. lexingtonpopschorus.org.

Free Thursdays at the ICA. Institute of Contemporary Art, 100 Northern Ave., Boston. 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Reflect, be inspired and provoked, and use your imagination that is offered through public access to art, artists, and the creative process. Free. icaboston.org.

17 Saturday

Parenting Workshop: Self-Care for Parents. Newton Free Library, 330 Homer Street, Newton. 6:45 p.m.-8:45 p.m. A workshop for any parent, this evening will discuss the necessity of self-care while tackling the chronic responsibility of parenthood.

Register ahead, beginning Jan. 1. Free. newtonfreelibrary.net.

16 Friday Toddler Time. Worcester Public Library: Main Branch, 3 Salem Square, Worcester.

10 a.m.-11 a.m. Stories, songs, rhymes, and fun for toddlers. For ages 18 to 36 months.

Free. (508) 799-1671.

Yoga for Kids. Shrewsbury Public Library, 214 Lake Street, Shrewsbury. 10 a.m.11 a.m. For preschoolers and up (and their partners). Registration required. Free.

(508) 842-0081.

Tots Community Playgroup. Touchstone Community School, 54 Leland Street, Grafton.

10:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Morning indoor fun with your child all while escaping the cold outside.

Free. touchstoneschool.com.

Tales from the Wild. South Shore Natural Science Center, 48 Jacobs Lane, Norwell. 10:30 a.m.-11 a.m. A halfhour of storytelling that will delight young listeners. Free with admission. Adults $7, children 2 to 15 $3, children under 2 free. southshorenaturalsciencecenter.org.

Captain Sabertooth and the Lama Rama Treasure. The Regent Theatre, 5 Medford Street, Arlington. 7 p.m. A thrilling yet funny live action film set in the 18th century following the adventures of a band of pirates led by Captain Sabertooth. Prizes will be awarded for the best pirate costumes. Recommended for ages 6 to 15.

Lexington Pops Chorus Winter Concert.

Hancock Church, 1912 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington. 7:30 p.m. The winter showcase of the Lexington Pops includes a mix of hauntingly beautiful choir music and lighter selections such as numbers from “West Side Story”. Purchased in advance $15, adults and children 13 or older

12th Annual Family Festival. Belmont Studio Cinema, 376 Trapelo Road, Belmont.

10:30 a.m. Belmont World Film presents “A Cinematic Adventure,” the 12th edition of its popular Family Film Festival, a selection of resonant and fun movies for all. Recommended ages 3 to 15 based on showing. Runs through Monday. Tickets and passes range from $5 to $40. belmontworldfilm.org.

The Magic of Bonaparté. Regent Theatre, 7 Medford Street, Arlington. 10:30 a.m.

Using a combination of magic, comedy, origami, balloon sculpture, and more, Bonaparté will captivate the imagination of all children.

Members $7, adults $10, children over age 2 $8, children 2 and under free. regenttheatre.com.

Idea Hub: Hands-on Engineering and Design. MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Ave., Building N51, Cambridge. 11 a.m.-12 p.m.

Explore topics in design and engineering with artistic circuits, 3D programs, and a variety of other hands-on making and tinkering topics.

Recommended for children ages 12 and up.

Free with admission. Adults $10, youth under 18 $5, children under 5 free. mit.edu/museum.

Wingmasters. Boston Children’s Museum, 308 Congress Street, Boston. 11:15 a.m. & 12:15 p.m. A close-up look at two prolific winged hunters, owls and hawks, and learn why they are so good at what they do. Members free, adults $14, children ages 1 to 15 $14, children under 1 free. bostonchildrensmuseum.org.

Fun with Animal Footprints and Signs.

Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary, 280 Eliot Street, Natick. 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m. Explore Broadmoor looking for tracks and other signs of otters, rabbits, deer, coyote, and more. Learn what tracks can help tell us, and how animals act during the winter. Recommended for children ages 6 to 16. Register ahead. Members: adults $11, children $6, nonmembers: adults $13, children $8. (508) 655-2296 or massaudubon.org.

Frozen Sing-Along Movie. Newton Free Library, 330 Homer Street, Newton. 2 p.m.4:10 p.m. Watch the acclaimed Disney movie while singing along to its many familiar songs.

Free. newtonfreelibrary.net.

18 Sunday

Come in from the Cold Winter Clearance & Semi-Annual Sales Going on Now at these Mall Retailers Adesso · Aeropostale · American Eagle AT&T · Bath & Body Works · cellAXS Children’s Place · Christopher & Banks Claire’s · CVS · Finish Line · Foot Locker GameStop · GNC · Hot Topic · Jo-Ann Journey’s · Justice · LensCrafters Lids · MasterCuts · metroPCS Old Navy · Olympia Sports · Pac Sun Payless Shoesource · Radio Shack · rue21 Shoe Dept Encore · Simply Wireless Spencer Gifts · Things Remembered Victoria’s Secret ·Yankee Candle Burlington, JC Penney, Macy’s, Sears, Toys R Us & more than 60 specialty stores 100 Commercial Rd. Leominster, MA At the junction of Route 2 & I -190 978.537.7500 www.themallatwhitneyfield.com

The Airborne Comedians. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline. 10:30

For more events, visit www.baystateparent.com BAYSTATEPARENT 22 23

OUT&ABOUT a.m.-11:30 a.m. Dan Foley and Joel Harris throw and catch birdbaths, lawn-chairs, electric guitars and baseball bats in their hilarious routines while balanced atop 6-and 7-foot high unicycles! A sure bet to make you laugh.

Recommended for children ages 3 and up.

Adults $11, children $8. coolidge.org.

needs the opportunity to visit the Museum at a time when there are only a few other visitors.

Register ahead. Members free, adults $14, children ages 1 to 15 $14, children under 1 free. bostonchildrensmuseum.org.

Winter Discovery Day. North Shore Natural Science Center, 48 Jacobs Lane, Norwell.

10 a.m.-3 p.m. A day of hands-on exploration to see what the winter season will bring us.

Come dressed for the weather. All ages with an adult. Free with admission. Adults $7, children 2 to 15 $3, children under 2 free. southshorenaturalsciencecenter.org.

Music & Movement. Boston Children’s Museum, 308 Congress Street, Boston.

10:30 a.m.-12 p.m. Sing along to music that gets all ages moving while children meet their peers and participate in group activities. Free with admission. Members free, adults $14, children ages 1 to 15 $14, children under 1 free. bostonchildrensmuseum.org.

“The Pied Piper of Hamelin” by CactusHead Puppets. Puppet Showplace Theatre, 32 Station Street, Brookline.

10:30 a.m. & 1 p.m. CactusHead Puppets bring the story of the Pied Piper to life with a cast of colorful characters in this comedic adaptation of the traditional folktale. Members $8, nonmembers $12. puppetshowplace.org.

“The Pied Piper of Hamelin” by CactusHead Puppets. Puppet Showplace Theatre, 32 Station Street, Brookline. 1 p.m. & 3 p.m. CactusHead Puppets bring the story of the Pied Piper to life with a cast of colorful characters in this comedic adaptation of the traditional folktale. Members $8, nonmembers $12. puppetshowplace.org.

19 Monday Morningstar Access. Boston Children’s Museum, 308 Congress Street, Boston. 8 a.m.10 a.m. The program offers children with special

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Belmont Studio Cinema, 376 Trapelo Road, Belmont. 10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Part of the 12th Annual Family Film Festival, this collection of Scholastic/Weston Woods Studios films highlight the ideals, people, and music connected to Dr. King. Recommended for children 4 to 12.

Tickets $5. belmontworldfilm.org.

Ivy and Bean, The Musical. LeventhalSidman Jewish Community Center, 33 Nahanton Street, Newton. 11 a.m. & 1 p.m. Based on the New York Times best-selling series, this musical explores the unexpected friendship of two very different second graders.

Recommended for ages 5 to 12 with an adult. Register online. Members $11, general admission $13. bostonjcc.org.

20 Tuesday Baby Time. Worcester Public Library: Main Branch, 3 Salem Square, Worcester.

10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Enjoy a thirty minute lap-sit for babies and their caregivers with books, stories, and songs, followed by a halfhour of social time. Birth to 18 months with caregivers. Free. worcpublib.org.

and their forest friends through games, music, creative movements, crafts, and free play.

Registration required. Ages 18 months to 3.5 years (with a caregiver). Members $6, Nonmembers $9. (781) 659-2259.

Artfull Play. deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, 51 Sandy Pond Rd., Lincoln.

10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Fill your day with art and play through experiences in deCordova’s 30-acre Sculpture Park and museum, providing a unique opportunity to engage with art, materials, the environment, and new friends.

For children ages 2 to 5 with caregiver. Free with admission. Adults $14, Students $10, children under 12 free. decordova.org.

Family Games. Newton Free Library, 330 Homer Street, Newton. 4:30 p.m.5:30 p.m. Bring the family to play some games and spend quality time together. Free. newtonfreelibrary.net.

Teen Craftnite. Newton Free Library, 330 Homer Street, Newton. 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m.

We will be hanging out working on crafts and eating snacks. For children in Grades 6 through 12. Free. newtonfreelibrary.net.

22 Thursday The Royal National Theatre Live in HD: Treasure Island. Shalin Liu Performance Center, 37 Main Street, Rockport. Robert It’s winter New England, Louis Steven’s classic story of murder, in money, and mutiny is brought tolet life us in a help thrilling you new learn to stage adaptation by Bryony Lavery, broadcast

21 Wednesday Mammal Munchkins. South Shore Natural Science Center, 48 Jacobs Lane, Norwell.

9:45 a.m.-10:45 a.m. Learn about mammals

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OUT&ABOUT live from the National Theatre in London.

Recommended for ages 10 and up. Adults $22, youths $5. rockportmusic.org.

magic show. Members $7, adults $10, children over age 2 $8, children 2 and under free. regenttheatre.com.

23 Friday

Exploring Science Together: Dinosaurs.

Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge. 10:30 a.m.12 p.m. Learn what makes a dinosaur a dinosaur through hands-on activities, and exploration. For children ages 5 and up.

Members $10, nonmembers $20, including admission to the museum. hmnh.harvard.edu.

Yoga for Kids. Shrewsbury Public Library, 214 Lake Street, Shrewsbury. 10 a.m.11 a.m. For preschoolers and up (and their partners). Registration required. Free.

(508) 842-0081.

Toddler Time. Worcester Public Library: Main Branch, 3 Salem Square, Worcester.

10 a.m.-11 a.m. Stories, songs, rhymes, and fun for toddlers. For ages 18 to 36 months.

Free. (508) 799-1671.

Tots Community Playgroup. Touchstone Community School, 54 Leland Street, Grafton.

10:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Morning indoor fun with your child all while escaping the cold outside.

Free. touchstoneschool.com.

Tales from the Wild. South Shore Natural Science Center, 48 Jacobs Lane, Norwell. 10:30 a.m.-11 a.m. A halfhour of storytelling that will delight young listeners. Free with admission. Adults $7, children 2 to 15 $3, children under 2 free. southshorenaturalsciencecenter.org.

On the Rise. Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary, 208 South Great Rorad, Lincoln. 3:30 p.m.5 p.m. Mix, kneed, and shape your own dough for country oat bread, and while waiting, we’ll make some butter to spread over your warm bread. Up to two children per adult. All ages welcome, but oldest child must be at least 2.

Register ahead. Member $13, nonmember $16.

(781) 259-2206 or massaudubon.org.

24 Saturday Sculpture Park Snowshoe Tour. deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, 51 Sandy Pond Road, Lincoln. 10 a.m. & 12:30 p.m. Take a guided tour of the Sculpture Park after a snowshoe lesson. Cost includes instruction, tour, and admission. For ages 8 and up. Members: adults $12, children $10, nonmembers: adults $20, children $14. decordova.org.

Davey the Clown. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline. 10:30 a.m.

-11:30 a.m. Promising to be one hour of entertainment that will keep kids (and adults) laughing filled with juggling, magic, and comedy. Recommended for children ages 2 and up. Adults $11, children $8. coolidge.org.

Matt Roberts: “Laughs & Illusions”.

Regent Theatre, 7 Medford Street, Arlington.

10:30 a.m. This two-time Emmy Award nominee will have children and adults of ages in hysterics with an unforgettable comedy-filled

Ben Rudnick and Friends. The Center for the Arts in Natick, 14 Summer Street, Natick.

11:30 a.m. Featuring a range of music from light folk, bluegrass, calypso, rock, and Irish Jigs, Ben Rudnick and Friends provides a shared musical experience for the entire family. Adults $10, children $8. natickarts.org.

Maleficent. Waltham Public Library, 735 Main Street, Waltham. Enjoy a family movie on the big screen with surround sound. 2:30 p.m.-4:15 p.m. Free. waltham.lib.ma.us.

25 Sunday Welcome Baby Playtime Meet-Up. Jam Time, 251 West Central Street, Natick.

10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Little ones can crawl, bounce, and fuel their imagination at this wonderful indoor playground-siblings welcome.

Recommended for families with children ages birth to 2. Register online. $5 per child, $7 for walk-ins. Bostonjcc.org.

O-shogatsu! Japanese New Year Festival. Boston Children’s Museum, 308 Congress Street, Boston. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. A celebration of the new year featuring Shishimai lion dance, mocha rice pounding, and Tako kite making. Free with admission. Members free, adults $14, children ages 1 to 15 $14, children under 1 free. bostonchildrensmuseum.org.

WORCESTER ART MUSEUM

art classes AND WORKSHOPS

Art History Computer Art Drawing Painting Photography Printmaking Sculpture Swords and More

Adult and Youth Classes / Now registering for Winter 2015

*Sign up today! worcesterart.org/classes BAYSTATEPARENT 24 25

OUT&ABOUT Alligators and Crocodiles. South Shore YMCA, 48 Jacobs Lane, Norwell. 1 p.m. & 3 p.m. Join herpetologist Michael Ralbovsky of Rainforest Reptile Shows during this 60-minute show about the many species of alligators and crocodiles, and how they actually differ.

Purchase ahead. Members $7, nonmembers $10. (781) 659-2559.

26 Monday 2 to 4 Year Old Storytime. Framingham Public Library, McAuliffe Branch, 10 Nicholas Road, Framingham. 10 a.m. (508) 532-5636.

social time. For ages birth to 18 months with caregivers. Free. worcpublib.org.

28 Wednesday Cows Love Cookies. Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary, 208 South Great Road, Lincoln.

3:30 p.m.-5 p.m. Make and bake a batch of cookies for yourself and for the cows.

Register ahead. Ages 3 and up. Members $13, nonmembers $16. (781) 259-2206 or massaudubon.org.

29 Thursday

Poetry Writing Workshop. Newton Free Library, 330 Homer Street, Newton. 7 p.m.8 p.m. Children learn the fundamentals of poetry before exploring their own poetic creativity. For ages 8 to 9. Free. newtonfreelibrary.net.

Free Thursdays at the ICA. Institute of Contemporary Art, 100 Northern Ave., Boston. 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Reflect, be inspired and provoked, and use your imagination that is offered through public access to art, artists, and the creative process. Free. icaboston.org.

27 Tuesday

30 Friday

Baby Time. Worcester Public Library: Main Branch, 3 Salem Square, Worcester. 10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Enjoy a thirty-minute lap-sit for babies and their caregivers with books, stories, and songs, followed by a half-hour of

Toddler Time. Worcester Public Library: Main Branch, 3 Salem Square, Worcester.

10 a.m.-11 a.m. Stories, songs, rhymes, and fun for toddlers. For ages 18 to 36 months.

Free. (508) 799-1671.

Yoga for Kids. Shrewsbury Public Library,

January is Magic Month at the Regent Theatre!

All Shows $10 for Adults, $8 for Kids & Seniors, $7 for Regent Theatre Members

Bob the Magic Guy: Magic for Smart People

Stories & Slapstick Humor Around Clever Magic Tricks!

Saturday, January 10th 10:30 am

Matt Roberts: Laughs & Illusions A One-Of-A-Kind Interactive Magic Show!

Saturday, January 24th 10:30 am

The Magic of Bonaparte – Boston’s Hottest Magician

A Fun-Filled Journey Into A Whimsical World of Magic!

Saturday, January 17th 10:30 am

David Garrity Presents: ‘Magic & Beyond’ One Man Illusion Show Unique Theatrical and Visual Magic!

Saturday, January 31st 10:30 am

214 Lake Street, Shrewsbury. 10 a.m.11 a.m. For preschoolers and up (and their partners). Registration required. Free.

(508) 842-0081.

Tots Community Playgroup. Touchstone Community School, 54 Leland Street, Grafton.

10:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Morning indoor fun with your child all while escaping the cold outside.

Free. touchstoneschool.com.

Tales from the Wild. South Shore Natural Science Center, 48 Jacobs Lane, Norwell. 10:30 a.m.-11 a.m. A halfhour of storytelling that will delight young listeners. Free with admission. Adults $7, children 2 to 15 $3, children under 2 free. southshorenaturalsciencecenter.org.

Fridays @ Trinity: Featuring Jacob Street. Trinity Church Boston, 206 Clarendon Street, Boston. 12:15 p.m.-1:15 p.m. The continuation of Trinity’s weekly midday organ concerts, featuring innovative programs by recitalists from across the United States and abroad. Free. trinitychurchboston.org.

31 Saturday David Garrity Presents “Magic & Beyond”. Regent Theatre, 7 Medford Street, Arlington. 10:30 a.m. “Magic & Beyond” is a one-man illusion show that features unique, theatrical and visual magic, audience participation, comedy, and a custom-edited musical soundtrack. Members $7, adults $10, children over age 2 $8, children 2 and under free. regenttheatre.com

tunes that parents enjoy as much as their kids, Karen K & her Jitterbugs keep hands clapping and feet jumping at their rockin’, crowdengaging shows. Tickets are $8 for members and $10 for non-members. passim.org.

Winterpalooza. Boston Children’s Museum, 308 Congress Street, Boston. 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Enjoy making snowflakes, see some sports equipment, and play games during this winter party. Free with admission. Members free, adults $14, children ages 1 to 15 $14, children under 1 free. bostonchildrensmuseum.org.

“Lollipops for Breakfast”. Puppet Showplace Theatre, 32 Station Street, Brookline. 1 p.m. & 3 p.m. A young girl dreaming to make the perfect lollipop discovers an enchanted cookbook that transports her to a fantastic, gadget-filled world of candy creations. Members $8, nonmembers $12. puppetshowplace.org.

Afternoon Chores & More. Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary, 208 South Great Road, Lincoln. 2:30 p.m.-4 p.m. Before enjoying a seasonal farm treat, help feed animals their afternoon meals and ready them for bed.

Recommended for ages 4 to 12. Member $12, nonmember $15. (781) 259-2206 or massaudubon.org.

Snow Globes Craft. Newton Free Library, 330 Homer Street, Newton. 2 p.m.-3 p.m. In conjunction with the New Art Center, learn how to make snow globes created from the snowy land of our imagination. For ages 6 to 10. Free. newtonfreelibrary.net.

Visit baystateparent.com to post your family event. Email listings to editor@baystateparent.com.

Karen K and the Jitterbugs. Club Passim, 47 Palmer Street, Cambridge. 10:30 a.m.

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WOMEN’S HEALTH

Marile Borden's popular MomsWhoNeedWine.com boasts more than 721,000 Facebook followers.

MOMS AND WINE:

Fun, Relaxing Break From Reality or Potentially Harmful Trend?

There are plenty of wine brands designed to appeal to women these days, and usually no shortage of friends willing to enjoy a glass at the end of the day. But is the line between safe, social drinking and dangerous consumption becoming blurred?

BY JOAN GOODCHILD At least once a week, it’s not unusual for me to browse the aisles of my local wine shop or grocery store to find a great bottle to have with dinner.

Labels with names like Cupcake, Flirt and Girly Girl peer out at me, letting me know they are wines designed specifically to appeal to women.

I’m not alone on my shopping trip.

In the past decade, wine has become unquestionably popular among female consumers. In fact, according to the Beverage Information Group, which analyzes the industry, women now account for 58% of wine sales in the United States. And with brands like Mommy’s Time Out, MommyJuice and Mad Housewife, wine is apparently not just gaining traction among women, but moms in particular.

Websites like the Northboroughbased Moms Who Need Wine (momswhoneedwine.com) have tapped into that interest. Founded in 2009 and currently boasting more than 721,000 followers on Facebook, the site aims to offer a “community of like-minded women” who come to share in camaraderie the joys and challenges of motherhood, according to Marile Borden, the site’s founder and editor.

“I think for a long time motherhood was seen as peaches and cream and butterflies,” said Borden, a mother of two. “It’s the most wonderful job in the world, but it’s also really hard. At the end of the day you want to feel like part of a community with whom you can commiserate. That’s what we’re trying to offer, and the wine

was just a way of getting at that.”

The site hosts regular online events and broadcasts chats and wine tastings via livestream. Fans arrive from all over the world, said Borden, from as far as away as New Zealand and Chile. Together they log on to share in conversation on both the fun and difficulties of raising kids, along with a glass of Chardonnay.

There are several other sites that also appeal to the mom who likes to sip a glass of vino, including Moms Who Wine (momswhowine. me) and, the more frankly titled, Oh My God, I So Need a Glass of Wine or I am Going to Sell My Kids (omgisoneedaglassofwine.com).

But these days one need not even head over to a site dedicated to wine drinking to find plenty of references

to how popular this pastime has become. On any given evening while scrolling through my Facebook feed, I see proclamations from other mom friends about the need for a drink at the end of a trying day. Or I’ll spot a date-night snap shot of a table holding a delicious-looking cocktail.

Indeed, we are often proud of our drinks and our drinking. I’ve posted many such pictures and statements myself over the years.

But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the recommended amount of daily alcohol consumption is one drink a day for women. With just one drink daily considered the safe amount, does our love affair with social drinking among women send a mixed, or even dangerous, message?

BAYSTATEPARENT 28 29

Dr. Susan Krauss Whitbourne, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, thinks it does.

“The research I have read on this topic suggests that women believe that they are less likely to be considered alcoholics if they’re drinking wine instead of hard liquor,” she said. “This is being translated into the mommy world, but it is part of a larger social trend.

Popular female characters on television shows regularly appear in the evenings with a large glass of red wine, such as Olivia Pope [Scandal] and Alicia Florrick [The Good Wife].

To the extent that they are role models of successful, tough, women — and mothers, in the case of The Good Wife — this sends the message that the way we handle any kind of stress is through alcohol. That is a confusing and dangerous message as red wine is associated also with sophistication and even power.”

From Happy Buzz to Harmful Habit Ellie Schoenberger, a Hanover mother of two, agrees with

Photography by Sasha Pedro www.sashapedro.com

WOMEN’S HEALTH

Ellie Schoenberger, recovering alcoholic, mother of two, and founder of recovery non-profit Shining Strong.

Whitbourne’s point. Schoenberger, a recovering alcoholic who is seven years sober, said she struggled to realize her habit of social and fun drinking had spiraled out of control because those around her failed to notice.

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“Because drinking had become so mainstream, I could go to a morning playdate and complain about a hangover and no one would raise an eyebrow,” she said. “It made it harder for me to see. It just adds fuel to the denial that you’re an alcoholic when no one says anything.”

She now wonders about the larger implications of the bravado surrounding drinking and motherhood, and thinks at times the joke goes too far.

“I don’t want to be a huge downer, but what really bothers me is we have an increased cultural emphasis now,” she said. “Everywhere I go, women tend to gather with alcohol being involved.”

But despite all of the open drinking she now observes, Schoenberger believes the stigma of addiction is still very large — and that very few women who have realized they are drinking too much will raise their hand for help. That’s why she founded Shining Strong (shiningstrong.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to recovery that she hopes can also act as a counter-movement to the mainstream culture and message about regular drinking.

“There are lots of people who don’t drink and lots in recovery, but there is no real voice for that movement because people are so ashamed,” she said. “Our mission is to bring the hopefulness of recovery. It’s not based on one specific program of sobriety. There are many ways to sobriety, and they all revolve around community. That’s what we’re trying to provide.”

While the message of Moms Who Need Wine in no way promotes

overindulging, at times, Borden thinks the discussion around women and wine consumption is misplaced.

“I don’t think it’s any different than the dad who comes home and says ‘I need a beer.’ Do some dads abuse that? Absolutely. Do most? No. They do it responsibly. But when the tables are turned, and the focus is women and wine, suddenly we get pin pointed,” she noted.

“It’s tricky. It’s a fine line,” added Borden. “But it’s all about responsible choices.”

Whitbourne said that the first step to ensuring that responsible choices are being made is honesty, particularly with ourselves, about our drinking habits: “If you feel that you are unable to get through the day, or evening, without alcohol to take the edge off your negative mood or anxiety, this might be a signal that you are using alcohol inappropriately. With wine it’s particularly easy to go through most of a bottle without noticing it because wine tends to be shared socially.

Keep track of the amount that you drink and try to notice if it’s linked with your experience of particular stressors.

“There are ways to get help if you feel that your drinking is becoming a problem, but the first step is to acknowledge, honestly, that you are using alcohol to cope with the stresses of parenthood or combined stresses of parenthood and work,” Whitbourne added. “Instead of letting off steam through these unhealthy methods, consider instead scheduling exercise or relaxation into your day.

By giving yourself some alone time, you may find less of a need to cope through alcohol.”

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Mother-Daughter Book Clubs: Fighting Malicious Media and

BY KATHY SLOAN, PHOTOGRAPHY BY ADAM PERRI

Raising children today is harder than ever before.

“No other generation of parents had an intruder in their home [the Internet], deliberately undermining the values they try to pass down to their kids,” says Lori Day, a Massachusetts mother, educational psychologist, and author of Her Next Chapter: How Mother Daughter Book Clubs Can Help Girls Navigate Malicious Media, Risky Relationships, Girl Gossip and So Much More.

When she was raising her now-grown daughter Charlotte, Day felt that girls’ clothing and the media were over-sexualizing young women, and she wanted to find a way to balance that negativity. She and her daughter enlisted some friends and started a book club, one that would last six years. Book clubs not only encourage reading, but also can create an empowering environment for girls.

Clubs can also give mothers a support network, too, as social media often leaves us feeling we aren’t doing 34 JANUARY2015 35

enough.

Day says mothers often have feelings of isolation when raising children and are left wondering if they are doing the right thing. Getting together with likeminded women to discuss the issues they face while child rearing can help relieve the pressures they feel to always get it right.

Communal — village — upbringing is missing from our current society, and something like a book club can help bring mothers and daughters together.

“Clubs allow girls to have other important female role models in their lives [the mothers of their friends],” Day says.

Opening the Lines of Communication A mother-daughter book club is a unique way for moms and daughters to spend time together and learn about each other, too.

“It celebrates the special bond between mothers and daughters. We think the biggest benefit to the club is the strong friendship it builds and the understanding and respect for each other,” says Rosamond Lu of Brookline.

Lu started a book club with her 10-year-old daughter a year ago after hearing about Day’s experience and reading her book.

“My daughter and I solicited the idea with three of her friends and their mothers. A year later, we have six pairs. The girls discover new books from friends and enjoy reading and reporting on them,” she says.

Parents know what it’s like to ask how their day at school was only to be met with a curt, “Fine.” A book club can be a great way to get inside the mind of your daughter without having to pry.

Watching her interact with her peers in a way that allows her to speak freely about issues that would normally cause her to clam up will

bring the two of you closer and keep the line of communication open, which is critical as she grows. Book clubs not only benefit girls by exposing them to books they may not have read on their own but clubs also provide an opportunity for them to talk freely about things without judgment.

“I remember a time our own club was reading Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli,” Day says. “It’s about bullying. And the girls in our club were talking about it, but then the magic happened — they sort of forgot the moms were there! It was as if we became invisible. They pivoted seamlessly from talking about what was happening in the book to what was happening in their own lives.”

Day and the other moms sat back and listened, then offered guidance for the girls as they offered their insights and opinions about bullying, proving that we can learn so much about the ones we love if we listen instead of preach.

At first, Lu’s group struggled with getting the girls to open up. The moms had to help facilitate the discussions

since Then make they w “A re have f in it. to enh

How to Start Your Own Club When deciding to start a club, Day says that as long as the girls like — or are neutral about — each other it will work, but she cautions women to think very carefully about who the moms will be.

“The moms don’t have to be best friends, but they need to share values. If they don’t, the club won’t last,” Day notes.

The girls’ friendships will always be in flux, but the relationships between the moms will be the glue that holds the club together over time.

In her book, Day offers tips for starting your own club, book and movie suggestions, and prompts for discussions. Some of her tips include: 1. Decide on the size of the club.

Three to five pairs is best, but more is fine, too.

Head to baystateparent.com for more resources on motherdaughter book clubs.

2. Decide whom to invite.

Carefully consider who the moms will be and make sure the girls are on similar reading levels.

edia and Building Strong Women

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“Sometimes after a vacation break we have each girl bring two books to a book swap. The books chosen have been award winners, family favorites, and classics,” she says. “The girls are encouraged to read both fiction and nonfiction, and we especially enjoyed books with strong female characters.”

A book club is a great activity but not all children love to read; Day says that you shouldn’t give up on the idea of a club. Media literacy can be taught with movies, videos, music, and many other ways, she notes.

“The most important thing is to be a club of mothers and daughters exploring issues of femininity together and pushing back on marketing and media messages and a consumerist culture that is often unhealthy for our kids,” she says.

since the girls were between 8 and 9.

Then they started asking the girls to make a book report in a bag, which they would share with the group.

“A report about a book on birds might have feather, leaves or any other items in it. The girls also planned activities to enhance the book discussion,” Lu

says. “For example, the girls made fun anagrams and other word puzzles when discussing the book Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, which is full of fun puzzles.”

Now, a year later, the girls lead their own discussions without the aid of the book report bag.

3. Decide how often you will meet. It could be once per month, every 6 weeks, every other month, etc.

4. Set ground rules for discussions. You want everyone to feel that their voice is being heard.

5. Decide how to handle issues such as if a member drops out or if the girls don’t get along.

6. Decide how to choose books.

Lu and her group take turns hosting the meetings, and the host child usually makes book suggestions.

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SCHOOL RULES!

38 40

So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling?

42

What Your Child Really Needs To Know To Start Kindergarten

44

Why Can’t I Do 2nd Grade Math? Theory Behind Common Core Math

46 48

Education That Makes “Cents”

50 52

The Surprising Secrets to PTO Success

54

Community College: An Affordable Start — If You Do It Right

59

Play With Your Food: We Want to See Your Food Art!

Homeschool or Not: Best Practices for Every Child

A Brewing Storm? Common Core & Standardized Testing in Massachusetts

GLAD Promotes the Creation of Middle-School GSAs

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SCHOOL RULES!

So You’re Thinking About HOMESCHOOLING? Real-life answers to 10 common questions about educating your children at home

BY PATRICE FAGNANT-MACARTHUR ASHLEY VASSALLO PHOTOGRAPHY

38 JANUARY2015 39

Are you thinking about homeschooling?

Maybe you have a child who is 3 and everyone is asking where he is going to attend preschool? Perhaps it is time for kindergarten. Do you want to send your daughter to school or would you rather continue her education at home? Maybe you have an older child who has been attending school, but for whatever reason, it just hasn’t been a good fit. Perhaps you would like to send your child to a private or parochial school, but can’t afford the tuition.

Approximately 3.4 % of school-aged children are homeschooled nationwide and the numbers continue to grow. People homeschool for many reasons, including the desire to offer their children a faithbased education; to tailor education to a child’s needs and interests; for flexibility to accommodate travel or illness; or immersion in an extracurricular sport or activity that makes attending traditional school difficult.

Nevertheless, making that decision to step off the well-traveled path of traditional schooling can feel like jumping off a cliff. Here are some answers to common homeschooling questions to help make that jump a bit easier.

1. What about socialization?

This is the question homeschoolers are most frequently asked. School is such a part of people’s lives that they simply can’t imagine an alternative. Yet for much of humanity’s history, children grew up and were educated in the home. It is only in the past 200 years that compulsory education has become the norm. Children are part of society as a whole. As homeschoolers, they will have the opportunity to learn how to interact with people of various ages, including those their own age. When was the last time you worked with people all the same age as you? School is an artificial environment, not the world at large.

What well-meaning people are actually wondering is whether your children will have friends. The answer is yes. There are many homeschooling groups — find one that fits your lifestyle and join.

Homeschooled children also take part in the same extracurricular activities that traditionally educated children do. They play sports, take music classes, enjoy library-sponsored programs, go to camp, and take part in Scouting — the options are unlimited.

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2. How do I make sure I’m homeschooling legally?

Often it is because these individuals truly care about your children and want the best for them.

Cheryl Wilcox, a homeschooling mom of six from Westfield, advises continuing to emphasize the positive aspects of homeschooling — the good things that it has done for your family and your children, as well as positive stories about homeschooling in the media. If you are having a bad day, don’t call the people who disagree with homeschooling. Reach out instead to your homeschool friends who will understand.

While it is not required, a membership in the Home Schooling Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is very helpful. It can help ensure you are fulfilling your city or town requirements. The organization can also help defend you if your right to homeschool is ever called into question. A summary of current Massachusetts homeschool law can be found here: https://www.hslda.org/ laws/analysis/Massachusetts.pdf.

7. How can I possibly teach Algebra?

3. I don’t have 30 free hours a week. Where will I ever find the time to homeschool?

All of life provides the opportunity for learning — going shopping, taking walks, cooking, playing games, etc. Much of the time spent in traditional school is spent waiting — waiting in line, waiting for lunch, waiting for papers to be passed out, or waiting for a classmate to answer a question.

Homeschooling is like having a private tutor — much less time is needed. As children grow, they are also able to do much of their work independently. A homeschooling schedule also offers a great deal of flexibility.

“The morning rush that most families face does not exist in my home,” says Lucy Speckels, a homeschooling mom of four from Southwick. “As homeschoolers, we do not hurry to get to the bus, juggling lunches. There is no frantic checking of backpacks for homework, etc. We get to enjoy the quiet of the morning and begin our day without chaos or stress — most of the time. That alone sets a better tone for the day. We can manage our day around school or household responsibilities.

There are very few time constraints. Morning chores and afternoon school? Sure. Flip it around tomorrow? Sure.”

4. How can I afford homeschooling?

There is a wonderful adage that all you need to homeschool is love and a library card. So many free resources are available — both through the library and online. Even if you choose to spend money on curriculum and supplies, it will probably not be considerably more than what it costs to send a child to public school once you factor in the cost of school supplies, clothes, food, fundraisers, and social obligations throughout the year.

5. Don’t you have to be Superwoman (or Superman) to homeschool?

All parents juggle schedules, household duties, work, community, and parenting responsibilities.

Homeschoolers may have a different-looking life than most, but we still work with the same 24 hours.

“I am far from perfect, but each day I do the best I am able,” notes Mary-Kate Henle, a mom of seven from Springfield (currently homeschooling four), who balances homeschooling with part-time work and community responsibilities. I also learned to let perfectionism take a back seat. It is more important to my children that we build our lives and learn together than to vacuum every day.”

At some point, your children will want to learn something that you do not understand. You can get them books so that they can learn on their own, you can learn with them, or you can find someone to teach them. There are many tutors and/or online classes available for all subjects. In addition, many high-school aged homeschoolers take classes at community colleges through dualenrollment programs.

8. Is there one right way to homeschool?

6. What if my family and friends don’t support my decision to homeschool?

The reality is that when you choose to do something unusual, there will be naysayers.

There are as many ways to homeschool as there are families who choose this way of life.

Some do school-at-home, complete with desks and set hours. On the opposite spectrum are unschoolers who follow a very child-led learning program and may never open a textbook. There are those who use a pre-packaged curriculum and those who create their own. You need to find what works for your family and your individual child. Karen Ford, a Springfield mom of four who homeschools two children, encourages homeschoolers to be flexible and open to some trial and error. “You don’t need to do what your friends are doing and you don’t need to compare yourselves to them.”

9. Can I homeschool a child with special needs?

Some children with special needs such as ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders actually thrive in a homeschool environment because they can move around throughout the day and don’t have to deal with the stress of the classroom and other students. You may still need extra help for your child, such as counseling or occupational therapy. HSLDA has a special needs department that can help you obtain the services you need.

10.If I choose to homeschool, does it have to be forever?

Some families homeschool for a few months; others for the entirety of their child’s education.

It is always a year-by-year decision. Some families homeschool some of their children while sending the others to a traditional school. Flexibility is one of the best things about homeschooling.

Homeschooling isn’t for everyone, but it can be a wonderful experience for those who brave the road less traveled. Perhaps the most important advice is to relax. Enjoy your children and the journey.

Class is in session: Homeschooling students top left Issac studying with his mom, Patrice: botton left, Amy: top right, David.

BAYSTATEPARENT 38 39

SCHOOL RULES!

Homeschool or Not Some Best Practices for Every Child

BY PATRICE FAGNANT-MACARTHUR

Like the idea of homeschooling, but not ready to pull your kids out of traditional school? Here are some ways to incorporate homeschooling ideas into your life right now.

Embrace the world as a classroom Learning doesn’t start at the classroom door.

There are opportunities for educational experiences all around you. Have your children help with shopping, banking, meal planning, cooking, repairing the car or the house, etc.

Let them see people doing their work and allow your child to ask questions.

Allow for Downtime We live in an overscheduled world. One of the great gifts of homeschooling is time — time to pursue one’s own interests or simply to foster the creativity that

daydreaming can provide. Let there be some breathing room in your child’s schedule so that there is that opportunity for imagination.

Let your child pursue his or her interests School mandates what children must learn, but that may not be what a child wants to study or learn about. Children have a natural curiosity; answer their questions or help them find the answers.

Encourage them to read books and do projects about topics in which they are interested. Summer and school vacations can be a wonderful time to pursue these activities.

Be involved in your child’s education Mimi Caban Ross, who lives in the Hilltown region, has homeschooled her children and had them attend public school.

She encourages sitting with your child as he does homework so that you can answer questions or help him find the answer. She also advises parents to be in regular communication with teachers, so that you are aware of what is going on in the classroom.

Think outside of the box School, college, work, in that order — that’s the agreed upon plan for worldly success, but the world is changing rapidly and the old models don’t always fit. They certainly don’t fit every child. Maybe your child wants to start a business at age 13, or wants to attend college early, or is interested in volunteer service instead of college. A person’s “real life” doesn’t start the day she graduates from high school — it starts as a baby. Allow every day to matter. Be open to the possibilities.

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SCHOOL RULES!

What Your Child Really Needs To Know

To Start Kindergarten

BY AMANDA ROBERGE

On my oldest daughter’s first day of kindergarten, she was that kid.

She was the one clinging to me, screaming “MOMMMYYYY!!! DON’T LEAVE ME!!!!!!” while other children flew off the bus and ran into the building as though it was Christmas morning and Santa was waiting inside the classroom.

It was emotional torture for both of us and a bit embarrassing as well. After all, I had broken the cardinal parenting rule of kindergarten readiness: Despite a year of preschool and a few stints at Gramma’s house, I had failed to prep my kid for the separation.

There is most certainly an unwritten list of preferred skills that kindergarten teachers like kids to possess on the first day of school, but they might not be what parents think. It boils down to this: Knowing numbers and letters and all that jazz is a bonus, they agree, but the most important things to have mastered have much more to do with social and emotional maturity than anything else.

The first order of business is for children to be able to not only separate from their caregiver, 42 JANUARY2015 43

but also to be able to function independently in social situations.

According to kindergarten teachers, this is the single most important aspect of kindergarten readiness.

“It’s so hard on the kids if they haven’t spent time away from their parents,” said Tamra Robichaud, a kindergarten teacher at Northwest Elementary School in Leominster.

With an increasing number of parents opting out of preschool in the year or two leading up to kindergarten, she suggests engaging kids in activities, such as playgroups and library storytimes, in which parents and caregivers, at the very minimum, sit in another room and show kids that even if they are separated, “they always know you’re coming back,” Robichaud said.

Teachers also agree that an important social skill is the ability to engage other kids in conversation and play. This is important at a surface level — children will have an easier time making friends if they possess this skill, and having friends (we can all agree) is fun. But at a learning level, having a classroom full of students who can interact easily and without major conflict

frees up the teacher to work with individuals and small groups on more academic skills.

There are advantages, no doubt, to a child knowing how to count to 20, write their name, and recognize all 26 letters – which are abilities Robichaud would prefer to see on Day One – but those are skills kindergarten teachers will cover.

For Karen McQuade, academic skills are much easier to teach than the social-emotional ones. McQuade is the founder and director of Cornerstone Academy, a private K-6 school in Northborough, where she also teaches kindergarten.

“I think parents come in thinking [children] have to be ready for a lot more than they actually do,” she said. “I always tell them not to worry about it — I’m going to give them that here.”

She added that it is very difficult to expect anything of incoming young students, since they come from a wide array of backgrounds with such varied life experiences. It is in that first year of school when they start to come together for structured learning and eventually, she said, everyone falls onto the same page.

McQuade is quick to acknowledge that individualized learning with attention to meeting each child where they are at is a benefit of private education, and public schools are more likely to be under pressure of standardized testing benchmarks and larger class sizes.

When Beverly Lessard, the longtime director of Boxboro Children Center, was working closely with her local public school system getting kids ready for school in the 1980s, the emphasis was very much on independence and maturity.

“At that time, the most important skills for kids entering kindergarten to have were to be able to pay attention, follow directions, and to be able to initiate activities without teacher intervention – so that’s what we focused on in the preschool classes so they would be ready,” she noted.

While much of what Lessard says is still true some 25 years later, the advent of MCAS testing and rigorous academic standards as early as kindergarten has forced that model to shift with the times.

By the end of the year, explained Robichaud, kids will be formally

SCHOOL RULES! assessed and are expected to count to 120 and be a beginning reader. For kids who don’t have basic skills, that road can be long.

“It is certainly helpful if they can do things like identify numbers 1 through 10 and write their own names,” she said. “And even better if they know all of their letters and some of the sounds.”

But accomplishments that parents sometimes focus on — like tying shoes and having mastery of scissorcutting — are easily picked up in due time, she added.

For Joanne Hirsch, director of school at Longmeadow Montessori, do-it-yourself skills and personal responsibility are critical for preparing their preschool students for kindergarten.

“We teach the kids how to take the initiative, finish what they start, and say ‘I did it myself,’” she said. “We teach the kids to make wise choices as individuals: who they sit next to, who they decide to follow, and that they’re responsible for their decisions. Good things happen when good choices are made.”

In fact, many of the abilities the staff considers imperative are applicable well outside any classroom.

“We teach children to work effectively in small groups and large groups and to treat peers with kindness and respect,” Hirsch

added. “We need problem solvers.

We need kids who can think for themselves, think outside the box and cooperate with others because rote memory is not going to solve the problems that have been created for future generations.”

One of the oft-overlooked skills worth mentioning — particularly for boys — is being able to use public bathrooms with ease. At Robichaud’s school, boys are expected to use a bathroom complete with wall urinals, and for a generation of boys that has been dragged into women’s restrooms with their moms for most of their lives, this might be new territory.

“It’s the little things like that — the life skills — that really make a difference,” she said.

McQuade said that even for parents who choose not to go the preschool route, they can teach independence to their kids in many subtle ways — like giving them the opportunity at restaurants to order their own food.

These types of experiences can help to build the confidence they will need to take that first big step into their kindergarten classroom.

“A certain level of maturity is necessary for a child to truly be ready for school,” Lessard added.

“Most parents think that the child who can read and write is ready, but it’s all about maturity.”

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WHY CAN’T I DO SECOND GRADE MATH? The rationale behind Common Core math (Hint: It’s not to drive parents crazy)

BY KATHY SLOAN

OLD WAY

Bring up the subject of how math is taught in schools these days and you’re likely to get barraged with angry statements from parents such as: “I hate it!” “It’s unnecessarily complicated!” “It doesn’t make sense!”

Solving 10+14 is no longer as easy as stacking the two numbers and doing drop-down math, and subtracting doesn’t involve borrowing anymore. Today, kids are asked to break down the problem into tens and ones and explain how they got their answer.

Most parents wonder why schools are making math so complicated.

Some complain that their children, who once loved math, are now struggling with it. However, while parents are feeling frustrated with the new math, mathematicians and teachers are thrilled with it. Heidi Richard, a 17-year veteran teacher at Floral Street School in Shrewsbury, says that all of the children in her second-grade classroom, including the inclusion students and English language learners, are thriving with this new way of learning math.

“They ask smarter questions and have such a deeper understanding of math,” she says.

Even she has “light bulb moments” in which math concepts come into sharper focus, which makes teaching this new math fun. That, and watching the kids light up when they finally understand a concept, is rewarding, too, she reports.

Common Core The main reason behind this new math is the recently adopted Common Core standards. Mention Common Core to friends and you’re likely to get the same angry comments as above. However, 44 JANUARY2015 45

32 - 12 20 the Core is wildly misunderstood.

Children in the United States were falling behind globally when it came to education. While children in Massachusetts already had a rigorous set of standards to measure up to, other states did not.

Since each state was responsible for setting educational standards, a child in Massachusetts was learning at a faster pace than, say, a child in Missouri. The Core was established in an effort to level the playing field of education across not only the country, but the world.

Here is what the Core is not, according to Dr. Solomon Friedberg, Chair of the Mathematics Department at Boston College: • It is not a test.

• It is not a curriculum.

• The federal government did not mandate it.

• It was not invented to dummy down education.

Rather, Common Core is a common blueprint, or set of standards, for education that have been voluntarily adopted by most states.

“If properly implemented, they will lead to a generation of American students who are better prepared to use mathematics than at present,” Friedberg says. “And with their wide adoption, they also make it easier for students and their families when they move from one school district to another.”

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Answer

Understanding the New Math Heidi Richard was chosen as one of the teachers to help roll out the new Common Core math standards in her district. She attended several trainings to learn the new standards and then helped train her colleagues.

She explains that the way she taught math in years past was “a mile wide but an inch deep.”

“It covered a lot of math but we never really talked about theory,” she says. “Today, the math curriculum is an inch wide, but a mile deep. This gives teachers the opportunity to really dive in deep to the concepts.” Now, she can spend more time on a particular concept rather than having to move on regardless of whether the children understand.

The old way of teaching math was always about memorizing rules.

However, if the problem wasn’t presented exactly the way it was learned or if the child didn’t know the reasoning behind the rule, the child was apt to get the answer wrong.) For example, knowing the trick of adding a 0 to a number when multiplying by 10 is great, but that rule won’t work when you are multiplying decimals. In that case, adding a zero will give you an incorrect answer: 20x10=200 but

2.60x10 isn’t 2.600, it’s 26.

With the new math, students are expected to use critical thinking to solve problems and rationalize their answers. They’re also shown many ways to solve a problem.

“There are two aspects to ‘learning the rules of math’. One side is computational, the other conceptual,” Friedberg says. “On the computational side, the ability to compute math quantities is something all students should have. They need to be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide accurately and with ease, choosing the most efficient way to do any given computation. But it’s also important to understand where the rules come from. This helps make math a coherent subject and not just a long list of rules, and supports higher level understanding and reasoning using mathematics.”

Much the way that you wouldn’t expect kids to memorize words without learning the meanings and then expecting them to be able to understand the text they are reading, in math it is important to know what rules apply where. The ability to justify how they got their answer or where the mathematical rule comes from deepens a child’s understanding and math skills, which will help them as they progress through the grades.

What Can Parents Do? One of the biggest complaints from parents is that they can’t help their kids figure out their math homework, but adults shouldn’t stress about that. Teachers like Richard encourage parents to utilize online resources or contact

SCHOOL RULES! your child’s teacher for help.

“I want to know if homework time is stressful for your child because it shouldn’t be,” she says. “Also, if I don’t know where the child is struggling, I can’t help them.”

It’s up to school districts to disseminate information about the new math standards, and some districts may be better than others at providing information to help parents assist with math homework.

Friedberg hopes parental frustration over Common Core math will abate.

“As better curricular materials appear, teachers receive the professional support they need to become better skilled at teaching it, and parents can see that their children really are learning to both

carry out math computations and understand what they are doing,” he says.

Math is a challenging subject for many students and parents.

Richard says it’s critical for the success of our children that parents get on board with the new Common Core standards because those standards are here to stay. It can be very confusing for children to hear parents talk about how ridiculous we think their math methods are while their authority figures at school —their teachers — are championing those same concepts.

Keeping the lines of communication open with teachers is the best way to help your child.

Head to baystateparent.com for links to Common Core math resources for parents, as well as a link to Friedberg’s USA Today article, “Common Core math is not fuzzy”, that further explains what Common Core is, and isn’t.

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SCHOOL RULES!

po bu sp to tio Th w w ca fin w

Education that makes

‘CENTS’

BY AMANDA COLLINS, PHOTOS BY STEVEN KING

W

hen getting the little ones out the door and off to school in the mornings, every mom goes through the mental checklist: backpack, homework, lunch…deposit slip?

For thousands of elementary-aged students across the state, tucked into their school bags with assignments and snacks twice a month is a money pouch and deposit slip that allows them to take part in the statewide Savings Makes Cents program.

“It helps kids understand the ABCs — the very basics of money, saving and banking,” says Jodie Gerulaitis, the Financial Education Officer at Country Bank for Savings. “Some kids bring in a dollar, some bring in a twenty, and then there’s some that bring in nickels and quarters.

But they’re learning at an early age what it means to save money; to put some aside and watch it grow.”

Country Bank is the largest participating bank in Savings Makes 46 JANUARY2015 47

Cents, which was developed by and is run in conjunction with the state treasurer’s office. It brings together local schools and banks to teach children basic monetary concepts such as opening a savings account and budgeting skills. Since 1994, the program has partnered more

ones have saved about $1.5 million.

“This program is making a difference and the kids really are learning,” Gerulaitis says. “We’ve found that by making it realistic and fun, the kids are excited about saving their money and keeping it there.”

Twice a month, participating

“This program is making a difference and the kids really are learning. We’ve found that by making it realistic and fun, the kids are excited about saving their money and keeping it there.” than 170 financial institutions with over 400 schools across the Commonwealth, according to Treasurer Steven Grossman’s office.

Country Bank brings the program to about 30 schools where more than 4,000 students participate.

Over the past decade, those little

schools hold a “banking day,” in which bank staff visit and work at a specially designed banking booth that serves as the “branch.” With the help of bank representatives, students make deposits into a real statement savings account, receiving a fun “incentive” every sixth

banking day.

Statements are mailed home to students, so parents can review the account with their children. They can also make deposits and withdrawals at Country Bank branches during normal business hours, but withdrawals are not allowed at school.

The intent, says Gerulaitis, is to make saving money and banking transactions as realistic as possible.

“For the younger kids, it’s instilling that experience. They see Mom and Dad use credit and debit cards or go to the ATM and it just spits out cash,” she says. “Taking part in the program lets them participate in making a goal, saving for it, and tracking it.”

"We love the program because kids gain a greater understanding of saving money," notes West Brookfield Elementary School Principal Colleen Mucha. "This year we implemented a PBIS program — Positive Behavior Intervention and Sup-

yo cr ua M de ne of ca fe th fin M th m so hi re co th M m Co Ci

SCHOOL RULES! ports. Each day the kids earn 'cub bucks,' and on Fridays they can spend them. It has been interesting to hear the kids make the connection to the school banking program.

They are very thoughtful about whether they want to spend each week or save their bucks up so they can get something bigger. We are finding the kids who bank are better with saving their bucks."

Promoting financial literacy at a young age is important, but it's also crucial to target teens as they graduate from high school. According to MoneyU, a financial literacy course designed by a mom and entrepreneur, students entering college are offered an average of eight credit cards their first week of school, yet fewer than 1 in 4 report feeling that they know enough about personal finances. Only three states — Utah, Missouri and Tennessee — require that students take at least one semester of a course devoted to personal finance before they graduate high school. Seventeen other states require that personal finance be incorporated into other subjects, but the remaining states — including Massachusetts — have no requirement, according to the JumpStart Coalition for Personal Finance and Citi Education.

“Many students don’t have expe-

rience with all the aspects of having so many different types of expenses to have to budget for,” says Ruth Robert, a guidance counselor at Ware Junior Senior High School.

Five years ago, the school part-

cise, they fast-forward seven years and role-play the position of a 25-year-old adult with a job, a salary, expenses, and a credit score.

“It's all about budgeting. They navigate around 14 different booths

nered with Country Bank to bring a daylong financial literacy exercise to graduating seniors called the Credit for Life Fair.

The fair is usually offered in the spring, right before students take off into the real world. In the exer-

where they will have to make a financial decision, based on their income, to live within their means.

Should they rent an apartment on their own or have a roommate?

Should they get this car or the one that's better on gas?” Gerulaitis ex-

plains.

“This program puts it right there in black and white, but it also gives them the opportunity to make choices — to stay on budget, or not,” Robert says.

One of the most important booths they visit is the credit score booth.

Students are assigned a random credit score that dramatically affects their experience at the fair, which educators say is one of the most eye-opening aspects.

“The simple fact that a credit score impacts your life in so many ways really shows them what it's like in the real world,” says Paula Talmadge, school-to-career coordinator at Wilbraham’s Minnechaug High School. “It opens their eyes to things like setting a budget and paying your bills before you plan a cruise. It is a great time for seniors to think about all this — before they commit to students loans. [It’s] also great for seniors who will begin to handle their personnel finances in some way after they graduate.”

At the end of the fair, credit counselors review each student's final budget one-on-one.

“We hope we're sending kids out into the real world with even just a tiny bit more financial knowledge, because down the road it can make a big difference in their life and their decisions,” Gerulaitis says.

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SCHOOL RULES!

A BREWING STORM? Common Core & Standardized Testing in Massachusetts

BY DOUG PAGE

C

ontroversy surrounds the introduction of the latest educational reform initiative, called Common Core, and the new standardized PARCC test scheduled for this spring that will measure how many Massachusetts public school children understand it.

More than 220,000 Bay State public school children — representing about 54% of the state’s school districts — in Grades 3-8, plus a number of high school freshmen and juniors, are scheduled to take the new PARCC test in March and, again, in May, said Jacqueline Reis, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which oversees the state’s public schools.

The remaining students are expected to sit for the 16-year-old MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) test.

In March, students’ writing and analytical skills in English will be tested, and their abilities to solve 48 JANUARY2015 49

mathematical multi-step problems and abstract reasoning skills will be examined.

In May, reading comprehension will be tested, while what’s called “grade-level appropriate math concepts” will also be measured with the new PARCC exam.

Unlike the MCAS test, PARCC is a timed exam, with Massachusetts education officials allotting as many as 10 hours for children in Grades 3-5 to complete both the English and math tests. The acronym stands for “Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers”.

Children in Grades 6-8 are allocated nearly 11 hours, while high school freshmen and juniors are also given nearly 11 hours to finish their PARCC exams in English and math.

The PARCC test is aligned with Common Core, while the MCAS test, said Reis, was “adjusted” to fit the new standards.

“MCAS doesn’t go into the depth of critical thinking skills that PARCC does,” she added.

Tenth grade students — at least this academic year — are still

required to pass the MCAS test to graduate high school.

What does this second-year trial of the PARCC exam mean for MCAS, the homegrown standardized test that’s measured student performance in the state’s public schools since 1998?

That’s hard to say.

While Reis said no decision on discarding MCAS and transitioning to PARCC will be made until this fall, Chris McGrath, director of operations for the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, tells a different story.

“The [Massachusetts] Commissioner of Education [Mitchell Chester] told us it’s a thing of the past,” she said.

McGrath also added that students will be required to pass a new standardized test, whether it’s PARCC or another, to graduate from a Massachusetts public high school, starting with the Class of 2019.

The MCAS science test will continue indefinitely for Massachusetts public school students in the 5th, 8th and 10th grades, Reis said.

New Questions

In addition to questions regarding which standardized test Massachusetts public school students will take in the future, there’s also a debate about whether they’re tested too often.

“I am talking to faculty, staff and students at least three days a week, and what I’m hearing is we assess too much,” noted state Secretary of Education Matthew Malone. “I think we need to find the right balance of assessment to ensure it’s giving us a complete and comprehensive look at our student learning while not interfering with teacher and learning.”

In response, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education budgeted $145,000 to hire a consultant to determine, by April, if that’s true.

“The Department is commissioning a study in order to learn which assessments districts are using in addition to state assessments and why,” Education Commissioner

SCHOOL RULES! Chester said. “Solid numbers, not anecdotes, should inform our discussion of the issue.”

Even new Gov. Charlie Baker weighed in on the discussion, telling baystateparent: “Of course, we should look for opportunities to reduce the cost of state testing, both in terms of time and money, but we should never pull back from our obligation and commitment to independently measure individual student achievement and learning gains.”

Another fear is whether parents will pull their children out of school the day the Common Core-aligned PARCC test is administered. Bay State education officials don’t want a repeat of what happened in neighboring New York last year when about 60,000 children were pulled from school by their parents on the days a new standardized test, also aligned with Common Core, was administered, noted Lisa Guisbond, of Jamaica Plain-based Fair Test, a group against standardized testing.

To prevent this, Rhoda Schneider, attorney for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, wrote a letter to Thomas Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents (MASA), noting: “State law mandates that all students who

are educated with Massachusetts public funds participate in the statewide assessment program.”

A copy of the letter was shared with baystateparent.

Chester followed up Schneider’s letter, informing school superintendents to find something else for children to do at school if their parents don’t want them taking the PARCC test, Reis said.

“No punitive action will be taken against either children or parents who don’t want their children to take the new test,” she noted.

Why PARCC?

The new test will determine whether high school juniors possess the necessary skills for either a career or college. About one-third of Massachusetts high school graduates attending staterun colleges in the Commonwealth require remedial help in English and math, Chester said.

He cited a study from his Department showing that more than 7,700 students graduating high school in 2012 and attending staterun institutions needed extra help in those two topics so they could pass advanced college courses.

But when the 7,700 students are compared against 2012’s entire

graduating class from Massachusetts public high schools — about 74,500 students — they represent only about 10% of that year’s public high school class.

“It’s a low number of students,” noted Sandra Stotsky, a former member of the Massachusetts Board of Education.

MCAS vs. PARCC

MCAS was a result of a state legislature vote to improve the state’s public schools when it passed the Massachusetts Education Reform Act in 1993. The test was designed, Stotsky said, with heavy input from the state’s public school teachers at all grade levels and by a Dover, N.H.based company, Measured Progress, which writes academic assessments.

About five years ago, members of the state Board of Education, with support from then-Gov. Deval Patrick, and Commissioner Chester, voted to replace the state’s educational standards with Common Core.

“I never thought the standards that were in place were there forever,” said Paul Reville, the state’s education secretary when it moved to the new standards in 2010. “Common Core relied heavily on the standards Massachusetts set in place (in 1993).”

“The PARCC test is about applying

knowledge,” said MASA’s Scott.

“You’re given a problem and are expected to think it through. School districts will have to change their instructional strategies for this kind of test.”

Massachusetts implemented Common Core with a $250 million “Race to The Top” grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

State school districts accepting the funding signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, agreeing to implement a number of initiatives, including improving teacher effectiveness and increasing the number of high school students ready for either a career or college.

British multinational educational and publishing company Pearson PLC is designing the new PARCC test with input from educational officers from the 13 states making up the PARCC consortium, which will also take the exam, Reis said.

Head to baystateparent.com for online resources on Common Core State Standards and PARCC, as well as information on how to find out which test your child will be taking this year.

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SCHOOL RULES!

The Surprising Secrets to

PTO SUCCESS

BY MICHELE BENNETT DECOTEAU Bus costs are rising and volunteer numbers are dropping — what is a Parent Teacher Organization to do? No matter if your school has a Parent Teacher Association (PTA), PTO or some other bit of alphabet soup, these organizations fund the gaps in school budgets so students can go on field trips, buy uniforms, and give away books.

Many PTOs are struggling, not just with fundraising but with finding volunteers, as well. Volunteerism is dropping nationwide and PTOs are not immune.

Parent-led organizations are taking two different strategies to achieve success on both fronts in this challenging time. Some are choosing to focus on many small events, while others opt to run one or two big fundraisers. Both strategies net funds and volunteers, but have different challenges and benefits.

One PTO that falls in the first category is Abby Kelly Foster Charter School (AKFCS) in Worcester. This K-12 charter school draws from a diverse community, with 70% of the students receiving free or reduced lunch, and it boasts a very successful PTO. In the past five years, the PTO has raised more than $144,000. No teacher’s request has been turned down or underfunded.

“Every fundraiser we do is retired after two or three years,” shares PTO President Darcy Schwartz. “We don’t have a single big fundraiser: no Entertainment books, no catalogs, and no wrapping paper.

Our fundraisers are affordable and regular.

“We have Fun Fridays on the first Friday of the month,” she continues.

“In warmer weather, it is Popsicle day where students can purchase popsicles for $1 each. Our students have to wear a uniform, and in the cooler weather at the middle school students pay $1 to wear sweatpants.

We also host a few community days for the school. Since our students come from many different towns, this gives parents and students a chance to get to know each other.

We always do some sort of food like hot dogs or donuts on a string.

These days are very affordable and 50 JANUARY2015 51

Two top strategies for

raising money

and volunteers

build community.”

This community-building event often raises as many volunteers as dollars. It gives parents an opportunity to be involved in a small way, and by asking many parents to give a small amount of time they are more connected to the school and the PTO. Another way AKFCS has improved the return on small fundraisers was developed in concert with students: They were asked what incentives they wanted. Students wanted to earn prizes, not win them so they were guaranteed; they asked for lunch with a friend, prom tickets, and athletic fees. By changing the incentives to those that the students actually wanted, the PTO was able to turn some barely-break-even fundraisers into money makers.

“Many successful PTOs are doing fewer fundraisers but doing them better,” says Craig Bystrynski, editor in chief of PTO Today, a print magazine and online tool for PTO officers and members. It hosts PTO Today Expos in various locations to give PTO officers a chance to meet and learn about fundraising vendors. “They are doing small numbers of fundraisers as well as they possibly can.”

Millbury Parents’ Club (MPC) in Central Massachusetts is an example of an organization undertaking fewer fundraisers and raising more money.

“This past year, we had our first 5K Fun Run and it was very profitable,” says Judy Bastarache, club president. “We raised over $10,000.

It was a real community effort.

It was a big process, though. We started with the Superintendent.

He agreed to run and get together a team from the Administration. Then the Police had to approve our route and the Town Selectmen had to OK it.”

The Millbury Fun Run course led from the town’s junior/senior high school to the elementary school.

Students designed the T-shirts for volunteers. This effort turned into a huge community effort with many local businesses donating raffle baskets and money.

SCHOOL RULES! “The key to this was that it was healthy and gave everyone a feeling of being part of something special,” Bastarache says. “We even had a few girls want to run it in tu-tus.

They asked me to join them and I did. It was really special.”

The event was such a hit, the club is planning another race.

“We want to attract more serious runners, so we are considering spending a bit more on timing and getting the word out,” Bastarache says.

This is going to be a signature event and along with a Calendar Raffle, will be the only fundraising events from the MPC. “Nobody wants to buy more stuff,” Basterache notes.

That sentiment is shared by many parents and teachers, so if no one wants to buy more wrapping paper or candles, why are these types of fundraisers ubiquitous?

“Catalog sales, cookie dough, wrapping paper and fundraisers like them are still popular with many PTOs because they do work and they require very few volunteers.

They can raise a significant profit in a short amount of time,” Bystrynski notes. “Burnout of volunteers and parents who buy the items is common. My advice to PTOs is to look at fundraisers not just as a means to an end, not just a money maker. Think of fundraisers as a both a money maker and a community event.”

PTOs can host events like Family Math Night or Family Science Night in which parents and students come to learn more about a subject and how it is taught in their school.

Events that support a PTO’s mission can be run at cost or have small goals. This will help attract volunteers to a PTO. But what really gets large numbers of volunteers and funds?

“Major projects usually get the volunteers and money. Having a big need — having a big vision — that is what gets volunteers,” Bystrynski says.

AKFCS’s PTO has found a few ways to attract volunteers by using social media and email blasts, but nothing beats face-to-face requests.

“We also hang out at Kindergarten registration so we can ask parents as they register,” Schwartz says.

Valuing every contribution helps to keep all parent volunteers involved, from baking cookies to organizing a fundraiser.

No matter how big or small a fundraiser or community event is, it is run by volunteers, the people who are all work and no pay. And the secret to keeping these volunteers happy is easy, but often forgotten.

“Say thank you,” reminds Schwartz.

Abbey Kelly Foster Charter School PTO’s Top Five Fundraisers

in a few hours. Low table prices and free admission bring in lots of people.”

The AKFCS PTO has raised more than $144,000 over the past 5 years.

PTO President Darcy Schwartz shares the Top 5 money-makers:

3. Spaghetti Supper: “We raised over $2,500 in an evening. We held the event in early November and did a ‘Turkey Lurkey’ raffle where we raffled off all sorts of donated items, including Thanksgiving turkeys.

1. Cash Calendar: “This raised the most money for our group, topping $30,000 in profit in one year.”

2. Holiday Craft Fair: “This is a fun community event that raises $3,000

4. Father/Daughter and Mother/ Son events: “These are great for us because they are fun, bring families together, and the Father/Daughter

typically brings in $1,500 to $2,000 in an evening because we have a great raffle that includes an American Girl doll.”

5. Barnes & Noble Book Fair: “This brings us about $1,000, and it allows us to have our Music Department students perform in public. From grades K – 12, our choirs, quartets and strings groups come and entertain throughout the day, which is a great way of getting our school and our talented students out in the public eye.”

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G L A D Promotes the Creation of Middle-School GSAs

BY MELISSA SHAW

Boston-based LGBT legal advocacy organization GLAD has launched a campaign supporting the formation of Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) student groups at Massachusetts middle schools.

While traditionally viewed as highschool level organizations, advocates say the creation of GSAs in middle schools will provide a safer, more supportive environment for all students, regardless of sexuality.

“The stats show GSAs help all youth,” said Vickie Henry, Senior Staff Attorney and Director of the Youth Initiative for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD). “Generally, when you have a GSA present at the school there’s less bullying, and I think less bulling is better for everybody. They promote a better, more inclusive, safer place for every student.”

GLAD’s GSAs Can Make It Better is a 1-minute video designed to be shared online and shown in schools, at conferences, and as part of workshops.

It outlines the documented benefits of GSAs, including the role they play in reducing transphobic and homophobic remarks; helping transgender and gender non-conforming students feel safer; and educating teachers, administrators and students about LGBTQ issues.

“Young people are coming out at a younger and younger age,” Henry said. “It’s critical to have resources in place to support them and to educate their peers, so they can go through coming out safely and in a positive way.”

According to the organization, LGBT middle school students are significantly more likely than their high school peers to experience verbal and physical harassment and assault, with 35.5% of middle school students reporting regular physical harassment compared to 21.4% of high school students. Yet while 52.6% of LGBT high school youth have ac52 JANUARY2015 53

cess to a GSA, only 6.3% of LGBT middle school youth do.

“If you come out when you’re 22, many of us are independent of our parents financially, you’re out of college or just finishing up,” Henry said. “We had much greater social skills than your average 12, 13 or 14 year old. Now you have all of the awkwardness of the teen years plus youth coming out. [GSAs] break a sense of isolation which I think a lot of middle schoolers can feel because the school is acknowledging this population exists saying, ‘You’re not alone. You can be part of this connected group.’”

Henry also cites the unfortunate reality of young teens who are rejected by their families or are not safe at home.

“You want those youth to have some safe space to go,” she said. “If they can get some support at school, it can be make or break for a kid whether their school is a safe, supportive place for them.”

But GSAs are not just made up of gay or questioning youth, they’re also a place of support for students who have gay parents, family or friends, as well as those who are passionate about social justice and equal rights.

“I joined the GSA because I knew some people in my school who were questioning or going through a rough time in the topics the GSA covers, and I thought it would be helpful to help them with their issues if I could get to know more about it,” said one GSA member at 1,100-student Ottoson Middle School in Arlington. “I’ve always believed that issues like this are important. It has definitely educated me on a lot of issues and how to deal with them.”

“These kids are on fire for social justice,” said Anna Watson, chair of the Friends of the Queer-Straight Alliance (QSA) at Ottoson, which comprises grades 6 through 8. The stu-

dent group, which recently changed its name to QSA, is one of the oldest and most successful middle-school GSAs in the state. “It’s actually about social justice, equal rights. They’re really not going to be talking about dating.”

A mother of two, Watson proposed the idea of a GSA to Ottoson Principal Tim Ruggere in the spring of 2010.

She had been volunteering in her son’s fifth-grade classroom and was struck by the students’ passion for social justice.

“They were trying to get rid of Styrofoam in the cafeteria, they were doing all of this animal rights stuff,” she noted. “The kids are beginning to have social awareness, not just around ‘Who am I?’ personally, but ‘Who am I in the world and what do

I believe?’”

Concerned that their enthusiasm for advocacy might wane upon entering middle school if not channeled, she suggested the formation of a GSA as a “touch point for people with similar social consciousness.”

Watson, whose son was a founding member, said the proposal was supported by Ruggere and the group took off. The Friends of the GSA was initially formed to support the group, fundraise to have a paid staff advisor, help send students to the annual Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) conference and more.

Over the years, the Ottoson QSA has received grants and support from the school’s PTO and the Arlington Education Foundation, won awards, and has grown to a point in which “hap-

SCHOOL RULES! pily my role has dwindled because it’s successful,” Watson said. “Sustainability was my bottom line at all times. It had to take off on its own.”

In the beginning the group met once every two weeks; now the QSA meets every Monday afternoon, according to Nanci Siegel, LICSW, Part-Time Social Worker in the Ottoson Guidance Department and the group’s advisor.

In addition to the weekly meetings, QSA members participate in annual GLSEN events, work on projects promoting inclusive language, awareness and LGBT education, and have recently championed another cause.

“They decided they wanted to have a second gender-neutral bathroom in the school for a trans-advocacy project,” Siegel said. “They did the research, wrote a letter to the principal to request a second unisex bathroom and located a place where they thought it could go. [Ruggere] is very supportive of our project and the QSA. He was one of the people instrumental in getting it started.”

“Arlington is an example of a very positive, thriving GSA that has not had any trouble with the community,” GLAD’s Henry noted.

But not all schools may have a

Support and Strategies for Parents of Infants Through Teens

similarly easy path. Throughout the school year, Henry said GLAD will make available online content that educates and encourages the creation of middle-school GSAs. The organization will also provide assistance to any students who are having difficulty forming a GSA due to their school administration’s resistance or who believe their school is not treating an existing GSA the same as any other club.

GLAD’s video and resources, including a primer on the right to form GSAs, can be viewed at GLADAnswers.org/gsa.

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Why ‘Queer’ is Now OK Regardless of their sexuality, older generations may identify the word “queer” as a slur, but many of today’s LGBTQ youth prefer the distinction.

“I do youth work and if you don’t use ‘queer’ they don’t want to talk to you because they think you don’t know what you’re talking about,” says Vickie Henry, Senior Staff Attorney and Director of the Youth Initiative for GLAD. The preferred vocabulary around sexuality is changing and Henry provided a quick primer.

“A lot of youth identify as either

queer or pansexual,” she said. “’Queer’ is generally an umbrella term. It can encompass people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. It also encompasses people who are allies and want to indicate that in some way or who are rejecting traditional binary gender norms.”

She shares an anecdote in which a person who ran a youth group noted “maybe only a third of his group would identify as L, G or B, and the rest would identify as either queer or pansexual.”

“Pansexual” is similar to queer and another relatively new delineation.

• Keeping your teen out of trouble • Dealing with parenting differences

“[Pansexuals are] saying they’re not attracted to a particular gender, but that they’re attracted to the person,” Henry noted. “They’re really saying, ‘I’m not just attracted to traditional male or female genders, but I can be attracted to gender-fluid people or transgender people or androgynous people.’ They’re just having a broader view of what works for them.”

Whether they’re identifying as queer or pansexual, Henry said the end result is the same: “They’re not neatly falling into the boxes adult language has used.”

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Holyoke Community College Photos courtesy of Holyoke Community College

Community College:

AN AFFORDABLE START — IF YOU DO IT RIGHT The cost of a four-year degree is climbing annually, and students are graduating with more debt than ever before. Is it time

to take a closer look at community college as a way to cut costs and even enhance the college experience?

BY JOAN GOODCHILD

Quinsigamond Community College Photography by Davis Advertising 54 JANUARY2015 55

T

For college-bound students in 2015, the chances of graduating with educational debt are a certainty for most. In fact, a report issued recently by The Project on Student Debt, an initiative of the non-profit group The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS), finds that 7 seven in 10 college seniors who graduated from public and private nonprofit colleges in 2013 had student loan debt. These borrowers owed an average of $28,400, up 2% from 2012.

The sticker price for starting out at one of the 15 community colleges in Massachusetts is decidedly less shocking. The average cost for fullyear tuition and fees at a community college nationally is just $2,076, compared to $5,100 at a public, four-year university, and $20,081 at a private, four-year institution, according to the College Board.

Here in the Bay State, those prices are somewhat higher, with the average community college cost at $5,071 for a year of tuition.

That’s still a bargain compared to the cost of one year of tuition at UMass-Amherst, which ran $13,232 last year. And as home to some of the most prestigious and expensive private schools in the country, including Boston College, with a tuition price of $23,335, Massachusetts community colleges look like a bargain-basement steal comparatively.

That cost savings was not lost on Holyoke Community College student Jeffery Anderson-Burgos when he made the decision to go back to school for a degree.

“There were a few factors that went into my choice to attend a community college,” he said. “I can say that cost was one main factor among them. My husband is an alum of Holyoke Community College and he provided a lot of motivation to attend.”

But beyond the more affordable cost, Anderson-Burgos said the experience has been extremely rewarding, both in terms of education and social opportunities.

“I also viewed it as an opportunity to prove myself in a more intimate setting,” he noted. “As I am looking toward graduating in the spring, I strongly believe attending HCC has benefited my personal and academic growth much more than I could have expected. I am likely to graduate with a 4.0. I have also experienced a profound boost in my self-confidence and trust in my abilities — a benefit that I do not believe I would have experienced had I started at a larger institution.”

Anderson-Burgos, who initially planned to transfer to UMassAmherst to get his bachelor’s degree, is now looking at schools such as Yale, Hampshire, and Northeastern to finish out his college education.

While the cost of a degree continues to climb, and stories like Anderson-Burgos’s appear to have all the makings of success — a rewarding educational experience, a more affordable start to a bachelor’s degree, and a transfer to an elite college — students are still not choosing community college in record numbers. In fact, enrollment at the nation’s 1,132 community colleges declined about 3% from 2012 to 2013, according to the most recent stats compiled by the American Association of Community Colleges.

Why? Some pin the reason on declining state funds for public education.

Others suggest community colleges are still unable to shake the perception that they are merely a 13th year of high school for unsuccessful students unable to gain admission at a four-year institution.

“I do think there is a stigma that still exists,” said Vanessa Martinez, an anthropology professor and coordinator of the honors program at HCC. “You see that from the lack of state and national support for higher ed. You also hear that in conversations you have on the street with people who think it’s 13th grade and that students don’t have to work as hard.”

“If it’s going to be a viable strategy you have to do the program in two years or less, otherwise the savings start to erode.

For students, the biggest thing is they have to look at community college as a business or a job.”

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SCHOOL RULES! Martinez, who also teaches at UMass and Westfield State University, said the perception of community college could not be more wrong.

The content she teaches, for example, doesn’t change from institution to institution. What’s different, she said, is the support given to community college students, including smaller class sizes, increased office hours and more access to assistance from staff.

“We’re dealing with some students with limited reading and writing skills, and then some of the brightest students you’ve ever seen,” Martinez said. “It’s very varied and our services reflect that.”

Robert Ronstadt, a former college professor and Vice President at Boston University who authored Ronstadt’s Paying for College: Avoid Huge Student Debt, Compare and Select the Right College, and Perform Brilliantly in the Classroom, believes community college is a good approach for students who are seeking to save on the overall cost of higher education — but only if the two-year degree is obtained in a timely manner.

“If it’s going to be a viable strategy, you have to do the program in two

years or less, otherwise the savings start to erode,” he said. “For students, the biggest thing is they have to look at community college as a business or a job. They have to

make it work.”

Mindful that every minute counts, Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester offers programs that even allow students who are still

know it will be 9-5 or 9-9 everyday. If they don’t, they might get in trouble trying to balance it with part-time jobs that cut into school time. You really have to be very disciplined to

in high school an opportunity to take classes that will also count toward a college degree, according to Mishawn Davis-Eyene, QCC’s Director of Admissions.

Programs include the Gateway to College program, which allows high school drop outs to complete the requirements for a high school diploma, and then go on to earn an associate’s degree, as well as two other programs that give ambitious, budget-minded high school students the chance to enroll in QCC classes concurrent with their enrollment in high school. This gives them a head start on earning college credits before even entering their first year of college.

Davis-Eyene said the programs have been successful for QCC, and overall she is observing an upswing in admissions after a few quieter years.

“This semester we are getting more applications than we’ve had in recent years,” she said. “A lot of students choose here because it’s cost effective, but once they get here they love it here. It’s a true campus experience. The biggest challenge is still getting students to understand the value of a community college degree so they make that choice. We want to help them understand that it’s smart to be here.”

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LET’S GO

Inside Affordable Boston-Area Options for Live Family Entertainment

BY MELISSA SHAW

In a time in which a child’s matinee ticket to the local movie theatre runs an average of $9, taking the whole family to see the latest hot release can be steep. And that’s not counting a trip to the snack bar.

Yet just outside Boston, there is a trio of venues that offers

Your family’s comfort is our #1 priority

live family programming for less than the cost of a movie ticket.

Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, The Regent Theatre in Arlington and The Center for Arts in Natick (TCAN) all boast a regular smorgasbord of affordable arts entertainment for children and their parents.

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PCFF presents the best of independent and international children’s cinema to inspire, delight, educate, and connect a diverse community of children and families throughout New England.

“It’s a really great place to connect with those who are in our community,” says Stephanie Brognl, marketing coordinator at TCAN. “A big part of why TCAN is so successful is because of the community aspect. It’s our way of making sure children are exposed to the arts at a young age.”

“We wanted to be a combination of a performing arts center with national and international acts and a community theatre,” notes Leland Stein, Regent co-owner and booking manager.

One of Regent’s community-minded projects: a family entertainment lineup. “The whole idea was ‘way better than TV’, an alternative to Saturday morning cartons,” Stein says. “A lot of families, especially with younger kids preschool to 8, are really looking for stuff to do outside of the house.

They get it and see how great it is for young kids to experience live performances on the stage.”

Most weekend mornings, one, two or all of the venues are boasting unique family entertainment on their stages: musicians, jugglers, acrobats, yo-yo professionals, magicians and much more. Each theatre’s family lineup is a mix of local favorites or nationally touring acts, including Grammy and Emmy nominees and even Guiness World Record holders.

Tickets at all the venues average around $11 for adults, $8 for children, making a trip to the theatre — real, live performing arts — affordable

and accessible.

“It’s purposeful that we keep the ticket prices low,” says Beth Gilligan, Director of Development & Marketing at the Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation. “That’s something we’re definitely committed to. We want to be accessible to all members of the community. If you’re bringing the entire family, that adds up. We don’t want it to become prohibitive for people. It’s

part of being a nonprofit in the community, we’re mission-driven.”

Built as a church in 1906, the Coolidge was redesigned as an Art Deco movie palace in 1933 and has never closed its doors to the public since. Now primarily an independent cinema that features art-house mov-

ies and a series of arts programming for adults, The Coolidge is a non-profit cinema, the building saved from developers and demolition in the late ’80s by a community grassroots movement.

“We try to be a destination for people. We hear so many stories from people, ‘Oh, my parents took me to the Coolidge when I was growing up,’” Gilligan says. “We had someone say it used to be 10 cents for a double feature and you’d get an ice cream.

Another woman who’s in her 60s said, ‘I was in a ballet performance at The Coolidge when I was 8 years old and it was one of my earliest performing memories.’ To build that kind of legacy, where people grow up going to the kids shows, then when they’re older hopefully come back to the movies and all the different series and programming, it is a good fit.”

The Regent in Arlington is another historic venue, built in 1916, its roots planted as a 500-seat vaudeville house. Now, in addition to its distinct family entertainment track, the theatre hosts comedians, musicians,

theatre performances, bands and more. This month it presents its 5th Annual Magic Month, each Saturday featuring a new nationally known magician.

“We had a few different family magicians that played at the theatre over time,” Stein says. “We thought, ‘What can we do to get folks out in January?

Magic Month at The Regent!’ It’s really taken off as something that’s really popular. You can do things on an annual basis and make it a tradition.”

Magic Month is a newer tradition at the venue, with The Regent’s Sing-aAlong Mary Poppins, held in November, and Sing-Along Sound of Music, held after Christmas, still going strong after a decade.

Natick’s 290-seat TCAN is, like its compatriots, also housed in a historic building, this one the town’s former Central Fire House built in 1875. Like The Coolidge, the deteriorating building was saved by a group of residents, their efforts paying off in the 2003 opening of The Center for Arts in Natick. In addition to its family entertainment lineup, TCAN offers a range of musicians and artist performances for all ages, as well as theatre education and performing arts classes for youth.

Head to baystateparent.com for links to the full winter family entertainment lineups for all three venues.

BAYSTATEPARENT 62 63

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64 JANUARY2015 65

Wintertime Farmers’ Markets: Fresh Doesn’t Stop With the Snow

BY MICHELE BENNETT DECOTEAU

The Wayland Farmers’ Market is one of the oldest winter markets in New England. Quite unique, it’s held inside a green house at Russell’s Garden Center providing a welcome respite for families in the winter.

“We have a full parking lot every Saturday in the winter!” says Marie Winter, Director of Community Relations at the Wayland Farmers’ Market, which runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturdays Jan. 10 – March 14. “We have an amazing variety of vendors selling greens, baked goods, carrots, coffee, wine, fiber, and delicious food.

You can stop in and end up staying the whole day.”

It offers a variety of vendors

including A Hundred Ravens Yarn, an independent yarn dying company; E and T Farms, fish and hydroponic greens; and Samira’s Homemade Middle Eastern prepared foods. There are also vendors selling all kinds of hearty produce, honey, maple syrup, herbs, and eggs. Others sell ready-toeat meals, baked goods, and gifts.

Vendors were the impetus for starting this market, many quite busy in the summer selling at other local markets. With fewer markets open in the winter, they come from all over the region to sell in Wayland. This is also true of the customers; customers in the summer are very local. In the winter, they travel to visit and sample

the wares of more than 50 vendors.

“We also have a few specialty days like Wine Day, where we bring in local wineries to sample and sell, Cheese Days, and Farm Fiber Days,” Winter continued. On Farm Fiber Days, the market is filled with locally spun yarn, knitted items, hand dyed yarns, fleece, felted items, and handmade buttons.

Another is the Marshfield Farmers’ Market Winter Series, held the third Saturday of each month from 10 a.m.–2 p.m. This is also indoors and heated. “One unique aspect to our market in the winter is that each market has a free demonstration and kids’ craft activity. In January we are going to learn about strawberries,”

says Lorrie Dahlen, Manager of the Marshfield Farmers’ Market, which is held at the Marshfield Fairgrounds.

Marshfield is a more typical market with fewer vendors in the winter.

What is typical is that more of the visitors come from farther away. “We draw from many towns, plus with it on Saturdays in the winter, we have a slightly different set of folks,” Dahlen notes.

Unlike the summer vendors in Marshfield where they bring a lot of produce and flowers, in the winter, “we have hot and cold prepared foods for eating on site or take home, pastureraised pork and beef, dairy products, day-boat fish and shellfish, baked BAYSTATEPARENT 64 65

goods, chocolates, honey, preserves, wool, micro-roasted coffees, infused oils and vinegars, eggs and sometimes rabbit meat, too. We also have select artisans with soaps, scents, wooden items, fabric, knitted items and other such goodies,” shares Dahlen.

Marshfield also accepts SNAP EBT and will double the value with special coupons.

One unique market to visit on Thursdays from 3:30 p.m.-6 p.m. is the Plymouth Farmers’ Market. In the winter, it’s held inside the Visitor’s Center at Plimoth Plantation. This does restrict the number of vendors, but they only have a handful more vendors in the summer.

“For a vendor to be in this market, they need to a producer,” says Market Director Leiza Dagher. “This means that they are the ones who farmed the products. We also require our vendors to source from other vendors if they make something, such as one vendor who makes sauces. She uses herbs from another vendor.”

To echo their mission, the Plymouth Farmers’ Market offers a Culinary Insight Program that brings a local chef to the market each month to create food from locally sourced products grown by the market vendors.

Every market has unique vendors in the winter. Plymouth Farmers’ Market

has more finished producers and an alpaca famer who only sells with them in the winter.

“The alpaca farmer has mittens, sweaters, and yarn. Things you are more likely to want in the winter time,” Dagher says.

Adds Winter of Wayland Farmers’ Market: “One of my favorite vendors is E and T farms.” This farm is a Cape Cod aquaponics farm where they integrate hydroponic greens and aquaculture for raising fish. Generally they bring their greens to the Winter Market as well as honey.

“The Wayland Farmers’ Market is a beautiful location, you can spend a couple of hours at the market,” notes vendor Samira Hamdoun of Belmont.

“It is a very nice way to spend a winter Saturday.” Hamdoun has been cooking since she was 14 and after the urging of many colleagues, left Harvard Law School to start her own business making hummus and other dips. “I made my dream come true. Anyone can make their dreams happen.”

“People come in for the garden in the winter,” notes Winter, “but they stay for the food and community.”

There are more than 40 Winter Farmer’s Markets throughout Massachusetts, go to mass.gov/ agr/massgrown/ for a list, and visit baystateparent.com for more Winter Market links and resources.

Open Year Round • Great dinner options that are quick, healthy and all local.

• Plenty of new products that are gluten free.

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• Look for our Taste of Local’s that take place every month.

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66 JANUARY2015 67

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Wayland Farmers' Market Vendor Samira Hamdoun of Samira’s Homemade, specializes in Egyptian and Lebanese food.

Here is a recipe that she makes for her children.

Lebanese Chicken with Rice, Ground Beef and Nuts 1 whole chicken cut in four pieces 1 pound ground beef 2 cups white rice 1 big onion ¼ cup raw pine nuts ½ cup of raw almonds ¼ cup almonds, roasted 5 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 cinnamon stick 3 bay leaves 2 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon allspice ¼ teaspoon pepper 1 tablespoon salt 1. In a frying pan, lightly fry the chicken pieces on both sides in 5 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Remove and put in a saucepan.

The chicken shouldn’t be completely cooked.

2. Place a cinnamon stick, 1 tablespoon salt and 6 cups of

water in a medium-size saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat; add the chicken, a peeled onion, bay leaves and cook for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and drain, reserving the stock.

When cool enough to handle, coarsely shred the chicken.

3. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook the ground beef until evenly brown. Season with allspice, cinnamon, and pepper.

Add four cups of the chicken broth and bring to boil. Add two cups of rice, cover, and cook 20 minutes.

4. In a separate skillet over medium heat, cook and stir the pine nuts 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Sprinkle pine nuts over the rice mixture and shredded chicken to serve.

2

With so many resolutions being made, here are my two wishes for you and your family.

The beginning of a New Year beckons the start of a new day, new chapter and, for many, a new you. Out of all the possible changes you resolve to make this year, I hope you borrow from my wish list below.

I wish you will get buggy.

At every nutrition conference I’ve attended this past year, one word continually popped up: microbiodome. In other words, the population of friendly bacteria, or “bugs,” in your gut. There are theories connecting the makeup of one’s microbiodome to conditions such as celiac disease, Type 2 diabetes and obesity, in addition to its role in immunity and allergies. What does this mean for you? Start paying attention to the different probiotic and prebiotic foods you and your family eat.

Probiotics are tiny living microorganisms that promote a balance of healthful bacteria in your gut that assist in the digestion of food as well as protect against invading “bad” bacteria. Probiotic-containing foods are those that have been fermented, such as sauerkraut, halfsour and full-sour pickles, kombucha (fermented tea), kefir (milk drink similar to drinkable yogurt available in adult and kid-friendly flavors and pouches), miso and tempeh.

Prebiotics are fiber-rich starchy foods that help feed healthful gut bacteria so they stay plentiful in number. Examples are vegetables, fruits and whole grains.

Fun fact: Mom’s breast milk contains both pre- and probiotics for baby.

Additionally, make up is impacted by mode of delivery (birth canal vs. emergency caesarean vs. elected caesarean) and age of child.

If you’re considering obtaining probiotics through a supplement pill or powder, do a little research. Each strain of probiotic microorganism does its own thing — some work best

at treating diarrhea in children while others have been shown to positively impact one’s immune system. Read labels to become aware of what you are buying and speak to your health care provider first for their recommendation on how long you should take a probiotic supplement.

I wish you will be active as a family.

Another common theme in nutrition research for keeping diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes at bay? Exercise. No matter how you slice the equation of calories in (through food) and calories out (expended through activity), exercising needs to play a leading role. Whether it’s preventing disease, improving quality of life during disease treatment or increasing one’s survival rate after treatment, exercise does amazing things for the body.

Whether it’s the happy chemicals released during and after activity (called endorphins), increasing one’s heart rate and core temperature, or simply burning off additional calories, one is hard pressed to find a downfall for becoming more active as a family.

Finding it hard to incorporate activity into your day? Keep the following in mind: • It is much easier cutting out 300 calories from the food you are eating (That’s one gingerbread flavored latte!) than it is adding approximately an additional 3 miles of running to your workout. Imagine what happens when you do both! Answer: Weight maintenance is a whole lot easier.

• You will never regret working out.

Not working out? That’s another story.

Carrie Taylor is the lead registered dietitian nutritionist for the Living Well Eating Smart program at Big Y Foods.

Have a nutrition question? E-mail livingwell@bigy.com or write Living Well at 2145 Roosevelt Ave, PO Box 7840, Springfield, MA 01102.

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Bites Bake Away the Winter Blues

W

hen the weather outside turns frightful, baking homemade treats will be so delightful.

Whether it’s with friends, the kids or even by yourself, making treats is a great way to keep warm and active when snowed in.

Try these tips for fun indoor activities during wintry weather: Plan ahead. Stock up your pantry ahead of time with baking and decorating supplies, so you’ll have what you need during snow days.

No two snowflakes are alike.

It’s easy to make a deliciously unique treat. Bake a large brownie or a cake in a Snowflake Tube Pan (see recipe below). Decorate it with icing and marshmallows, sprinkles, candy-coated chocolates or chocolate chips.

Build tasty snowmen. Instead of getting bundled up to build a snowman outside, make fun snowmen cookies. (see recipe below). After decorating, enjoy the cookies with a cup of cocoa.

For more fun and tasty winter recipes, baking tips and inspiration, visit wilton.com.

Spicy Snowman Cookies Yield: 18 sets of cookies

S’mores Snowflake Brownies Servings: 12 Snowflake Tube Pan 1 box (18 ounces) brownie mix Water, oil and eggs to prepare mix 4 Graham crackers, broken into bite-size pieces 1/3 cup milk chocolate chips 2 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows Preheat oven to 325°F. Prepare tube pan with vegetable pan spray.

In large bowl, stir together brownie mix, water, oil and eggs until well combined. Fold in broken graham crackers. Pour into prepared pan and smooth so batter is evenly distributed.

Bake 24-26 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of brownie comes out nearly clean. Cool in pan on cooling grid 10 minutes.

Remove from pan and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Let sit 5 minutes; spread over top. Cover with marshmallows. Let chocolate harden before serving.

68 JANUARY2015 69

3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/4 teaspoon chili powder 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon Imitation Clear Vanilla Extract Melted Snowman Cookie Cutters Cookie Icing: White, Black, Orange Brown and Red Preheat oven to 350ºF. In large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cayenne pepper and chili powder.

In separate large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until combined. Add flour mixture; beat until just combined. Divide dough into 2 balls.

On floured surface, roll each ball into a circle approximately 12 inches diameter by 1/8 inch thick. Dip cookie cutters in flour before each use. Transfer cookies to ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake puddle cookies for 12-14 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Bake hat cookies on separate cookie sheet for 8-9 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.

Cool cookies on sheet on cooling grid 5 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on grid.

Decorate cooled cookies. On puddle cookies, use white cookie icing to outline and fill in. Pipe black icing facial features and buttons, orange icing pull-out dot nose and brown icing arms.

On hat cookies, use black cookie icing to outline and fill in. Add red cookie icing hatband. Attach hat to main cookie with dot of icing.

Note: Color Flow Mix and Royal Icing can also be used.

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INDEX Abby Kelley Foster Charter School......40 Applewild........................................57 Ballet Arts Worcester Inc ..................13 Bancroft School...............................75 Bay State Skating School..................26 Big Y................................................4 Blossom Station..............................58 Casa Vallarta...................................27 Central MA Dance Academy...............57 Children’s Development Network, Inc....6 City of Worcester..............................61 Cornerstone Academy.........................3 Country Montessori...........................57 Crocodile River Music........................37 East Point Services ..........................33 Fay School .....................................47 Fidelity Investments ........................60 Fletcher Tilton PC ............................14 FMC Ice Sports ...............................53 Geico.............................................64 Growing Room of Berlin (The)...........36 Hanover Theatre (The)...................2,32 Harrington Oil .................................62

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take eight

with Lauren Baker

Lauren Baker assumes a new role this month: In addition to wife and mother of Charlie, 22, AJ, 19, and Caroline, 16, she is the new First Lady of Massachusetts. She took time out before the inauguration to answer our questions on parenthood and politics.

1

A political campaign is demanding. How were you able to ensure family time together among the myriad demands?

We made a point in both campaigns [2010 & 2014] to say family comes first, and to book family time, the kids’ games and performances, right into the schedule so that everyone knew the candidate would not be campaigning at that time. We found that you just have to do a little extra planning but it’s necessary.

In your experience, what is the toughest aspect of parenting?

For me, the toughest part is the unknown. Parenting is like walking through a dense fog and hoping that the step you just took wasn’t off a cliff! You want the best for your kids and you hope that the decisions you are making on a daily basis will lead to their growing up to be strong, healthy, thoughtful people. My default always has been showing them that I love them unconditionally and that I’m always going to make the choice I think will be in their best interest in the long run.

3

2

Are there issues or causes you would like to champion as First Lady? Honestly, I recognize the opportunity given to me as “First Lady” to do good work, and I hope to be able to make the most of this opportunity for the people of Massachusetts.

I am trying to absorb as much information as I can right now about my new role and I won’t make any decisions about what I am going to do for a while.

As a mother, what do you feel are the top priorities for Massachusetts public schools? I think Massachusetts has the potential to offer the best public education in the nation.

I think our priority should be to make every school in our Commonwealth a really good school. We have so many experts, so many innovators, so many amazing educators in this state, we need to figure out a way to learn from them and to apply their best practices in every school.

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We know Charlie Baker the Candidate. What would people be surprised to know about Charlie Baker the Dad? When our kids were little, Charlie used to have to leave work early to pick [the kids] up at daycare every evening when it closed, and we’d go home, have dinner and do the bedtime routine of bath and books. He loved being a part of that and made bath time super fun — complete with dancing and air guitar — and would usually fall asleep, often before the child, while reading books. But then, after every child was asleep, he’d get back to work finishing up whatever he’d put aside to spend that time with the kids and me.

What is your message to your fellow Bay State parents?

I don’t feel like I am an expert who should be giving a message to parents in the first place, but I guess I’d say that Charlie and I recognize that parenting is hard, and balancing that with the demands of work is even harder. If we keep the focus on setting high standards for our children and helping them to achieve, leading by example, and making every decision with love and careful thought, we will all be better for it.

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What are you looking forward to in the next four years? I am excited to continue the adventure that began with this campaign. I look forward to meeting and getting to know people I otherwise wouldn’t get to meet and to being part of making a positive difference for people in our state. I’m not sure exactly how it will play out yet, but I love being of service and I’m sure I will have lots of opportunity to give back!

Do you and Charlie ever get time to go out by yourselves, just for fun? Yes, we do, but not as much as I would like! We really do have to schedule time for ourselves because otherwise every hour of every day could get filled. Recently, when we have unscheduled time, we’ve enjoyed just hanging out at home!

Head to baystateparent.com for an unabridged version of this interview.

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