Needham Farm Gardening Classes for Young Families

New Family Gardening Classes
at the Needham Community Farm!

The Needham Community Farm (NCF) just celebrated its 10th anniversary, but many Needham residents don’t know about this great non-profit.  The NCF has three intertwined missions: to educate about sustainable growing and nutrition; to provide food to those in our community who experience food insecurity; and to build community through volunteerism.  Visitors to the Newman School may have noticed the NCF’s pilot garden site next to the Needham History Center, but the primary garden site is off the beaten path at the former Nike Site, adjacent to Ridge Hill Reservation, and next to the Needham Dog Park.  

For most of the 10 years, the produce grown at the farm has been donated to the Food Pantry at the Needham Community Council.  A few years ago, distribution hours were added at the Needham Housing Authority sites.  Last summer the farm began to offer subscriptions for weekly farm share distributions (CSA) during the growing season.

The NCF has always held gardening classes.  Typically, a student signs up for a full bed or half bed, and it’s theirs to farm for the season.  The instructor provides lessons in layout, planting, pest control, and other sustainable gardening practices.  This year, in conjunction with Parent Talk, NCF is offering new Family Classes with a different model, suitable for small children.  The class members will all share several beds.  At each class the activities will depend on where we are in the growing season, whether it’s planting peas, weeding, pulling carrots, or picking tomatoes. 

Families can sign up for classes to be held on Wednesday afternoons or Saturday mornings.  Each class is one hour long.  Three sessions are offered:  Spring (9 weeks), Summer (9 weeks), and Fall (8 weeks).  For more details, costs, and registration, please go to the NCF website at www.needhamfarm.org/family-garden-class.

Author: Jane Evans, Needham Community Farm Board Member

How to Ensure Holiday Cheer for Your Whole Family with a Sound Morning Routine

Image courtesy of Pixabay

How to Ensure Holiday Cheer for Your Whole Family with a Sound Morning Routine

When the holidays roll around, families and stress seem to go hand-in-hand. However, by establishing a concrete routine for the mornings, you can set your whole gang up for success. Here’s essential advice for ensuring the holiday season is smooth sailing for you and yours.

Holidays and Stress

Everyone loves the idyllic version of the holiday season we all see in classic films. However, dreaming of a sentimental and relaxing celebration and living it out aren’t typically one and the same. In fact, some studies indicate 45 percent of Americans would actually prefer to skip right past the biggest holidays of the year, avoiding the drama and angst the season brings with it. Thankfully, you can help your whole family through the holidays with a few simple strategies. 

Let Go of Perfection

One of the biggest obstacles to enjoying the holiday season is perfectionism. You might not even realize you’re hanging onto unrealistic expectations, but you might be putting pressure on yourself to find the “perfect” gifts, bake the “perfect” holiday desserts, decorate a “perfect” tree, have the house looking “perfect” for your guests — well, you get the picture. Instead, focus on making memories. Enjoy your children, sing some carols, let the kids put together the tree, and play silly holiday games. If guests are coming and you can squeeze it into your budget, hire a cleaning service to cut time and energy spent on chores, which will be better spent doing other things. What’s more, it also improves your family’s efficiency in the morning. Just keep in mind that the national average to hire a professional cleaning service ranges from $116 to $235.          

Steady on Through Special Times

Time away from school, work, and other commitments can often mean your family members end up with schedules that are all over the place. Sleeping late, eating at odd times, and rushing to your obligations can lead to feeling harried and off-kilter. According to experts at Utah State University Extension, simply establishing a solid routine and sticking with it can help every member of your family feel better, from the youngest to oldest — including yourself. Setting expectations can help everyone feel prepared and provides a sense of control, which reduces stress and anxiety and eases any sense of confusion.

While the holidays can be more relaxed than other times of the year, prioritizing normal sleeping and eating habits can help body rhythms remain the same, lowering strain physically and mentally.  Real Simple recommends hanging onto some other basic practices as well, such as brushing and flossing teeth. It’s a great way to reinforce what’s important for your kids’ health.

Hone in on Unhealthy Choices

Holiday celebrations often include indulgences. While you want everyone in your family to enjoy the season, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Keep in mind that your family members need good sleep in order to stick to the morning regimen, and it’s important for adults in the family to stay on track as well as the kids. Similarly, when it comes to special snacks and drinks, pay attention to how much you and your children consume, especially later in the day.  Sugary foods and beverages, caffeine, and alcohol can all wreak havoc with sleep habits. If you’re looking for festive nibbles that won’t interfere with sleep, Reader’s Digest recommends foods such as walnuts, cheese and crackers, pretzels, hummus, and cereal. 

When the holidays are coming close, it’s more important than ever to reinforce good habits in your family members. Clarify priorities and stick to a strong morning regimen. With a healthy plan in place, you and your loved ones can enjoy the holiday season with good cheer.

About the Author:

Daniel is a single dad raising two children. At DadSolo.com, he aims to provide other single dads with information and resources to help them better equip themselves on the journey that is parenthood.

Take A Creative Approach to Dealing With Learning Disabilities

    Take A Creative Approach To Dealing With Learning Disabilities

Image Courtesy Pexels

Children who struggle academically due to a learning disability are, by definition, in possession of average or above average intelligence. Their disability doesn’t mean that they cannot learn, only that traditional teaching methods have not reached them. Gardener’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences describes differential ways of learning. There are people who take in information auditorily, visually, or by performing physically. There are people who learn best from books, or from interacting with others. By exploiting these multiple avenues of access, educational goals become more attainable. We have to tailor the approach, to the individual strengths and weaknesses of the particular child. Children with learning disabilities often struggle in the classroom. This can damage their self-esteem and lower their expectations for academic success. But kids with disabilities such as autism, dyslexia, and attention difficulties are frequently inventive, creative, and very intelligent. They can flourish, if their instructors are willing to think outside the box.

Using The Arts In Education:

Music therapy, in the form of music instruction, dance, or learning to play an instrument, can improve academic performance in students with learning difficulties. Studies demonstrate Improvements in communication skills and behavioral outcomes, along with an elevated mood and sense of self worth, among participants receiving music education. The art of dance teaches mathematical skill, integrating emotional and cognitive development. It can help them to express emotional states, and address concentration, aggression, and conflict behaviors. Performing in plays can help remediate social language skills and helps autistic students develop theory of mind and increased empathy. Creating visual works of art, in the mediums of paint and clay sculpting, can improve dexterity and reinforces math and spatial skills. Art therapy can allow nonverbal children, or children with communication difficulties, to find new methods of self expression and actualization.

The Practical Arts:

Making handicrafts allows children to experiment with texture, color, and arrangement, and reinforces spatial understanding. Creating something beautiful brings with it a sense of real accomplishment that restores self-esteem and a sense of autonomy and independence. Visual and kinesthetic learners, who struggle with academic concepts in traditional educational approaches may benefit from a more hands-on, directed method such as making something with their own hands. Sewing, knitting, and crochet are practical life skills that allow personal creative expression that will benefit the student for the rest of their life. Sewing, and the other activities, can be frustrating if you don’t have a good starting point of resources. Fortunately there is help online, such as this list from HomeAdvisor. In the same vein, classes in cooking and preparing  food teach self-reliance and creative expression, while improving manual dexterity and skill level. By focusing on a child’s particular interests, and targeting the ways in which they learn and retain information, we can meet their educational needs while encouraging their creativity.

Utilizing the arts for therapeutic and educational interventions benefits students with learning disabilities by allowing differential access to learning, according to each child’s individual talents. The acquisition of skills and expression of creative impulse enhances self confidence and self-worth, and can even yield practical applications that help guide the student towards greater personal autonomy and sense of self. Academically speaking, such strategies improve hand-eye coordination, dexterity, physical spatial sense, mathematical  and communication abilities. But arts education in the US is in a time of crisis, with budget cuts targeting music, art, and drama across the country. Home economics and shop left in the eighties, depriving our students of many hands-on learning experiences and the opportunity to enjoy the act of creating something meaningful with their own hands. We owe our children the opportunity to learn by self-expression. We need arts instruction, so that all our students may benefit from its advantages. For children who have trouble learning in a classroom setting, such instruction is more than helpful, it is absolutely necessary.

Thanks to guest blogger Lillian Brooks

lillian@learningdisabilities.info
LearningDisabilities.info was created to offer information and understanding to parents of children with learning disabilities, as well as adults who are in need of continued support to succeed