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7 Smart ''Unschooling'' Tips to Practice Now — Even If Your Child Is in ''Regular'' School
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7. [Day] Care: Evaluate Where Your Child Spends His Time
Parenting today can be a whirlwind of scheduled activities and drop-offs: from school to a caregiver's house to sports practice or music lessons. While socialization and enrichment through activities is important, the problem with "the drop-off" is that most children are spending too little time with parents — the people who love them and care about them most, Aldrich said.
To "minimize the drop off" and maximize the time spent with your kids, Aldrich advises walking (instead of driving) between destinations so that you and your children can observe the world together on foot, and under-scheduling rather than over-scheduling your kids so that they're learning through life itself and not just through planned activities.
"No one in the world knows your child as well or loves your child as much as you do," Aldrich said. That makes you the ideal person to enhance her learning and expand her mind.
Clark Aldrich holds a degree in cognitive science from Brown University and is the author of four books.
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