Let's Play Learning: For Language: Reading, Writing and Spelling(1 Let's Play Learning)

My manuscript, Let's Play Learning, is a book for families that have a child starting school. I wrote it with the sure knowledge that children aged 3 - 7 years have a natural love of learning. Children are happy to share their intense joy of learning and it is too often met with, "That's not the way to do it." The joy of my book is that it moves away from disciplined learning. It shows parents how to engage with the delight that children experience towards learning. I show parents how to uncover creativity, rather than suppressing it. The liberation of independence and responsibility is the outcome of this journey with children. Playfulness leads to engagement with the deep learning that children require for their development. This, in turn, leads to intense concentration that can never come from stern discipline. My first rule for the adults is, "Leave the teaching to the teacher." Little children learn and absorb every action, emotion and attitude from those who surround them. With this in mind, I have written to show parents and all the adults who participate in the child's learning, how to learn with the child without winning and losing, right or wrong. ( Make "I don't know" a safe place to be.) The child is able to experience progress and development with joy similar to that which we adults experience when we achieve a personal goal. The work or play sessions are sufficiently challenging for the little ones to keep them interested and successful. The book will also be useful for children who have missed out on the basics of reading, writing or spelling. They will warm readily to the games and activities because they will not be confronted with the failure they have previously experienced. Most of all, my book encourages a lively time together for family elders with the children. For the elders that have experienced a hard time with learning when they were children, they can now bring something fresh for themselves and the children. When we bring happiness to learning, good attitudes develop from the start. I am now a retired teacher and therapist. I want to share the best of my experiences with children, both beginners, and those who have experienced difficulties in learning. Expectations from parents can be destructive to a child's learning. Parents naturally want their children to succeed and my book shows them how to participate in ways that bring about positive and successful learning.

About the Author :
My teaching career in South Africa and England has varied over a span of 45 years. Many writers and teachers inspired me. Steven Covey, Louise Hay, Werner Erhard and Dr Maria Montessori were particularly influential in my personal growth and in presenting workshops for adults. The jewel in my career, however, was the privilege of working with children who presented gifted behaviour as well as those who experienced learning difficulties (in many cases, children with both). I encountered the work of Paul Torrance on creativity and giftedness. Feuerstein's Instrumental Enrichment program provided thinking skills. The parents could attend evening workshops where I showed them how to "leave the teaching to the teacher," and how to enjoy the learning process with their children. "Let's Play Learning" is about those workshops.

Review :
"Clear-eyed and full of sense" -- Stuart Heritage: The Guardian "This delightful book is addressed to parents to help them nurture the learning process in harmony with the demands of school while taking into account the particular characteristics of the individual child in his family." -- Caroline Gluckman: Member Tavistock Society of Psychotherapists "What a relief to rescue education from its serious edge! You are holding in your hands humorous and compassionate guidance from a master teacher who gets the best out of people, and especially children." -- Kathy Wolstenholme: Founder of the Nia Technique in South Africa. Presenter and Author of "Juice." "Helena is an author in touch with children, their imagination and sense of fun and who nurtures a spirit of discovery. Fortunately, as a grandmother, I get a second chance to play with these ideas with my grandchildren." -- Jean Ward. BA (Hons) Educational Psychology. KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.