🍎 3 quick bites

Happy Friday!

Today we’ve curated three quick reads to get you in the back-to-school mood.

Before we dive in – a quick favor to ask:

Can you reply to this email and share what kinds of blogs, influencers, or Facebook pages you follow related to education or parenting? If so, two things will happen:

1. I'll reply with something you might find interesting (and yes, I always reply).

2. I'll be able to keep the newsletter relevant for all of you

– Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)

The Surprising Key to Learning Retention: More Breaks

New research suggests that schools drastically underestimate the importance of “brain breaks” for learning. A 2021 study found that during short breaks, your brain replays practice sessions at 20x speed. The mind isn’t resting - it’s working overtime to "bind" new skills to existing memories and consolidate lessons. The study also looked at test scores, which usually drop as the school day progresses. But when students took breaks, scores went up throughout the day.

How often should you take a break (according to reseachers)?

• Elementary students: Every 10-15 minutes

• Middle/High school: Every 20-30 minutes

(Maybe homeschoolers who follow a more flexible schedule were onto something all along.)

Parenting Wisdom: Nurturing Resilience and Independence

Let Grow! passes along a distillation of Dr. John Gray’s parenting advice in Children Are From Heaven.

The core message: challenges shape our kids.

Here are our favorites:

• Children can’t learn to be creative if everything is done for them.

• Children can’t feel healthy pride or self-esteem unless they overcome obstacles to achieve something.

• Children can’t develop persistence and strength if everything is easy.

Read the full list at Let Grow!

“Oh- there’s a better way to do this!”

Cassie Shepherd (@homecenteredlearning), the mom behind the popular Home-Centered Learning blog, had never considered homeschooling.

“No way,” she said.

That is, until a friend told her about OpenEd.

Cassie had been struggling to get her already-overwhelmed local school district to give her twin daughters the attention they needed, when a friend introduced her to a solution she hadn't considered before.

Fast-forward 5 years, and now hundreds of parents have circulated Cassie’s article on how OpenEd has supported her family’s home-centered learning journey.

Got a story like this? Reply to this email or comment on Facebook if you want to share your journey with a wider audience.

That’s all for today! See you next week.

– C

P.S. Some of you have been asking “Is this really a daily newsletter?”

Yep! But we don’t expect you to read every issue (program emails will come from a different address). If daily is too often, you can receive a weekly digest instead.