education

I’m sitting on a loveseat in the lounge of The Dry Spot indoor skatepark using their wireless connection. This is my second day coming here, and today we brought my son’s pal. They are super excited and impressed to meet the owner of The Dry Spot, Ben Chibber, who also owns Monke Skateboards. Now...

At first it seemed like a bad idea to buy darts for my son. Visions of darts stuck in the flooring, the drywall, and human flesh frightened me. But he really wanted them, and promised to be safe. He Googled “Vancouver BC dart store” and found Billiards Plus in south east Vancouver. Oh why...

Suzy Birstein is offering a ceramics class “Clay Days for Home Learners” in her garden studio in Kitsilano starting on April 12, 2010. Suzy has displayed her colourful tableware and sculptures in exhibitions throughout the world – and she also trains in weaving, knitting, drawing, painting, multi-media sculpture, print making, playing accordion, and tap...

Tonight is Twestival – here in Vancouver and in lots of other places too. “On Thursday 25 March 2010, people in hundreds of cities around the world will come together offline to rally around the important cause of Education by hosting local events to have fun and create awareness,” says the About page for...

What a privilege to have this treasure of sound right in my own living room! My good friend Michelle Pegg came over for a visit yesterday, and granted my wish for music. She brought her Mendelssohn sheet music and played while I leaned back on the couch and drank in the beauty of it....

In light of the recent panel discussion I wrote about, I’d like to explore the idea of what makes a good panel discussion. The focal point of a panel discussion ought to be the panelists – the experts invited to share their knowledge and experience on a particular topic. We need to have good,...

Thanks to Vincent and his fellow vendors, people are getting an opportunity to learn about life in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside from folks who actually live there. All too often, especially during the Olympics, we hear stories from media outsiders who visit the neighbourhood for a short tour and then report all the bad things...

It seems like an increasing number of people – like me – are taking an alternative approach to their kids’ education. My son was so unhappy in regular school that I pulled him out in Grade 3 and started in the SelfDesign program. Other families start off right away with home schooling or “unschooling”...

The staff and students of this East Vancouver school are working in portables in the field. Construction trailers line the street. Police and parents are monitoring traffic and there is a “walking school bus” program for families to drop their kids at a nearby high school. This is one of eight seismic upgrade projects...