Are the early childhood education programs cropping up everywhere a smart jump-start or glorified daycare?

I love the challenge of finding holiday gifts for my kids that not only are fun but encourage learning, too. (Even better if the kids can't tell that the gifts are educational!) So if you need some shopping ideas, here are the year's most-wished-for kid learning toys and how they're educational.

Have you seen the deluge of "Indian" crafts on Pinterest and blogs for Thanksgiving?

I wonder where we've gone wrong in our country that in the year 2012 we are still calling Americans Indians Indians (meaning people from India) and making stereotypical crafts to represent a culture we tried to destroy. 

Do we blame our education system? 

Or can we skip the blame, pull ourselves out of the 1800s, and be better than this?

I'm so excited that resources like Bookshare exist in the world! Research (and common sense?) shows that enhanced reading materials like those on Bookshare improve learning outcomes. 

Bookshare is a free digital online library for children with qualifying print disabilities. It provides over 140,000 accessible books, textbooks, novels, children’s literature, best sellers, dictionaries, encyclopedias and periodicals for individuals. For free.