I have a friend who took kindergarten prep very seriously. When her son began getting homework in preschool (“homework” and “preschool” being two words that should never go together) and he couldn’t properly identify on the homework that “car” started with the letter “C,” she freaked out.

As parents, we’re told that we’re our kids’ first teachers. It’s true, but to me this conjures up the idea that we must stand over their shoulders with a red pen, telling them they exactly what to learn and how. To better support their natural inquisitiveness, it can help to instead think of yourself as a librarian.

When my daughter was very young, we would read the toddler classic Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? In the story, the title character spots a red bird, a yellow duck, a blue horse, a green frog, a purple cat, a white dog, a black sheep and a goldfish.

It’s important for little kids to know a parent’s phone number in case of an emergency. But memorising 10 jumbled digits is no easy task. 732-479-6 ... 1 ... gah, lemme start all over! Help them out with a little jingle.

When kids are between two and four, they're bubbling with questions — preschool children ask their parents an average of 100 questions a day. (My daughter seems to ask this many on the drive to school — How do the cars stay in the lines? Who makes the lights change colours? Why don't they make a wall so the bicycles can't get hit? Why do motorcycles get to go in front of us? She is very much into the inner-workings of street traffic these days.)

Parenting, I am learning, is like being the belayer to a roped rock climber — you have to know when to hold on tight and when to give some slack. (No, I’m not a rock climber myself, but I once took an intro class using a Groupon.)

You want to make sure your kids are safe and not making bonehead decisions, but you can’t follow them around throughout their lives, whispering, “Eh, you sure about that move there, buddy?” For them to reach new heights, sometimes you have to let go.

While there are many competing views on what school curricula should cover, and some passionate voices discussing the efficacy of standardised tests such as NAPLAN, the meat in the education sandwich is often teachers. Many work much longer hours than we realise, dealing with challenging issues and have to keep up with changing requirements while continually developing their skills. So, what are teachers paid in this country?

Do you have a pair of vocal folds that can produce sound? Can you tell the difference between a higher note and a lower note? Good news! You and about 98.5% of the population absolutely can be taught how to sing.

You may have taken the quiz as a child: What type of learner are you? You'd answer questions such as, "When you see the word cat, are you more likely to a) picture a cat in your head, b) say the word 'cat' to yourself, or c) imagine yourself physically petting a cat?" Once you made your selections, your so-called learning style would be revealed. Congrats! You're a visual, auditory or kinesthetic learner!

A typical lesson in a Western classroom might look something like this: "What's the most common gas in Earth's atmosphere?" the teacher asks. Kids raise their hands.

Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations, Lifehacker's weekly dip into the pool of stoic wisdom, and a guide to using its waters to reflect on and improve your life.

If you dream of travelling to far flung places to teach English, then becoming qualified is the first step. Globally, CELTA is the highest regarded qualification for teaching English as a foreign language. Because it’s internationally respected, it’s a very intensive course and is a steep learning curve. I’ll admit it was exhausting at times and I became a coffee addict while training for my certificate. I loved it prior to starting the course, but it soon became more than love, it became a necessity.

A couple of years ago, Khan Academy and Pixar teamed up for Pixar in a Box, a series of courses meant to show off how Pixar gets things done. They have expanded their initial offering quite a bit since launch, and now they have added a storytelling section.

The NSW Teachers Federation (NSWTF) has requested a stop work meeting of teachers on Thursday, 8 December. The meeting is scheduled to end before school recess with classes commencing sometime after. As a result, some schools are asking parents to find "alternative arrangements" for children during the morning. Here's what you need to know.

Lots of kids have trouble remembering their times tables. Learning them by rote can mean a child can accurately recite the times tables, but has no idea what the numbers actually mean or how to apply this knowledge in a maths problem.

If you've been itching to learn photography but aren't sure where to start, former Stanford professor and Google teacher Marc Levoy has released his entire course, which includes video lectures and slides online for free.

Video: The joule can be a confusing enough form of measurement for adults, but the folks over at Adafruit managed to distil how joules work for a younger audience. As these things go, the video's just as useful for confused adults.

Blurry-eyed and exhausted, I lumbered up to a member of airport security staff. I had just gotten off a flight from Singapore, and after the longest series of flights I have ever taken I had finally arrived at my last destination, Siem Reap. He simply asked “Singapore?” to which I responded with a croaky “yes”. He sent me in a different direction to the sign that said Passport Control and after confusingly looking in both directions three times, I realised he was sending me towards the gate to catch a flight to Singapore. I panicked “No wait, I’ve just come from Singapore!”. He laughed hysterically at the mistake, and in my worn-out state so did I, grateful that the Cambodian stereotype of being incredibly friendly showed itself to be true thus far.

There are tons of different ways to teach your kids basic maths concepts, but if you're looking for something a bit more fun, the folks over at Scholastic have a guide for using LEGO bricks to teach concepts like fractions, square numbers, and more.