Good Ideas cover art

Good Ideas

How to Be Your Child's (and Your Own) Best Teacher

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Good Ideas

By: Michael Rosen
Narrated by: Michael Rosen
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £12.20

Buy Now for £12.20

We live in a world surrounded by all the stuff that education is supposed to be about: machines, bodies, languages, cities, votes, mountains, energy, movement, plays, food, liquids, collisions, protests, stones, windows. But the way we've been taught often excludes all sorts of practical ways of finding out about ideas, knowledge and culture - anything from cooking to fixing loo cisterns, from dance to model making, from collecting leaves to playing 'Who am I?'. The great thing is that you really can use everything around you to learn more.

Learning should be much more fun and former children's laureate, million-selling author, broadcaster, father of five and all-round national treasure, Michael Rosen wants to show you how. Forget lists, passing tests and ticking boxes, the world outside the classroom can't be contained within the limits of any kind of curriculum - and it's all the better for it.

Long car journeys, poems about farting, cake baking, even shouting at the TV can teach lessons that will last a lifetime. Packed with enough practical tips, stories and games to inspire a legion of anxious parents and bored children, Good Ideas shows that the best kind of education really does start at home.

(P)2014 John Murray Press©2014 Michael Rosen Career Success Childhood Education Education Motivation & Self-Improvement Parenting & Families Relationships Career
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c

Critic reviews

'Why curiosity is the key to life . . . inspiring and entertaining and thrilling. Michael Rosen, poet, broadcaster and former children's laureate, who is so genuinely passionate, so enthusiastic, so in touch with what it is like to be a child . . . has written a book about how to educate kids at home. It's playful and eclectic . . . about telling stories and collecting stones, messing about with the wires in old plugs and recounting Greek myths.
A spirit of enquiry makes learning child's play . . . Nothing ever seems to have come over as boring to Rosen as he roams cheerfully over his childhood memories . . . Science experiments in the bath, singing rounds, days out, quizzes and puzzles are all recruited as practical ways of discovering more about the ideas, knowledge and culture surrounding us but often simply taken for granted. Rosen includes so many ideas for making family life a springboard for further exploration [that] it would be hard for an adult to come away from this engaging study without at least one very good idea for what to do next when there seems nothing else to do
A truly wonderful book . . . engaging, thoughtful and very, very practical
Offers thought provoking advice to parents in how to broaden the minds of their brood
My favourite book on parenthood . . . A politics that neither takes childhood and parenting seriously nor can have a laugh in the process deserves to inspire nothing much more than apathy and antipathy. Michael Rosen is the polar opposite to such twin barbs, he cares about children, deeply and is richly amusing . . . extraordinarily good
All stars
Most relevant

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Without a doubt would I recommend this book to anyone who'll listen. It's made me think a lot more about the little interactions with my child and what I can do in every situation to make this better for her.

This really does push you to be a better parent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Brilliant, making learning fun and real. Changed my perspective on days out with kids

Packed full of good ideas

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was the book I’d hoped it would be. It had interest and wit mixed with knowledge and charm. I think my 7 & 3 year olds will benefit from my listening. It points out what you already do well and shows you how to (or not) do others.

Perfect - informs and entertains

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A great book with brilliant ideas made even better by Rosen narrating himself in his inimitable style. Really fun listen.

compelling with fantastic narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

Not at all sure who this book is aimed at, parents who want to get involved more in their kids education will already be doing all the stuff in here

What was most disappointing about Michael Rosen’s story?

He asks question after question, with only the occasional morsel of storytelling to make it a teeny bit interesting

Would you be willing to try another one of Michael Rosen’s performances?

No

Question after question after question

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.