Green Thumb Families

Having fun at the Hort's annual Green Bean Bash — Having fun at the Hort’s annual Green Bean Bash

Editor’s Note: For more on flowers and gardens, check out “Flower Gazing For Fams,” our comprehensive guide to May flowers in New York City.

For several decades, the Horticultural Society of New York has helped build gardens in public and private schools, enriching the curriculum and exposing school kids to the wonderful world of gardening and growing fresh vegetables. The Hort has also introduced a new family circle membership. The membership is ideal for parents who want to take gardening to the next level for their kids and family. Membership perks include special admission to the Green Bean Bash family benefit party, a speaker luncheon (last year’s topic was how to “green” your household), special excursions (this year is a behind-the-scenes tour of the Queens County Farm), plus admission to other events and programs with families in mind.

“By starting the family membership we have continued to develop interesting programming for all ages,” says George Pisegna, the Hort’s deputy director and chief of horticulture. “We try to teach our families about gardening and sustainable living. Our projects are fun, educational—and the kids love them.”

For more information, visit thehort.org.

PaleyLand Holiday Experience

Celebrate the holidays at PaleyLand at the Paley Museum, New York's must-visit destination for a holiday adventure, just steps from Rockefeller Center! Our five-floor immersive holiday extravaganza, includes photos with Santa and holiday characters, crafts, giveaways, screenings of classic holiday favorites, hot chocolate, a magical train display, and more. Escape the cold and the crowds, and enjoy our indoor wonderland where families can play, relax, and create timeless memories together in our holiday oasis in the heart of midtown Manhattan. General Admission to PaleyLand is free for children under 12. The holiday extravaganza is open from November 20 &ndash; January 5 at the Paley Museum, 25 W 52 Street, NYC. Paley Members enjoy free access. Come to PaleyLand again and again to see all your favorite characters and screenings. After just one visit, membership pays for itself! &nbsp;

The Language Workshop For Children

After offering both group and private lessons for many years and analyzing the results over&nbsp;time, The&nbsp;Language Workshop for&nbsp;Children, founded&nbsp;in1973, has decided&nbsp;to emphasize private remote lessons at shorter intervals.&nbsp;Our skilled educators&nbsp;will&nbsp;focus their attention exclusively on the&nbsp;unique needs, learning style, and interests of your child.&nbsp;This allows a&nbsp;bond&nbsp;to develop&nbsp;between teacher and student, which&nbsp;has been&nbsp;shown to&nbsp;drastically improve retention.&nbsp; OUR METHOD&nbsp; Developed by the pioneers of language education for children, our programs bring decades of&nbsp;experience to your living room with individualized, active language classes. Each lesson is based on proven methods and materials perfected to capture your&nbsp;child&rsquo;s attention during the ages when he/she absorbs information the fastest. &nbsp;&nbsp; While other online language classes rely on videos for passive learning, we deliver interactive, and engaging lessons with native-fluent teachers. In addition, all our teachers are certified in the Thibaut&nbsp;Technique which has been featured&nbsp;in the New York&nbsp;Times, the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal, and many other well-respected&nbsp;publications.&nbsp;&nbsp; Our short one-on-one lessons give kids the chance to focus, hear pronunciation clearly, and practice speaking in their target language.  THE PROCESS&nbsp; First, students have a short meeting with our Director&nbsp;Francois&nbsp;Thibaut, in&nbsp;English, with&nbsp;their parent(s)&nbsp;present.&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut&nbsp;will determine&nbsp;the best course of study, including&nbsp;class length and&nbsp;frequency, the&nbsp;right&nbsp;teacher, lesson&nbsp;format and materials (or action games for younger students.) Then the learning&nbsp;begins!&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut will continually check in on your child&rsquo;s learning to assure they are getting the most&nbsp;of&nbsp;their&nbsp;classes.&nbsp; OTHER OFFERINGS&nbsp; We can also help your child prepare for: the French subject tests for SAT, AP &amp; CLEP, the European DELF/DALF, the Canadian TEF and other standardized testing, college entry exams, studying or traveling abroad,&nbsp;cultural changes when moving abroad,&nbsp;and much more!&nbsp; &nbsp;

Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian's Legacy

The Morgan Library &amp; Museum will present a major exhibition devoted to the life and career of its inaugural director, Belle da Costa Greene (1879&ndash;1950). Widely recognized as an authority on illuminated manuscripts and deeply respected as a cultural heritage executive, Greene was one of the most prominent librarians in American history. The exhibition will trace Greene&rsquo;s storied life, from her roots in a predominantly Black community in Washington, D.C., to her distinguished career at the helm of one of the world&rsquo;s great research libraries. Through extraordinary objects―from medieval manuscripts and rare printed books to archival records and portraits―the exhibition will demonstrate the confidence and savvy Greene brought to her roles as librarian, scholar, curator, and cultural executive, and honor her enduring legacy.