New York Family September Editor’s Note

That photo on the right tells a story, doesn’t it? There is the ebullient Dr. Oz—the devoted heart surgeon and high-profile emissary of healthy living—and there I am, the poster child for overly tired, plump, and graying editors of family magazines. At the time of the photo, taken at his TV show’s studio at 30 Rock, I was just happy to be enjoying the good man’s articulate and lively company (which you can do too here). But now, as I look at the photo, I’m thinking, yikes, what an unfortunate contrast. And what a sign for me to give better eating and more exercise another chance.

With or without Dr. Oz, I usually get this way as September approaches. More than winter, the fall is my season for resolutions and renewal. The summer’s over, the kids are going back to school, work takes on a more serious coloration—transition is the air. In the same spirit, this issue is jam-packed with good ideas—large and small—for families re-engaging with the fall.

Let’s begin with our big blue whale of a guide to children’s classes for fall and early winter guide. Jump in! Rather than just offer general descriptions of venues, we’ve assembled overly 100 recommendations for particular classes, with suggestions for all ages and many interests. With two kids of my own, I’ve been at this game for a while, and I found lots of fresh and surprising enticements on the list. Hopefully, you will too.

I know a few apartment-dwelling families who are really good at riding herd over the clutter of living, but not many. So I happily steer everyone to our how-to story on home organization, a perfect project for early fall if there ever was one.

Then there’s the issue’s really big game-changer: New pets! We challenged ourselves to go beyond cats and dogs, and come up with five other animals who would make great city pets. But let me first offer a modest caveat: I hope you liked the movie “Ratatouille.”

The combination of pets and children is wonderful and complicated. But don’t take my word for it. See our essay by NYC mom Lorraine Duffy Merkl on her son and “hiss” pet.

A Happy September To All,

Eric Messinger

Editor, New York Family

emessinger@manhattanmedia.com

Manhattan Mandarin

Manhattan Mandarin runs the Mandarin after-school programs at over 40 schools nationwide, including St. Bernard's, Chapin, Allen-Stevenson, and Buckley. Whether in schools, students' homes, in the office, online, or on our beloved China trips, our teachers and tutors have helped hundreds of students of all ages master the Mandarin language on their own unique paths to fluency. Our philosophy has always been to make private lessons and classes perfectly tailored for each individual student. We look forward to working with you. - Jamie Keyte, Founder

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;

HudsonWay Immersion School

A pioneer in language immersion since 2005. After school language classes provide a fun and effective way for preschool and elementary children to learn Mandarin or Spanish language skills through project based learning and fun, engaging themes.