Parents and Children Working Together
March 9, 2010
When parents help their children learn to read, they help open the door to a new world. As a parent, you can begin an endless learning chain: You read to your children, they develop a love of stories and poems, they want to read on their own, they practice reading, and finally they read for their own information or pleasure. They become readers, and their world is forever expanded and enriched.
This newsletter focuses primarily on what you can do to help children up to 10 years of age. During these years you can lay the foundation for you child to become a lifelong reader.
There is no need to worry about the amount of time you need to devote, it is the quality of time that counts. Just be consistent-give as much time as you can each day to help your child. The activities suggested are designed to fit into busy schedules.
Helping your child become a reader is an adventure you will not want to miss. The benefits to your child are immeasurable, and in the process you will find your world becoming richer as well.
Why?
Dads - What Family Legacy Are You Passing On to Your Children?
March 7, 2010
Do you want to create a deeper, more loving relationship with your child?
To begin, you can learn from your own father:
Whether you consider him to have been a good father or not, you can use your experience to become a better parent to YOUR children.
Patterns of behavior are often passed on unconsciously from one generation to the next. By becoming aware of those patterns in your family, you can make a conscious decision about which ones to pass on to YOUR children.
Ask yourself: what did your father do that strengthened your feeling of connection with him and made you feel loved and safe and appreciated?
Take a few minutes and think about those things. (Even if there weren’t many, at least acknowledge what he did right.)
Write them down, and add to the list as you think of more.
Now here is the value of this exercise:
By doing those things yourself, you will strengthen the connection with your own child.
Did your dad have a way of greeting you that made you feel special?
Did he spend time with you? What did you do together?
Parents Demand Dumbed-down Tests:An Unintended Bad Consequence of the No Child Left Behind Act
March 6, 2010
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is making the problem of cheating, low academic standards, and public schools lying to parents, even worse. Under this Act, the Department of Education now requires students to pass standardized tests. Failing schools will lose federal funding and other perks if their students consistently turn in a bad performance on these tests.
Holding schools and teachers accountable, and expecting students to demonstrate what they’ve learned, sounds like a good idea. But this Act means that badly-taught students, victims of dumbed-down texts and bad teaching methods like new math and whole-language instruction, now have to pass difficult standardized tests they are not ready for.
As a result, millions of students may fail these tests, not because they are dumb, but because the schools never taught them to read properly or solve a math problem without a calculator. Millions of high school students with low reading and math skills now risk not graduating from high school until they pass these tests.
Invented Spelling — Another Alice-in-Wonderland Public-School Theory
March 5, 2010
As part of the whole-language (or “balanced”) reading-instruction philosophy, many public schools now teach what they call "invented" or "creative" spelling. Under this theory of spelling, teachers believe that forcing a child to spell a word correctly thwarts the child’s “creativity.” So in classrooms across America, many public-school teachers now encourage children to spell words any way they like.
Also, many school officials now believe it is not important to teach correct spelling because, so the theory goes, a child will "eventually" learn to spell correctly. Unfortunately, millions of children who start out as poor spellers, stay that way. How, in our Alice-in-Wonderland public-school classrooms, will a child learn to spell correctly if public schools think that correct spelling is meaningless?
Charles J. Sykes, author of “Dumbing Down Our Kids,” provides the following real-life examples of invented spelling in our public schools:
"Joan W. and Beverly J. [last names omitted for privacy] are not experts. They just didn’t understand why their children weren’t learning to write, spell, or read very well. They didn’t understand why their children kept coming home with sloppy papers filled with spelling mistakes and bad grammar and why teachers never corrected them or demanded better work. Mrs. W. couldn’t fathom why her child’s teacher would write a "Wow!" and award a check-plus (for above average work) to a paper that read:
Parenting: The Road I Chose
March 3, 2010
Tripping over the shoes and toys that seem to clutter my living room floor on a constant basis, just seems to be part of the game of parenting. I realize it doesn’t have to be that way. I could spend my time picking up after the little hon-yocks, and screaming at them to do their chores, but it’s more fun my way. (I never know where I’m going to land.)
A night of walking over hot wheels and leggos has special meaning for me, and I doubt I will ever forget the night of the little tykes tractor story, but life does have a purpose - and for me that purpose is in the form of children. It’s the loving, the kisses, the hugging, the owies, and all the problems and hassles of parenthood, as well as the joys of being a mother. Nothing else compares.
I can’t imagine life without my *treasures* or living without the fun of parenting teenagers, toddlers, and tweens, and yet somehow I can imagine that life without them, for someone who never had children is pretty much the same as mine - FULL and SATISFYING. My friends who don’t have children seem to find ways to utilize the spirit of nurturing that God gave them, and it seems to give them pleasure in the same way.
Are Your Kids Driving You Crazy? How Character Building Charts Keep You Sane
March 2, 2010
Who lives in your house? Are they driving you "crazy?" Do you have a Winnie the Whiner, a Sammy the Slacker, or a Bubba the Bully? Perhaps you’ve yelled, you’ve lectured, and you’ve even spanked to get your Winnie to stop whining, your Sammy to do his chores, and your Bubba to stop hurting his little brother. How can you get your Peter the Cheater to play fair, your Larry the Liar to tell the truth or your Tilly the Tattle to mind her own business? Our greatest task as parents is to raise children with strong healthy characters. Let’s find out how Character-Building Charts helped one mother and how they can help you too.
I remember counseling a young boy who was a ‘Sammy the Slacker.’ One day his teacher confided, "When I tell my class, ‘Children, please take out your readers,’ Sammy leans back in his chair, his arms hanging over its back, and calls out, ‘I can’t find my book!’ Sure enough, a little girl scrambles over, looks his messy desk, and finds it for him."
10 Signs That Your Teen Is Using Drugs
March 1, 2010
Did you know that over 75% of teens aged 16-17 report that obtaining marijuana is "easy or fairly easy?" Or that 25% of youths between 12 and 17 say the same of crack?
When children start using drugs they usually exhibit many different signs that parents need to watch out for. Unfortunately, many parents often write-off these signs as normal adolescent behavior and as a result they don’t realize that their child is into drugs until it is too late. How can you as a parent know for sure whether or not your child is in danger of falling into drugs? Know that every child is in danger of this. Parents who fail to recognize this will stay in this state of denial till their son or daughter is arrested or overdoses — and by then it is too late. So what should you as parents be looking for as signs that your child is experimenting with drugs or alcohol?
* Dramatic changes in attitude or personality. * New friends who may exert peer pressure on your child. * Problems at school, such as falling grades or increased tardiness. * Increased withdrawal, depression, or secretiveness. * Changes in sleep patterns. * Increased or decreased appetite. * Dilated, red, or glossy eyes. * Escalating verbal or physical abuse. * Dramatic mood swings. * Need for additional money.
A Good Preschool Idea
February 27, 2010
The successful preschool idea behind many successful preschool learning centers is thorough all round planning and well-chosen staff members. Any preschool idea that does not begin with sound financial planning and in-depth budgeting knowledge will probably fail.
Profits from running a preschool learning center are usually only seen after a year or more of your preschool idea becoming operational. Difficult times might arise and you need enough money to carry your preschool learning business through with minimal stress. Once you have researched state licensing and taxation and have put your preschool idea into motion, there are many other considerations which are equally important parts of the whole preschool idea.
To begin with, the staff members are a strong force behind any preschool idea and they must be chosen with great care. Many of the staff will be in daily contact with the children at your preschool learning center and they should certainly share your preschool idea and vision where possible.
From the inception of your preschool idea, you should make job descriptions and employee benefits clear while telling staff exactly what their jobs will entail at your preschool learning center. Encourage honest discussion about your preschool idea with all staff members. They will carry out your preschool idea and this will ensure good communication at your preschool learning center.
Valuable Parenting Tip
February 25, 2010
Very often, new parents rely on a parenting tip or two which is passed to them by their own folks, who are now grandparents and usually have plenty of reliable advice to share. If this sort of parenting tip and advice is not available however, new parents could run into all sorts of problems while trying to raise a healthy baby.
Attending a few lessons at a parenting class where valuable knowledge and all kinds of parenting tips are passed along and shared could rectify this lack of basic skills. New parents who don’t have a readily available source of the parenting tip or guidance could also research books on the subject of parenting, which are full of knowledge and feature many a tried-and-tested parenting tip. The resulting knowledge, discussion and available parenting tips will help new parents to understand and better cope with the demands of child rearing.
The arrival of a newborn baby can be a truly joyous occasion for all concerned and attending a parenting class for new parents could enhance this happiness. However, if the parents have no prior knowledge of child rearing or a parenting tip, this joy could turn to anger and frustration as the weeks pass by.
Homeschooling — A Superior Education For Your Child
February 24, 2010
Home-schooling provides children with a superior education. Parents can quickly teach most kids the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic using excellent, creative, learn-to-read, or learn-math books, programs, or computer learning software. Once children become proficient readers, they can then study subjects they love in greater depth. If a child needs help on a special subject, parents can occasionally call in a tutor.
Many studies confirm that home-schooled kids learn more, learn better, and learn faster than public-school children. Christopher J. Klicka, author of “The Right Choice: Homeschooling,” cites a nationwide study of more than 2,163 home-schooling families conducted in 1990 by the National Home Education Research Institute:
"The study found the average scores of the home school students were at or above the 80th percentile in all categories. This means that the homeschoolers scored, on the average, higher than 80 percent of the students in the nation. The home schooler’s national percentile mean was 84 for reading, 80 for language, 81 for math, 84 for science, and 83 for social studies.”
