Monday, January 31, 2011

Why College

    My next articles will discuss several pointers about college – why college, getting ready and planning ahead.  According to the Center for Public Education, individuals who earn a college degree receive 72% more in wages than those with only a high school degree. 
     A college degree means greater opportunity and choices.  The knowledge and tools one gains can be used the rest of the individual’s life.  Colleges enhance knowledge.  Like working out, or playing a sport, college increases the capabilities of the most important function in the body – the brain.  A college education will increase a person’s ability to understand society, think abstractly and critically, but most importantly, express thoughts and ideas clearly in speech, writing, and trouble shooting to make better decisions.   These skills make a person better both on and off the job.
     A college degree also opens the door for more career choices.  In our rapidly changing world, jobs that exist today may not exist tomorrow.  Many jobs that are unheard of today, may be our in our children’s future.  With transferable skills developed in college, our children will be better prepared for these new positions.
     A college degree increases the likelihood of a higher income, a better standard of living and a more satisfying job.  Males between 24 and 34 years old can earn 54% more with a college degree.  Females in this age group can earn 88% more.  In today’s economy this is BIG!!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Good Habits Start Early

     Good habits start early.  Children need to be in the habit early to do homework and to do homework well.  This means, as a parent, a time each day needs to be set aside to do assigned work, review what has been learned, and even more importantly, share time to make school learning fun.
     When required work is done, as a parent, you can do one of three activities to build the skills:
1.  Pick a book that you and your child have agreed on and share the reading.  Model reading with appropriate tones, but more importantly, listen and be interested as your child reads.  Twenty minutes to thirty minutes every other night works well to build strong reading skills.  Be sure to discuss what the major themes are in the story and encourage your child to explore and discuss what the book means to him/her.
2.  Do math games.  This can be done through cards, money games, board games... or just plain verbal drills.
3.  Write!  Encourage your child to write to a friend, to a relative or to a pen pal.  Connect with another parent to have the children write to eachother.  Or you may want to involve a grandparent.  What makes this even more fun is when your child gets a letter back.
     The biggest key in this is to have fun.  If it feels like a chore to you, it will feel like a chore to your child.  If in the process, you notice gaps in your child's work, then call us, Learning Tree Tutors, and we can assist in filling the educational gaps.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

High School Academies

     Many high schools now encourage students to focus on an academy or a career path as they pick their classes.  This has become a very valuable way for students to become more focused on their education.  Students learn through courses that parallel the requirements of a career, as to whether this is a field they want to investigate.  For many students, it is what keeps them involved and successful in school.  Students develop goals and can focus on college majors that will further enhance their career and life expectations.

What do Colleges Care About

     I am often asked, "Is it better Freshman year of High School for my child to be advanced in math and science, or do colleges prefer staying on track and getting a strong GPA?"  This is an excellent question.  Of course colleges want students to excell to the more advanced classes.   However, if a student is only achieving a low B, C or even a D as a Freshman in Geometry and Biology, what was the point of this move?  This now means that your son/daughter has gaps in the curriculum.  Especially for math, where foundation skills are so critical, the student will have a harder time achieving the "A" grades later on in math.   My advise: Make sure the Algebra 1 foundation is solid.  Taking Algebra 1 as a Freshman and earning the "A" solidifies their knowledge for further success.  And yes, the colleges would rather see the "A" in Algebra than the "C" in Geometry.
     For more information on college success, see my website:  Learning Tree Tutors.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Battling your Child

When it comes to things your child may not want to do, a war seems to begin. This could be around homework, chores, errands,... Instead of going to war, give a direction and state when you expect it done. Be clear that points can be earned toward the list you and s/he created for rewards. Be specific on the consequences should it not be done without raising one's voice. The key is to not talk to your child in any different tone than one that shows respect. We all have three people in us: The adult, the parent and the child. We need to be careful to win the child over by not using the wrong voice. (I will discuss this at a later time).
When you are done with the direction, walk away. Be sure to return at the time stated to see your child's progress. Even if it is not totally done or done perfectly, find the good in the project first. "Wow - you have improved on your sentence structure." Then if s/he has mistakes, or it in not totally done, work as a team. Hopefully, with mild coaching you should see improvement both now, and the next time you feel like "taking your child to battle".

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Set Up a Schedule

     Sometimes the real issue with homework is that the student feels overwhelmed.  The student looks at all the work, instead of working out a way to break it down into easy parts.  Start to train your child on how to pace the homework - how to break it down into managable portions.  This may mean getting rid of the easy work first so it gets done, and then tackling the harder or more time consuming work after.  In doing this, the easy quick work does not suffer if your child bogs down on the harder work.
     Encourage your son/daughter to take small breaks (15 minutes) between assignments.  This might mean having a snack, relaxing or taking a short walk.  This is called "bringing down the effective filter".  Your child can now come back fresh, ready to tackle the next assignment.  If an assignment takes longer than an hour, a short break might be a good idea after the first hour.  The goal is to keep the student fresh and ready to learn.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Not Enough to do "Just" Homework

     One of the biggest differences between middle school and high school compared to the elementary level is the development of higher learning skills.  At the elementary level, students give information back, put together ideas and do some trouble shooting.   As students reach the higher levels of education, they are expected to trouble shoot more, make inferences and put together a much more intricate process of thinking skills in there answers to homework and tests.  Students are expected to expand on their readings to form a much more indepth answer.

     As a parent, it is critical to not only check your child's work, but have your child expand on the work.  Ask your child to "teach" you what he/she is learning.  By verbally explaining the material the student has a much higher retention rate of the information.   Statistically, a student who listens to someone teach, retains 10% of the information.  If the student can teach someone else, retention of the material rises to 90%.

     If you do not feel equiped to do this, a good tutoring program can set you and your child in the right direction.  Learning Tree Tutors, with its credentialed teachers, specializes in this form of education.  This is why LTT has had such a high success rate in the last 26 years in business.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Parents who can't control their student's educaton

Often parents feel frustrated when their child hits middle school or high school.  The schools are bigger - more teachers, more students - and the parent just can't keep up.  What can you do?   A parent is still ultimately in charge.  There are many ways to take charge and make it a win - win situation.

Here are some quick pointers.
1.  Buy your child a good daily planner.  The planner should be about half the size of a notebook.  The student needs to write in it assignments, due dates and any other needed things to complete the assignment. 
2.  If you cannot trust your student's accuracy of writing assignments, have the teacher in each class initial the assignment as the child leaves class.
    This verifies accuracy of the assignment. Hopefully, the teacher will remind the student if it has anything missing.
3.  Reward the student with points for every signature.  The points can earn whatever is important to you and your child - ie - cell phone time, drivers permit - the list goes on.

The goal is to have a positive relationship with your child.  You do not want to turn this into punishments.  I would highly recommend that together you and your child work on a point system and what the points can earn him/her. 
More tomorrow.  Please feel free to post your comments or questions.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Changes


To be successful at various levels, the parents and students need to first understand what will be different at school.  When a student moves into either middle school or high school, the following changes will happen:

  • At the middle school level students will have anywhere between 3 and 7 teachers depending on the classes the student is taking and how the school is structured.

  • At the high school level, the demands are even greater with anywhere between 6 and 8 teachers, depending if the school is traditional or blocked (periods are longer and meet every other day with as many as 4 different classes a day and 8 different classes over two days).

  • The expectation and the depth of understanding will intensify.  Students will no longer be successful if all the student does is their homework and chooses to memorize vocabulary, major concepts or themes before a test.  This is known as “cramming” and may get the student to a passing grade for this one test, but will not seed success over time in the class.  

  • Students will be expected to develop higher level thinking skills.  The skills include:

           Analyzing
           Researching
           Drawing thoughtful conclusions after viewing several opinions or concepts
           Trouble shooting

     The above skills, if not developed, often turn a solid B student into a D student if the student lacks techniques to develop these skills.  These skills are expected in all the core classes – Math, Science, English (Language Arts), and History along with some electives.  Without the above skills for success, students are not prepared for the higher levels of education, and do not succeed in a truly academic program.


   Be sure and check out my next blog post.  In this post, I will discuss the role of the parent as a partner in their child’s success.  The goal of this post will be to advise parents on how to be a part of their child’s education.  This includes the ability to know what the student’s grades are on a regular basis and how to help the student take charge of their grade and their future.  Very important information for all parents.