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Parenting Information
Top 10 Ways to Motivate Your Student
As the new school year begins, parents play a pivotal role in their child?s success. Here are 10 tips for motivating your student from GoalSettingforStudents.com.1. Stress "I?ll Make It Happen" words. Encourage your child to use positive, motivating words like yes, I can, and I will. 2. Minimize "Bummer Words." Avoid using negative or limiting language in discussions with your children. Some of the most common bummer words include no, can?t, won?t, never, maybe, and if. 3. Do the Basketball Shuffle with your child. Play the Basketball Shuffle to encourage independence and responsibility. Write "It?s in your court NOW" on a basketball, and place it in the kitchen or family room to emphasize how the entire family gets the school year off to a good start. Then "pass" the ball to your child to show how he or she is now responsible. Your child can "pass" it back when they need help. The basketball becomes a fun, visual and practical way to emphasize your child?s role in his or her education.4. Thank You, Ben Franklin. Ben Franklin used the following process week after week for fifty-seven years and claimed it made him a better and happier man. Develop thirteen character traits you and your child want to work on together. Consider honesty, fairness, self-control, order, sincerity, responsibility, self-respect, and kindness to others. Each week select one character trait, and, as a family, work to improve this trait. Provide rewards to the family member who shows the most improvement. Continue the process until you complete all thirteen weeks of character traits. 5. Stress the Importance of Goal Setting. Sit down with your child and set goals for the school year. According to John Bishop, author of the workbook, Goal Setting for Students®, "Students will take more personal ownership for their education when they learn how to set and achieve goals and how to use these principles in the classroom. They will embrace your efforts to help them succeed." 6. Accountability is a Two-Way Street. Both parents and students need to be accountable for a child?s success in school. As adults, parents have to model responsible behavior for their children. Did you promise to volunteer at school, or help with the latest class project? Make sure you follow through. 7. Answer the "BIG" Question. At least three times per week have your child write down the following question, "Did I give my best effort to today?s activities?" and record their answer. If their answer is "yes," reward them. If their answer is "no," have them list two things they will do tomorrow to improve their effort. Writing this question on paper (instead of just discussing it) will imprint the words in their minds. 8. Help Them Manage Their Time. Have a family meeting to discuss the weekly schedule. At the beginning of the school year, it is easy to sign up for too many activities, events and committees. How many activities will each child participate in? When will you have dinner together as a family? When will homework be done? What chores are each family member responsible for and when will they be done? Create a family calendar in a centralized location to keep everyone aware of the day?s activities.9. Make it easy to study. Create a study area that fits your child?s personality. Do they work best at a desk in a quiet area of their room? Or is the dining room table a better place to work? Does music distract them, or help them focus? Help your child determine the best way to study. Fill a tackle box with commonly used school supplies and keep it stocked. Prevent last-minute runs to the discount store by keeping poster board, extra notebooks, paper and other supplies on hand.10. Define success?in your child?s eyes. Help your child define what success means to them. Bishop says, "Children need to know that success takes time; success takes planning and a strong desire; success takes setting and achieving goals; success involves helping others. Students need to know it?s their achievement, not ours." With a few simple steps, parents can get their children off to a good start for the new school year.
Help Your Child Do Better in School
1. Create a personal schedule Recording everything that must be done on a calendar or "to do" list will help him to keep track of important dates and deadlines. If he keeps it in a visible place he will have no problem acknowledging upcoming events and will be better able to plan how and where to spend his time. A "to do" list would also help him to prioritize his tasks. When it comes to homework, whatever is most important should be tackled first. 2. Watch the clock Setting an alarm for the morning is a must. I also recommend setting his clock or watch five minutes ahead since it?s always easy to run late. When it comes to something like catching a bus, just five minutes can make a significant difference. 3. Focus He should train himself to be able to concentrate solely on one specific task. This is much easier in a noise-free environment. No T.V or radio should be on to distract him. 4. Get enough sleep Lack of sleep is proven to take a toll on us physically. The more sleep we get, the more alert we are. We thus have more energy to handle life's daily tasks. The average adult needs at least six hours of sleep a night and the average child needs at least eight. 5. Stay in shape Through spending time outdoors or playing sports with friends, he can "blow off some steam" so to speak, as well as re-energize. Encourage him to get outside. 6. Talk through your problems Being able to share his concerns with you will alleviate the frustration of keeping things bottled up. Sharing feelings often makes them easier to deal with. If you make it clear that you understand him and are willing to help, not only will you contribute to his emotional health but you?ll help build an open and honest relationship as well.
Break Free From Power Struggles
You want your daughter to wear a dress to the party. She wants to wear jeans. You want your toddler to take his medicine. He does everything he can to keep that yucky stuff out of his mouth. The more you insist, the more they resist. You can break free from power struggles and turn turbulence into positive growth opportunities by putting a few helpful tips in place:
To Clean or Not To Clean
It is hard keeping a house clean with a toddler running underfoot. Especially one that doesn't like the Big Bad Vacuum Cleaner and starts to cry at the site of it. Well, she's getting better about it now, but still.. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to get much done. I find myself sitting down, after the baby has been put down for a nap, and thinking to myself, "I can get the bathroom cleaned, do the dishes, take a nap or read a good book now. Which should I do??" By the time I figure out which one I have the energy to do (or not to do in this case), my daughter wakes up and is ready to go for several more hours! Well, scrap that idea and up I get chasing around after a toddler and playing peek-a-boo. Sometimes, I do choose one of those things and usually it is the nap that I choose to do. So does the house get cleaned? Yah, sometimes. Is it as immaculate as it was before our gem entered our lives? Nope. And you know what? That is just fine!! I treasure each day I have with my daughter and realize that these moments are passing us by so swiftly. It has almost been a year and I can barely remember the day she was born. Everything seems to be going by in such a blur! I truly understand now the phrase "in a blink of an eye"!
Advocating for Your Child with LD
Advocate: you've probably heard the term before. But what does it mean to you?
10 Ways You Can Advocate For Your Child With A Learning Disability
Did you know that you are the most important person in your child?s life? Of course you did.
Aptitude, Achievement, Processing Deficit - What Does It All Mean?
You are sitting with the professionals who know about learning disabilities. They have been explaining what they will be looking for when they test your child.
Beginning the Special Education Process
Like anything else in life, there's a method to the special education process. It was put in place to help people who deal with learning disabilities get the best services possible. In order to help you understand this method, here's a simplified version of the Special Education process.
Understanding Why Your Child Has Been Recommended for Testing
You have just received a call from your child?s teacher explaining that she has noticed your child having difficulty in school. Your child is not understanding math or reading the way the other children do. So she would like your permission to proceed with testing to find out if he has a learning disability. When this happens, it is always a good idea to meet with the teacher in person. Being proactive is extremely important to your child?s educational future. Arrange to sit down and talk with the teacher to discover specifically why she has recommended this. You may want to include the special education teacher as well, as she may be able to further clarify just what they are seeing that is causing them to question your child?s abilities. One thing you have to understand is that just because a learning disability is questioned, that does not mean that your child isn?t smart. It just means that, for some reason, he?s either not able to access those smarts and is not ?getting? what is being taught. Or, he may be having difficulty expressing what he has actually learned. One indication that there is a problem might be that the child gets very good grades in math, but his reading is below average. He is not reading at the same level that most of the other students of his age are reading at. There is a big difference between his learning in math and his learning in reading. If he is old enough, there may be standardized test scores that also show that huge difference, and the teacher should be able to show you that information. You may have noticed other indications at home but thought they were just ?kid things?. If you ask your child to do 2 or 3 things in a row, does he forget most of them? When you ask him a question, does he have difficulty expressing the answer? Is his room always disorganized? Does he have trouble socially? These are some of the questions you might want to think about as you talk with the teacher and ask if she notices them in the classroom. It is important you realize that by doing this, you are not putting your child down or complaining about him or labeling him as a ?bad kid?. You are discussing the facts of what is actually going on, or not going on, with his learning. You are acting in his best interest. Do not hesitate to ask questions about anything you don?t understand. The teachers will not think that you are stupid or inadequate The area of Learning Disabilities can be very confusing and overwhelming to anyone. It is best that you understand what is going on right from the beginning. When the teachers have explained the symptoms to your satisfaction, then it is time to find out what will happen from here. Ask specific questions about the testing, how best to address your child?s concerns and how to minimize any ?stigma? your child might experience as a result of being tested.
To Test or Not To Test - That Is the Question
Little Suzy has really been having a hard time getting some of her assignments done. When she reads in class, she struggles with many words, and her mother reported at conference time that Suzy spends hours each night on homework.
Strengths and Weaknesses
All too often, children with learning disabilities are seen through their weaknesses.
So, My Child Has Been Recommended for Testing - What Do I Do Now?
You?ve just received a call from your child's teacher. As your blood pounds in your ears, you hear her explain how she has noticed your child having difficulty with some academic subject in school. Your child is not understanding math or reading the way the other children do. So she would like your permission to proceed with testing to find out what exactly is causing the problem.
Understanding The Report
"No thank you. Don't bother to send me the report about the testing results. I won't understand it anyway. I'll just listen at the meeting."
Alias: Aptitude
Be aware. You may become totally overwhelmed when you get the results of the special education testing on your child. There is a lot of "stuff" on that report! And much of it sounds like a foreign language to many people.
The Forgotten Secret of the Ancient Greeks that Shows Us How to Keep Our Teenagers Out of Trouble
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up (Ecclesiastes 3:1-3)
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