English Hound

U.S. Summer Camps: A Child’s Dream Playground

Beverly Cole — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 21:51:28 +0000

Summertime – Few words invoke more happiness in an American child’s heart. Kids love the summer. After nine months of structured learning, being told how to sit and when to speak, kids look forward to a fun respite from their school day routines. Popular since the 1880’s and now embedded in American culture, camps arose as a consequence of newly enacted laws that eradicated school in the unbearably hot days of summer. Parents with extra money to spend on their children’s entertainment looked for a productive and structured environment in which their children could return to a more natural setting. Although recently some U.S. school districts have attempted to return to a year round school system, the vast majority of states require approximately 180 days of school per year, which leaves plenty of time for camp diversions.

Today, summer camps offer a tremendous variety of activity for families who can afford them. If you are a student looking to spend your summer in the U.S. the way young American students do, you’ll need to put down your books and get ready to be an American camper. It’s a fun and efficient way to improve your comprehension and verbal fluency through complete immersion into the American language and culture. What is the allure of camps for kids, and what are campers doing during their days?

From wilderness training to drama camp to cooking camp to swim camp, children can choose from an encyclopedia of summer experiences that suit their passions. While many camps now specialize to suit specific interests, the traditional day camp remains incredibly popular and offers a variety of activities in a camper’s day and week. Typically, campers at a traditional day camp range in age from 4 to 13. Camps modify the intensity and challenge of its activities depending upon age. At Mohawk Day Camp in Westchester, New York, kids are divided into three different divisions: a “Little Camp” for ages 3 to 5, a “Middle Camp” for campers aged 6 to 8, and a “Senior Camp” for children 9 to 13. Kids have an opportunity to experience activities that they otherwise wouldn’t or couldn’t try during the year. At Camp Olympia in Rockville, Maryland, a typical day for the 8 and 9 year olds starts with swimming, followed by an instructional sport (which ranges from gymnastics to tennis), then lunch, free swim, horseback riding, and finally a team sport (like flag football or soccer). Children 5 and under have pony rides on their schedules daily.

Some traditional day camps allow campers the freedom to choose many of their activities. At Coutts Day Camp in East Charleston, Vermont, campers select the activities they would like to do on a daily basis, including bike track, canoeing, woodworking and theatre. Through this ability to choose their own opportunities, kids can take chances and open themselves to new interests. As stated in Elmwood Day Camp’s on-line brochure, “being exposed to new activities and taking safe risks is what allows children to develop a passion.” In addition to a laundry list of electives, Elmwood brings in outside experts to teach Karate, Magic, and Drumming.

To add to the fun, camps offer special themes for each week of summer, giving every week a separate holiday-like feeling. At Rancho Solano Day Camp in Scottsdale, Arizona, three to six year olds start their first week of camp with a beach party theme, have a Star Wars Padawan Academy Adventure by the third week and on the last week enjoy a deep sea exploration. In addition to these weekly themes, camps will mix in “special days” throughout the summer including days like “Wacky Wednesday” when kids and counselors dress in crazy, mismatched outfits, and Super Hero and Villain Day, when campers and staff arrive at camp costumed as their favorite heroes and villains.

Lunches are included at many day camps, and some camps take pride in serving kid-friendly, healthy gourmet cuisine. A typical lunch can be chicken or cheese quesadillas with Spanish rice and steamed corn or pasta bar with steamed broccoli and Caesar salad. Of course, for choosier campers, they offer daily staples including bagels and cream cheese, cheese sandwiches, yogurt, and a variety of fruits and vegetables. Because many children suffer from nut and peanut allergies, many day camps are either nut and peanut free or nut and peanut aware.

Day camps can also offer off-site trips. At the Bullis Bulldog day camp in Potomac Maryland, weekly field trips include adventures to the National Zoo, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Butler’s Orchard and Adventure Park USA. At Kenwood Summer Day Camp, kids look forward to outings to amusement parks, water parks, mini-golf courses, and laser tag.

While some day camps can be incredibly expensive –- Eight weeks of Buckley Day Camp in Long Island costs $7995 — there are many throughout the country that provide a fun, safe environment for children without the prohibitive cost. At the Stuart YMCA in Florida, weekly tuition for camp is a much more reasonably priced $125 for non-members.

With so many options for the summer, camp can be a wonderful time of exploration, relaxation and fun for your camper.

American Dads: Loving Their Kids To Success

Beverly Cole — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 21:20:32 +0000

My childhood was unique for its time. My father played just as important a role in my upbringing as my mother. Dad shuttled me to soccer games, dropped me off at play dates, and pushed me to achieve academic greatness. At the time, I didn’t realize it was unusual for a father to be so integrated in his children’s daily lives. I also didn’t appreciate the intellectual significance my father’s influence could provide, given that researchers concluded that children who spend more time with their fathers have higher IQ’s and improved career success.

Times have changed, and 46% of fathers researched in a 2012 survey said they spend more time with their own children than their fathers spent with them as a child. All across the nation, dads who are able to be home for bedtime are tucking in their children with a story, probably not even realizing that a Harvard study found that when fathers read to children, those children, particularly girls, benefitted more in their language skills than if just mom were reading to them. Children who are fortunate to have involved fathers are actually more likely to receive A’s on their report cards. In schools from Baywood, California to West Orange, New Jersey, proactive dads have become active participants during parent teacher conferences and created father associations to help sponsor and support school activities. These lucky dads are recognizing and appreciating the value of the time they spend with their kids, and children are achieving more academic success as a result of their dad’s involvement with their school.

Behavioral psychologist Dr. Gail Gross has noted the importance of fathers’ roles:

Studies show that if your child’s father is affectionate, supportive, and involved, he can contribute greatly to your child’s cognitive, language, and social development, as well as academic achievement, a strong inner core resource, sense of well-being, good self-esteem, and authenticity.

Jerry, a retired military officer, spends much of his week raising his son. He volunteers for lunch duty, gets his son ready for school, and escorts him to after school activities. To him, role model is his most important duty:

Throughout my professional career, I had the honor and privilege of holding many different ranks, titles, positions and various levels of responsibility. However the greatest one came when I became a dad. I also become a hero and a hero gives everything to something greater and that’s my son…

Beyond their school participation, U.S. dads are spending time with their kids on athletic fields across the country. A youth’s sports study showed that 85 percent of children’s coaches are fathers coaching their own kids. Many fathers consider coaching a hallmark of their relationship with their children and view the experience as an opportunity to teach important lessons like perseverance:

Being a coach was just part of my blueprint of what kind of dad I wanted to be. I love watching them learn . . . and persevere. . . . Honestly, sometimes I think I get more out of it than they do!
Sean Folkson – Founder & CEO, NightFood, Inc.

In addition, many fathers have realized how invaluable and fleeting their time is with their kids. Bob, a hedge fund manager, spends almost all his free time with his family. He wants to make sure he is there every step of the way in his children’s development: “You blink, and your kids are grown up. If I’m at work all the time or out with friends, I feel like I’m missing out on things I will never have again – the experience of raising our children as a family unit. ”

As today’s U.S. children grow up, they see their father not just a breadwinner, but also as an essential touchstone in their daily lives. As noted in a Bringham Young study, it is a father’s involvement in the day-to day-family activities – playing, watching tv together, relaxing – that is truly significant in terms of family happiness. http://www.parenting.com/article/why-kids-need-their-dads. For those blessed children reaping the benefits of an involved father, the American father is no longer just respected; he is influential, adored and admired.

How Korean Children Can Study English Over Winter Break

Beverly Cole — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 15:55:58 +0000

Is there a “best” way to teach your children how to speak, read, and write in English? No matter which technique you use for your children, learning another language takes time and commitment. Apart from complete immersion in the English language through an American school or camp, the following suggestions will help your children learn English in the most efficient way possible:

Teach Them Early: Numerous studies show that the best time to learn a second language is when you are very young. One study demonstrated that the best time to acquire multiple languages is between the ages of nine months and seven years of age. See Shonkoff, J. and Phillips, D. (Eds.). (2000). From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. Chapter 8: The developing brain (pp. 182-217). As infants and small children instinctively search for language cues, exposure to English along with their native language will make it easier for them to become fluent as they grow.

Use Audiovisual Books: Having both audio and visual cues while reading will help your budding English speaker understand how the written words sound as they are spoken. Many on-line reading programs offer audiovisual books written in English for different level readers. Raz-Kids offers an expansive library of audiovisual readers for a fee (available at a discounted rate of $15 annually at EnglishHound.com), but there are other websites that offer free audio-visual books for children such as MeeGenius.com, magickeys.com, and EnglishHound.com, which pools free audio-visual books from the Internet.

Read Out Loud: Similarly, when your child is reading an audiovisual book, encourage your child to read out loud, rather than silently. Have your child listen to a sentence while reading, then pause the book and have him or her read the same sentence out loud. It is a bit time consuming, but reading out loud reinforces retention by incorporating English into your child’s speech patterns.

Watch Children’s Shows: American educational shows will give your children a context for the language they are learning. Many quality U.S. children’s shows use popular vernacular in an educational way. Watching a program will also let your students enjoy their English education. Here are some fantastic recommendations for the whole family: Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego?; Magic School Bus; Wild Kratts; and Odd Squad.

Vocabulary: When first learning English, vocabulary building is critical. In fact, when you introduce a new language, this skill is just as, if not more important, than actual fluency. Helen Whang, the Founder and CEO of English Hound observed, “I’ve noticed that children in Korea, particularly those who have attended English kindergartens, are good at reading fluency – the ability to recognize and sound out the words. However, their vocabulary is lacking, which poses a huge obstacle in reading comprehension, speaking and writing. Rote memorization doesn’t help children who will forget the memorized words a few days later. Children must learn vocabulary contextually through extensive reading and usage.” Try http://www.eslgamesplus.com/memory-games/ for a fun and free website that offers English vocabulary games to help boost your child’s word knowledge.

Tutoring: For extra support, weekly or twice-weekly tutors can help older children incorporate their English knowledge into everyday usage. For those seeking to immigrate to the U.S. or attend an international school, it is especially important for students to be able to converse and write in English. Particularly starting in middle school, grades in English and Social Studies depend largely on writing skills. “Beginning in middle school, 70 to 80 percent of Language Arts and Social Studies grades depend upon a student’s writing skills. When learning English, students struggle the most with writing. Even in top Ivy League feeder schools in the U.S. like Horace Mann and Hackley, we’re seeing students interested in getting tutored in writing when they reach 5th and 6th grades,” said Whang. “Becoming a better writer takes years of practice.”

One or many of these steps should become part of your child’s daily routine, as repetition is crucial to building fluency and comprehension. With commitment to these methods, your child will be reading, speaking, and writing English with greater speed, fluency, and understanding.

Computer Programming for Kids: My Personal Quest

Namee Oberst — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 08:58:19 +0000

It’s no secret that many of today’s geniuses hail from the tech world. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg: they are household names who have changed the world. Just about everyone with access uses technology to navigate through life on a daily basis. From artificial intelligence to robotics, great advances are being made at a rapid pace, and all this technology uses computer programming at its core.

As a parent interested in providing her child with the necessary skills to thrive and succeed in the real world, I wanted to teach my son the fundamentals of computer programming. To me, it seemed as basic and necessary as learning the alphabet. Consequently, several years ago I began a personal quest to teach him basic computer programming. The only catch? I knew nothing about computer programming myself. I didn’t even understand all the various coding languages out there. Java, JavaScript, C++, C#, Scratch, Python, Tynker and on and on…. I didn’t know that Java was different from JavaScript! Yikes.

I searched the Internet in earnest for tips on computer programming camps and websites that could get us started. There are so many resources out there, but most just list a bunch of websites that have free lessons without much guidance on where to begin. Fortunately, it was the beginning of summer, and my son’s private school had a summer camp session on MineCraft, the popular game that many kids play using blocks to build forts and virtual cities. My son who was 9 at the time was already obsessed with MineCraft so I figured that this was the perfect way for him to get started. Fortunately, he was hooked.

I then learned from speaking with his MineCraft teacher that Scratch is a popular, relatively easy language for beginning programmers. Scratch was developed by the MIT Media Lab and is widely used as a stepping stone to more advanced computer programming. Using Scratch, kids can create their own video games while learning basic coding skills. Many schools, including our own middle school, use Scratch as the beginning computer programming language. So the next summer, I enrolled Dylan in an iD Tech camp in a Scratch class. He loved it and wanted to be more challenged after playing around with it for a summer.

Taking computer programming to a slightly more advanced level was harder, especially during the school year. Although summer camps had been plentiful, how was I going to keep up my son’s interest in computer programming during the school year, especially with all of his other activities? After an extensive web search, I stumbled onto a great website called Art of Problem Solving . It’s actually a math-oriented website founded by a math genius for students who want to take their math to the next level through online webinar courses. But it also offers great computer programming courses (it makes sense that a lot of the gifted math students would be interested in programming as well).

As an experiment, I enrolled my son in the beginning Python class. I figured that if he understood even 50% of what was going on in the class, it would be money and time well spent. The classes are online at a set time each week, and there is also a chat forum where students can ask questions to the instructor. The students create a project and learn the basics of Python. Python is a general purpose, higher level coding language that many programmers use but is widely praised for its simplicity. Thankfully, my son was interested enough to stick with the class and wanted to continue on. Then he signed up for the next level Python class which, in his opinion, was much more difficult.

After the Python class came the Java class. Java is an advanced programming language used to create applications for your computer. According to the Art of Programming website, students who complete the Java class should be prepared for college level computer science courses. The Java class was much more difficult and Dylan felt that he would need to repeat the class again to learn more about it. In addition to realizing that he needed a lot more practice and time to become a proficient coder, Dylan discovered that there are other coding languages he would need to learn to be fully proficient at coding,.

Now I would definitely not claim my son (now 12 years old) to be any kind of a computer genius, but is he pretty comfortable with basic coding at the end of all this? Definitely! Would it be easier for him to pick up a new coding language as a result of this experiment with coding classes? Yes! Can he look at a bunch of Python and Java codes and have a basic understanding of what is going on? Yes! So all in all, mission accomplished.

Like any other language skill, however, I find that computer programming needs to be maintained. Accordingly, I bought him a book on creating various games using Python on his own for the time being. As an incentive, he has to create games to earn Yankees baseball tickets. So far so good. He has gone to quite a few games this year.

Note: For parents who want to introduce their kids to computer programming, there are several websites out there that are described in the article “Teach Your Kids to Code” by Matt Davis. In addition, Khan Academy offers various computer programming classes online.

Places We’ll Go – Americans on Winter Break

Beverly Cole — Sat, 14 Nov 2015 06:37:18 +0000

The two weeks surrounding Christmas and New Year are a unique time of the year in the U.S. After several months of homework, tests, and classes, most American children put away their school books for a different kind of education. During winter break, American families spend their time exposing their children to experiences outside the classroom. In fact, many families spend months deciding on how to spend winter break, and more months planning the actual details of these trips, trying to squeeze out every possible moment of adventure, education, or relaxation. Here are some of the places we like to travel for “edutainment” along with a book recommendation for your vacationing child.

When it’s cold in most of America, many U.S. families will escape to the domestic beaches of Florida or more international sites, like Acalpulco, Mexico, Jamaica, or even. Leah said her young family with three kids 6 and under loves nothing more than escaping the cold for a good beach vacation: “My kids spend all day completely exhausting themselves in the sun and water.” It’s a good change from the ice and snow, and a way for parents to enjoy some “realaxing” under the sun. Fun Book For the Beach: Pete the Cat: Pete at the Beach by James Dean.

There is a reason that Disney’s busiest week is the one between Christmas and New Year’s. People flock to Orlando’s Disney World and Anaheim’s Disney Land to celebrate their winter holidays with Mickey, Minnie and tens of thousands of other visitors. For Andrea, fighting the crowds is worth maintaining their family tradition “for my kids and my grandkids.” Fun Book for Disney: Disney’s Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Characters by M.L. Dunham.

Skiing is a pastime enjoyed by over 11 million people in the U.S. every year. This is what my family does on our winter break. My kids love skiing. My husband and I like skiing, but love the idea of having our kids spend their vacation in a healthy way. It’s a trip that has our family spending time together all day, and it’s a life sport that our children can enjoy for decades to come. Fun Book for Skiing: Ski Tips for Kids: Fun Instructional Techniques with Cartoons by Mike Clelland.

The road trip to Grandma’s House! Spending Christmas and New Years with family in another state, be it a hundred or a thousand miles away, is a tradition that goes back as far as the popularization of the automobile. Families will pile into their relatives’ homes, so that generations can celebrate together. Melissa had ten relatives staying in her home during Christmas week: “I love everyone together, but all the food and sheets and noise definitely create a chaos. I’m happy to have everyone visit, and happy to have everyone go home!” Fun Book for the Road Trip: National Geographic Kids Ultimate U.S. Road Trip by Crispin Boyer.

Because many people cannot afford to go away or because they realize how utterly exhausting traveling can be with young children, there are also activities for those homebound during the holidays. When not visiting relatives in Korea, Amy likes to keep her two boys busy with activities during the winter break. For her, enrolling the boys in chess camp for half of the vacation is a productive way of using their time off: “My kids have a great time, and they’re actually spending time on something useful that they otherwise don’t have time for.” Other winter camps include ice skating camps at local rinks, gymnastics camps, and even coding camps for our computer-minded kids. Fun book for the Stay-cation: The Everything Kids’ Astronomy Book by Kathi Wagner.

Whether you choose to go away on vacation or stay at home, options abound for the U.S. vacation, from classrooms to the mountains to the deserts to the seas.

Happy Holidays and Safe Travels!

The American Holiday Season – Let the Presents/Candy/Party Begin

Beverly Cole — Sat, 14 Nov 2015 06:24:13 +0000

For American kids, this is a fantastic time of year. The U.S. Holiday Season is upon us. Beginning with Halloween and ending New Year’s Day, families across the country enjoy a great deal of celebration at school, the office, and home.

The first holiday of “the season” is an all-time favorite for U.S. children and adults alike. Halloween dates back over 2000 years to the Druids, an ancient Celtic culture, who would celebrate the harvest with spooky superstitions. After the mass immigration of Scottish and Irish residents to the U.S., Americans began the Halloween tradition in the 19th century. Every year on October 31st, children and many adults across America dress up in costumes ranging from the adorable (like fuzzy teddy bears) to the scary (like bloodied zombies) to the spectacular (like electrically illuminated rainbows). School Halloween parades abound with costume-clad classes, and many kids travel door-to-door trick-or-treating for chocolate candy bars, lollipops, and other sugary treats throughout their neighborhoods. Parents buy candy by the pound and decorate the outsides of their homes with ghosts, tombstones, witches, cobwebs, and spiders to welcome the trick-or-treaters.

Second, Thanksgiving is a family-oriented holiday that occurs in the U.S. on the fourth Thursday of every November. Dating back to the early 17th century, the first European settlers in America gave thanks for a good crop season. Today, the day is famous for family and school reunions, parades, and football. And food! Americans eat over 525 million pounds of turkey and millions of pounds of cranberries on Thanksgiving. Tables are not complete without sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows, gravy for the turkey, cornbread and butter, and green beans with almonds. It is no wonder that the average American consumes 4,500 calories that day!

Next, December brings Christmas (December 25th) for Christian kids, Hanukkah (varies by year) for Jewish children, and Kwanzaa for African-American youth (December 26th through January 1st). On Christmas Eve, Santa and his helpers (aka parents) place gifts under the tree for children to find Christmas morning when many families enjoy treats like candy canes and egg nog. Hannukah, the festival of lights, celebrates the miracle of a Jewish victory thousands of years ago against the Seleucid Empire. Today, Jewish families light special candelabras called menorahs, eat latkes and chocolate gelt, and spin dreidels (Jewish tops). Traditionally, parents would give children money during the holiday, but over time, the tradition has evolved into presents for eight joyous nights in a row. Finally, Kwanzaa celebrates African culture, and families enjoy traditional African attire, food, and music. Traditional meals can include jerk chicken, collard greens, and coconut pound cake.

U.S. children especially look forward to this time of year because December holidays mean time off from school. During their two-week vacation, most American children put down their books to experience the joy of holiday festivities, skiing, or a beach. Although studying is generally the last thing on kids’ minds during this school break, there are exceptions, like the academically motivated English Hound students who enjoy learning even when traveling. Additionally, many kids catch up on favorite reads like Harry Potter or The Secrets of Droon during this time as a way to relax.

The last stop on our holiday junket is New Year’s Eve. Like children worldwide, U.S. kids excitedly wait for the ball to drop and count down to midnight to ring in the New Year.

No matter what you celebrate, may it be happy and healthy!For American kids, this is a fantastic time of year. The U.S. Holiday Season is upon us. Beginning with Halloween and ending New Year’s Day, families across the country enjoy a great deal of celebration at school, the office, and home.

The last stop on our holiday junket is New Year’s Eve. Like children worldwide, U.S. kids excitedly wait for the ball to drop and count down to midnight to ring in the New Year.

No matter what you celebrate, may it be happy and healthy!

Why Every Parent with School Age Kids Should Think About Joining the PTA

Namee Oberst — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 15:17:02 +0000

For parents with school age children, it’s a yearly ritual. Every fall or late summer, parents sit eagerly at the school orientation meeting anxiously hoping to gather information about what the new school year will bring for their kids. Amidst presentations by the principal and various teachers about the academic programs, the extracurricular activities, and the school cafeteria, there is invariably the friendly PTA representative who asks parents to sign up and volunteer. Particularly for newbie parents, however, Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) can seem intimidating. Does it require a lot of commitment? Does one have to be a gung-ho Tiger Parent to be involved? So what’s a PTA and what’s it about?

PTA’s are volunteer organizations generally run by parents of the school with involvement by the teacher representatives who work collaboratively to enhance various aspects of the school. For example, a PTA can organize and host carnivals, staff appreciation days, cultural awareness days and other social events for students. In addition, most PTA’s are heavily involved in fund-raising so that they can host various academic and social events and purchase school supplies that are not usually in the school’s budget. In New York City, for example, parents at the Anderson School, a highly regarded K-8 on the Upper West Side for gifted and talented students, were able to raise over $1 million in a single school year.

The Parent Teacher Organization for the Lincoln School in Westfield, New Jersey was able to support its school with the purchase of iPads for every classroom and other tech purchases as well as an additional $3000 in books and supplies, etc. Although not all PTA’s are able to draw on the financial clout of their wealthy student body, other PTA’s are still able to provide scholarships for special research projects for students or teachers or ice cream socials for families. In addition, in schools where there are no school cafeterias, the PTA’s often step up to run lunch programs for its students.

All this activity requires a lot of dedication, commitment and hard work by the parent volunteers in the PTA. Some heavily involved parents work as much as 25 to 40 hours per week on PTA duties. This is not usually the case, however. PTA’s can offer volunteer opportunities of all scope and sizes. In fact, most parents start being involved by taking on less time-consuming, concrete tasks. One working mom in New York volunteers 2 hours every other week at the school store, selling school supplies and school gear. Another mom in Beijing, China volunteers at her daughter’s international school manning concession stands during school sporting events about once a month on the weekends. Even the heavily involved PTA parents started with discrete tasks before taking on larger roles such as being the President or the Treasurer. According to Diane Gurden, a PTA parent in Scarsdale, New York, who currently serves as the Treasurer for the Greenacres Elementary School, “There are jobs of all sizes on the PTA. You can start with something small and then see if you want to take on more responsibility.”

If excessive time commitment is not the necessary element to being a successful parent, then what is? Soo Sang, a PTA parent from Westfield, New Jersey, believes that the most important ingredients to being a successful PTA parent are the “desire to help or improve and effect change in a positive way” and “a sense of commitment and willingness to be actively engaged in shaping your child’s school experience.” Soo adds, “Most importantly, a willingness to try! Do not feel that you can’t participate in something or even run a committee because you have never done it before in your life. You will be amazed at what you are able to do!”

It is important to note that PTA’s are not all about hard work. They offer social outlets as well, especially for parents who are looking to build connections in a new community. One of the most often cited benefits of joining the PTA is “meeting other parents who have dynamic, interesting, varied backgrounds.” Particularly for working parents and parents with smaller young children, it can often be difficult to connect with other parents in the school. Joining the PTA can be extremely helpful in building friendships with other parents who are actively involved and plugged in with the school. Another PTA parent reflects, “I have met wonderful parents every year, which has resulted in having an amazing group of supportive moms that I can call true friends whom I can rely upon – which is really a nice thing to have in a time when people often do not even really know their neighbors!”

The value of an active PTA organization cannot be understated. Consider the example of a young middle school student whose mother took an active part in the Mothers Club of his school and organized a rummage sale to buy a Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and a block of computer time on a General Electric computer for the school’s students. Thanks to the role of his school’s PTA, the young man was able to become actively involved in computer programming, wrote his first computer program on that machine, and developed a life-long passion for computing. He then went on to start one of the most important companies in the world: Microsoft.
For parents with school age children, it’s a yearly ritual. Every fall or late summer, parents sit eagerly at the school orientation meeting anxiously hoping to gather information about what the new school year will bring for their kids. Amidst presentations by the principal and various teachers about the academic programs, the extracurricular activities, and the school cafeteria, there is invariably the friendly PTA representative who asks parents to sign up and volunteer. Particularly for newbie parents, however, Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) can seem intimidating. Does it require a lot of commitment? Does one have to be a gung-ho Tiger Parent to be involved? So what’s a PTA and what’s it about?

Harvard, Stanford, and MIT top list of world universities.

English Hound — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 12:37:35 +0000

Harvard, Stanford, and MIT are the top 3 universities in the world, according to the 2015 Academic Ranking of World Universities list compiled by researchers at the Center for World-Class Universities of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and published each year. An August 16 press release summarizes the list:

Starting from 2003, ARWU has been presenting the world Top 500 universities annually based on transparent methodology and third-party data. It has been recognized as the precursor of global university rankings and the most trustworthy one.

While the website explains its methodology:

Universities are ranked by several indicators of academic or research performance, including alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, highly cited researchers, papers published in Nature and Science, papers indexed in major citation indices, and the per capita academic performance of an institution. For each indicator, the highest scoring institution is assigned a score of 100, and other institutions are calculated as a percentage of the top score. The distribution of data for each indicator is examined for any significant distorting effect; standard statistical techniques are used to adjust the indicator if necessary. Scores for each indicator are weighted as shown below to arrive at a final overall score for an institution. The highest scoring institution is assigned a score of 100, and other institutions are calculated as a percentage of the top score. An institution’s rank reflects the number of institutions that sit above it.

Harvard University has never dropped below #1 in the 13 years the list has been published, while Stanford has never ranked lower than #3. The highest ranking Asian university in 2015 is The University of Tokyo at #21, while no Korean universities place in the top 100.

The Atlantic: “The Coddling of the American Mind”

English Hound — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 12:16:59 +0000

Are we raising our kids to be too sensitive? Authors Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt discuss oversensitivity in the new generation and why that is disastrous for education, future job performance—and mental health.

Something strange is happening at America’s colleges and universities. A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense. [Read More]

Bathtime Mathtime With Mom

Beverly Cole — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 08:54:58 +0000

I am not talking about home schooling my kids. Hat seriously off to anyone who accepts sole responsibility for his or her child’s education. Instead, my goal has been to enrich and encourage my children’s math awareness. I have found that if I work with my kids for little pockets of time (like even 15 minutes) and do it in a way that is entertaining, they look forward to, even love, having their math time. I am not a math teacher or really any teacher, so you don’t have to be either. I just like introducing mathematical concepts to my kids before their schools do, and they love to get ahead of their classes.

My suggestions are for younger children (since at 5 and 8 that’s what I’ve got), but can certainly be geared toward older ones. I just started early because tiny brains are sponges, and connection, experience, and growth are critical in the first few years of life. Teaching is also a great way to spend time, especially on stormy days that can seem endless. It’s never too early to start, but if you didn’t do that, no worries! It’s not too late to start either!

1. Early Start. Pretty much by the time my kids were grasping words, their math education had begun. What did this mean back in the day when they’re just mastering walking, and I am still introducing solid foods? At this point, I added numbers to their first words to start them counting. We would count everything we saw – jars, diapers, apples at the store – and point out numbers in everything. At the check out lines in grocery stores, my husband would carry our daughter and randomly stop at different checkout aisles, asking her to identify the number hanging in that aisle. Then we would separate numbers and colors, categorizing everything by similarities. Once our kids could handle crayons, I showed them how to write their numbers. They thought it was hysterical when I used a medieval themed Etch-A-Sketch to draw the numbers up to 20 and had them guess what the number would be before the night or dragon erased it. For early geometry, School Zone has a great, inexpensive workbook for identifying shapes, and small kids can spend hours finding varying geometric shapes all over your home and anywhere else you go.
2. Ordering. The next step was to introduce the concept that numbers have order and relate to one another. Once they could count to ten, we used connect-the-dot books, so our toddlers could understand that numbers come one after another. We began talking about ordinal numbers so that they could better understand placement. Curious George cartoons actually helped a lot. There are some wonderful episodes involving ordinal numbers and number values. Besides, who doesn’t love Curious George?
3. Arithmetic. Once my kids were fully comfortable with identifying and counting numbers, I started the process of teaching them to add things together. This was a very visual process for us at the beginning. I would set out one object, then add another object and have the kids count them. We would do this with larger numbers, and once they felt comfortable with adding (then subtracting), I would take away the visual cues and allow them to add and subtract in their heads. When the kids became “expert” at counting and adding and subtracting simple numbers, I moved them on to counting by numbers other than one, so that they could ultimately count by every single digit in sets up to 100.

These steps help build an easy transition to multiplying. Consequently, I never had my kids memorize the multiplication table. Instead, they placed “sets” of items together in their heads. So three sets of eight would be. . . .8, 16, 24. Voila! Multiplication! Division was just the opposite.
4. Funbooks! Okay, they’re actually called workbooks, but who wants to do something voluntarily that starts with the word “work”? I’ve used them with my kids since they were able to write numbers, and they help give structure to our at-home math education. Again, we do not sit down for hours at a time with our workbooks- just a couple times a week for fifteen to thirty minutes at a time. It doesn’t sound like much, but after a few years, your child has learned a lot of math. There are different styles of workbooks, but we have used Singapore Math workbooks, which you can purchase on Amazon and are relatively inexpensive (free shipping for Prime Members! : ))

5. Spatial Relations. Teaching your kids numerical ability skills is practical and in many ways logical to small kids. Spatial relation skills may not come as readily, so introducing these at home can be tremendous preparation for school. We used games to help develop these skills. First, we started using tangrams (colorful pieces that fit into various pictures) when the kiddos were about three years old. They have varying levels of difficulty that reach expert levels that are challenging for adults. Tangrams utilize different skills than arithmetic and enhance a different set of abilities like geometry and spatial reasoning. We used these tangrams to start, and the kids had a lot of fun with them.

Second, Sudoku, basically a numbers crossword puzzle, is a fun math game that is also able to scale itself from simple to complex. It enables a child to look at numbers from a different perspective, showing them how they can relate to one another in various ways at the same time. There are numerous free, on-line printable Sudoku games, like this one.
6. Money – At a toy store one day, I was surprised to see an 11-year-old boy had no concept of what change he should receive from a cashier. That weekend, I started teaching our kids about money – the value of coins and paper and how to use it and receive change. Our kids enjoyed this toy cash register for years:

In addition to coin recognition, it provides arithmetic and place value games.

Whatever math you choose with which to engage your kids, please make sure you and your kids are having fun. As with most challenges, math can be frustrating, so take your time. Comprehension will come, and your kids will have a wonderful and practical skill they will use for a lifetime.

In addition to coin recognition, it provides arithmetic and place value games.