The resources available to our children via the Internet are astounding. But, we need to be vigilant about filtering out the ones that don't allow for interaction and creativity. I am going to share three of the safe and educational websites that I have found that truly engage learners, and that spark creativity.
1. Kerpoof http://www.kerpoof.com/ Here your child can draw, paint, make a movie, and more! As your child creates, he/she will earn coins that will allow him/her to "buy" new, fantastic art supplies (like a pen that draws glittering stars,) new backgrounds and fun things for their character. There is also a great activity where the child creates a scene with words that they put together. Try it out! It's fun for all ages! 2. Story Jumper http://www.storyjumper.com/ Storyjumper is perfect for the budding author! Even emerging readers and writers will have success here! If your child loves to write and tell stories, this website is super fun! In just a few steps, your child can use a template or start from scratch to write a story. Your child can be the main character in the story (a princess, a pirate, and more) by inserting a photo. Jump right in! 3. Lego Digital Designer http://ldd.lego.com/download/ Challenge your child to build an invention that will help you make dinner faster or a van that will fit your whole family and be able to fly on long trips. With Lego Digital Designer, your child can use Lego bricks to create and design anything.
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With the school year coming to its last few months, students and parents around the country are trying to make tough decisions about their academic futures. Most will only have to decide between what courses to take next year. Others may be making the decision to switch from public to private school. Still others, like my daughter and I, will have a harder decision to make. Perhaps my own deliberation can help those people make the right choice for their student.
Recently, my daughter was accepted into a new charter high school. She'll be one of this new school's first 200 students in the first-time ninth grade. The school emphasis is on mathematics, science and technology with the primary focus being on Engineering (Aerospace Design amp; Application, Mechanical Engineering, and Computer Engineering), Bioscience (Biomedical Design, Biotechnology, and Forensic Science) and Emerging Technologies (Robotics, Nanotechnologies and GPS Applications) as the three main areas of study. The students would also take a foreign language and fine arts course. Granted, I'm very proud of my daughter being selected into the program, but I wonder about what she might miss by not attending the regular high school. Please note that the regular high school is one of the best in the area and offers Honors as well as Advanced Placement courses so getting a solid education with whichever choice she makes isn't the issue. However, my worry is this...is attending an advanced, specialized high school worth missing out on all the regular high school offers? If faced with this same decision, which would you choose? Let's compare the two types of schools. First, let's take a look at a few of the pros and cons of attending the charter school. The pro side in favor of the charter school includes the following items. The charter school will be all concentrated coursework meaning students will delve into subject matter to a greater extent than possible in the public high school. Coursework will be offered in various modes including traditional textbook, computers, online courses, telecommunicating with other students around the world, and in partnerships with major businesses in the area. The coursework she studies will be an advanced level offered to only a few students at the public high school. In fact, by the time she graduates, she will have earned two years of college credit. Hers will be the first class to start this new school and they'll add another ninth grade class each year. Therefore, she won't experience the awkwardness of being the incoming freshman with the scary, so-much-more-mature upperclassmen there to either help them or tease them. All in all, not a bad thing to miss out on. At the charter school, she'll have access to advanced coursework, terrific teachers, and technology not offered anywhere else in the county. She'll have the advantage of getting to know almost everyone in the entire school. Drug abuse, alcohol consumption and sexually promiscuity won't be as frequent simply due to the small number of classmates as well as the fact that these students are primarily focused on achieving and not partying. In other words, the negative aspects won't come into play as much in this intense educational setting. Now let's take a look at the con side of choosing the charter school over the public high school. Being comprised of only one class, the charter school won't be large enough for any sports programs. For my un-athletic daughter, that wouldn't seem to be a problem. For others who enjoy team sports, cheerleading or other physical classes, it might be too much too sacrifice. Also, will not having this type of extracurricular activity listed on her college application hinder her chances of attending her college of choice? Will the colleges prefer this type of intense academics over a more well-rounded education? Like so many of us, I look back on my high school days and remember the fun times I had sitting in the bleachers cheering the home team on to victory. Being at the charter school means she won't be able to attend basketball games and cheer for the cute guy she wants to date. She won't have a chance to join Pep Club or a debate team or a whole host of extracurricular activities. She won't have dances she can attend. In other words, the charter school won't be as much fun. At least not as far as the social benefits are concerned. But is being social better than preparing her for her future college career and business career? The public school is well run and knows their curriculum. The charter school, however, will be in its infancy. Mistakes in curriculum choices and more are going to happen. Will my daughter be a guinea pig in an educational experiment? Or will she be a pioneer in a unique and exciting new instructional environment? As I mentioned earlier, the school year is coming to a close soon, with choices and decisions for so many students around the country being made. As parents, we must not make the decision for them. Instead, after our own deliberations, we must guide them, giving them as much information and help as we possibly can. With so many choices available to them, they still must be the one to decide. No Child Left Behind legislation has turned public schools across the United States from institutions of learning into institutions of testing. In the time that used to be devoted to history and science, children are instead being instructed in the how-to of test-taking Classroom hours are spent having children practice for tests- from exercises devoted to coloring in little ovals completely so tests are not misgraded to memorizing the vocabulary words associated with the testing process. Children are taught keywords to impress test graders rather than being taught substance.
Children don't write paragraphs anymore; they write "brief constructed responses." What is ludicrous about this practice is that content is the element that matters least. Writing a topic sentence and two "supporting sentences" and a closing sentence that creates a nonsequitur will yield a better score than an accurate statement of fact that does not follow this format. For example, a paragraph that reads: "I like to go to the park. On Wednesdays my mother doesn't work. Tom likes the seesaw. That is why I like to go to the park," would likely get a better grade than a paragraph that read, "Many parks have playgrounds. Those are the best parks of all. In some parks there are grills for having barbecues. And most parks have a lot of trees." The deficiencies of No Child Left Behind have prompted the United States Congress to consider legislation to remedy some of its worst effects: the near elimination of history and science from the classroom in favor of math and reading. Meanwhile public school parents can and should advocate for their children's education, not only to reclaim what No Child Left Behind took away, but to ensure that their children receive a solid education to prepare them for the future. This guide shows parents how, with advocacy, they can ensure that their children receive a private school quality education in the public schools. Assess Your Child's Present Education Before addressing how to fix problems with a child's education, a parent needs to assess its strengths and weaknesses. Maybe it's already fine the way it is. Ask the school for the "master schedule." This schedule identifies the subject matter being taught, by class, through the school week and the times that each subject is taught. This will tell you how much time your child is devoting to reading, how much to math, how much to science, how much to social studies, and so on. A parent should also address with the child regularly what he or she is doing in school. Is math hard? Easy? Does the entire class have reading in one group or do they break into subgroups? If subgroups, do the different groups use different books? Are some of the groups working on harder books than others? As young as first or second grade, children know who is doing hard work and who is doing easier work, so don't hesitate to ask, thinking your child won't know. Your child knows more about what is going on at school than you do and is a valuable resource in this assessment. From the school administration, find out if there are any pull-outs for children who need extra help or for children who need accelerated and enriched instruction. If you suspect your child might need to be placed in one of those groups, find out what the criteria are for participating, what work the group is doing, and how many children participate. At the initial conference of the year, ask your child's teacher what he or she sees as your child's strengths and weaknesses, ask to see examples of work that support the teacher's opinion, and ask for an overview of what is going to be taught during the school year. Be sure and share your own opinions of your child's capabilities and your goals for your child. Also, tell the teacher all that you can about your child's learning style: does your child learn best from visual stimuli or from listening to explanations? Does your child prefers hands-on projects? Does your child have strengths outside the narrow academic arena that could be harnessed to make his classroom work more effective? For example, some children have computer skills or dramatic arts skills that could be integrated into their writing, reading or math work. Decide What Your Child Needs to Excel If your child seems to need extra help, keep track of the areas where your child is having difficulties and save specific examples of schoolwork or write down examples from your daily living experience. For example, you asked your daughter to pay for something in the store that cost 69 cents and she was unable to tell you how much change she should get back from one dollar. Or she could not read simple words on a sign. If your child seems to need harder work, regardless of his or her grades (boredom makes inroads on grades quite often), identify specific things your child knows that are above grade level. Does your son cook and use fractions in measuring ingredients? Does he make analogies easily? Finish large jigsaw puzzles with little difficulty? Ask questions constantly? What kind of books is he reading at home? Does he read everything in sight, even the back of the cereal box? Does your child have a wide knowledge base? It doesn't matter where your child learned what she knows; it matters that she has advanced knowledge and thirsts for more. Perhaps your daughter is well informed about dogs or draws exceptionally well. Maybe she is playing the piano and picks up new music more quickly than other children her age. Keep track of examples like this. Write them down. Evaluate how well what the school is doing meets your child's needs. Prepare If you decide that your child needs something more, whether its advancement or remediation, you need to prepare before approaching the school administration with a specific request for services for your child. Find out if the school already has in place any programs that might meet your child's needs. If not, ask around and find out what options exist at other local schools- such programs may be reproducible at your child's school. If there is no existing program that would seem to meet your child's needs, you can advocate for new programs to be created if it seems that there are other children whose needs are similar to those of your child (find out by talking with other parents). You can also ask for independent opportunities to be made available to your child, such as one-on-one time with a specialist, more challenging reading assignments, or a switch to a higher grade for one subject matter where she excels. Decide what you want to ask for, what you think is within the boundaries of possibility, and think about what information you need to make the case. Put together documents that support your request to bring with you when you approach the school administration. If your school system offers magnet programs, you may want to look at them to see if they offer something that would benefit your child. Some school systems offer magnet programs with an emphasis on the arts, the sciences, mathematics, language immersion, and other specializations. In addition, some school systems offer test-in programs for gifted children who need accelerated and enriched instruction. The quality of such programs often exceeds that of regular programs because (1) the population that attends has highly motivated parents who encourage intellectual pursuits, and (2) with respect to test-in programs, the grouping of like students allows more advanced work to be done. For students who are both gifted and learning disabled, there are also special programs that may bring out the best in a child who is struggling in a regular classroom. Even a learning disabled child who needs less than a special program may benefit from accommodations designed to help him navigate the regular classroom demands. Advocate The starting point of any advocacy is the child's classroom teacher. Even if you think he or she doesn't have the authority to grant your request, run it by him or her. Ask for his or her support as you approach the school administration. Make an appointment with the school administration. If there are specific people you would like to attend the meeting who can support your case (for example, the school reading specialist or special education coordinator), ask that they be present. Plan to lead the meeting at least initially, since this is your request. You need to lay out the problem and your proposed solution. If the request is placed under consideration, ask for a specific time to come back for an answer. If the request is denied, ask for alternate options that can be made available. If no solutions are forthcoming, don't give up. State your intention to think more about it and present an alternate proposal that will address any concerns raised about your original proposal. Volunteer Many school problems come down to personnel. There is no one to run a William and Mary or Junior Great Books program, geared toward advanced readers. Volunteer to take the training and offer the program on a trial basis. Some teachers have many ideas for projects but no time to implement them. Volunteer to seek out accelerated or enriched learning resources if that is what's needed, or to help put together the ones to which the teacher has access already. This may be as simple as spending an hour a month at a photocopier. If the school is not devoting sufficient time to subjects like social studies, science or the arts, think of ways to improve the situation. First, ask the school to consider devoting more time to these subjects. But even if the answer is no, all is not lost. For example, you might work with the PTA to organize several cultural arts assemblies to fill the gap. Or you might volunteer to run an after-school geography club to prepare children for the national geography bee. Perhaps the administration will allow the PTA to run some enriching days for children such as an international cultural day or Black History Month program. Network with the PTA You are but one person. The PTA can bring to bear the resources of many. Therefore, it's important to work with the PTA leadership to gain support, staffing, and if necessary, funding for your ideas. It may be that you can't run an after-school geography club but someone else is willing to do so. Supplement Recognize that most of children's learning takes place outside of school. Supplement their learning with rich, cultural and learning experiences. This does not mean buying a bunch of workbooks. Instead, watch nature shows together or teach your child to play chess. Go sightseeing and talk about the attractions. No Child Left Behind has made the public school a far less attractive place than it was before the advent of that legislation. However, in spite of its destructive effects, it is still possible for a child to obtain a private school quality education in public school The most important step in getting a private school quality education at a public school is not giving up. Every idea won't fly- even some good ones. Your child won't get everything you would want her to have in an ideal world-but that is also the case in a private school. Your goal should be a well-rounded education that challenges your child. |
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