Smart Kids - Across the Ages
Richard Louv, author of “Last Child in the Woods,” on ending nature-deficit disorder
Our children are nature deprived. The reasons for this are many: fear of stranger danger, fear of what lurks in the wilderness, too little time, too little access.
I recently read “Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder,” a national bestseller by author Richard Louv, and immediately mounted my own campaign [...]
Help teens, kids avoid the summer reading slide
If teens and younger kids don’t read during the summer, their reading level can decline two, three or even four months. Educators have a name for it: the summer slide.
Tim Shanahan, director of the Center for Literacy at the University of Chicago, said parents with a ready supply of great reads are a great cure [...]
The New Yorker: Why children who are patient prosper
Recent headline in The New Yorker: Don’t! Why children who are patient prosper
If that headline won’t pull you in, I don’t know what will. The article tells a tale that most of us grow to understand with time: Good things come to those who wait.
Back in the late 1960s, a Stanford University researcher conducted an [...]
Gallup Student Poll: 1 in 4 children are hopeful, engaged and thriving
The first ever Gallup Student Poll offers fascinating findings certain to give parents and educators food for thought. And maybe the results will prompt some thoughtful conversations around the dinner table.
The poll, described as giving students a much-needed voice in America’s discussion about high school dropout prevention and college readiness, included slightly more [...]
What it takes to make it into a University of California school
What does it take to get into a UC school? In a word - plenty.
High school seniors and their parents are learning firsthand that getting into one of the nine campuses in the University of California system takes hard work, an outstanding grade point average and equally impressive scores on the SAT or ACT. This [...]
Want to raise smart kids? Praise the effort, not the intelligence
I read a fascinating story in Scientific American recently with a headline the lured me in in no time flat: The Secret to Raising Smart Kids. Hint: Don’t tell your kids that they are.
The author, Carol S. Dweck, is a professor of psychology at Stanford University. The article is loaded with information on 30 years [...]
Teaching children the art of good-natured teasing
No one wants to raise a bully. But in our haste to raise children who are thoughtful of others, are we depriving them of perfectly innocent opportunities to tease?
Communications professor Carol Bishop Mills thinks we are. And kids may be missing out on a valuable skill that will serve them well in life.
Mills, an assistant [...]
If the report card raised a red flag, here are some smart suggestions
There are few parents among us who have not been here before: The report card or progress report our child just brought home from school isn’t as strong as we’d like it to be. What’s a smart parent to do?
Cry? Scream? Scratch your head? Pretend there isn’t a problem? Or work with your child and your child’s teacher to get back on track? I prefer the last option, and I’m sure you do, too.
Here are some terrific suggestions from Jeana Preston, program director of the California Parent Center to help your child regain his footing. The center helps schools and
Essential guides for smart parents raising smart kids
At Such A Smart Mom, we believe knowledge is power. Smart parents need to know what their children should learn each year of their K-12 education, and they need a reliable roadmap to help their child make it into college.
Our “Smart Kids” series includes detailed information on what your child should learn each year. The information is drawn from the content standards set by the California Department of Education.
Our “Smart Moves: On the Road to College” is a step-by-step college planning guide that begins in the Sixth Grade.
These practical guides are meant to be printed out and referred to
Are our children really expected to learn more than we did when we were their age? Here’s a hint: It’s not your imagination
Parents are known for telling their kids how much harder life was when they were young. As in - I had to walk to school in snow and rain. Or - I couldn’t just find research on the Internet, I had to walk to the library in the snow and rain.
So why is it that [...]
