Smart Kids - Middle School
Quick Tip: Create a college application portfolio to stay organized
OK, high school students and the parents who love them so: Do you want to avoid that last-minute scramble for information to include on your college application? Of course you do!
Melissa Janak, who manages the middle and high school counseling program in the San Diego Unified School District offers this great tip: Keep a portfolio [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Author and teacher Laura Preble on teens and their reading habits
A lot is said these days about most teens not liking to read much in general and not liking to read the classics in particular. Raised in the age of iPods, texting and Twittering, this should come as no surprise.
I was fortunate recently to ask Laura Preble, a veteran high school English teacher and author, [...]
Math 24: Having fun and building math skills at the same time
The game Math 24 attracts a lot of students every Wednesday during lunch to the auditorium at El Camino Creek Elementary School in Carlsbad. The promise of candy helps just a bit, but it’s the game, most definitely the game, that’s the big draw.
Math 24 for the uninitiated is a card game that challenges players [...]
Discover how to unleash the inner scientist in your child
Larry Bock is worried about the future of science in America because too few of our children are pursuing careers in chemistry, physics and on and on. His solution: Make science fun and relevant and kids will flock to it in droves.
Bock, a scientist, entrepreneur and dad, is certainly doing his part to raise a [...]
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
Advice that really adds up from the Rappin’ Mathematician
(Updated on May 5, 2009)
“You can live your own life and choose your own path,
but you won’t get far if you don’t know math.”
[...]
Active parenting course helps bring parents and teens closer
As I prepared to launch Such A Smart Mom, I talked to friends about what they’d like to see on the site. I heard a universal appeal from parents with teenagers that went something like this: “Please, help! I can’t talk to my teen!”
As the mom of two teenagers, I know all too well that my kids are learning to pull away, and I am learning to let them go. It’s part of a pre-ordained, unchoreographed dance that at times seems it can’t end soon enough.
