Do you provide a routine for your kids?

Pilots famously have them. Surgeons do, too. So do engineers, technicians, nurses, and most other professionals and service providers. I’m talking about simple checklists, quick, simple lists of behaviors and duties that remind us of the basics and guide us toward success. If all those professionals find checklists helpful, why shouldn’t students and their families?

Yes, checklists are general and simple (some say simplistic), but isn’t that exactly their advantage? They’re meant to be a helpful reminder to those of us who are rushed, busy, spread too thinly, and battling absent-mindedness because of our hectic lives. If that describes you and your family at times, click on the heading above for a journey to the Dr. Rick Checklist for Academic Success!

Tips for promoting math for kids of all ages

Math is in the news again. The White House is promoting math education with superstars like Sesame Street’s Elmo, and in Maryland, the state where I live, the University System is developing new math requirements for students headed to state colleges and universities. Those new requirements include four years of math studies in high school instead of the current three. Other states are no doubt doing the same.

Many students complete three years’ math study by the end of their junior year and don’t bother with math in their senior year. That’s a one-year hiatus until college. You can forget a lot in one year.

Four years of math study will better prepare students for university or work in our increasingly science-technology-engineering-math oriented economy. Do we do enough to get kids interested in math at an early age? Probably not.

Read Dr. Rick's blog page for some thoughts and tips!

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

I find this video about our future generation to be very powerful. How will our education system adapt to our youth?

BEAT THE REPORT CARD BLUES

Free Guide Gives Parents Tips and Suggestions To Avoid Report Cards

That Don’t Make the Grade

“You and Your Child’s Report Card” Guide From Sylvan Learning

Available at www.SylvanLearning.com

Report card day is often one of the school year’s most stressful times for parents and students. Yet parents can take simple steps to eliminate report card surprises and set the stage for their child’s year-round academic success.

“You and Your Child’s Report Card,” a free parents’ guide available from Sylvan Learning at http://tutoring.sylvanlearning.com/report-card-guide.cfm, gives parents numerous tips and suggestions to turn report card day into a day of achievement and celebration.

It’s common for children to feel anxious about bringing home their report cards. However, by frequently talking about school and discussing how your child is doing in each subject, parents can help their child prepare for report cards and reduce any apprehension he has about sharing his grades with you.

Report cards enable parents to assess their child’s academic progress and assess his or her strengths and weaknesses. They also provide parents with an opportunity for further insight into their child’s progress in school.

When report cards come home, parents should discuss their child’s progress and any changes from previous terms. A report card is a communication tool and a reminder for parents to stay involved in their child’s education.

Sylvan Learning’s free online report card guide offers parents seven key pieces of advice for communicating with their children to help them achieve academic success. Advice offered in “You and Your Child’s Report Card” includes:

• Maintain open lines of communication
• Set goals with your child
• Organize your child’s academics
• Regularly track progress
• Identify trouble spots
• Get to know your child’s teacher
• Celebrate successes

The free online report card communications guide, and a variety of booklets and journals for students to help build reading, math and writing skills, can be found on Sylvan Learning’s web site at http://www.sylvanlearning.com/.

Sylvan helps transform unique kids into uniquely inspired learners with the skills to do better in school and the confidence to do better in everything else.