Elementary Education Articles

Choosing a Virtual School

By Jeff S. | 6/14/2013 7:16 PM CST |

Virtual education’s popularity is on the rise. Parents have a wide variety of schools to choose from if they decide to enroll their children in a virtual school. This can make choosing a virtual school that's right for your children difficult. This article summarizes five important things to consider when choosing a virtual school for your children.

1. Independent Study vs. Live Instruction

First, review the school’s website and any literature they have to see whether they use a live, online learning environment or if students will learn content in an independent study setting.

There are...

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Helping Kids Become Lifelong Readers

By Jeff S. | 6/5/2013 10:53 AM CST |

If you had asked my middle school students to describe our class routines, you might have thought I was their English teacher, not Social Studies. As a teacher and tutor, I’ve tried to pass on a legacy for the love of reading to my students. I often tell them, “If you can read, you can teach yourself anything.” In this article, I will give you some tips on how to get your children to read more, and more often.

It’s Not Magic!

Occasionally, parents visited my classroom to ask, “How do you do it?” They were usually referring to the success of my Friday Silent Reading routine.

Each fall, I explained...

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School’s Out! School’s Out! Now what?

By Jeff S. | 6/3/2013 11:36 PM CST |

Unless you or your child attends a year – round school, summer vacation begins sometime in the next week or so. College students have read more pages than they thought humanly possible, taken many exams, written research papers, and stayed up way too late over the past 10 months. Parents of school – aged children have helped with homework, gone to parent/ teacher conferences, E-mailed teachers, and maybe volunteered for one activity too many. This article will help you understand the importance of continuing your/ your child’s learning over the summer and lists several suggestions on how to...

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Is Summer School for You?

By Jeff S. | 4/27/2013 8:38 PM CST |

May is a busy month for schools. Standardized tests, field trips, and graduation planning takes center stage. Teachers meet with parents of struggling students as well as those who would benefit from summer enrichment classes to discuss summer school enrollment. This article will help parents/ guardians decide whether or not to enroll their child(ren) in summer school.

A "Bad Rap"

The words “summer school” tend to stir negative thoughts. Many parents and students falsely believe that going to summer school is a bad thing. Some cite teasing as a reason for not sending their child to summer...

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Homeschooling: Getting Started, part 4

By Jeff S. | 4/15/2013 10:22 AM CST |

The last article of this series taught readers how to create academic standards – based unit and lesson plans. The key to writing useful lesson and unit plans is creating clear goal and objective statements. This article teaches readers the similarities and differences between the two statements and gives three tips for creating clear, content – relevant goals and objectives.

Similarities and Differences

Both types of statements must relate to a manageable piece of content. Goals and objectives suffer when they encompass too much content. An example of a goal statement that is too large is,...

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Put a tune to it

By Katherine L. | 4/9/2013 5:57 PM CST |

I learned in my human development class that babies learn through repetition = Rote memory

You may have also witnessed the ease with which the ABC's were learned. Mary Had a Little Lamb? Twinkle Twinkle?

It is easier to commit something to memory through a song. Why is it so easy to remember that annoying tune on the radio?

To better memorize
- Words
- Phrases
- Rules (Grammatical, mathematical etc)

Try putting it to a simple song tune.
Ex My 2 year old learned how to spell his name BINGO style. L-O-G-A-N.

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Homeschooling: Getting Started, part 3

By Jeff S. | 4/1/2013 12:34 PM CST |

The first two articles in this series covered how to prepare to home school your child(ren). If you’re following along, you’re probably asking yourself the most logical question: how do I know what to teach every day and how do I teach it? The simple answer is, “By pre-planning using unit and daily lesson plans.” This article explains unit and lesson plans, why they’re important to home schooling parents, and how to write each of these plans.

What are unit and lesson plans?

In part two of this series, I defined curriculum as “what is taught”. While that’s true, this definition can also be...

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Homeschooling: Getting started, part 2

By Jeff S. | 3/23/2013 7:16 PM CST |

In the first article of this series, I reviewed the steps that parents should take to make sure their child(ren) transition smoothly and legally from traditional schools to home schooling. This includes: researching and submitting necessary state department of education paperwork, creating a school year and school day schedule, choosing subjects and books/ materials, and setting learning goals. What’s next? This article explains how to plan each subject along with projects, quizzes, and tests to ensure your home school is successful.

1. Create a curriculum calendar.This is not the same as...

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Homeschooling: Getting started, part 1

By Jeff S. | 3/23/2013 7:12 PM CST |

Parents consider home schooling their child(ren) for a number of reasons. Some may be dissatisfied with the curriculum offered by local public and private schools. Others may travel a lot and want their children to experience other countries and cultures. Whatever your reason for considering home schooling, this series of articles will teach you basic steps to take to begin home schooling your child(ren). Today’s article teaches you six important first steps to ensuring a successful and legal transition from traditional school settings to home school.

1. Review state home schooling laws.The...

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Advice to my younger self- the student

By Lisa B. | 3/19/2013 8:54 PM CST |

IF I could go back in time and give my younger self some advice on how to be a better student, be more successful in school, life, etc, I would definitely tell myself that being involved in everything comes at a cost. It is better to find a few things that you like to do, do them well and often, than feeling stressed because there is so much on your plate at one time. Being a 'Jack of all Trades' it is natural for me to dip my toes in different waters- all at the same time, but that does not mean that I can give 100% to any of them at that time.

While I was able to get good grades (A- average)...

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