tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43885617041192951362024-09-22T16:37:31.470-07:00Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.comBlogger92125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-76981968571810070592008-04-28T15:55:00.000-07:002008-04-28T16:00:02.951-07:00

For high-school students, final exams are just around the corner. And, like it or not, third- through eighth-graders are getting ready to take federally mandated standardized tests.Following are some best practices to help your student get the most out of testing:Prepare in advanceHelp students continue to build and maintain good homework and study habits.Stay on top of school performance and

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-14595694972716773532008-03-05T09:05:00.000-08:002008-03-05T09:25:46.293-08:00

"Defects in working memory -- the brain's temporary storage bin -- may explain why one child cannot read her history book and another gets lost in algebra, new research suggests," according to a Reuters story.Working memory allows people to hold and manipulate a few items in their minds, such as a telephone number. For adults, the basic box size is thought to be three to five items."Since there

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-28052785731005256382008-02-28T01:13:00.000-08:002008-02-28T01:21:09.257-08:00

Today...Home tutoring company, TeamUP! Tutors, offers families throughout the Seattle-Tacoma area access to qualified private tutors to help improve grades and build confidence for all school subjects.Read the announcement of our tutoring service in Seattle.

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-84732414812818166942008-02-23T18:37:00.000-08:002008-02-23T18:48:58.064-08:00

The ability of children to self-regulate is developed in make-believe play. And self-regulation is related to executive function; "a better predictor of success in school than a child's IQ. Children who are able to manage their feelings and pay attention are better able to learn."NPR's Morning Edition has an interesting story on how "old-fashioned play builds serious skills." The story explains

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-57248536719583854872008-02-15T16:23:00.000-08:002008-02-15T17:43:55.169-08:00

Boys want relationships more than just sex with the girls they date .Reported in the New York Times, a paper published in Journal of Adolescence says the "overall findings are contrary to cultural beliefs that boys are interested primarily in sex and not relationships."“Let’s give boys more credit,'’ said study author Andrew Smiler, an assistant professor of psychology at the university. “

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-42944723467569313582008-02-14T19:17:00.000-08:002008-02-14T20:52:42.860-08:00

If you're getting ready for the SAT, then you know there's a lot to learn. In addition to the material -- the math, the vocabulary, and the writing -- there's the vagaries of the test itself. Taking the SAT is not like taking a test at school.The SAT lasts over three hoursOn the SAT, easy and hard questions are scored the sameNo partial credit"Look, there's just no way you're going to do

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-19606608291195932182008-02-13T19:48:00.000-08:002008-02-13T19:54:30.141-08:00

For my son's math homework tonight, he needed "dot paper," not "graph paper" (as he repeated since I am getting dafter everyday... just ask him!).I used http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/ where I could specify the scale, color and a few other attributes and then download my custom pdf file to print at home.

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-3025489873936007632007-11-12T11:46:00.000-08:002007-11-12T11:49:15.123-08:00

Many psychologists think that the best way to remember what you read is to follow the PQ4R method. PQ4R is a mnemonic device for: Preview, Question, and four R's: Read, Reflect, Recite, Review.If you are reading a chapter in your biology book, for example, you should start by skimming the whole chapter for an overview. Then create some questions to concentrate on while you study, such as "

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-77066807533603067372007-11-07T20:10:00.000-08:002007-11-07T20:40:12.313-08:00

I came across Better Explained, a blog that takes a straight forward approach to explaining a few math and programming problems. The math sections are great! There are just a handful of topics covered, but it is refreshing to see some gnarly problems explained simply and directly.Studying probability & statistics? Or perhaps you're wrestling with applications of the pythagorean theorem.

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-19736393932637810032007-10-18T23:01:00.000-07:002008-12-09T13:40:31.796-08:00

"It's amazing what can happen to underachievers when someone believes in them and is willing to help," said private tutor and former teacher Jennifer Dutkiewicz. Of course just chanting "I am the greatest..." isn't going to help most children, but your involvement can. The Arizona Republic article continues:"If your child is having a hard time with school, it is imperative that you get

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-39656129508653677832007-10-17T11:12:00.000-07:002008-12-09T13:40:32.106-08:00

Do you know how you'll respond when your child's report card comes home? Whether or not grades meet our expectations or our child's, our response can help motivate our child and provide a chance to learn. Are social skills an issue? Does you son's lack of organization and poor study skills translate into lower grades? Perhaps he is struggling only in one subject.All these scenarios are

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-10019635751039232142007-10-17T01:11:00.000-07:002008-12-09T13:40:32.322-08:00

"If your child is beginning to fall behind in a certain academic area, it is important to take action as quickly as possible to help her or him get back up to speed," writes high school teacher Ruth Dalisay in the Honolulu Advertiser. "A tutor may be able to help your child by accelerating the learning process in an intimate, one-on-one setting. A tutor also can help compensate for anything that

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-79154473178421484932007-10-12T18:54:00.000-07:002007-10-12T18:59:50.867-07:00

Involved parents make a big, positive difference in children's education. If you want to make homework work for your family, here are some ideas from MVParents.com of what you can do, organized by age.For parents with children ages 6 - 9Establish a consistent homework routine at a time that works for your family; stick with it as often as possible. Make sure lighting is bright and the seating is

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-56580152591808737572007-10-11T10:23:00.000-07:002008-12-09T13:40:32.463-08:00

In response to the story about the teacher assigning homework to parents, the New York Times invited Sara Bennett, coauthor of The Case Against Homework, to write an op-ed. Her essay wasn't printed, but is available online.While all parents want their children to develop — socially, emotionally, and intellectually — school-imposed assignments on parents are not going to help. Instead, such

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-78021664711703985752007-10-11T02:01:00.000-07:002008-12-09T13:40:32.605-08:00

Involved parents make a big, positive difference in children's education. If you want to make homework work for your family, here are some ideas from MVParents.com of what you can do, organized by age.For parents with children ages birth to 5At this age, the best things you can do to support your children's learning and readiness for school are to read, read, read to them and help them safely

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-90426379270206376952007-10-08T22:44:00.000-07:002007-10-08T23:01:49.234-07:00

Roberta Valentine has taught 5th grade for 20 years. Every year she, like all elementary school teachers, has a few students who can't concentrate or hold still more than a few moments. An article in The New York Times lists some approaches tried and failed over the years:... setting a timer for 10 minutes to help children break up their work time into manageable chunks; giving a child a stuffed

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-69769232756973001702007-10-07T22:39:00.001-07:002008-12-09T13:40:32.837-08:00

Sounds crazy, but parents of students in Damion Frye’s ninth-grade Montclair, NJ, English class have homework too. The New York Times writes about assignments that range from commentary on a Franz Kafka story to Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" to a speech by Robert F. Kennedy. And if the dog eats your homework, it could cost your student.Surprisingly, most parents are very supportive and

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-21798439373088429742007-10-05T09:16:00.000-07:002008-12-09T13:40:33.007-08:00

Richard Lavoie, educator and author, talks to USA Today about how to motivate kids."The most important thing parents and teachers need to do is to keep in mind the balance between what I call support and challenge. You need to constantly challenge kids. But you need to give them the support to meet those challenges," he says.Richard Lavoie's book, The Motivation Breakthrough, outlines six

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-46993992911779982372007-10-05T01:16:00.000-07:002007-10-05T01:41:02.014-07:00

In over 1,200 schools across the country, students are required to pick a major or area of interest. The Christian Science Monitor reports on two different approaches schools take and the criticism levied against the concept.Some schools have an exhaustive list of specific majors -- 443 in the case of Florida schools -- mapping to particular jobs. These include fashion, agricultural machinery

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-16695640804882163732007-10-01T09:02:00.000-07:002008-12-09T13:40:33.297-08:00

How do you know if your child needs a tutor? "Give them a chance to wrestle with a topic. But, if you notice that an increased effort is not helping and you see that they just need an extra connection, talk to someone about getting some help," says Nancy Cardwell, a professor of child development, talking to CBS's The Saturday Early Show.She also provides the following tips, all ones we

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-69508982869886320992007-09-28T08:39:00.000-07:002008-12-09T13:40:33.412-08:00

O, to be a skeptic. "The family meal may be threatened with extinction but 'High-Tech' parents are now communicating much better with their teenagers and giving them more freedom, says child psychologist Richard Woolfson."The article, from Reuters, claims that because it's easier for parents to contact their kids -- by email, internet, webcam and mobile phone -- their children have become

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-44652039920432531212007-09-28T00:44:00.001-07:002008-12-09T13:40:33.514-08:00

The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, outscored Earnest Hemingway (& others) on the writing portion of the SAT, as reported by the Atlantic Monthly in 2004. Now, hundreds of universities, including several top schools, ignore students' scores on the writing section of the SAT in admissions decisions, according to a story in the Boston Globe.The College Board, which administers the test, said its

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-56139904033733811792007-09-24T20:39:00.000-07:002008-12-09T13:40:33.828-08:00

Heard the wry comment that parenting is finding the balance between threats and bribes? Author Alfie Kohn explains in this interview that by rewarding our children, we teach them to work for the reward instead of for the original objective."More than 70 studies have found that the more you reward people for doing something, the more they lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-76521049167935701352007-09-21T14:29:00.000-07:002008-12-09T13:40:34.050-08:00

At TeamUP! Tutors, we get a lot of calls from parents whose children suffer from test anxiety. Dr. Peters, Today Contributor, writes that:True test anxiety is really quite rare. For this condition, psychologists generally suggest relaxation techniques, getting enough sleep the night before and not cramming for the test, among other remedies.Most of the time, however, when parents come to me

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4388561704119295136.post-48726080227462243772007-09-21T08:21:00.000-07:002008-12-09T13:40:34.253-08:00

"In affluent school districts, science labs are the stuff of everyday learning. But not so for an estimated 77,000 students in poor San Jose school districts, which don't have the resources to conduct hands-on, serious bio-science experiments," reports the San Jose Mercury News. Now, some of those students will thanks to Schmal Science and their BioMobileLab, which includes equipment for

Leon Baranovskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03183899255016905236noreply@blogger.com1