How to find your child’s inner athlete

Article written by Internet School reviews

With so many distractions, like TV, video games and ipads, children are more likely to feed a couch potato lifestyle. However, as a parent, it is your responsibility to encourage your child to be active, for health, fitness and to enjoy the social aspect being part of a team. Here are a few tips to get your child active.

Boost your child’s confidence – To build your child’s skills, take sometime from your busy schedule, to show your child skills like throwing, catching and kicking a ball. Even if your child takes sometime to master these skills, you should always provide a lot of encouragement.

Be supportive – Your child may feel that he/she is not as athletic as his/her peers. Remind your child that they are still growing and that they have not reached their full potential. If they are not doing well at one sport, ask them to try something new.

Choose the right sport – Find a sport your child can succeed in. If standard sports like basketball, swimming and tennis don’t interest your child, try dance, golf or boxing. As your child gets older, they may feel that school sports teams are only for the elite and are very competitive. If this is the case, enrol them in a church or community center team.

Share your skills and experiences – If you have been part of a sports team in school, you should share your experiences with your child. Explain to them what you liked most about the game and what areas you felt required more practice.

Single sex versus co ed education

Article written by Benefits of education, a blog about education

Many parents think long and hard if they want to enrol their children into a single sex or a co educational school. Here are the pros and cons that should be considered before making a decision.

Pro single sex schooling

May lead to better academic results – Children learning in single sex schools have shown to achieve better academic results. This may be due to the fact that single sex schools have less distractions from the opposite sex. For example girls thrive in an atmosphere that is devoid from social fear and embarrassment.

Catering to gender learning styles – Each sex prefers to learn by using different styles. In a single sex school, teachers will be able to cater to one type of learning style. For example boys prefer a practical approach to learning, while girls prefer an interpersonal learning style.

Pro coeducational schooling

Social benefits – Coeducational schooling is more realistic and one that is similar to a child’s tertiary and workplace environment. This can help a child’s long term success, since it reflects the real world.

Individual education – Educators at coeducational schools have now been trained to provide individual learning. This mean that instead of concentrating on one method for each gender, they use different methods for each child.

The points above are important to consider before enrolling your child into a school. However, it is important to note, that a significant element in a child’s learning should be placed on the level of teacher quality.

How to Choose the Right Therapeutic Program for Your Misbehaving Child

Therapeutic boarding schools and treatment centers can be life savers.

Therapeutic boarding schools and residential treatment centers are programs designed to help troubled children and teenagers with their personal struggles. Anything from drug abuse to brushes with the law, these designated therapeutic facilities are divided by age and grade level. Each school offers their own unique approach on “character building” and therapy. If you’re considering sending your child over to one of these centers, then it’s important that you take the necessary steps to figure out which type of program is right for your child.

Therapeutic Programs

Depending on what type of behavior your child has been exhibiting, it’s important that you figure out the sole cause of what he or she is conflicted with. For example, if you notice your child is skipping out on meals and is purposely not eating due to displeasure with his or her own body type, there are eating disorder assistance programs that help get them back on track to a healthy and consistent lifestyle. Programs for troubled youth are some of the more common types of programs, due to the large quantity of children misbehaving and putting themselves in bad positions.

Specialty Schools

Specialty programs have been developed for individuals that suffer from a mental impairment that doesn’t allow them to control their behavior. These programs were designed to stay away from administering medications and instead focus on a more natural approach with specially-designed activities. With the proper guidance and leadership that these programs take pride in, your child will be in good hands.


 

Wood Creek Academy is a therapeutic boarding school for boys offering wilderness therapy programs unlike a typical boot camp for teenagers.

Motivating your child to read

Motivating your child to read can be a tough task, but one that is very rewarding. There are a number of reasons why children don’t like to read. They might think that reading is boring, not important and not too much fun. Here are a few tips to get your child into the reading habit;

Take your child on a library adventure- Take your child out on a trip to the library and show him/her how to locate books they might like. Ask them to select a few books that might interest them. Check if the library has a kids reading club and get your child enrolled. Reading with other children, would be a great way for a child to get motivated to read and make friends at the same time.

Read – Take sometime to read to your child. This could be at bed time, when everyone is relaxed. If you have small children buy a few books with colourful pictures with some text.

Discuss the book – If you’re reading a book to your child ask him/her what they thought about the story, how would they change it if they could. If your child is old enough, you could even ask him/ her to write their own story and ask them to read it to you.

Read more – Children learn best by example not advice. If they see you reading, they would be more likely to pick up a book and read beside you.

How and Why Juvenile Boot Camps Work

Written by: Wood Creek Academy

When parents hear the words “juvenile boot camp”, the idea can be unsettling. One might imagine drill instructors screaming as children try and struggle their way through barbed wire obstacle courses. Reality is very different.

The debate over how to use a boot camp for teenagers has heated up in recent years as more state governments look for methods to reduce spending on reform and discipline. It’s been shown that these boot camps are typically cheaper than the alternative of juvenile incarceration.

The primary goal of wilderness therapy programs involves modifying the behavior of all participants with the goal of reducing repeat offenses. The theory is that children who learn team building in the wild will have a greater sense of self, and understand how to work with others. The cost-effectiveness of treatment is secondary to the primary goal of reducing recidivism.

These camps also serve as detox centers for kids who find themselves addicted to alcohol or narcotics. The camps take them away from their usual element, where they can’t find their drug of choice, and give them positive tasks to channel their frustrations toward. Most of these schools are expressly for the purposes of correction, but some help troubled youth who can’t adjust well to their communities.

Camps place an emphasis on self reliance, teamwork and cooperation. Those who leave feel better prepared to deal with others. They leave with greater confidence, and a deeper understanding of themselves. Most of these kids have also never experienced nature at that level, so camps provide a method to mentally recharge.

Improving your child’s education outside the class room

Making learning fun and interactive is a great way to teach children to improve their awareness outside the classroom. Your child should be taught that learning is a lifelong process of questioning and discussion. Creating new learning environments for your child will expose your child to new experiences that cannot be taught in a classroom. Here are 5 easy learning techniques to foster your child’s learning and curiosity.

Explore the World

Build your child’s curiosity by travelling with your child. Whether it’s a short day trip or a weeklong stay, make sure you expose your child to different cultures, traditions, food and history. To make the most of your travel, plan ahead by researching a few sights that would interest your child.

Everyday Education

Include learning in everyday mundane tasks. For example include your child in making his or her own lunch or when watching a basket ball game, explain to your child how the game is played.

Take Every Opportunity to Answer “Why?”

Make sure everyday learning opportunities are not missed by always taking the time to answer your child questions. For example looking at the night sky can inspire your child to question about the universe.

Include religion

If religion is part of your family, get your child involved in religious classes, youth groups and camps. Children will learn about religious concepts as well as its context to history.

Visit your local Public Library

Your local public library will provide you with free collections of books, magazines and archives. Reading programs in libraries will encourage your child to read with other children all the while sharing knowledge and making new friends.

3 Tips To Help One Learn the Basics of Teaching

No matter how you see it, there is no simple answer to what makes successful teaching.

Since every student is unique, different methods need to be used in order to help them learn. There are times when moms with no experience can teach their children better than experienced educators.

So, there’s no doubt that the art of teaching can be mastered. Here are 3 tips to help one learn the rudiments of teaching:

1: Set clear objectives

Much like a driver needs GPS and SIRI to help them, a teacher’s objectives will work as road maps for bot her and the students. In fact, the lesson plans are nothing but road maps themselves. When you create this type of play, you are building a creative framework within which you can flourish.

2: Use Online Resources

There are so many online resources available for both students and teachers. One example is iPracticeMath which has grade-wise lessons for math and which are also categorized into a number of topics too. Apart from this, teachers can also avail of digital learning resources that can help improve their teaching abilities and effectiveness in providing instruction.

3: Praise and use humor

Being witty and humorous will go a long way in teaching your child. For starters, you’ll be able to bring down stress and frustration levels. If you make them laugh, they will feel about the teaching experience too. Also, encouragement and appreciation are a must. Everyone needs some at any given point. One good reason to do this is because praising the smallest success will lead to greater ones.

3 Ways You Can Raise a Child to Love STEM

There’s no doubt that a focus on STEM education is vital for the future of the United States. Apart from the conventional benefits offered by STEM education, being curious, innovative and utilizing critical thinking is important too.

Here’s 3 ways you can raise a child to love STEM:

1: Start them young

You have to find fun ways to inculcate STEM concepts into their lifestyle or daily routine. For example, you can prepare an activity that takes a STEM-based activity and use it as a theme for your child’s birthday party. One excellent example of this was getting children to find dinosaur bones at a party complete with their own paleontology kit and all. Simple chemistry experiments are wonderful too.

2: Make it a Family Affair

There are times when children have to work on scientific projects for school – let’s say, for a science fair. Spend time with your children brainstorming ideas for these projects without it being too expensive. Of course, ensure that he or she does all the work but be there to support them when they truly need it. In the end, winning a competition isn’t everything – they should have fun working on such projects as a result.

3: Work on Simple STEM Project For Fun

It doesn’t matter how silly the project might seem. Work on it with your children even if it won’t bring recognition, acclaim or prizes for the idea. Not will they learn something new such as soldering and mechanical skills, they will also be able to have a few laughs (given how silly the project might be!). Best part: they will also get a chance to give thought to how they can apply simple electronics in different ways.

Consider a Different Kind of School for Your Child

Article by Wood Creek Academy

If your child is showing signs that they may be headed down a bad path, it can be easy to think that this sort of thing is nothing roe than what you should expect from all teenagers.

Unfortunately, some parents learn the hard way that this isn’t actually the case. Instead, their child goes too far and ends up in very serious trouble. At the very least, they may not graduate on time. However, they could end up in jail or even worse.

This is why programs for troubled youth have become so popular in recent years. They are absolutely vital for helping young people get the help they need before their lives veer off too far in the wrong direction.

There are all kinds of behavior modification schools for you to choose from as well, so you can get the specific kind of aid you’re looking for. The one thing they all have in common, though, is that they remove your teenager from the environment where these problems are happening. Often times, this is enough. Getting rid of peer pressure and other triggers can help your child reform, get their education and fix themselves once and for all.

So if your teenager is making mistake after mistake, look into getting them help from a different type of school.

 

If you’re in the market for boot camp for teenagers, look no further than Wood Creek Academy. There, you’ll find an environment that nurtures their abilities while helping them through any rough patches.

Teacher Turned General: The Story of Joshua Chamberlain

By Samuel Phineas Upham

Groomed to become an educator or a clergyman, Joshua Chamberlain nervously bounced between many professions throughout his adolescence and early adulthood. He was the oldest of five children, and thought to have been his mother’s favorite while his father ruled with an iron fist. The boy was encouraged to join the military from a young age, but never felt himself quite up to the task.

When America went to war with itself, Chamberlain felt passionately that he owed the Union forces and that they needed men like him. He is noted for proclaiming: “I fear, this war, so costly of blood and treasure, will not cease until men of the North are willing to leave good positions, and sacrifice the dearest personal interests, to rescue our country from desolation, and defend the national existence against treachery.”

A teacher at the time, Chamberlain would frequently hold tangential discussions in class where he openly expressed his pro-Union beliefs and encouraged his students to follow their hearts for guidance in the Civil War.

The University, though, did not share his passionate beliefs and he was given a leave of absence where he was supposed to go to Europe and study various languages. Instead, he joined the war effort unbeknownst to his family and colleagues.

Chamberlain rose quickly through the ranks, and was recognized mostly for his strategic defense of Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg. Chamberlain was awarded the Medal of Honor for recognizing the strategic importance of the hill to Union forces that day.

Chamberlain’s feats are dramatized in the film Gettysburg, although the account is somewhat inaccurate.


About the Author: Samuel Phineas Upham is an investor at a family office/ hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Phin Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media and Telecom group. You may contact Phin on his Samuel Phineas Upham website or Facebook.