Child Education

August 2005 ' Sydney, Australia. Sydney mothers have discovered a way of providing their children with high quality children's educational toys and they're only paying 20% of store price. These mothers aren't spending hours in discount stores or second hand toy stores. They're buying high quality, highly sought after children's educational toys and instead of paying $100 they're paying only $20. They've organised themselves in groups of 5 or 6 and each mother is buying a toy worth $100. These toys are then circulated within the group so that the group has toys to the value of $500 - $600 and each child has a one month turn with the toy before passing it on to the next family.

 

Ute Fumeaux, CEO and founder of child-educational-toys.com is a mother of 3 who empathised with the thousands of mothers who find it tough finding the extra cash for those high quality children's educational toys on the market.

 

But then, Ute came up with a great idea, one that to date has probably saved her 100's of dollars'''''.In fact this idea has saved 4 of her friends 100's of dollars. It was such a simple idea, that when Ute shared it with 4 friends in her mother's group, they laughed. It just seemed too simple not to be something that everyone did.

 

The idea?

 

Toy Sharing

 

Hang on let's clarify. 5 mothers of boys and girls of similar ages got together ' had a look both on-line and at the multitude of toy catalogues in the mail box. They each chose $100 worth of high quality (relatively unisex) children's educational toys.

 

They then set up a share system or toy library system with the toys. Each family had 1 month turns of each of the toys. At the end of each month the toys were rotated within the group.

 

Now let's have a look at what this meant firstly for the children:

 

'New high quality educational toys each month. 'Just when they were bored/no longer using the toy as often, it went to someone else and a new toy arrived. 'More space to play as their rooms were less cluttered with toys 'There was more money available to the family for other 'necessities'.

 

And then of course from the parents perspective:

 

'Because new toys were circulating every month, there was always an answer for 'can I have'' 'Money saved 'Less unused toys lying around the house 'High quality educational toys were available to their children.

 

This process may seem simple but we all know there are 1000's of families feeling the pinch who still like to be able to provide high quality children's educational toys for their children. Well why not try Ute's idea and save yourself 100's of dollars and be able to give your children their toys?

 

Read a review about the top Educational Toys and find out exactly how to make your own Educational Toys.

What if you could show your child how to discover, unlock and develop their natural talents and creativity?  Every parent has the right to know how they can be in the best position to help their children develop their unique gifts and talents.  You can equip your young children with the knowledge and skills to become masters of their own learning. Not many people know that babies or young children can learn math at reading as young as a month-old.  With the right technique, young children  can learn to develop

1.            Individual gifts and talents

2.         An effective and flexible learning strategy suitable for them

3.            Independent thinking skills

4.         Their own creativity

Learning to read early and learning math early in babies or young children is probably one of the most important skills that are essential for children development.  It is equally important that parents spend some time teaching reading and math to their children early in life as part of child education.

Have you considered how an Einstein, da Vinci or Beethoven thought so creatively, learned their area of expertise and developed their talents to such a level?  When I started my research, the first thing I noticed about the lives of past geniuses was that having the opportunities to learn new things early on in life and express their individual ideas had been an important factor in their development from childhood.  

Today, children of school age are exposed to tests for basic skills and for just about everything else.  Statistical inferences are used often to gauge the children's abilities.  Just think what past geniuses might make of all this if they were alive today.  What if the manner in which we learn had become so basic-skills focused, so test oriented that if, say, Beethoven was in junior school he may not only be bored, but very frustrated with tests after tests, because it was as if his individual gifts, thinking and creativity were hampered at every corner?  Likewise,  a child need not be a Beethoven or an Einstein to feel the same way.

With the coming of the global knowledge economy, it has become relevant to underline the importance of individual ideas, creativity, independent thinking and intellectual property. But none of these 21st century 'facts of life' are congruent with traditional mass education systems the roots of which lie in the 19th century.  This has led to a re-think for the educational systems around the world.  You may not realize this but your child is in the middle of great changes in education.  So why is there a need to change?  Traditionally, mass education systems were designed to prepare your child to pass examinations.  Jobs and careers were for life. 

Today, economies have become volatile and jobs and careers likely to change.  Children of the next generation can expect to have a range of careers as new markets and technologies come out and more opportunities are created.  The speed of communications technology will mean that new knowledge is being produced rapidly all the time.  The ability therefore not just to learn, but learn rapidly, and see learning as a life-long process rather than having ended in school, will be the norm.  What edge can we give our children today, to help them get a brain that can learn fast and learn new concepts to prepare them for the world tomorrow?  A brain that is as creative as it is flexible in its thinking, to identify new patterns to can be transferred in different areas?

Again, lets consider what would Beethoven, Einstein or da Vinci thought about all this happening around them, if they were children, knowing how rapidly the world is changing around them, looking outside their classroom window and wondering what they would do when they left school?

If you have 2 equally well-formed plant seedlings and you put one in a nutrient-rich solution and another in a nutrient-poor solution, what would happen?  A biologist who did this experiment found that the seedling grown in a nutrient-rich environment  grew tall and bloom very well while the other grown in nutrient-poor environment had stunted growth.  Environment, not the biological inheritance of these seedlings has determined their actual growth and success in each case. 

 

Similarly, if you child has a nutrient-rich environment, he can excel and blossom with his natural talents and gifts.  For example, Mozart's father was an established court violinist and musician in Salzburg, Austria.  He taught his son to play the harpsichord, violin and music when Mozart was a young child.  The young Mozart achieved fame very soon.  His father was able to introduce him to circles of influential people, using his position as a court musician in Salzburg.  Age was not seen as a barrier to Mozart being able to learn and develop complex musical technique.  When the young Mozart showed his interest in music above all other things, his parents encouraged him and supported him.

 

As a young child, Leonardo da Vinci's parents supported him in his enthusiasm to explore very wide-ranging interests including mathematics, science, music and art.  In his early teens, da Vinci became an apprentice at the studio of an established and respected artist of the day, Andrea del Verrocchio.  During his time at del Verrocchio's studio, da Vinci developed his artistic skills.  At the same time, however, he was still able to carry on his talent for scientific inventions, using his artistic ability to depict his revolutionary ideas with real visual detail and clarity.

 

However, Einstein's early years were more in line with today's conventional educational experience.  From being a baby, his family supported him greatly in developing his gifts and talents.  He started his school career with primary school and ended it in higher education.  Contrary to popular myth, Einstein was not a man obsessed with science, his interests both in his childhood and later life were always more diverse than that.  In his youth, he explored religious thought and ethics, and took up the violin when he was 12 – something which he continued throughout his life.  His parents allowed him to take his entrance examinations to higher education at the age of 16, two years younger than would be the norm.

 

In the economic sense, neither the family of Mozart, da Vinci nor Einstein were especially wealthy.  So what do all three childhoods of these geniuses have in common?

 

The foundations of genius

 

• Parents who believed in their abilities as children and supported them
• Individual abilities in various fields
• Opportunities to develop their own individual gifts and talents
• No sense of any limits being set on their abilities
• Focus on the ability of the individual
• Discovery, recognition and appreciation of their abilities by others.

 

In the age of computers in our modern day, we can use home based child education programs for children development to teach your baby reading or baby math.  Yes, your baby can start reading early with the right method and attitude. You can teach your baby reading or math, without the stress and it can be fun.

 

So with proper guidance in their early years, any child can develop their gifts and talents.  It is up to us as parents to guide them along their way.  With a well thought out home based program, you can develop the true potential in your child to realize their own genius within.

Most parents and children get nervous when the word 'test' is mentioned.  While tests may be useful in some ways to measure how well or not, a child is doing, it does have its drawbacks.  Too much emphasis on test results can place an artificial age barrier on children's individual abilities.

 

The idea that a child's ability to learn is age dependent is a relatively new one in human history.  If, for instance, we go back to the Middle Ages we see that age and ability were thought of differently at that time.  Elizabeth I, one of the most famous and successful queens in European history was an accomplished philosopher, historian, politician, and multi-lingual before her teens.  There is absolutely nothing in research to say that children are not s capable today.

 

Who then is best placed to say what a child is or is not capable of understanding or learning at any given age – us, armed with a bunch of education statistics, or them?  Any parent who has spent hours trying to sort out how the video recorder works  only to have their five-year fix it for them in under 10 seconds, knows exactly what I mean.  A child does not know that something is too complex for them until we tell them that it is.  If we pre-condition them into thinking their abilities are somehow determined by their age, then we are putting the brakes on them before they even got started.  We are presuming that we know the limits of what they are capable of, and when they will be able to achieve it.  Well-meaning or not, in a more scientific way this is exactly what ability tests do.  If they were not based on preset expectations and markers on ability, what is considered simple or complex, they would not function as tests at all.

 

One of the things to note is that IQ does not equate ability.  The specific role of IQ tests is to measure intelligence in some way.  People with high IQs are not necessarily the academic types.  They may or may not have a degree and they are found in all walks of life, including but certainly not only, academia. 

 

There is certainly  more than one kind of intelligence.  In the 20th century, the research of Professor Howard Gardner, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education questioned the established idea that intelligence came in just one form that could be measured in an IQ test and that was that.  Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences suggests that there may be at least seven different kinds of intelligences in humans, ranging from mathematical/logical to kinaesthetic (finely-tuned motor control and co-ordination).  For example, a successful footballer might have kinaesthetic intelligence.  A successful entrepreneur might have mathematical/logical intelligence.   You may know or be aware of someone who is a successful entrepreneur and footballer all at the same time.  In which case, they would have to have both kinaesthetic as well as mathematical/logical intelligence.

 

Whatever kind of intelligence your child may be gifted in, it is always a good idea to start as soon as possible to train his young brain.  There are home-based training programs available to help busy parents take just minutes a day to bring out the best in their children.  The effects of which are cumulative and the benefits will last a lifetime.  You can teach your child to read or learn math from as little as 2 months old (yes, your baby can read).  Early child education is now more popular than ever and is gaining worldwide recognition.  The earlier your child starts learning, the better will be the effects of such early childhood development program, like learning math or reading  A child genius may be born, but who is to say you cannot develop your own child to be a genius?

 

Your child learns most of his/her life lessons from you, including education. As a parent, you should think that "what your child has learned from you today". If you don't have an answer, think now to spend time with your child for giving good education and ethics of life. You have to dedicate time and effort from your side.

Becoming a teacher! If you are a parent, then you are a teacher for your child. As a parent, you have to teach values, beliefs, issues in every family and how to react in any difficult situation.

You should also teach positive and negative things of life, how to get out from the difficult situation on their own, how to share things, whom to believe, and how to help others. Other people also contribute to your child's development.

Get involved! Many parents think they are involved in child education by selecting a school, dropping and picking their child from school. But, it's not true.

You should involve in their studies. You have to meet your child's teachers and friends regularly to know what is going on. You should realize that your involvement in your child's education is as important as any other areas of their lives.

Be aware! Your involvement should be from school's perspective. Become a teacher and find out what is taught in the school. Check their note books and read every thing that is taught in the classroom.

You should be aware of your child's studies regularly and how your child is performing.

Talk to your child about their school when they are in good mood to explain. When you involve in their school activities, there are less chances of your child becoming absent to the school.

Be visible! Many parents are seen only at school events. But, when you have decided to involve in your child's education, volunteer some of your time at school. Attend the parents' meetings regularly. If you are visible regularly, teachers can meet and discuss if any problem arises. If you cooperate with them, they will not hesitate to discuss any matter with you.

Child success! Parents should involve in learning activities, homework assignments, and making the children read materials and instructions provided by teachers. When you work and spend time for your child, your child can become success in the education.

Become your child's advocate! Children in young age cannot become their own advocates. You have to become your child's advocate to fight back their rights, save from dangerous situations, back their pursuits, become their patron by supporting their talents, speak on their behalf and sponsor their efforts at achieving success.

Becoming an advocate means becoming a teacher and making your child to learn all those things that they are unaware of. When you become advocate, your child learns the same things and protects themselves and their children.

Becoming your child's teacher needs spending time and effort for your child, but it gives fruitful result at the end. Visit Parenting Blog

Everyone at some point has experienced an impasse in communication; those frustrating occasions when it all breaks down and people want to get up and walk out. Just look at a sample of recent headlines: "Peace Talks Breakdown" or "Labor Negotiations at a Stalemate" or "Negotiations Fail to Result in an Accord". When the stakes are high and people are afraid they have something to loose communication becomes strained and people stop listening to one another. Usually this is while claiming that the people on the other side of the table are actually the ones who are not doing the listening. We get so concerned and fearful about getting other people to hear what we have to say, we become unwilling to hear what they have to say.

Indeed, listening seems sometimes as if it is a rare happening among human beings. We can't really listen to another person speaking if we're preoccupied, or if we're trying to decide what we're going to say when the other stops talking, or if we're debating about whether what is being spoken is true or relevant or agreeable. Listening, in other words, is being accessible and open to what is being said.

At Landmark Education we contend that listening has an amazing power. It gives life to what is being spoken. You might even say it is with the listener that both the speaker and what is spoken exist and come alive. Think of how inspired and enlivened the elderly can become when you sit down and have an extended conversation with them. Think about what happens when someone is really listening to you. Ever notice that you become funnier and more playful when someone laughs at your jokes? What about when a child recognizes that adults are actually listening to them? Their whole demeanor shifts. In the programs of Landmark Education, you find yourself with a new ability to listen to others. You find yourself inspired by the people you have in your life. When you truly listen to people you discover the best of what they have to offer.

Speaking, meanwhile, can be something more than talking, more than the exchange of symbols or information, more than saying what you really think. In speaking we can share ourselves; we can evoke experience in others. Speaking is where our ideas become clear and possible. It is where others are expanded by our time spent with them. It allows for the futures we create. Speaking lives in poetry, in the appreciation of another, in idle conversations that pass the time, in great theories and books that give rise to wonder and thought.
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Speaking allows for "who" and "how" we "are" in the world. It is what gives voice to all that is possible in being human. In our ability to speak and share we have the ability to shape the world we live in.

In the courses of Landmark Education you find that true communication is creation. It has the power to shape, determine, and alter the course and quality of our lives. It moves people. It generates experience in others. It not only delivers information to others, it actually transforms their ability to hear. True communication transforms both the speaker and listener.

The Landmark Forum suggests that what it is to be human has its own domain and that domain is one of language—of communication, of conversation. Through communication —the realm of language, of conversation—each of us has complete access to ourselves, to others, to the very essence and possibility of what it means to be human.

This is the essence of what Landmark Education is about and what The Landmark Forum provides.

Copyright © 2007 Landmark Education. All rights reserved.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, nearly 300 children under 4 years old die every month in the United States because of accidents - most of which can be prevented.  Children injure themselves in a variety of ways including in play spaces, on doors and gates, in kitchen and cooking areas and on inappropriate toys or broken toys to name just a few.

Play space injuries can be avoided in a classroom by making sure toys are properly stored when not in use and the room arrangement is designed to include a variety of activity centers with adequate space for children to explore.

Many children are injured each year because of the careless use of doors and gates.  To avoid these injuries, make sure that doors and gates are kept closed.  Never leave an open door unattended, remind parents and teach children to open doors carefully and slowly to avoid injuring a child playing on the other side.

To prevent injuries in cooking areas, it is best to restrict access to adults only, few things are safe for young children in the kitchen area.

Toys play a major role in the early childhood setting.  Children love toys.  However, many children are injured each year by toys.  There are four major factors affecting toy safety: toy selection, toy maintenance, toy storage, and supervision and interaction.

Some toys can pose a risk if precautions are not taken. Select good quality toys that promote safe play.  Consider the children's age, interests, and skill level when selecting toys.  Follow age and safety recommendations on toy labels and read the label, as it contains important play guidelines.

Toys go through a lot of wear and tear in the early childhood setting.  Proper maintenance of toys can prevent and reduce injuries.  Inspect toys on a regular basis for damage or potential hazards and repair or discard damaged toys immediately.

Teach children to put toys away safely on shelves after playing.  Proper storage will ensure that toys intended for older children will be stored separately from toys for younger children and reduce the number of injuries to children.

Supervising children while they play is essential to avoiding injuries. Never hesitate to stop reckless or improper play behavior.  Always let the children know when their play is dangerous and demonstrate or discuss the proper play behavior.

Learn more about child safety and protection. Visit ChildCare Education Institute to discover over 100 online child care training courses that meet the continuing education requirements of the child care industry.  Register for a sample course and try online learning today!

Just like typically developing children, children with special needs have strengths and weaknesses. Some children may have a recognizable syndrome, for example, a child with Down syndrome or a child who wears a hearing aid.  Other children may exhibit delays, but may not have been diagnosed with a specific condition or syndrome.  With time and practice of skills, many seemingly delayed children will ultimately catch up in their development.  Young children might be diagnosed as having a developmental delay because it is unknown if the child's condition will be ongoing or if he or she will eventually develop at the same rate as his or her peers. In other cases, children may be at risk for a special need because of their environment or a chronic health condition, such as ear infections or a depressed immune system.

Regardless of the challenges children may face, all children can learn and all children should be allowed to participate in everyday routines and activities to the best of their capabilities.  Special adaptations may be necessary.  Sometimes a child is only able to participate partially.  Research tells us that children learn best in natural environments with typically developing peers.

ChildCare Education Institute (CCEI) has added to its catalog of online professional development courses, SPN100: Inclusive Literacy Lessons, written by author and consultant, Dr. Pam Schiller. Dr. Schiller is a freelance early childhood consultant and author who shares her extensive knowledge in workshops, radio and television interviews, and as a popular keynote speaker and author. She has published several children's books, music CDs, DVDs, and more than thirty teacher resource books.

Learn more about helping children in need. Visit ChildCare Education Institute to discover over 100 online child care training courses that meet the continuing education requirements of the child care industry.  Register for a sample course and try online learning today!

As an early care director, it is imperative that you provide for the health and safety of the children in your care. A healthy school environment is one that tries to eliminate health related circumstances that might interfere with learning. Illness prevention is a key factor.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services' Healthy Child Care Campaign suggests that each child care center should have a set of health goals and methods
of implementing these goals. In addition to health initiatives sponsored by the federal government, administrators should be aware of state regulations and procedures that must be followed to ensure that everyone in the early childhood setting stays healthy.

State regulations make directors and teachers responsible for the health of the children while they are in the center's care.  These regulations are legal requirements that you assume when you work with children in early childhood settings.  Negligence is a conscious act or decision that endangers the health of a child. The failure to assume liabilities is considered negligence.

Healthy habits reduce the spread of illness.  It is important to:
*  Have a good, enforced center health policy for staff and children
*  Make sure there are no sick children or teachers at the facility
*  Do a morning health check of children
*  Keep a list of substitute teachers on file
*  Educate the children 

If children and adults practice healthy habits, fewer people will become ill.

Learn more about developing and enforcing a silk child policy to promote a healthy classroom. Visit ChildCare Education Institute to discover over 100 online child care training courses that meet the continuing education requirements of the child care industry.  Register for a sample course and try online learning today!

Anne Frank. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. P. Diddy. At first glance, these three personalities do not have anything in common. Frank was a young Jewish girl who kept a diary while hiding from Hitler's forces, Marquez is a best-selling author and Nobel laureate in Literature while Diddy is a rapper turned business mogul. But they do share one thing: they are all products of a Montessori school.

The fact that Montessori has produced many famous and celebrated individuals speaks for the efficacy of its advocated method in educating children. In fact, there is nearly no primary school in America that does not include a Montessori technique in its program in one way or another.

The roots of Montessori
Montessori was founded by an Italian physician and educator named Maria Montessori. She was the first woman recipient of a medical degree in Italy and started her career as medical staff in a psychiatric clinic at the University of Rome. This experience with mentally retarded children inspired her to start the State Orthophrenic School of Rome, which was previously an asylum.

Montessori drew heavily on the methods and philosophies of Edouard Seguin and Jean Itard, two French educators she admired, to teach mentally retarded children. Convinced that her methods would have better results with normally intelligent children, Montessori opened the Casa de Bambini or Children's House in 1907 where she practiced her methods extensively.

While initially an experimental school, The Children's House became a very successful showcase of the Montessori Method and became famous throughout the world. In 1912, Montessori published the book 'The Montessori Method' where she detailed her system and criticized traditional techniques. The book became instrumental in reforming primary education worldwide.

The Montessori Method.
Older systems of education emphasized learning through physical compulsion to attract and maintain the attention of the child which Maria Montessori opposed. She instead pushed for using didactic materials to stimulate the child's interest while learning at the same time. This method allows the child to naturally concentrate on a task willingly, allowing him to gain knowledge without the usual stress or annoyance that older, more traditional methods produced.

Teaching a child using the Montessori Method involves providing children with enough freedom to discover new knowledge and skills within the confines of an environment that is specially prepared for this purpose. Each child is encouraged to work at his own pace and begin activities by themselves. Children may shift from one series of learning materials to another freely.

The method stresses the early learning of writing and reading, usually before the age of five. By training the senses and physical abilities, children become involved in a series of guided tasks involving manipulation of objects and discovering the association between them. By developing confidence and discipline in children, the Montessori Method promotes self-motivated learning.

When a child becomes ready for new and more complex tasks, the teacher, called the director in a Montessori school, then acts as a guide to lead the child to the next level, preventing the waste of effort and the accumulation of useless habits. Teachers are trained to recognize that learning is a cooperative undertaking and children can best learn in an environment that guides and directs them and avoids blame or long lectures.

The core of the Montessori Method.
The method recognizes that children learn differently from adults and that they are not helpless beings but quite capable to learn on their own. The method also acknowledges that children from age 6 and younger have an unlimited motivation to learn competence and skills within an environment that is comfortable, reasonably free and academic.

Learning through discovery is encouraged through self-correcting learning materials that children manipulate on their own. Independent problem-solving is also promoted and recognized.

How children's progress is measured.
While conventional methods of measurements are discouraged, children's educational progress is tracked through a series of qualitative analysis and feedback regarding a child's performance. This is made based on critical points, a list of skills, activities and an achievement narrative including the child's strengths, weaknesses and areas of improvement. The word 'failure' is never used even when a child needs a lot of room for improvement in a certain area.

Proof of the Montessori Method Efficacy.
Contemporary education for children owes a lot to Maria Montessori's methods. She was the one who initiated providing young students with games stressing developmental learning, colorful materials and child-sized tables and chairs. Even today, scientists continually discover new evidence that proves how effective her methods are.

In the field of early childhood education, teachers of young children must find ways to show that children are growing, developing, and learning.  Parents, as well as teachers, want to see proof of growth and development.  Appropriate assessment methods can provide that proof.  Assessment is defined as "taking stock of a situation".  It is important that teachers of young children understand the need for assessment in the classroom setting, evaluate children and take stock of their growth and development.

Authentic Assessment is defined as the process of documenting and evaluating growth and development in real-life situations over time.  It shows what children can do, what they know, and what they understand.  Rather than attempting to explain a child's performance based on one test, this type of assessment focuses on the progress and growth of a child over time.  Authentic assessment helps to paint a more accurate picture of who the child is and how the child is growing and learning.

The term assessment, when used in the context of early childhood education, is sometimes interchanged with the term observation.

Observation is one method of assessing student growth and development and is probably the best-known, most widely used way that teachers evaluate the progress of the young children they teach.

Teachers may wonder what to assess when working with young children.  Using multiple forms of assessment allows a teacher to reveal an accurate picture of the child.  Early childhood includes children from birth to age eight and is a very difficult period to assess because the rate of growth is so rapid.  Also, growth is highly influenced by nurturing parents, quality of care, and the learning environment.

Parents want to be assured that their child is ready for school.  In addition, teachers and administrators want to know if they are offering effective programs.  Therefore, assessment information is critical to the child, the parent, and the success of the program.

Assessment is a hot topic in the field of early childhood education as accountability becomes more important for teachers and schools.  As educators, we must find ways to show we are teaching and that children are learning.  It is imperative to find methods that illustrate growth and development over time, allowing children to be evaluated in real-life, everyday settings.  It is the teacher's responsibility to find methods of documentation that report success of children.

By understanding the basic developmental areas of the children you teach, assessment can be made simple.  Easy-to-learn methods of assessment will help you document the developmental growth of young children over time.

Learn more about assessment tools for the classroom. Visit ChildCare Education Institute to discover over 100 online child care training courses that meet the continuing education requirements of the child care industry.  Register for a sample course and try online learning today!

It's no secret that children today are bombarded with distractions. From worthless reality TV shows, portable gaming consoles, the lure of sex, drugs and alcohol—more and more minors are losing perspective and failing to prioritize education and learning. Our liberties as a democratic nation have, somehow, hurt the importance of child education services in our society. Instead, a greater value and price has been put on self-expression and personal freedom. This has made quality education close to being a relic of the past. If your child is suffering from bad grades and you find that getting him or her to school is like pulling teeth, then perhaps it's high time you got some reinforcement.

There may be many reasons why your child's grades are slipping. A schoolyard bully could be putting pressure on your little one and causing anxiety—making school a negative environment that your child would rather be far away from. Perhaps the subject or subjects that your child is failing in is just not as interesting or perhaps the teacher may not be communicating well to your child. Whatever the reason may be, getting your child a home tutor could be a great thing.

A classroom setting, while ideal in helping kids learn to cope with others at a set pace, may prove challenging for other children. The problem with a classroom setting is that there is a great tendency to overlook the personal needs of a child which could impede his or her learning progress. A home tutor will work at your child's pace and can give complete, undivided attention that your child needs. Most children get shy when asked to perform or participate in front of a group. A one-on-one setting could prove very fruitful in encouraging your child to reach his or her potential. It's easier to build a child's self-esteem on a more personal level and then proceed from there.

In other cases where a child has no problem with going to school but could stand to do better academically, a decision to hire a private home tutor can still be very helpful in reinforcing the lessons that your child has learned for the day. That way, the learning doesn't stop in the classroom setting and instead is learned through and through thereby helping your child advance. As long as you choose the right tutor for your child, getting extra help to boost your child's academic performance could be one of the best choices you make.

Single parent involvement in child education may seem hard to do, but in reality, it is easier than you think.

Benefits of Parental Involvement in Child Education

A parent's involvement in their child's school and academic life has positive effects on her child's growth, not only in school, but later on in life. The more a parent is involved in her child's education, the more likely the child is to achieve higher than average grades, and develop a positive attitude towards school and homework. These children are also more likely to pursue higher education.

Given the benefits, for some parents, however, involvement in their child's education may seem unworkable, and is true especially for working and single parents. Single parent involvement in child education is a challenge. Single parents feel they may not be able to contribute to their child's learning or to their child's school because of endless commitments to work, time constraints, and financial struggles.

It is possible to get involved in your child's education!

Difficult as it seems, it is absolutely crucial for parents to find the time to participate in their child's education. Single parent involvement in child education may currently seem unattainable, but take heart, there are simple things single or working parents can do to further their child's education and ability to learn.

Single parent involvement in child education may be as simple as finding out what your child is being taught in school and asking them about their day. Single parents can try alternative ways to become involved in their child's education, such as quiz your child as you make dinner, have a mock "at home spelling bee" on the weekends or make the most of the morning drive by popping an educational CD into the car stereo when bringing your child to school.

Single parents can set aside time during the evenings to read to or just spend time talking with their children. Single parents should also put together a schedule and set specific times for homework and tutoring to take place. Clearing a space for your child to study will help reinforce the importance of focus while engaging in school work.

If possible, single parent involvement in child education should extend to the classroom. Periodically, single parents can attend parent-teacher conferences, and other school events, or join the PTA.

Putting a child in team sports, music lessons and art classes can help develop a his capacity for learning. Though this may be a big time commitment for the parent, it will pay off down the road, as children pick up valuable social skills and benefit from a well- rounded education based on active learning.

Ultimately, it is the parent's responsibility to make sure their child gets a quality education. Single parent involvement in child education may seem so a hard task at times, but is crucial to the ongoing development and continuing success of your child in life.