There is a great new math site that is just getting started. It already has a lot of good information and tools to help your kids learn math. There are plenty of worksheets and worksheet generators to provide your children with problems to strengthen their math skills. While the site is still under construction, it is still very useful. Check it out at http://www.mathmix.com
The other morning I was watching a story on CNN about college drop out rates among NCAA athletes. They had suggested that they were too high and something needed to be done. One of the suggestions on the table was penalizing schools that didn’t meet a certain quota as far as keeping their athletes in school.
While I realize education is important, I think the idea of penalizing a school for their athlete dropout rates is one of the most ridiculous I’ve ever heard. Top caliber athletes have a lot of opportunities that most of us don’t have. Some may go to the Olympics, while others eventually go professional. These opportunities should not be taken lightly and I know this seems wrong to say it, but they shouldn’t let a college education get in the way.
I do believe everyone should get a college education, but my thought is college will always be there. Let’s take the phenom basketball player who comes from a lower middle class family. They don’t have a lot of money so they must rely on the scholarship that is handed to them for playing basketball. Lets say this basketball player is projected to go 10th overall in the first round of the NBA draft after only 1 year of college. A lot of people may say to stay and finish college, there is plenty of time for basketball. I disagree. If the player is that good to go that high in the draft and have a guaranteed contract, he should go for it.
If he goes for it and is a huge success, he is an instant millionaire and is set for life. If he wants to, he can go to college after he retires or during the off season. If he fails at playing basketball he still has that guaranteed money which he can probably live off for a great while and use to pay for a top notch education.
Lets say this same athlete stays in college where one of three things could happen. Number one, he could play out his college days and become an even better basketball player and eventually and even better NBA player. Number two, his skills could decrease and perhaps he drops down to a second round pick or is not drafted and ends up in the d-league. Finally there is the third option. He gets injured on a freak accident and never gets a chance to play ball and is now stuck footing the bill for his education since he cannot contribute to the basketball team any longer.
So my thought is, why not drop out? College isn’t going anywhere. You won’t have a harder time with college as you get older; if anything the maturity and wisdom you gain will make it easier later in life. You can only be a top caliber athlete for so long before your body starts to shut down. In my opinion if you have the chance to make millions of dollars, but it means putting off college for a few years, so be it. Go take advantage of the wonderful gift that God gave you and get that education once that gift goes away.
Our son enjoys learning and loves to take part in a variety of physical activities. Often times we find there is just not enough time to get all of this in. He wants to play basketball at night but also needs to do some academics as well, here is our solution to those busy nights.
Our son has a small basketball hoop in his room. He enjoys shooting the ball over and over again and could go on for hours if you let him. He enjoys it very much when we play with him as well. Over the last couple months we have created a learning game out of basketball. Since our son loves math, we often play a game to where we will ask each other math facts. If we get it right we get to shoot and get a point if we make it. If we get it wrong the other person gets to shoot to try for a point. He enjoys the competition of the game and is practicing those math facts at the same time.
Concerned that he was getting too good at math and not focusing enough on reading, we decided to switch the game up and use flash cards with words on them. We play by the same rules. Over the last 3 weeks he has learned approximately 30 or so words while playing ball.
The best part about this is he is really having a great time doing this. He is getting the exercise he needs and preparing for school at the same time. I think this balance will help him in the future allowing him to grow up into a well rounded individual.
Teaching your child to read is a daunting task that requires a lot or patience and practice. Here is a great activity to help your kid pick up some of those site words to begin the process.
First thing to do is find a book or two that has around 10 pages and about 5-10 words per page. Choose a book that repeats some of the words a few times throughout the book. Remember to pick a book that your child will have interest in. Our son loves sports so we chose a book about sports. For a couple weeks, read the book to your child while pointing to the words as you read them. After a few times through start prompting your child for some of the easier words.
Eventually your child will become very familiar with the book and begin to recognize some of the words. Do not worry if your child seems to just memorize the words and isn’t phonetically learning. The ultimate goal is to just recognize some words and begin to learn to use them in a sentence.
Once you feel your child had remembered a good number of words make a flash card out of every word in the book. Start going through the flash cards. If your child has trouble with a word, open up to the page the word is on in the book so that he or she can see the word in the context of the pictures in the book. Once the child can get through most of the cards, not necessarily all of them, take about 16-20 cards and place them in rows on the table. Make sure the words that you choose make a sentence that is in your book.
Tell your child the sentence and with your child help them find each word in the sentence. As they find the word, put the flash cards in a row to make the sentence. After you have all the words, have your child read the sentence by pointing to each card in succession. Eventually use these words to make sentences that are not in the book and if possible even challenge your child to make up their own sentences.
There are a number of books out there that work well. Here are two that we use with our son. Good luck and have fun with this rewarding activity!
Looking at the night sky can be a fascinating activity for your family. Most of us take it for granted and never just stop and look up. We are so busy with our day to day lives that we forget that there is a whole universe out there with things going on that we couldn’t even imagine. On a clear or even semi-clear night, the sky can be one of the most beautiful things we on earth have the privilege to see. It’s even more fascinating if you know what you are looking for.
Throughout the history of mankind, humans have looked at the stars and found meaning in them one way or another. Some have interpreted them as the heavens, or the home to their gods. Today we know they are, as Pumba puts it from the Lion King, “balls of gas burning billions of miles away.” Each star out there has it’s own history. Many of them have a meaningful history for earth as well. When out with your family a great place to start is to find constellations. Constellations are groups of stars that people often associate with a picture and a story. One of the most famous constellations is the Big Dipper. There are hundreds of constellations each with their own story.
A constellation that can be seen from many parts of the world is Orion. For most of the United States, Orion is currently located in the eastern sky between 9pm and 12pm depending on your location. It is viewable all night long as it moves from the eastern sky overhead and sets in the west. Orion is typically very easy to find so it is a good constellation to start your stargazing with. To find Orion, look for three bright stars in a row (knows as Orion’s belt) along with four bright stars which sort of make a box around those three original stars. Below are images from Stellarium to help you find Orion:
 Orion |
 Orion with Constellation Lines |
 Orion With Artwork |
There are many stories about Orion. One of the most interesting is that Orion is associated with the last pharaoh of the Firth Dynasty, Unas. It is said that Unas slayed and devoured the gods and then used his power to traverse the day and night sky as Orion. Other Egyptian sources say that Orion is the representation of the God Osiris.
Orion gets it’s modern name from Greek mythology as Orion was seen as a hunter. This hunter was killed by a giant scorpion at which point the gods raised them both to the sky as can be seen by the neighboring constellation Scorpio.
Looking at the stars can be an educational experience for the whole family. Getting an amateur astronomy book will help to locate different constellations in the sky and get you started. Before going out look up a few constellations and their stories so that you can share with your kids making it both a fun activity and a history lesson.
There are also a couple of great computer programs out there which you can use to view the night sky at any time from any location on the planet and even from other planets. One is Stellarium. Stellarium is free and works very well. I did notice it tends to take a lot of resources from my computer causing the fan to kick on. However it is free. Click here to learn more about Stellarium. The second program is Starry night. Starry Night is used by education institutions around the country and is a fully featured software that does everything Stellarium does and much more. Click here to get Starry Night
References
Orion (constellation). (2009, November 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:17, November 21, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Orion_(constellation)&oldid=326914235
Most kids love to color; mine does. Coloring books are fun gifts, but when you need to find something for your own kids to color there is no better place to look than the internet. There are tons of sites out there with free printable sheets to color. Here are a few good ones that we use often:
http://www.coloring.ws/coloring.html
http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/
http://disney.go.com/magicartist/coloring/
Take a look around by searching google for free coloring pages. There are a ton of sites out there which allow you to print out a wide variety of pictures.
When I was a kid, school projects came around at least once every month or so; especially in the later elementary years. I remember in 6th grade having to do at least 4 or 5 large projects. These always excited me because I got to show off my stuff…..or I should say our stuff. During my younger years my mother was very involved with my education. When it came to projects I think she may have enjoyed them more than I did. When it was project time, we went all out. In sixth grade we had a couple projects about ancient Egypt. My mom helped me build a mummy and sarcophagus out of paper mache. I still have it and am impressed by it even today. The mummy looked so real, despite being a miniture size of about 6 inches. I had an art project that involved making a pinata. With my mom’s help, or should I say with my help, my mom built a large steam boat that impressed everyone.
So where is the value in this. From what I described, it seems like my mom did a lot of the work and I just kind of sat by and helped her here and there. This is to a large extent true, but in reality I was learning a great deal. It was usually my mom who planned it out and together we executed with her taking on the more difficult tasks. I always paid attention to what she was doing and pitched in when ever possible. To this day I still remember the techniques my mom used and look forward to implementing them in projects with the help of my children. So despite not doing it on my own, I did learn a lot, but that wasn’t best outcome of these “assisted” projects.
When I would take these projects to school I had a sense of pride. I always knew that my projects would be looked upon with great admiration. I got great feedback and praise for the extra effort. I really enjoyed that. It felt good for others to recognize the hard work I put in. Over time I expected it of myself. I came to understand what I needed to do to earn that admiration and respect and began to give school everything I had. Throughout high school my mom helped me occasionally but a great deal of my school work had to be done by alone due to the complexity of it. The value of quality work instilled in me those earlier years drove me to succeed and provide the best effort possible. I ended up graduating in the top 2.5% of my high school class and finished 2 college degrees summa cum laude and I definitely didn’t have my mom’s help in college.
It’s everyone’s personal choice as parents as to the amount of help to give their children in school. From my experience, help in the early years can be extrememly beneficial in putting your child in the mindset to succeed. Those that never succeed and always fail don’t understand success and are comfortable with mediocrity. Those who are taught to excell keep it with them for a life time. I encourage everyone to get very involved with their children’s education and help them with those projects. Don’t do the projects for them, but make sure they succeed at an early age so that they can succeed on their own later in life.
