Blog

A Change of Mind-Set The complaint I hear most often from parents during this get-back-to-school time of year is how hard it is to change their child’s mindset from an all-day of play to an all day at school.  After delving into the topic even further with the parent, they usually relay the same story […]

Leaving behind the freedom of a school-free summer and getting your kid back into their autumn routine isn’t always easy. One survey of working parents showed that nearly half of them reported back-to-school stress being so bad it interfered with their work. Here’s a parenting 101 guide for the following scenarios and guidelines to make […]

How to Strengthen Your Child’s Memory As Dr. Mel Levine contends, “More memory is needed for school success than is required in virtually any career.” That’s why you want to work on your child’s memory skills in the formative years to set a strong foundation for the future. For kindergarten and testing success, children need […]

NEW! Being Careless and Not Being Prepared Not Knowing How To Take a Test Not Managing Information Correctly Attention Issues We are beginning a new series today, similar to the common test taking mistakes younger kids make, but this time it is from another vantage point: older children.  And with it comes new challenges and […]

Back to School Checklist: Yes, it’s that time again! In our house, we are a month out from the first day of school! I can’t tell you how many parents I’ve talked to who failed to get their child ready for the beginning of the school year. Proper back-to-school preparations are about much more than buying […]

This mom asks a great question regarding her daughter’s speech development–while she is ahead in some things, she has fallen behind here.  Here are some great tools if your child, too, is experiencing some speech development delays. Question from a Concerned Mom My daughter just turned 3 and seems to be bright as she has […]

Maren Schmidt shares her practical, put-it-into-action advice and insight about children and drawing with them. Training the Eye to See Betty Edwards in her book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, explains that around age ten our logical “left-brain” style of thinking begins to dominate and overrides our creative “right-brain” type of thinking. Drawing with Children Our […]

Summer Slide Around this time every year, parents begin worrying about the dreaded “summer slide.” This term defines the learning loss kids experience over the summer due to the fact that they aren’t going to school every day and engaging their minds in reading, thinking and problem solving. Keep the Momentum Going Many parents scoff […]

Aware and Prepared Parents are all aware of brain drain and want to prevent summer slide. “Research over 100 years has shown us – students not engaged in some kind of educational activity over the summertime typically loses about one to three months of learning.  And the decline is more detrimental for math than it […]

Keep Their Minds Active This summer and all year long – work with your child to keep her mind active.  Here are five easy ways to ensure that your child doesn’t lose any ground this summer – even if you are traveling with your family. 5 Tips for Teaching on the Go Institute a 30-minute […]