Search Results for: blog going to high school part time

Easing Back-to-School Anxiety

It’s the day tissue manufacturers wait for all year: The first day of school. In just a few hours, millions of children from coast-to-coast will bid farewell to summer as they return to class for the new academic year. Whether your child is entering kindergarten or his senior year of high school, the first day of school can feel like an emotional roller coaster ride complete with excitement, anxiety, and fear of the unknown. Aside from cold season, this is the time of the year when makers of facial tissue are at their happiest. After all, not only are millions … Continue reading →

Does Your Child’s School Bus Have Air Conditioning?

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Summer weather can include excessive, and dangerous, heat. In many parts of the country, the heat doesn’t dissipate just because a new school year has started. Does your child’s school bus have air conditioning? It is very important that parents find out the answer to that question. Last Summer, there were several parents in New York who were alarmed because their child’s school bus did not have air conditioning. The children were attending a Summer school program that was designed for students who had special needs. The kids were coming home drenched in sweat. The parents were upset because their … Continue reading →

Planning a Graduation Party – Part 1

I’m not normally a procrastinator. In fact, I am a planner and organizer at heart. But as of last week I had already received three graduation party invites, yet hadn’t even started planning one for my son. This just wasn’t like me. But I eventually realized there were a couple of things going on. The first is that the idea of planning a large party was stressful. And the second is that a part of me was trying to deny the reality of what is ahead. It is one thing to plan and prepare for your child’s high school graduation. … Continue reading →

Are You Living In Constant Partial Attention?

Going online is compelling. There is so much to see and do, so many ways to connect. Maintaining your online presence while simultaneously navigating life requires something called continuous partial attention, according to Linda Stone, a former Apple and Microsoft executive, who first coined the phrase. She defines continuous partial attention this way: “To pay continuous partial attention is to pay partial attention – continuously. It is motivated by a desire not to miss anything and to be a live node on the network – in touch and seen by others.” It’s like having one foot in cyberspace and one … Continue reading →

The High Price of Being Thankful

Tis the season for homemade turkey. If you are a parent of elementary-aged kids, then “homemade” is code for “handmade,” which basically means that the exterior of your refrigerator is coated with dozens of construction paper birds. Mine is. With 10 days and counting until Thanksgiving, my 7-year-old has already come home from school with no less than 14 handcrafted turkeys. Kind of makes me wonder how much time is allotted for arts and crafts versus reading, writing and arithmetic. Regardless, I’m happy to display my child’s feathery masterpieces. In fact, I am particularly fond of the handprint bird she … Continue reading →

Interview with “The Sing-off” Contestants, Vocal Point, Part One

Are you watching this season’s competition on “The Sing-Off?” If you’re not, you’re missing a treat. Sixteen talented a capella groups were featured on the premiere, with two groups voted off to start. Tonight, the battle continues, and one of the remaining competitors has my heart—and the heart of my family—all the way. Named Vocal Point, this group of nine young men from nearby Brigham Young University has the chops—and the lungs—to make it all the way. I was honored to interview three of these guys this last week, and I appreciate them for taking time out of taping and … Continue reading →

College Part 2

Last time I hit you with some general advice about going to college. Mostly though I talked about my experience of being on both sides of the divide (student/teacher) and empathizing with the difficulties of seemingly abandoning your former life (family, friends, jobs, familiar environments, etc.) to attend college somewhere else with people you don’t know and professors you’ve never heard of in fields you are either too (or completely “un-“) certain about. It’s a challenging shift for anyone. So I have some advice based on my own time as a student as well as my time as a grad … Continue reading →

Start Preparing Your Child for School Now!

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The new school year will be starting in just a few weeks. Most children will experience some excitement, or anxiety, about what this year will be like. Kids who have special needs are going to need some extra preparations in order to have a successful first week of school. Now is the time to start preparing your child for his or her first day. Your child might have been attending an extended school year, or Summer school, program. If so, then this usually makes it easier for kids who have special needs to transition into a brand new school year. … Continue reading →

Legos … for School?

Yes, yes indeed. Legos are a great resource to be used in a homeschool setting. Lest you think I’ve been sniffing the plastic, let me explain. First of all, part of brain development is based on the child’s understanding of how to take a flat object and fold it up into something three-dimensional. By taking flat blocks and building them up into a plane or a house or an animal, your child’s brain is being exercised. Second, it’s good for a child’s brain to envision a finished product and then to work toward that goal, using the materials at hand. … Continue reading →

High School Behavior in Adults

High school behavior isn’t relegated just to teens. I have seen some of the same behavior that our teens struggle with, be just as much an issue with adults. I’m talking about when adults start to interfere in teen issues that should probably be left on their own. Parents who get overly involved in their teens lives not only prevent them from learning how to handle relational issues but they can quickly find themselves getting sucked into the same behavior we see in our teens. What I have learned is that I need to be very careful about what I … Continue reading →