Adjusting to the First Weeks of School

In California, school now begins in mid-August through the beginning of September catching many of us by surprise. All of a sudden, it is necessary to mobilize our children and get them out the door early with their lunches, homework, backpacks and freshly brushed hair. How can we best smooth this transition?

The prospect of a fresh start to the school year is marketed through back to school shopping for new outfits, school supplies and backpacks. The prospect of reconnecting with friends, sharing summer experiences and finding the new classroom are also helpful. How can we best sustain this energy and enthusiasm beyond the first day?

Learn the Classroom Rules

One of my sons had a sixth grade teacher whose mission that first week was to hit the ground running in terms of organization and parental involvement. Each day my son brought home a checklist for us to review, initial and then sign for him to bring to school the next morning. My son earned points for having all of his homework completed, his notebook organized etc. He lost points for loose papers, and notably the absence of a make or break parental signature page. At the end of the week, if he was successful in attaining the required number of points, my son would participate in the class party. The substance of the party varied and could include free time, a class outing or watching an educational video.

On the other hand, those students who did not meet the required point minimum, would have to stay after school, miss lunch and most importantly go to another room during the reward time. This regime was harsh. Typically, the same students continuously missed out. From my educator’s perspective, they often had learning disabilities such as attention deficit or executive functioning challenges. Yet in our own household this regime shaped a renewed commitment to organization.

Get Organized the Night Before

Before going to sleep, under my watchful eye, my son packed his backpack according to his check sheet specifications. He placed it next to the exit door, which we could not possibly avoid without tripping over it. The required parental signature document was taped on the front door next to the doorknob, for reference early the next morning. The ensuing day’s outfit including shoes and socks were selected and laid out the night before. His lunch was prepared and labeled with his name and placed at the front of the shelf eye level in the refrigerator. We didn’t dare forget the lunch, as we were strongly discouraged from bringing it up to school if it were left behind.

Support the Teacher

This entire regime was an anathema to our somewhat chaotic style of parenting. It seemed both harsh and inflexible. Each morning, I found that my son was positioning at the starting line and sprinting to the car. Yet he learned the following valuable lessons:

Figure out the new teacher’s system.

Like it or not, follow these instructions as the teacher is in charge.

As much as possible, plan ahead and assemble the necessary items in advance.

No matter what, bring the freshly minted parental signature sheet every day.

With my heartfelt wishes for a smooth start to the school year,

Karen

Welcome to Another New School Year!

This week, thousands of California students will return to their classrooms. Parents are busily preparing for the final days of summer and getting ready for the new school year by:

Completing dental, doctor, and immunizations documentation for school registrations
Helping their children transition into a new classroom by organizing clothes, school supplies, and space for homework completion
Making final plans for before and after-school childcare and play activities
Helping their children prepare for the first day of school by getting an alarm clock, going to bed earlier, and understanding any school transportation and classroom assignments

10 Safety Strategies

As parents complete the many varied tasks for a new school year of transitions, many are also feeling more anxious about their children’s safety due to new security breaches and immigration challenges. Parents ask what they can do to ensure that their children feel safe and secure. Summarized below are 10 strategies to help families prepare for these challenging situations:

Make a safety plan for a generalized family emergency. Agree where the family will meet if there is a community emergency.
Assure children that they should follow all directions by school administrators. Review the school’s policies and procedures with your children that are listed in the student handbook.
Ensure each child has time to express their worries and concerns daily. When they are scared or upset about a situation at school, brainstorm solutions and assure them that you are there to be their advocate.
Continue to arrange play dates for your children after school so that they feel secure with their classmates.
Attend back to school nights and learn what the school will do in an emergency.
Meet your child’s teacher and assure the teacher that you are available for added support.
Participate in the school’s community service activities and help your children learn about the various services and resources available to families in their communities.
Participate in community fairs to ensure that your children learn about public services and agencies.
If you participate in a religious organization, have your children become active in the various church community activities.
Talk with older children about community issues and vote at local and national elections.

Engage in Your Community

Your children can become resilient and fully engaged in your communities when you participate with them in various school and community activities and vote at regional and national elections.

Much success as a fully engaged family in your community!

Mary Ann

Grandparenting a Seven-Year-Old Grandchild

As my life becomes more balanced, I have gained added time to enjoy my grandson as he turns seven years old. I am excited to watch his incredible growth developmentally and academically. I find seven- year-olds are very thoughtful and creative in their responses to life. I am also impressed with his increasing reasoning abilities and effective problem-solving strategies.

Becoming More Responsible

Some of the questions and discussion topics that we and other friends are discussing include:

When can I walk home from a neighbor’s house or school?
When am I old enough to help prepare a meal and help myself to seconds at the dinner table?
Which snack do I want to take from the snack drawer or do I want to fix a sandwich after school?
Can I reach the dishes for preparing meals and how do I clean up from a meal?
What responsibilities do I need to complete as a family member?
How can I earn an allowance?
What extra chores can I do around the house for extra money because I am saving for a special toy?
How can I save money at the bank?
What do I need to do to get ready for bed?
I am ready to read but still need help. How can you help me read better?

Considering Family Values

In addition to all of these thought-provoking discussions, my grandson is learning about family values in relation to his moral development. For example, recently his found ammunition on the playground from a nerf blaster. The afterschool yard duty aide told my grandson that he could keep it and not worry about who lost it. I was concerned that he should try and find the owner and return it to the lost and found bin at school. The moral of this story was that the value expressed to my grandson from the yard duty aide was not the value being reinforced at home. We were able to discuss the difference of values in various situations as a leaning lesson for the future.

Much joy as you grow with your grandchildren!

Joyce

Fun Elementary Math and Science Activities

Summer is the perfect time to observe and explore nature in our gardens, while camping, and when traveling to various vacation destinations. As we enjoy nature explorations, we can reinforce our children’s learning by adding these fun math/science academic enrichment activities:

Visit a local park that includes farming and vegetable gardening (e.g. see Martial Cottle Park in San Jose at the scc.gov.org website listed under parks). At these working farms, students can learn about food production, explore insects, see a bee house, and visit edible food plants.
Plant seeds and measure their growth under different growing conditions. The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle provokes thought about the advantages of being small and What Do Roots Do? by Kathleen V. Kudlinski provides children with added information about planting and seed growth.
When taking short trips to the store, have children add and subtact mileage. Younger children can watch the speedometer and identify your speed on different roads. Older children can calculate the mileage on long trips.
Children can virtually select school supplies to fill their backpack on the online Target website and calculate their total. They can determine what they can spend for a $20 back-to-school supply budget.
We can also have children plan for food meals and calculate the cost of purchasing groceries on the Safeway or Whole Foods online shopping website.

Organically integrating your child’s natural curiosity in your daily summer life will make these academic activities feel less like structured learning and more like a more meaningful experience. As your children accomplish these playful learning milestones, they are also learning critical life skills for managing daily activities in the future. Bring joy to your learning explorations!

Danielle

Nurturing Our Children’s Independence

Summer break is here and the kids are excited to explore and achieve new levels of independence. The grandkids will be staying with us for extended days of play and travels. We struggle each year in deciding how to provide each child with new milestone achievements and freedoms. Here are some of our proposed solutions for this summer of adventures:

Older middle school grandson will have freedom to leave the clan for short spurts when vacationing at a theme park and reporting in at critical times. He will also own a phone for added tracking (i.e. see Find My Family or Find My Kids: Child Locator Applications). As a new electronic device, he will be excited to show us how he uses it.
Older elementary granddaughter is attending a performing arts camp while visiting for a week. She will have complete autonomy while teaching me her new craft in the afternoons.
Younger elementary grandson will be helping us for extended vacations complete yard projects. He loves power equipment and anything that makes noise.
The three-year-old twins are expanding their creativity with lots of art projects and park explorations. They are becoming avid hikers and love to observe nature, conduct science experiments, and play outside.

When I review this summary of opportunities, I marvel that we are running a holistic learning center for many different age groups. We are gathering a larger collection of books, games, art materials, and yard projects as the grandkids grow in their abilities and talents.

May you have the joy of exploring with extended family this summer!

Mary Ann