Parenting resources for all who love and care for children
COVID-19 pandemic surges continue to keep schools closed or programs modified. How will K-12 teachers support students, when they have limited time to work with them in class or through distance learning programs? What standardized testing programs have been altered or eliminated this year and how will it impact many college acceptances? [Read more…]
Jaime Koo, Mama Best Friend (MBF)The first of a three-part reflection series on parenting middle schoolers during the pandemic on the home front, facing political realities with pre-teens, and practical considerations regarding school re-opening.
Most people are bashful when it comes to tooting their own horn, but Friends, I am really proud of this recent acknowledgement – I’ve recently been conferred with the honorary title MBF, otherwise known as “Mama Best Friend.” You see, this designation comes from the notoriously difficult, the most critical and defiant, the extremely hard-to-please individual – yes, that’s right, my 13-year-old daughter. It has taken me a lot of hard work in these 13 years to earn the title, and to be granted this distinction during the COVID-19 pandemic is both extraordinarily humbling and extremely gratifying.
What did I do to receive such an honor, you ask? Well, we’ve come a long way, my daughter and I. Allow me to provide some examples: When trying to maintain discipline and order when she was a toddler, she would commonly shriek “I hate you” or scream “You don’t love me anymore!” Once, when she was 8 years old, she got so angry that she impulsively opened the front door and ran down the street. When she was about 10 years old, I was driving my daughters to a doctor’s appointment and so did not pay attention to her demands. All of a sudden, she got enraged and started repeatedly kicking the back of my driver seat, all the while screaming “Why aren’t you listening to me?” [Read more…]
As high school seniors prepare their college applications in these next few weeks, teachers are adapting their online services to effectively support their students at this very stressful time. Our teachers have expanded their services to include the following:
Community Services Through Project-Based Distance LearningStudents’ community service projects and grantwriting can support project-based distance learning activities. Teachers can advise students on how writing a grant for a new project satisfies specific common core standards in language arts and mathematics. For example, high school students must write fluently in fact-based research to meet language arts standards. Students must also master statistical analysis per math standards when justifying program needs statements and a program’s evaluation. And a grant project’s budget development and budget monitoring will satisfy various math standards. The Student-Engaged Assessment book by Laura Greenstein and Mary Ann Burke explains how students and teachers can document learning processes that meet academic standards through student owned assessment portfolios. [Read more…]
Students Can Partner with Local NonprofitsLocal nonprofit agencies can help students develop new programs and prepare for college and career goals through community service activities. A GenParenting blog on student grantwriting to develop student initiated community service projects (see https://genparenting.com/grants/#more-1244) provides a grant template and guidance on how students can partner with a local library, the Grantmanship Center, or other funding agencies to learn how to write a grant and research program funding options. Students can also meet with a local SCORE consultant to learn how to partner with another nonprofit or how to start their own nonprofit. And students can vet their completed grant templates with community partners who may be interested in providing students’ proposed services. [Read more…]