Why would you let your children learn at home rather than send them to school? Well, there is a lot of concern among parents these days about the safety and the quality of the public and/or private schools. In addition, every parent has anxiety when they send their children out of their sight, especially for a long six or seven hour day. Parents put a great amount of trust in schools, teachers and administration, and sometimes (rarely, but it does happen) this trust is broken.

Homeschooling your children gives you more control over the what influences your children. It’s no secret that children come home with ideas and phrases that may not be in line with what you want them to know and/or understand. And certainly the influences of other children, who may not have the same upbringing is sometimes an unwanted side effect of not homeschooling. If your children are homeschool, you can decide what yoruchilnd needs to do or learn. Furthermore, you can tailor the homeschooling curriculum to suit both the interests and needs of the child.

A homeschooled child reaps the benefits of individualized attention, which does not often happen in a school setting. If your child excels in mathematics, then you can give him/her more advanced work to keep that mind busy whereas in a classroom setting, that same child may become fidgety and antsy because the work is too easy. If your child needs more assistance in a particular subject, then you can give him/her the remediation that is needed quickly. The pressure either learn quickly or to sit still when the work is too easy eliminated. The child’s abilities become the focus of instruction.

A homechooling family often grows closer as a result of homeschooling. The family is much more involved with the entire process of education rather that just being a vehicle to complete homework or assigned school projects. Families learn about and use teachable moments, in the grocery store, toy store, playground, etc. to expand the children’s understanding of the world around them.

A larger concern besides academic education is the moral and/or religious upbringing of the child. Homeschooled children may be more closely supervised by their parents and thus parents have more control over the moral and
religious learning of the child. In addition, parents have the flexibility to
incorporate their beliefs and ideologies into the child’s curriculum.
In this way, parents don’t have to “unteach” anything that is learned in school.

If you have the time, patience and resources, homeschooling is the best way to teach a child. Be aware that this endeavor may take a lot of time, preparation and understanding of state law, curriculum standards etc. You also must think ahead about the child’s socialization, participation in sports and college preparation, if this is your goal. Whatever your decision, you are still your child’s first teacher.

Remember that after school activities don’t always have to be taught in a school environment in a structured manner. There is so much that you as a parent can do to support your child’s academic, physical and social development. Don’t be too overly concerned about participating in conventional after school programs, especially since many children are already overscheduled.

As you know as a parent, school is the priority for your child. Attending school and completing assigned homework is what must be done in order for the child to keep up academically. Then, after the required homework is done, the child should also do some sort of daily reading and/or writing – remember that practice makes perfect! For some children, this is enough of an after school program.

Here are some tips for creating your own “after school program” for your child.

o Find a program in the local community college or community center. Some community adult/night schools have programs appropriate for children in the evening such as scrapbooking or photography.

o Allow your child to use the Internet to find more information about subjects that interest him/her. This type of self-directed ‘after school program’ (supervised by you, of course) is often the best type of program because it is directly connected to the child’s own interests.

o If you are worried about the lack of social interaction, enroll him or her in some sort of a club -perhaps a reading club. Visit public libraries or even the theater, if your child is interested. A parent-child book club is another interesting option. If you can round up a number of like-minded children and their parents, you might even start your own after-school program.

o When there are no organized group activities, look in the community. A lot of children love to get involved in social issues. Volunteering for clean-up sessions, adult education programs etc could be a real eye-opener for your child. These lessons can be invaluable.

o If physical activity is your major concern, enroll your child for dance or gymnastic classes. This is also a great way to find friends his/her own age.

Your child does not necessarily have to be a part of a coordinated group to
benefit from after-school activities. Engaging your children in daily household activities like cooking, cleaning etc can also provide them with a refreshing extracurricular experience. Moreover, it will improve family ties and make them feel like they are actually contributing to the household. Plus, such activities build skills for later life.

Welcome to neosoulmama.info, home of the My Successful Child newsletter. If you are unfamiliar to this site, let me introduce myself. I am a mother of three, run my own natural bath/body business and have had over 10 years of experience in urban education. I also hold a Master’s degree in education. My specialty is K-8 mathematics, however, given my experience and extensive research and training in the field of education, as well as my on the job training as a mom (smile), I am a tremendous resource in the field of education.

How do you create a successful child? Is it Kumon, Sylvan or other tutoring type programs? Certainly these programs can assist a child who is struggling academically, but in order to truly create a child who enjoys school and who understands that you appreciate their hard work and effort, communication and involvement is a must.

A successful child:
• Asks questions – A child who asks questions shows a curiosity about the world around him/her. Granted, with three children, I get a lot of questions during the day and to be honest, I don’t answer all of them all the time. However, I do make the effort to answer most of them. Answering your child’s questions is a way to open communication between the two of you and an informal way of learning.

• Is in an atmosphere of informal learning – A lot can be learned from a simple trip to the grocery store. It’s where my children learned that those pigs and chickens that they saw on the television could be turned into tasty morsels of pork chops and grilled chicken. They also learned the mechanics of grocery shopping (i.e. pay the money, pack the bags) and that there are people who work at the grocery store. Of course, the counting and simple mathematics were at work here too.

• Has role models – Are you willing to learn along with your child? I think one of my successes as a teacher came from admitting that I didn’t know everything. If your child asks you a question that you don’t know, then explore the answer together. This shows your child that everyone is a lifelong learner.

• Has rules – A child, well, everyone in fact, needs boundaries. A child should not be left to his/her own devices and allowed to do anything s/he wants. Children need boundaries and feel more comfortable when limits are set by parents and guardians.

• Follows a family routine – A child feels useful and a part of the family when s/he is encouraged to participate in family chores. Teach them young and form good habits that will last.

Although a few of these tips do not directly deal with school, these habits will engrain self-respect and discipline that will have an influence on how they perform in school and in life.

Please add your comments/ reactions to these tips. And remember to sign up for my mailing list and receive weekly tips!

My son especially loves the mazes!

President George W. Bush’s administration has been notable not only for one of the most significant shifts in federal oversight of education, under the No Child Left Behind Act, but also for new laws, programs, and developments in other areas affecting schools.

No Child Left Behind Act
President Bush made the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act a top priority upon entering office. The resulting NCLB law, which he signed Jan. 8, 2002, expanded student testing and introduced new accountability rules for schools that receive federal aid. It requires schools to assess students in reading and mathematics in grades 3-8 and once in high school. If schools fail to keep their students on pace toward proficiency in those subjects, they are identified as needing improvement and face a series of interventions, such as offering public school choice and free tutoring, and eventually being restructured. The law also added a requirement that all teachers be highly qualified according to federal and state rules.

Reading First
The NCLB law also created the Reading First program, which provided some $1 billion a year to pay for curricular materials and professional development focused on the primary grades. Although popular among educators, the Department of Education’s inspector general issued a series of reports questioning whether department officials overstepped their authority in pushing states to use specific curricula and assessments under the program. The department’s research office also released a report saying that the funding had been successful in improving students’ decoding and other basic skills, but not their reading comprehension.

School Choice
As part of his original plan for the NCLB law, President Bush had sought to allow students in low-performing public schools to use federal aid to attend private schools, as well as to transfer to higher-performing public schools. But facing staunch Democratic opposition, he agreed to drop the voucher element. The public-school-choice provision was enacted, but is widely viewed as ineffective, with very few parents transferring their children to other public schools.

In 2002, the Bush administration argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the constitutionality of including religious schools in publicly funded voucher programs. The court agreed, ruling that the inclusion of religious schools in such programs does not violate the First Amendment’s prohibition against a government establishment of religion. In 2004, the president signed into law the nation’s first federally funded voucher program, which targets students from low-income families in the District of Columbia. It was narrowly enacted in 2004 when Republicans held majorities in Congress, with most Democrats strongly opposed. It provides vouchers worth up to $7,500 per year, and they can be used at religious schools.

Special Education
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was reauthorized during President Bush’s first term, with language that ties the special education law to NCLB on such issues as highly qualified teachers for students with disabilities, and the importance of including students with disabilities in assessments. The administration introduced some testing flexibility for states by allowing different state assessments to be used for students with significant cognitive impairments, and students who could meet modified grade-level standards.

Educational Research
The 2002 passage of the Education Sciences Reform Act gave the Bush administration a rare opportunity to abolish the Department of Education’s existing research operation and create a new research agency out of the ashes. The newly christened Institute of Education Sciences, under Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst, spearheaded the department’s campaign to transform education into an evidence-based practice, much like medicine.

Under Mr. Whitehurst’s six-year tenure, the agency increased the number of randomized experiments the department finances, revamped the agency’s peer-review process, retooled the federal education research laboratory system, and created new grant programs to nurture research talent for the field. The office’s best-known accomplishment, though, may be the What Works Clearinghouse, a sometimes-controversial project set up to vet the evidence base that undergirds many of the programs, policies, and practices used in the nation’s schools.

Gender Issues
First-term Secretary of Education Rod Paige in 2002 established a commission to study Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the federal law that bars sex discrimination in federally funded schools and colleges. Some civil rights and women’s advocacy groups feared the effort was a bid to soften enforcement of the law. After receiving a report full of mostly minor recommendations about athletic participation at the college level, the Education Department largely ignored them, issuing a document in 2003 clarifying previous Title IX guidance.

Meanwhile, citing research that educating boys and girls separately was proving effective in some circumstances, the department in 2006 issued regulations making it easier for public schools to experiment with single-sex education.

Race Issues
The Bush administration weighed in against the use of race in education in a series of landmark Supreme Court cases. In appeals involving race-conscious admissions policies in higher education, the administration struck a cautious tone, and the Education Department issued reports emphasizing ways in which schools and colleges could achieve racial diversity without relying on racial preferences. In those cases, from the University of Michigan, the justices affirmed the constitutionality of affirmative action but struck down some practices.

The administration was more assertive when the justices took up race-conscious student-assignment policies from the Seattle and Jefferson County, Ky., school districts in 2006. It urged the Supreme Court to strike down the plans, which the court did in a 2007 decision that sharply limited the ways K-12 schools could rely on race.

Higher Education
Secretary Margaret Spellings helped spur a dialogue over student financial assistance and college accountability by convening a task force to study higher education. The panel’s 2006 report called for a major new investment in federal student aid. And, more controversially, it encouraged colleges and universities to use value-added assessments to measure students’ skills at the beginning and end of their college careers. Colleges and universities should make the results of those tests public, the panel concluded.

—David J. Hoff, Alyson Klein, Erik W. Robelen, Christina A. Samuels, Debra Viadero, and Mark Walsh

Marlon A. Walker

This year’s “The State of Black America” study by the National Urban League pays the most attention to Black males because they are further away from parity with their White counterparts in several significant categories.

Black men face the greatest battle to gain equality in society, and Urban League leaders say improving the educational outcomes of Black males is the best path for changing their plight.

Compared to White men, African-American men are more than twice as likely to be unemployed and earn, on average, 74 percent as much in income annually. Black men are seven times as likely as Whites to spend time in jail.

“Empowering Black men to reach their full potential is the most serious economic and civil rights challenge we face today,” says Urban League President Marc H. Morial. “Ensuring their future is critical, not just for the African-American community, but for the prosperity, health and well-being of the entire American family.”

It seems that Black children, especially Black boys, are losing out as early as elementary school in the process to maintain parity with Whites.

In writing proficiency tests, for example, Blacks score 13 percent lower than Whites, the study states. When they reach the final year in high school, Blacks only score at 74 percent of what white students score. Statistics like this are prompting recommendations on how to empower Blacks to edge closer to parity. Some suggestions presented by the Urban League include:

* Providing comprehensive early childhood education for all children

* Establishing more all-male schools with longer school days and more mentoring

* Creating more “second-chance” programs for high school dropouts and ex-offenders

* Restoring the federal Summer Jobs Program to its pre-2000 state

* Driving home the message to children that education pays dividends later in life

Dr. Edward F. Dragan, who spent more than 30 years in schools as a teacher, principal and superintendent, says the need for Black male elementary school teachers is more than obvious when statistics on convicted criminals are brought into play.

“When you’ve got such a high population of young Black men in jail and 90 percent of those individuals are people who have some type of learning disability or were never taught properly in school, that’s weird,” says Dragan, the founder and principle consultant of New Jersey-based Educational Management Consulting LLC. “I think help needs to start at the elementary school level. That’s not going to solve all the problems, but it’s one of the areas that I think needs to be focused on.”

Dragan says educators need to figure out what students are missing and provide it–regardless of monetary shortfalls.

“I think to any really good teacher interested in really doing something with kids, money is secondary,” he says.

Dr. Lenora Madison Poe, a licensed therapist from Berkeley, Calif., who deals with issues involving the family unit, says working with children while they are in elementary school is vital for their future success.

“That’s where we begin to shape our children’s minds,” she says. “We are building into them trust and self-confidence, self-esteem and self-acceptance. We’re getting them into the early school programs–even preschool–so they can learn those early self-relational skills.”

Poe says many Blacks put themselves at a major disadvantage when they left the South in search of a better life.

“Many of our [Black] families migrated for better opportunities, and did not have that extended family relationship,” she says. “We need the home and the school and the churches working together again like we had with our foreparents.”

Poe says that without the entire community working to encourage progression, many of the sentiments that suggest going forward are being missed.

“We’ve got to bring the family back intact so we can have our support system, our role models, our care messages, our encouragements,” she says. “All those things [need to be brought] back into the home, which launches the person out into the greater society. We’re just not getting the motivational hook for them.

“As a result of that,” she continues, “our school system, the society, the family, we’re all failing the Black male. Not that we don’t have the wherewithal to do what we can do in terms of achieving academically. We have those things, but we’ve got to bring it back into clear, consistent messages to our Black men so we can help them look at meaningful directions for their lives.”

Marlon A. Walker “Black men and education focus of Urban League report”. Diverse Issues in Higher Education. . FindArticles.com. 26 Oct. 2008. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WMX/is_10_24/ai_n27310436

The subject of a dress code in the public schools is a touchy one as it cannot be mandated. However, many schools in this district do follow a voluntary uniform policy with the blessings of the parents. Studies show that the use of uniforms in public schools can reduce violence and instill a sense of community among the students. Uniforms also keep teachers from having to deal with inappropriate clothing judgment calls. When I was in the classroom, I truly appreciated the uniforms because I didn’t have to deal with fifth grade girls with “juicy” written on their bottoms. Uniforms also reduce clothes competition among students – if they’re all wearing polo shirts and khaki pants or skirts, there’s nothing to compare.

Of course, there are the people that say that uniforms stifle a child’s freedom of expression, etc. etc. Honestly speaking, I send my child to school to learn and to express himself academically. You can express yourself clothing-wise all you want after that dismissal bell rings.

Looking around the school campus this first day of school, it seemed that the uniform wearing students were mostly the younger students. The older students (5th-6th grade) were sporting extreme hairstyles, tight jeans, tight shirts, short skirts (for the girls), baggy shirts and baggy pants (for the boys). Some of these students didn’t even bother bringing a backpack to school. Why are our children dressing like this? Wouldn’t be simpler just to dress them in uniforms, or at the very least, “school clothes”? Do parents even know what school clothes even are anymore?

We have got to instill in our children how “clothes make the man (woman)”. Certainly, there is a place for casual clothing. However, we should help our children show pride in themselves and dress the part of a successful student. When you dress your child in a t-shirt and jeans, what does that tell him or her about how to feel about school? Is school a place to hang out and connect with friends, or is it a place where you are preparing for the rest of your life?

Think about the people at work. There were teachers at some of my former schools who dressed as if they had just finished mowing the lawn, brushed their hands on their pants and came to school. (Interestingly enough, these were the some of the same teachers who did not have control of their class.) You know who the executives are by their dress. You can also tell who works in the mailroom.

I, for one, don’t want my children to blend in to a sea of faces. I want them to stand out as the “one who knows science” or the “one who knows math” or the “one who loves reading”. That’s the kind of impression that I want my children to make, not “best dressed” or the “one who’s mom bankrupted herself in the designer clothes section”.

Clothes do make the man (woman)…. what kind of man(woman) are you making?

Black parents,we need to instill in our children a sense of pride in the way they dress. We are well aware of how clothes do serve to influence how others perceive us and in extreme cases may mean life and death, especially for our black boys. We as black parents should always take the time to ensure that our children look the part we want them to play in our lives and the lives of others.

Cousins
Author: Virginia Hamilton
Grade Level : 5-8

This book changed me, truly it did. It is a simple, straightforward book and a quick read, but the characters – ! I had never read a so-called children’s book that embraced such heavy themes in such a way that was so natural and easy. I know that may be a strange thing to write, but I’ve read books where the author hit you over the head so many times with his/her “theme” that it was tiresome. Cammy, our heroine, often sneaks away to visit her Gram Tut in the nursing home. She and Gram Tut have a special bond, even though Gram Tut gets confused about where she is in time and often talks about people that Cammy doesn’t even remember.

Cammy doesn’t quite like her cousin Patty Ann, who wears beautiful clothes, has long hair and plays the piano. Patty Ann’s mother dotes on her and looks down on Cammy and her family, often making hurtful remarks about Gram Tut. The dynamic between the two cousins and the family as a whole is something that every one will recognize. We have all experienced that interfamily jealous that breeds hurtful words. The tragedy that takes place in the book is truly a tragedy. Sometimes, perfect isn’t always perfect. A truly powerful book to share with our daughters.

Second Cousins
Author: Virginia Hamilton
Grade Level: 4th grade
I couldn’t forget Miss Cammy from her first book Cousins, and couldn’t wait to read the continuation. Ms. Hamilton does well in dealing with the aftermath of the tragedy in the first book. Cammy has now found a good friend in her cousin Elodie and the two girls are enjoying the hot summer. The family reunion is coming up and they both are looking forward to meeting the rest of the family, include some second cousins from the city. However, with these new girls come secrets that may threaten Cammy’s and Elodie’s relationship and change her family forever.

This is another powerful book from Virginia Hamilton that has a plot twist that even I, a seasoned reader of all types of books, wasn’t expecting. The beauty of Ms. Hamilton’s writing is that although her narrative delivers pain to Cammy and her family, she brings her heroine through it all with the power of family love. This book is fun, sad, and heartwarming. Gives meaning to the phrase “I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me.” What a great book!

Note: Both books are written on a 3rd grade level – simple and easy to read, but the subject matter, in my opinion should be 4th grade and up. Please use your discretion with your students and your children.

Philip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon Maybe
Author: Bette Greene
Grade Level: 5-8, Reading Level: 5th grade – up

Take a deep breath, readers and put away the tissue. A Newbery award winner, “Philip Hall” is a much lighter read which embraces a universal theme for women and girls the world over – must we change what is our “essential self” in order to be accepted by friends, both male and female? Beth Lambert is just “in love” with Philip Hall who is cute, smart and can beat her in class work as well as sports…..but can he really or is Beth just letting him win? The story takes place in a rural town in Arkansas, which is a great reading experience for those of us from “the city”. The subplot about stealing prize turkeys and the 4-H fair fascinated me as much as the dynamics of the relationship between Beth and Philip.

I’m not going to give away the ending here, so you’ll have to read the book to see if Beth stays true to herself and goes after her goals rather than staying in Philip Hall’s shadow.

Circle of Gold
Author: Candy Dawson Boyd
Grade/Reading Level: 4 – 6

What a lovely book! Mattie and Matt are twins, both concerned with the headaches their mother suffers after the death of their father. Mama works so hard and she never seems to be happy! Matt gets away from it all with his friends and basketball, but Mattie worries about her mother because they never do the fun things they used to do.

One day, Mattie sees a beautiful gold circle pin in a department store and knows right away that’s the thing to make her mother smile. But she doesn’t have enough money to purchase the pin…unless she wins the essay contest! Will Mattie be able to purchase the pin for her mother? As if that weren’t worry enough, she has to worry about the prettiest and richest girl in school bullying her and her friends.

This is a beautiful book about the yearning of a child to make her mother happy. Although Mattie has her own problems, bullies, losing her babysitter’s job, she still tries to keep her mother’s happiness above her own. Read this heartwarming book with our daughters and enjoy.

These reasons are based on my personal experience working with Black and Hispanic children in an urban education setting. This is by no means posted to represent an all-encompassing cure all for the issue of minority underachievement in school, but is intended as a watch list to curb behaviors that may be negatively affecting our children.

Reason 1 – Too much Television

In general, children do watch too much television and minority (Black and Hispanic) children are more likely to have a television in their bedroom, leading to even more television consumption. (http://tinyurl.com/5mqvsq) Turn off the television! The majority of programs portray minorities in a negative fashion. Women are objectified and fathers/father figures are often the butt of jokes on many situation comedies. Even some of the cartoons are odd and weird. (What’s up with that Cat/Dog cartoon anyway?)

Reason 2 – Too many Video Games

Why is it that there is such talk about the digital divide when African Americans are spending more per month on video games, according to a study done by Nielson Entertainment (http://preview.tinyurl.com/5m5hpx). Video games cost between $50-$60 and the console itself can run to $300.00. You can get a refurbished laptop for $299.99. Video games are entertaining, but many of them contain violence and stereotypical characters. Hours spent playing these games every day….and black children come away with nothing but over exercised thumbs, racing adrenaline and bloodshot eyes.

Reason 3 – Little to no “family time”

Do you break bread with your child, or do you sit him at the table or in front of the television set to eat by himself because you’re just too tired to deal? Eating together as a family unit is important to children. It is there where they learn table manners, how to have a conversation, and it’s a great way to check up and check in with family members. It’s important for children to have dinner, or a snack, or breakfast with the family – it reinforces their feeling as part of a family unit and gives the family the time to reconnect.

Reason 4 – Little to no physical activity

Granted, not everyone has the time to shuttle their child back and forth to sports practices and games. However, take the time to walk around the block or even up and down the stairs within your home. How about tossing the ball back and forth in the back yard, or tossing a soft foam ball in the house? Can’t go outside? How about some jumping jacks, sit ups or a pillow fight? Not only does physical activity get the blood moving – a way to work off some of that excess energy that children have, but it’s also a great time to talk. The distraction of the game helps the child (and the adult) break down barriers.

Reason 5 – Lack of Positive Role Models

Let’s face it, sport/music stars and celebrities are featured prominently in our nation’s consciousness. Because they are almost forced down our throats through news reports, magazines and talk shows, our children begin to focus on them as role models rather than the unsung heroes. The first role models, of course should be the parent or guardians. Beyond that, there are teachers, coaches, police officers, firefighters and other “ordinary joes and janes” who are a positive influence on the community around them. Further, there are figures in current events who are simply super, such as Mae Jemison, Dr. Ben Carson and my “friend in my head” Condoleezza Rice. Of course, there’s Oprah Winfrey and others who are currently making the grade.