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.

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!

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

Let me first state, before I get started: there is still racism. However, although there is racism present in the world today, there are also more opportunities for blacks (or if you prefer, African Americans) than there were when Martin spoke about the mountaintop and Malcolm went to Mecca. So then why are some Black folks still standing on a street corner talking about how they can’t get a job because “The Man” is keeping them down.

Look, I was in the classroom. I know what some of these children and parents go through on a daily basis. I am not denying the oppressiveness of poverty. When you are working two jobs and barely making ends meet, shoot, that’s a reason to want to “holler”. Because being a part of the working poor can be detrimental to the spirit, many of these parents take the time (in between working the double shifts) to impress upon their children that this is not a life to plan for. Get your education, get your high school diploma, listen to the teacher, DON’T MAKE ME TAKE MY LUNCH BREAK TO COME UP TO THAT SCHOOL!! And as a teacher, I bow respectfully to those parents. They are working HARD so their children won’t have to work as hard as they did.

Now, the next set of parents who seem to revel on the welfare roles. You’ve all seen them: designer outfits, matching Coach bags and shoes, getting their money from the state and who-knows-where-else, but rest assured that it’s cash money, baby. What are their children learning from them? That you can chill at home, with satellite, watching movies and video all day and not have to work? Well, shoot, then why should they bother doing their homework when their favorite show is on? Mom, Dad, Uncle, Auntie didn’t finish high school, don’t have a job, and look – they relax all day.

Where in the world is the disconnect? What makes some working poor/poor families encourage others to succeed and others to fall by the wayside? Is it racism? Is it attitude? Is it societal influences? Is it the schools? Am I crazy?

Please post any and all comments you may have!

As a parent of young Black males, I am well aware of the labels that may be placed upon them as they go their merry way through school “Aggressive, uncontrolled, fidgety, can’t sit still….” Then we get the heavy ones, “ADD, ADHD…..have you tried Ritalin?”

Before I go any further, parents, and friends of parents who are reading this blog. PLEASE do not take what I say as medical or educational advice. I am just a parent and a former teacher who is speaking from experience. My word is not law and I do not claim to have any special expertise in this area. By all means, if you sense an issue with your young man, please seek medical assistance.

Now, that the disclaimer is out of the way, here we go. Boys will be boys. They have testosterone, which causes them to yell, holler, jump off couches, porches, decks, run, climb trees, bump into each other and random furniture, and did I say yell? It’s a fact of life that most boys are simply boisterous and seemingly out of control. Following are some tips on keeping your sanity while raising boys.

• Allow them to expend that energy. They are going to yell, run, shout and scream. Certainly, you can ask them to keep it down to a dull roar, but the best thing is to let them outside while they run like wildebeests. Meanwhile, you sit in a lawn chair sipping lemonade and reading your book.

• Find out their interests. For the most part, boys will not sit down and read a book. What you might do is find something that interests them and give this to them when you need a little quiet time. With my first son, it’s dominoes. With my littler son, it’s those HotWheels cars. The both of them can play quietly for at least 20 minutes with their special interest toys. And that’s a blessedly quiet 20 minutes!

• Give them affection. Just because they’re boys doesn’t mean they don’t like being hugged and kissed on the top of their sweaty heads. Just don’t make a big deal about “mommy’s little boy”. Also, no boy is too grown for a show of affection. They NEED that physical affirmation.

• Talk to them. Yes, you’re tired. You don’t need to hear a little boy prattling in your ear. Count to five, and restrain yourself from saying “You talk too much.” Listen and talk to your boys. You just might learn something.

School Days
Statistics show that black boys are more likely to be disciplined and/or expelled, even in the early years of school. They are also more likely to be recommended for special education or diagnosed with a learning disorder. Forewarned is forearmed, parents. Remember that the teacher, nor the principal, nor that guidance counselor is the end all/be all for your child. You don’t have to put your child on medication so that he sits in a corner, nearly comatose just to take the stress off a teacher who may or may not be able to handle a bouncy boy. Here are some ways to keep your child from being tagged as a trouble maker.

• Serve a good breakfast. Pop Tarts and Sunny Delight do not a good breakfast make. Talk about a recipe for disaster. I know my marginally well behaved boys would be bouncing off the wall after such a meal. Aim for high fiber, low sugar breakfasts such as oatmeal with milk or cream, boiled eggs and whole wheat toast, cream of wheat with butter and milk, yogurt with granola. If you’re in a hurry, try a yogurt smoothie with fruit and some cheese on the side. Just don’t get taken in by that instant oatmeal. In some cases you might as well serve your boy a packet of sugar. The behavior caused by blood sugar spikes may cause your boy to act out in class and/or be unable to sit still.

• Reinforce expectations. Let your boy know that you expect him to behave in school Also let him know that it may be hard to sit still for such a long time, but assure him that you know he can do it. Hopefully, he will have a teacher that does understand boys and accommodates them accordingly.

• Enough sleep and exercise. What else is there to say? My boys sleep well when I allow them to run around like gazelle in the back yard.

• Limit TV and video games. Yes, I do rally against too much TV. You don’t want your child to become a zombie, sitting in front of the TV for hours at time. Sure, he’s quiet, is his brain active?

• Avoid drugs, if you can. Medication should be a last resort. Try behavior modification, nutritional support, counseling, changing teachers, whatever you can to avoid the medication. Certainly, if all these things don’t work, then perhaps medication is the only way. But make it a last resort, not a first step.

Boys can be fun. They always seem to be having fun, running around and shouting at each other – who can’t admire that exuberance for life? Remember though, our black boys are a precious commodity and it’s up to us to raise them right.

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.

Black parents tackle a gap

By Tatsha Robertson, Globe Staff  | March 28, 2005

Some researchers have cited poverty, bad teaching, and racial stereotyping as contributors to the gap. But Ron Ferguson, director of the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University, cites his research that suggests some middle-class black families lean too much on schools to educate their children. Using his calculations based on a 1998 government survey of parents’ habits, Ferguson determined that about 47 percent of college-educated black parents surveyed read to their children daily, compared with 60 percent of white parents with at least a bachelor’s degree. Black parents with that much education had 65 books in their home on average, while white parents had nearly double that — 114. White parents also were more likely to discuss science or nature with their children.

”I do believe middle-class and affluent black parents are seeing we have to do more and more,” said Virginia Walden Ford, an educator in Washington who is African-American. ”The dialogue is intense. The phone now rings off the hook in April about summer programs.” Ford, 53, said she was a hard-working parent who initially placed the responsibility for educating her children on the schools. ”I started seeing in my children things education was not giving them, and it became very clear in watching them that I needed to intervene,” she said. ”I started watching my white friends and asking them for advice: ‘How do you get into that community organization and that program?’ They were like bulldogs when they wanted something for their children.”

Unorthodox measures to teach the tenacious habits of the affluent to African-American mothers and fathers in Harlem have been taken by the Institute for Urban and Minority Education at Columbia University’s Teachers College, which Gordon directs, as well as by Harlem Children’s Zone, a large social service organization, and The College Board, sponsor of the SAT.

”A lot of our parents are tired. They are worn-out and they need almost a pep rally, so we say, ‘Hey, I know you are tired, but this is important,’ ” said Geoffrey Canada, CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone, which runs Promise Academy Charter School, an extended day school that Tomlinson’s daughters attend. ”We have begun to say, ”You have to do this, or there just is no way your child is going to make it.’ ”

Gordon’s institute hired a firm to create a public awareness campaign to promote the idea that school alone does not guarantee academic success. Researchers are spreading the message in churches and from door to door, and it will be preached this summer at parent conferences. Faculty members at Promise Academy, which opened in September, give away compact discs and hold barbecue suppers to entice parents to attend PTA meetings. Harlem Children’s Zone begins to push parental involvement early on.

”With educated white parents, there is a real understanding that the race for a seat at Harvard and Yale and Princeton begins at birth,” Canada said. ”When school breaks, you are thinking, ‘What can I get my children into so that they will have a competitive advantage?’ It’s different with black parents. They believe from 9 to 3 is when this happens. The rest of the time is to relax.”

Tomlinson said she keeps an eye out for new activities for her daughters, Alaysia and Aleyah Joseph, partly because she wants to condition them to try new things, just as many affluent children are. Still, she wonders whether affluent parents have to work as hard to do it all for their children. On a recent weekday, she had to leave work to pick up Alaysia, 11, who got into a fight at school. Hours later she had to pick up Aleyah from an after-school program.

Tomlinson, who completed her GED, does not always understand the homework her children bring home, but she makes them finish it before bedtime after their 10-hour day at Promise Academy. ”It’s hard,” she said. ”Sometimes you are too tired to try to find them something to do, but I know now that you have to do it.”

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