Education

Disclosure :: This post was sponsored by the East Baton Rouge Parish School System (EBR Schools).  EBR Strong Start: Make the Most of Your Child’s Summer This school year was a change of pace for many students who had to quickly shift gears to virtual learning, which might have left them feeling behind or unprepared for the coming year. Now with school winding down and summer on the horizon, that dreaded “summer slide” looks steeper than normal. As parents scramble to find avenues to keep students in-tune with their education this summer, the East Baton Rouge Parish School System is creating ​new ways to help your kids adjust to their changing educational experience. While traditional summer learning options such as Summer Remediation...

Those three little words set my skin on fire every single time I hear them: Let's go back to the Good Ole Days (aka) when things were easier for me and my privilege was not checked? Hear me out for a moment: Don't read my very first sentence and get all defensive, I know full well that when my mom says something similar she means: ("I want to go back to when my mom was still alive, you saw your family every single day, and leaving your door unlocked was completely normal".) I assume that most people feel this way, in some small way we all miss childhood and the simplicity of it. HOWEVER, when a politician or someone in power makes...

We had it all figured out. My husband and I strategically chose the location of our first home based on the elementary school down the road. By strategic fortune, it also contained a daycare.  All the houses in my neighborhood seemed to sport plastic signs with the school’s crest adorned on it in neatly groomed flower beds. I fantasized about my future children holding up little chalkboard signs with their school year, teacher’s name, and dream occupation. The day after I gleefully clutched a positive pregnancy test, I handed in my registration form. The director took the paper with a smile and inquired after our community involvement. I proudly rattled away the committees I chaired, my weekends of service, and gratuitous...

That afternoon’s homework didn’t seem different from any other. My 3rd-grader responded that he had already done his homework in class, just as he had done almost every day. Most days he never unzipped his book sack. On a few occasions, he would remember at bedtime some form I needed to sign or some math pages he needed to complete. This was not the work ethic my husband and I were accustomed to from him. He was sloughing off the diligence he had built over the years. He simply wasn’t being challenged. It was no one’s fault, really, but some factors contributed. My husband and I are both teachers and combat summer slide, having our kids spend a few minutes...

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Basis Charter Schools. 7 Steps to Establishing a Growth Mindset We come into this world with very little knowledge about the world we live in, but we are born with an innate desire and unlimited capacity for learning. We form ideas, discover interests, and develop skills in response to our environment. Every day we process new data. As we grow and build relationships, peers and mentors encourage, even compel, us to move forward, to progress, to increase our potential. Every day is filled with opportunity to learn, and there truly is no limit. Once children start school, they become increasingly aware of their own performance—and how they measure up. Naturally, they begin judging their own abilities as they...