Choosing a school for your child can be a complex process for any family, but it’s especially true if your son or daughter has a learning disability or struggles to learn effectively in a conventional school setting. Identifying the nature of your child’s difficulties and sorting through available educational options can be very daunting tasks.
Any student can tell you: Tests cause stress. That stress can come from many places. Most students want to perform well on tests, so a little anxiety is natural. On top of that, children—especially teenagers— can be subject to a swirling mass of emotions, causing them to doubt and criticize themselves. They may feel pressure to perform as well as their friends. And then they may feel pressure from their parents, especially when it comes to the SAT, which many colleges and universities use to measure a student’s readiness for college.
When considering educational options for their children, many parents may overlook one popular option: Catholic schools. But there are a number of reasons why parents might want to consider a Catholic education for their child.
For many parents, a good education means much more than academics. While reading, math, and science are all important, having their child learn about such values as kindness, respect, and empathy for others is just as important, if not more so. Fortunately, most Atlanta area public and independent schools incorporate some form of character education in their curricula, placing an emphasis on guiding children to become caring, involved members of society.
The transitions to middle and high school can be daunting for both children and parents. And the stress of those transitions is only compounded when you’re relocating to a new city or a new neighborhood. Middle and high school students enter larger schools and have to learn to cope with more peers, new teachers, and unfamiliar subjects, as well as becoming the youngest students in the school—again.
Mention the words “boarding school,” and many people may immediately think of images conjured from books and films. These images often go from one extreme to another: whether they’re drab, military inspired classrooms filled with unruly and troubled students that require discipline and uniformity, or elitist institutions reserved for the super wealthy. These impressions are particularly common in America, where parents may have far less experience with the boarding school environment, and often misunderstand their benefits.
Teaching has to be one of the most rewarding professions there is. Helping to mold the next generation, seeing “the light come on” when they finally grasp an elusive concept, watching as their confidence and skills grow day by day— teachers cite all these things as what has inspired them to enter the field and what continues to motivate them in the classroom during every school year.
Things are going well: your children are enrolled in a good school, doing well in their classes and seem to be happy. Then one day, your second-grader comes home in tears after finding out she was the only one not invited to Susie’s birthday party. Or your usually gregarious high-schooler becomes withdrawn and is noncommittal when asked about his friends. They’re experiencing something virtually every child encounters at some point during their school years: cliques.
You check in on your kids, and it’s a typical scene: Your oldest is buried in a book and oblivious to “Sesame Street” blasting from the TV as your middle child recites along. Meanwhile, your youngest has taken the game controller apart. All children have their own ways of processing information, or what educational theorists commonly call learning styles. By getting a sense of how your child learns best—his or her learning style—you can help them study and learn more effectively to achieve and build on success at school.
Whether it’s Pee Wee Soccer, Little League or “Friday night lights,” youth sports are an American tradition. And that’s a great thing: in addition to providing the physical benefits of exercise, it’s been consistently shown that kids’ involvement in sports boosts self-esteem, improves academic performance, reduces the likelihood of engaging in risky behaviors and teaches important social skills, including teamwork, goal setting and emotional resilience. Nurturing your child’s involvement in sports offers definite benefits, but also demands active parental planning and involvement to maintain a balance with other aspects of growing up. For parents of young athletes, maintaining that balance is almost a sport in itself.