Don't fret back-to-school prep with this checklist

Heads up Miami-Dade County! Parents and students in Florida need to be conscientious about preventing Summer learning loss. Check out this article from the associated Press.

"Yep, it's summer, and as twisted as it sounds, that should mean back-to-school prep for parents to avoid the inevitable nervous breakdown that comes with waiting until the last minute on absolutely everything. (read full article)"

Congratulations from JLP

JLP Education Services would like to start out by saying "Congratulations" to those who have worked very hard during the past academic school year. This accolade extends to all parents, students, teachers, tutors, and administrators. These individuals, along with JLP, are all committed to helping students achieve their personal academic best. JLP would also like to thank all personal clients that have supported us and our mission through our first year of business. Without these clients and the success of their students, JLP would not be where it is today.

Even though the school year is over, we must not let the important summer months go to waste. This is the time to help our students catch up from any missteps taken last year and to also help those prepare for excellence in the 2009-2010 school year. Recent Juniors need to take this time to start their college applications and campus visits, along with their college admission essays. They also need to study for the last round of tests in the beginning of their senior year. Recent Sophomores also need to begin heavy test preparation for all of their standardized tests coming up their junior year. Not only do they take their PSAT (possibly qualifying them for National Merit scholarships), but they also take all of the SATs offered because of the new ScoreChoice program, along with the ACTs as well. Lastly, anyone from grades K-12 can benefit from the rebuilding and strengthening of basic academic skill sets and fundamentals. By signing up for customized tutoring programs, students prevent summer learning loss by strengthening their academic cores.

Summer School Canceled in LA

California's budget crisis has led Summer School to be canceled in LA. This unfortunate circumstance is leaving many needy students and families in the lurch.

The NY Times Reported on this last Saturday

"Most summer school programs for students from elementary through high school will be canceled this year, the latest casualty of California’s widening budget gap, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District said Friday (read complete article here).

Beyond the Lemonade Stand

Great article from Legal Zoom on something productive your kids can do this Summer.

"Michelle Fabio
June 2009

With hot weather and months without school just around the corner, now is the time to start thinking about how to help your kids start a summer business.

Why should you encourage summer businesses? What are some good businesses for kids? What can you do to get them started? Read on..."

Ruth A. Peters, Ph.D. Weighs in on Summer Learning for Children

We came across a great piece on retaining gains while on Summer break.

"How to stanch your kid’s summer learning loss

Many students lose more than 2 months of knowledge over the summer. Dr. Ruth Peters tells how to block the seasonal brain-drain

By Ruth A. Peters, Ph.D.

"Today" contributor

updated 10:41 a.m. ET, Tues., June 21, 2005

A few schools already have. Most are about to. Close their doors on the academic year, that is. And for many students that means that much of what they have learned in the past nine months goes out of their heads like summer heat rising from the blacktop. To offer advice on how to stanch this seasonal brain-drain, “Today” invited contributor and psychologist Dr. Ruth Peters onto the show. Here are some of her suggestions:

Summer will be here before you know it, and if you think those lazy, hazy months should be all play and no work, take a gander at the following statistics provided to me by Ron Fairchild, Executive Director of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Summer Learning. (Ron and I recently participated in a seminar in conjunction with Johns Hopkins and Sylvan Learning Centers and he was kind enough to provide this information to me.)

All students experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer.

On average, students lose approximately 2.6 months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills during the summer months.

Low-income children and youth experience greater summer learning losses than their higher income peers.

Students may not have the same structured meal schedule and access to nutritious meals during the summer.

Studies show that out-of-school time is a dangerous time for unsupervised children and youth.

Important facts

Only about 10 percent of students nationwide participate in summer school or attend schools with non-traditional calendars.

A majority of students (56 percent) want to be involved in a summer program that “helps kids keep up with schoolwork or prepare for the next grade”.

Research shows that teachers typically spend between 4 to 6 weeks re-teaching material that students have forgotten over the summer.

At least 11 percent of children between the ages of 6 and 12 care for themselves over the summer months (unsupervised).

Action you can take
What can you do, personally, to help combat summer learning loss with your own kids?

Well, unless you live somewhere particularly remote, there are probably plenty of options in your community — you just need to be a bit creative and think outside the box.

For instance, my local newspaper, every April or May, has a special section listing all private as well as community-funded summer programs for kids. Many of these are eclectic-types of camps involving swimming, sports, crafts and field trips. However, more and more add in reading enrichment or remediation as well as math tutoring over the summer.

In addition to community and private day camps, check out the following options:

Learn to love your local library (and librarian!). It’s a wonderful place to promote the love of reading, and the librarian can suggest grade-level as well as pure recreational books that will keep your kid’s neurons clicking.

Check out safe, parent-approved Internet sites. There are many that offer a “summer camp” theme — a daily craft activity to do alone or with a parent each day, some brain teasers, video streaming of important world events (volcanoes erupting, the Martin Luther King “I have a dream” speech), and tons of grade-related math, reading and science work to be checked out in a fun way.

Consider your local newspaper — many have summer writing camps. Your performing-arts center has summer camps that involve singing, dancing and set décor as well as script reading (notice the reading part?).

Even if your child attends a public school during the year, many private schools offer summer programs for all students that involve academics as well as sports, crafts and field trips. Learning academics is more fun when interspersed with active movement and game-like activities.

The summer months are an excellent time for your child to fill in learning gaps or zoom ahead with enrichment activities at supplemental learning centers, or via tutors or last year’s teacher. Your child’s teacher is an excellent resource to give you ideas for summer books to read and math workbooks to complete in between play and television watching.

Sleep-away camps can be specialized for leaning opportunities, especially for niche fields such as computers, science and even math camps. Lots of other activities are interspersed to keep it an active experience for all. Also, consider Circus Smirkus in Vermont (www.circussmirkus,org), acting and film making in New York (www.nyfa.com), CyberCamps (www.cybercamps.com), and Omega Institute holistic learning camps (www.omegateencamp.com).

What you should do now
Before this school year ends, be sure to check with this year’s teacher(s) to get suggestions for summer workbooks and pleasure books, science activities, etc. He or she will know what will be helpful for next year. Also, you may be able to check with next year’s teacher to get his or her advice on interesting summer activities.

NOTE: This is especially necessary if your child is “on the bubble” (weak in a particular subject, afraid to answer questions in class for fear of being wrong). Summer is a great time to fill in the learning gaps and to begin the next year in a confident manner.

Learn from a vacation
Think of your summer vacation as a teachable moment. It’s sort of like tricking your kids into learning. Stealth learning is a neat way to get your kids reading, doing math or learning geography without them even realizing it!

Let the kids go online to sites such as Mapquest or one of the travel sites to help “research” the journey to and from the vacation site, as well as activities surrounding where you will be spending your summer vacation. Even if you can’t leave town for a vacation, have your child compile a “virtual vacation” by doing some research and downloading pictures of events that he or she would like to take part in. Who knows, maybe next summer they will be able to actually visit the location!

Local learning resources
Don’t forget summer learning opportunities locally, in addition to your library. Check out museums, the zoo, aquariums, concerts and parks that you don’t usually get to attend during the school year. Have them keep a journal (writing skills!) of their activities, and perhaps e-mail friends and relatives about what they are doing (again, stealth writing practice!).

Set some goals
Finally, try to motivate your child to complete five to 10 math problems (from a grade-appropriate workbook) a few times a week, and to read a chapter in a pleasure book several days a week also. Hopefully, the work will be fun (keep it low-level and simple), and the kid will do it for enjoyment.

Or, you can enhance motivation by saying, “You can turn on the television after you’ve read a chapter in your book.” Some parents skip the weekly allowance and reward their children for accomplishing some academics during the summer, by tying their allowance to task completion. You know your kids, use the option that will be most successful.

Dr. Ruth’s Bottom Line: Don’t delay — now is the time to take action for keeping the brain stimulated, as well as the body moving, over the summer months. Keep it simple, fun and stimulating. Let the kids pick out the books to read and the sites to research on the Internet (again, only safe sites allowed!). Learning alone and informally or via a structured group for part of the day or part of the summer will help to prevent summer learning loss and help your child stay sharp for school next year. But, please remember that summer is also for relaxing, taking some time off, and just being a kid. The trick is to balance fun with learning, and with all of the local options available to you, it’s a task worth tackling!

For more resources on summer reading, go to the reading resources pages at the National PTA Wesite, www.pta.org.

Copyright ©2005 by Ruth A. Peters, Ph.D. All rights reserved. Dr. Peters is a clinical psychologist and regular contributor to the “Today” show. Her most recent book,“Laying Down the Law: The 25 Laws of Parenting to Keep Your Kids on Track, Out of Trouble, and (Pretty Much) Under Control,” is published by Rodale. (See excerpts here.) For more information you can visit her Web site at www.ruthpeters.com.

PLEASE NOTE: The information in this column should not be construed as providing specific psychological or medical advice, but rather to offer readers information to better understand the lives and health of themselves and their children. It is not intended to provide an alternative to professional treatment or to replace the services of a physician, psychiatrist or psychotherapist.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8146912/"