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The Million Word Challenge: Register today

Raise Your Child — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:41:18 +0000

Challenge your students to read millions of words!

Register today for the Million Word Challenge:
www.millionwordchallenge.org

The 2012 Million Word Challenge is a literacy campaign that encourages preschool – 12th grade students to read millions of words outside of school time. Each year, hundreds of schools participate in the challenge. Join them to promote a home culture of literacy by registering today for the Million Word Challenge and launch your school’s campaign on February 1, 2012.

How Can a School/Agency Participate?

Register your school/agency online at www.millionwordchallenge.org today. The Campaign launches on February 1, 2012. There are limited spaces available so schools/agencies will be registered on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Implement the challenge in your school/agency following the guidelines. Schools/Agencies will have access to an online handbook to help with implementation.

Submit the name of your school/agency’s Million Word Challenge Winner by logging back onto www.millionwordchallenge.org in April 2012.
Each student winner receives a $50 gift certificate to purchase books at the Target Book Store at Festival of Books, which will take place at USC April 21 – 22, 2012. Students unable to attend Festival of Books will be able to use their gift card to purchase books at any Target store.

For additional information, please contact

Colin Meng at (213) 201-3907 or

at ctmeng@familiesinschools.org.

Million Word Challenge participant challenges you to read outside of school!

LéaLA Book Fair With a Mission to Make History in Los Angeles

Raise Your Child — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 20:59:37 +0000

LéaLA Book Fair With a Mission to Make History in Los Angeles

Isabel Allende, Elena Poniatowska, Laura Restrepo, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Carmen Boullosa, Francisco Martin Moreno, José José and Kate Del Castillo, are Among Presenters

One of the most ambitious efforts to celebrate the world of Spanish language books will make its debut when LéaLA, the Spanish book fair in Los Angeles, premieres April 29, 30 and May 1, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. “This book fair is the first of its kind in the U.S.,” says Marisol Schulz, Director of LéaLA. “LéaLA was conceived as a cultural festival where the spinal cord is the literary program, a space where authors from Latin American countries and U.S. Latino writers can find a home that reflects the U.S. Latino reality. A place where Hispanics from all walks of life can rediscover their roots, reading, culture and understand the new society they are building in the U.S.,”

LéaLA will feature an impressive gathering of highly acclaimed authors from the literary, cultural and entertainment worlds. More than 100 publishers and 80 authors will showcase their works from fiction to non-fiction, with topics ranging from history to empowerment, for everyone from book aficionados to children just learning to read, in Spanish and English. The jam-packed literary and cultural program will complement the sale of books and give the public a close-up look at the wonders of the written page in an entertaining way.

Confirmed authors include: Isabel Allende, Laura Restrepo, Francisco Martin Moreno, Xavier Velasco, Sealtiel Alatriste, Carmen Boullosa, Sanjuana Martinez, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, and Sandra Lorenzano. Also participating will be the Director of the Royal Spanish Academy, Jose Manuel Blecua; former Miss Universe, Dayanara Torres; legendary singing superstar, Jose Jose; actress Kate del Castillo, and more celebrities who will read to children in the kids’ zone.

The Mexican state of Jalisco is the honored special guest and as a tribute LéaLA will present a homage to three Mexican literary greats: Juan Rulfo, Agustín Yáñez and Juan José Arreola, as well as the theatre performances by one of Mexico’s greatest artists, actor-writer-director, Ofelia Medina, presenting "El Placer de Nuestra Lengua," "The Pleasures of Our Tongue,” with the Rubén Albarrán (lead singer of Café Tacvba). The play’s name is a double entendre referring to the Spanish language as well as our physical tongue. It is a dramatic staging where delicate, romantic lyricism is intertwined with potent eroticism through the Spanish Language. The Ballet Folclórico of the University of Guadalajara, considered one of the best folk dance troupes in Mexico with international acclaim, will also offer a command performance, with concert caliber mariachi on Sunday, May 1 at the Wiltern Theatre.

Plenary sessions, book signings, talks, panel sessions and talks will fill each day’s program revealing insights into a plethora of topics including: popular trends, current events, immigration, the vitality of Latino culture in the U.S. and Latin America, the history and roots of Latin American countries, mysteries of love and sex, personal finance, mental and physical health for women, gay history, the drug trade, Mexican cinema in L.A., the art of Mexican cuisine, and the education crisis, among others.

Topping each day will be evening concerts at the Nokia Theatre with top recording artists including, Lupillo Rivera and Banda El Limon, Pedro Fernandez, and Molotov and Kinky.

The event is open to the public and expects to draw over 30,000 people. Admission is free to the book fair. Event hours are: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Concourse Hall, 1201 South Figueroa St., Los Angeles, 90015. Tickets for the concerts and theatre performances are available through Ticketmaster. For more information visit the LéaLA website at www.lea-la.com

LéaLA is an initiative organized by the University of Guadalajara USA Foundation and supported by the Guadalajara International Book Fair, Feria Internacional del Libro, known worldwide as FIL; and the University of Guadalajara in Los Angeles.

For interviews, photos and more information, contact:

USA: Oralia Michel
626-705-1942
oralia@ommpr.com
México: Yadira Cota
33-31342222 ext.12641
Yadira.cota@redudg.udg.mx

Home Schooling 101 – part b

Raise Your Child — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:02:06 +0000

Continuation of part a of the article:

You can even take a trip to the Treasury Building and other related places. Your child will benefit first hand so much more in seeing and doing rather than relying on mostly book-based education. (Yes, you need books and you use books, but you do not depend on them solely as your only education tool). Socialization happens just as easily with home-schooled children as it does for children who attend school in school buildings. Many times when we do television shows, we invite the home-school children, parents and guardians to come into our studio, take a tour and be on the show. So, your options are wide open and your world is your education. Another benefit is a focused education. You are the teacher; you are in charge. That gives you lots of options and lots of opportunities.

What are the problems related to home-schooling?

There are few problems to home-schooling, and these are some:

Your child might miss the classmates if your child started out with regular education and now switched to home-schooling.

How do you solve those problems?

The way to overcome this is to have your child interact as much as possible with the children from the other schools. Invite the children (with parents’ permission) to come on some day trips with you . Or invite them over after school. Have your child enroll in a hobby that he or she likes . (Children take up piano or bowling, or art , and in these hobbies the children make new friends and have interaction with children their own age). Use your own imagination and you will find ways to have your child interact with other children and still be home-schooled.

Testing

Most school districts require specific tests for home-schoolers. But the tests are no harder than those given to regular school children. So, prepare for the tests. They also usually require that a licensed teacher observe or give the tests. This can all be arranged. If you are determined to home-school, there is nothing that should stop you from at least trying this option of education.

Stigma

Years ago, there used to be a stigma attached to home-schooling. Years ago, most times farmers and poor people and migrant workers home-schooled. Sometimes children and even adults made fun of home-schoolers. But today, that is all changed around remarkably. And this was especially noted when one year, the home-schooled child won the National Spelling Bee on national tv, proving that she was the best speller in the nation. Even after that so many came forward on television stating they had been home-schooled and were now attending college or had graduated from conventional colleges.

What if you change your mind? If you change your mind about home-schooling, you have a right to have your child attend public school. Check with your school district. Most times in most cities, every child is entitled to a free public education, and most likely you live in a city or town like that. So don’t worry about changing your mind -if you find that home-schooling is impossible for you to do.

Home Schooling 101 – part a

Raise Your Child — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:59:44 +0000

By Linda Lin

Why bother home-schooling?

Why bother? Well, if you are thinking it is a bother, you might re-think your decision right there. To educate your child at home is not a bother, but a wonderful, richly rewarding experience that benefits you and your child. So, take the “bother” word from your vocabulary if you really would like that opportunity. Yes, this is your opportunity and your child’s opportunity.

If you are a stay-at-home mom or dad, then you have the opportunity to have wonderful learning experiences by home-schooling your child. In most states, home-schooling is legal, a legal option. There are some guidelines and rules and regulations that you need to follow, but after that everything rocks! (In some states, there are a certain amount of days that you have to notify the Board of Education that you intend to home-school your child).

You cannot simply keep your child from school and decide to home school. You must, almost always notify the School Board or the Board of Education. You can find out the rules and regulations through your government officials or through some wonderful home-schooling magazines and literature. Once you find out the rules and regulations, you are set to go.

Are there benefits to home-schooling?

Time, Balance, Growth & Togetherness

When home-schooling is done in the proper way, your child will have a fully-balanced education and will become a well-rounded good student. The rewards are unmeasurable. First, one of the benefits is that you both spend more time together and give each other more attention. The average student sees their parent for probably a few minutes a day during the week, or at most an hour or two. However, the average home-schooling parent or guardian sees their child on a regular basis for a few hours a day (when that parent or guardian is teaching). You will learn together! Now that’s one of the biggest and best benefits of home-schooling. The teacher and the student learn from each other. You grow together. And you can look back on this experience in years to come and both of you will be happy about your choices and decisions. Children get to spend more time with their siblings, and the younger ones will learn while the older ones are learning also.

You will have more time for each other. You can make practically any life-lesson an education lesson. Going to the supermarket or going to a department store is a lesson in buying, purchasing, finances and product comparison. Going to a fast food place is a lesson in food, health, and in purchasing and even a lesson in customer service. The fast food process shows the children very valuable marketing lessons. So things in every day life add to your home schooling experience.

Good Education

Another benefit is a great education. You see first hand what your child is learning without the need for PTA meetings and without the need for a strangers’ report on your child’s progress. You choose your child’s education. If you want to teach your child spiritual lessons, you can do that. You can teach religion as history and history as religious lessons. (Look at all the Christians in history and look at the impact they made in our land). You can teach fun science lessons and math lessons. A trip to the bank and to the ATM will be a great business math lesson.

Click here for part b of the article.

The Gifted Child – part 2

Raise Your Child — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:49:26 +0000

Continuation of the article by Theresa Willingham

She scored one point shy of admission to the gifted student program at our local elementary school. Because she didn’t hurry through a timed portion of the test – indeed, has never hurried through anything – a score sheet said she wasn’t The “profoundly gifted,” but just a “plain old smart kid.” I was invited to bring her back in a year and have her tested again. The school was sure she would make it on the second round. I decided it wasn’t that important.

Of course she’s gifted. Her IQ measures in the 120 range. She’s twelve now, a magnificent artist, with a mature flair for cartooning and a deep and abiding love and understanding of nature. But she can’t do grade-level math to save her soul. Her sister, whom I never had tested, is also gifted. At ten, she shows “prodigious talent” at the piano and works well above grade level in math. But she gets confused with word problems on paper and her giftedness takes flight at the sight of any kind of “test.” The girls’ seven-year-old brother would probably be stuck in a learning disabled class. His giftedness is somewhat hidden behind a gregarious, fun-loving nature and an abhorrence of reading, although he loves to be read to and has the focus and maturity to enjoy listening to long novels with his sisters.

My friends’ kids are gifted, although not all of them notice their gifts. These children are wonderful skaters, artists, inventors, budding scientists, amateur filmmakers, young architects, and more. NThem have ever been formally tested for giftedness. As far as the public schools are concerned, these plain old smart kids have to tough it out in crowded classrooms with everyone else. Fortunately, many of these friends homeschool and they don’t have to worry about that.

I’m sure your children are gifted too. When my children were very little and we spent time with other friends who had children the same ages, I would watch in fascination and wonderment at the skills and talents they all showed at those tender ages. I couldn’t figure out why those other parents didn’t seem to see their children’s talents. Indeed, over time, a lot of those talents went unrealized because they were never recognized.

How many brilliant scientists have we lost? How many doctors, how many possible cures for cancer, how many magnificent compositions and great works of art, how many inventions and cosmological theoretical advances have never seen the light of day because throughout their youth, our possible saviors were told they were nothing special? Genius isn’t relegated to the domain of high I.Q. Genius, said Thomas Edison – who was considered “addled” in his youth and probably wouldn’t have qualified as GSP material today – is one tenth inspiration and nine tenths perspiration. It’s the result of the blue-collar work ethic, not white-collar elitism.

I am grateful that homeschooling allows me to nurture the unique genius and gifts of each of my children. I mourn the genius lost in public schools because a child hasn’t yet realized his or her potential at the age of 5. I believe we get what we expect from our children – and from one another. At least, I believe we do if our expectations consist in belief in one another’s highest potential. If we treated all our children as the geniuses they can be, and nurtured their innate gifts of kindness, charity, understanding, and compassion, as well as their hoped-for academic gifts, then 9,999 children out of 10,000 could brighten our future and theirs with their own “extraordinary abilities.”

What are the odds your child is gifted? Probably pretty good if you believe in your child!

The Gifted Child – part 1

Raise Your Child — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:47:26 +0000

By Theresa Willingham

What are the odds your child is “gifted?” Probably slim, if you believe psychologist and author Ellen Winner, who says, “Extraordinary abilities are mostly innate and occur in perhaps one in 10,000 children.” But probably quite high if you believe in your child!

Winner argues that only “profoundly gifted students, with IQs over 160 or prodigious talents in art or music should receive special services.” The other 9,999 – including the just “plain old smart kids” can, for all intents and purposes, go take a homogeneous hike in “high standards” classrooms (wherever those might be).

While that argument might make good fodder for public education policy, it’s a social setback of the most limiting kind. It’s a throwback to the days when IQs were (erroneously) considered the best measure of success and potential.

However great a blow it might be for the parents of the “profoundly gifted,” the fact is that the world is not run by the 1 in 10,000 Winner declares have “extraordinary abilities” or “prodigious talents.” The world is run by that neglected 9,999 who are being told they’re nothing special!

Those “plain old smart kids” who don’t qualify for accelerated learning programs or special science labs are the ones who will grow up to help out in soup kitchens, volunteer in nursing homes and homeless shelters. They will rally for clean water and healthy environments, read and appreciate good literature and often write it, work hard in jobs that strengthen our economy and raise new generations of ordinary, good people. They will be members of Doctors Without Borders and Green Peace and the Sierra Club. They will also probably be the ones with the surprising start up companies that wow Wall Street, who invent a new fuel source or rescue someone from a fire or an automobile accident.

I’m not the jaded parent of failed children saying this. I’m the mother of at least one gifted child, and probably three. When my oldest was six years old and her eccentric behavior was driving me nuts, and one of her grandmother’s was calling for a child psychologist to look into the matter, I took a chance and had her tested for giftedness. I figured she was probably no odder than Mozart as child, or Einstein, or Beatrix Potter boiling down fox carcasses in her backyard.

Click here for part 2 of the article.

How to Choose the Right Math Program for Your Homeschooling Child

Raise Your Child — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 05:47:25 +0000

“Math programs are designed in such a way that each progressive year of study builds on what has been learned in the previous year. Hence, it is very important to judge the math skills of your child before you choose the curriculum.

Many homeschooling parents struggle to select the right math program. A good teacher is actually more important than books.

. A good teacher is the one who is very alert to the needs of the child and does not follow the book completely.

. A teacher should always be thrilled and enthusiastic about the subject, as this will encourage the student to study and also help him to develop a similar attitude. Many homeschooling parents dislike math and this may be perhaps due to the way they were taught math in their schooling days.

. A good math teacher should be able explain things and draw pictures to illustrate the concepts, regardless of the reference book.

. A good teacher should be able to work with the math book, which may be sometimes not suited to the aptitude of the child. He should be able to complement the text with other materials, by adjusting the pace, skipping some exercises, showing excitement about the concept, switching in between the topics and permitting the child to color shapes and numbers in the book.

A good teacher does not have to refer to any book. There are many curriculums to choose from and the following are some examples:

Saxon math is widely used by many, as it uses a progressive step-by-step approach. It is highly repetitive and therefore, it is not advised for gifted students. A fresh topic is added each day and the students solve few problems involving the new material. The remaining program usually consists of practice problems, which involve concepts that were used previously. Every assignment in this curriculum is based on the gathered review of all the material covered at that point.

Abeka curriculum uses the spiral method of education in the early grades, which involves constant review. They base their curriculum on various books such as basic math, plane geometry, pre-algebra, algebra, business mathematics and more. This curriculum is very thorough and the manual for the teacher is well put together.

Excel math is also based on the spiral method of education and it is designed for classroom use, but it is an inexpensive solution to the homeschoolers. Each chapter introduces new concepts, while reviewing the old ones.

You may find that all the basic books for grades K-6 mainly contain the same concepts. Choose the one that best suits the learning skill of your child. You can teach consumer math anytime. Parents should always buy solution manuals to save their time and energy, as they are helpful when you are teaching higher-grade math. They provide you with answers step-by-step.

Homeschooling is incomplete without a math curriculum. Homeschool supercenter is able to supply all the school math material that fits your needs.

The most important aspect to be kept in mind while choosing a curriculum is to ensure that it is adaptable, as learning is always not fun and you may have to change the curriculum if your child does not enjoy it.”

Author Description

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How to Choose the Right Language Arts Program for Your Homeschooling Child

Raise Your Child — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 05:49:58 +0000

“The greatest advantage in the homeschooling is the freedom to select the curriculum. You as parents should not make any mistake in selecting the right subjects, as this affects the success of the child.

If the concept is new to you and are facing difficulty in choosing the right curriculum, then converse with other home schooling families about the materials popularly used and the subjects. You can gain vast knowledge from the experiences of other people.

Finally, trust your instinct, as there is no one better than you as a parent who can think of what is best suited for the academic pursuits of the child. Select a curriculum that suits the needs and interests of your child.

Reading and writing are two main skills, which a child should master, in an educational program. Without these basic skills, he will face difficulty in mastering and learning other skills.

There are various methods to teach reading and writing to a child including phonic instruction, vocabulary, grammar and spelling. When you home school your child, you must teach your child reading and writing. Many curriculum choices are available online and in text form.

. Preschool language – As you start reading out stories to your child, he begins to love the process. He also learns other skills along the way like identifying the front and back of the book, how to hold the book and how to turn the pages gently. The child also starts recognizing alphabets and displays an interest in phonics as he learns the alphabet and the various sounds of the alphabet. At this stage, the main thing to do is to engross the child in the reading activity and begin teaching him pre-reading skills.

. Kindergarten and First Grade – Once you begin the formal education of reading and writing, you can start teaching alphabet sounds and phonics. This technique is available via the various phonics based reading programs readily available in the market. You can teach writing skills to your child by using worksheets. Writing skills are accentuated by first teaching a child how to hold a pencil correctly.

When a child moves to the second or third grade, the focus should shift from reading to writing. You can teach your child vocabulary as a part of literature and teach the meaning of words in a story.

From the sixth and seventh grade, the students increase their theoretical thinking and reasoning skills and this is the right time to analyze literature. Many home schools curriculum programs use the techniques of living books to involve the students to develop ideas about their reading and writing skills.

The key to a successful reading and writing program is to focus on real literature. You should select a subject that interests your child and urges him to read good literature.

There are many resources available for home schoolers. You can choose either single subject curriculum that includes text-books as well as the materials required by the teacher or the Unit Studies program, which integrates writing, reading and literature into an all subject area instruction, based on a theme.”