Parenting Teens

As a parent, do you do everything possible to assist in your teen’s education? Do you participate in school activities and parent organizations? Do you attend parent/teacher conferences and accept suggestions about what you can do to help in seeing that your teen gets the best education possible?

Teachers (and many parents) have long been concerned that parents are not involved enough when it comes to their children’s education-particularly in high school. The National PTA has a list of ten things that teachers most wish parents would do to become involved.

* Be involved. Parent involvement helps students learn, improves schools, and helps teachers work with you to help your children succeed.

* Provide resources at home for learning. Utilize your local library, and have books and magazines available in your home. Read with your children each day.

* Set a good example. Show your children by your own actions that you believe reading is both enjoyable and useful. Monitor television viewing and the use of videos and game systems.

* Encourage students to do their best in school. Show your children that you believe education is important and that you want them to do their best.

* Value education and seek a balance between schoolwork and outside activities. Emphasize your children’s progress in developing the knowledge and skills they need to be successful both in school and in life.

* Recognize factors that take a toll on students’ classroom performance:
1. Consider the possible negative effects of long hours at after-school jobs or in extracurricular activities. Work with your children to help them maintain a balance between school responsibilities and outside commitments.
2. View drinking and excessive partying as serious matters. While most parents are concerned about drug abuse, many fail to recognize that alcohol, over-the-counter drugs, and common substances used as inhalants are more frequently abused than illegal drugs.

* Support school rules and goals. Take care not to undermine school rules, discipline, or goals.

* Use pressure positively. Encourage children to do their best, but don’t pressure them by setting goals too high or by scheduling too many activities.

* Call teachers early if you think there’s a problem while there is still time to solve it. Don’t wait for teachers to call you.

* Accept your responsibility as parents. Don’t expect the school and teachers to take over your obligations as parents. Teach children self-discipline and respect for others at home — don’t rely on teachers and schools to teach these basic behaviors and attitudes.

Do you do these things, or at least some of them? Do you feel you’re involved enough in your teen’s schooling and eduction? Read over these suggestions carefully and start doing at least one that you’re not doing now. Your child will benefit, and so will you!

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Well, it’s that time of the school year-almost the end! Most teens are looking forward to vacation, but first they have to get through their last rounds of finals. And, boy, can those be daunting! There seem to be so many of them!

My daughter has three weeks of school left, and we recently discussed her end-of-the-year test schedule for the second time. She has final exams in all four of her classes. In addition to those, for two of her classes, she has end-of-course tests, which are required to be passed in order to pass the class. On top of all that, two of her classes are Advanced Placement, for which she’ll receive college credits-but she has to pass an extra test (aside from those already mentioned) in order to receive the credits! It’s enough to stress anyone out!

That much testing alone is enough to make a teenager need a vacation! Then, there are the seniors who’ll be graduating and taking SAT’s and/or ACT’s, and need to worry about those, as well as all their college plans-which are only a few short months away. As parents, we need to do what we can to make all these anxieties more bearable, at least.

Here are a few things you can do to help:

*Talk with your teen about his/her testing schedule. Find out when each test is schedule, how much
time there is between tests, and how much each weight each test is given in calculating their final
grade in a class. Also review their grades up until this point, and be aware of which tests they need
to do really well in to bring up, or maintain, their grades in each class.

*Help them plan a study schedule. Or have them do it, and then you review it. Plan an adequate
amount of study time for each test, depending on how well they are already doing in a class, as well
as whether or not they need to bring up a grade. Allow more study time for the classes in which
they have the most difficulty.

*Make sure they have plenty of time to relax, as well as time to study. Too hard a push for tests can
totally wear out a student, and make him/her burned out by the time test time actually rolls around.
Make sure they have time to do enjoyable things, as well as just to rest, and get plenty of sleep.

*Give them plenty of encouragement and help. If they’re worried about a particular test or class, do
anything you can to help them prepare for the test. Ask questions. Help make flash cards. Have
them write chapter summaries and then check them. And make sure you give them plenty of praise
encouragement about the amount of work they’re doing. It’ll give them a boost in confidence, which
can always help.

*Get tutoring for them, if they need it. If they are having real difficulty in a class, make sure they get
the help they need. Call the school counselor’s office or your teen’s teacher about tutoring. Find
out if they can recommend a program, or someone else from the class who can help.

Testing at the end of the year can produce a lot of stress and anxiety. Do all you can to help your
teenager do his/her best and get through it. For study tips and help with things like test anxiety, visit Test Taking Tips. It’s a great site with lots of help for both students and parents.

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Today’s homework helper is a great public library web site. The King County Library System in Washington State has a really good homework helper page on the Arts. Here are just a few of the topics they have to offer:

*Animation and Cartooning
*Art History
*Artists
*Crafts
*Film
*Photography
*Sculpture

Each section lists numerous links to really good sites about that particular topic. If your teen is studying art history, has an assignment relating to a specific artist, or is just interested in the arts, they should find this site helpful.

In addition to homework helper, they also have a section titled TeenZone which features reviews of books for teens and reading lists for different genres. It also has links to sites on creative writing, careers and college, as well as crisis help and support. A few features require that you have their library card, but most are accessible by anyone.

A very good site for students, budding artists, readers and just about anyone!

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If your teenager needs serious help with schoolwork, Sylvan Learning Centers can provide it. If your teen has been absent from school and needs to catch up, or just has subjects which give him/her a lot of trouble and other options for tutoring don’t seem to help, Sylvan can often be the answer.

I don’t want to sound like a commercial for them, but I have a friend who is a Sylvan tutor. She’s a certified teacher, as most of those who work for Sylvan are. I’ve seen how they work, and they can work wonders. I returned to college as an adult and needed to take my SAT’s again (since it had been about ten years after I graduated high school!). I went to Sylvan for their SAT prep course. I don’t think I would have made it without them!

They give your student an assessment, which tells them and you at what level your child is progressing, and provides useful information in helping them plan a program specifically for your student. Students receive individual attention, which can often be the key to helping some students grasp a subject. We all know classrooms are overcrowded these days and most teachers (no matter how good they are) simply don’t have the time to give students individual attention.

They offer tutoring for every grade K-12, as well as SAT/ACT prep and preparation for statewide tests. They give help in reading, math, writing and study skills-basics which every student needs to succeed. Sylvan has centers in most cities and in smaller towns as well. And they now offer online tutoring for those who don’t have a center near their homes.

It’s not inexpensive. Employing certified teachers for tutoring children usually isn’t. Their website lists current costs as ranging from $38 to $52 an hour, depending on your student’s individualized program. However, they guarantee that your student will improve at least one grade level in math and reading after 36 hours of instruction. How many other tutors offer a guarantee? They also provide monthly payment plans and loan options.

Sylvan is for serious problems. If your student has one-or needs help with those upcoming state tests, or with preparing for the SAT/ACT, try them out.

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Do you have a teenager in band, chorus, orchestra-or who just has an interest in music? 8notes.com is a treasure trove for your young musician!

They have free sheet music of all kinds. It’s sorted by instrument type, music style and artist. They also have all kinds of helpful things for music students. Here’s a list of just some of the things the site has to offer:

*guitar tuner
*instrument fingering charts
*blank sheet music
*a midi converter
*biographies of classical and popular artists
*music theory lessons
*tests and games

One of the best things about the site is their forums, where music enthusiasts can talk about their instruments, their bands, different musical genres-anything they like!

My daughter’s been in band for the last five years (through middle school and high school) and she has used this site often. Share this site with your musically inclined teen. I’m sure they’ll find it useful.

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Is your teen taking a foreign language? Most high schools require a foreign language for graduation, and middle school students often take foreign language classes as well. This week’s homework helper is at Discovery Education

This particular site is called BJ Pinchbeck’s Homework Helper/Foreign Languages. It includes language dictionaries, translators, and vocabulary training, as well as foreign language for travelers. Languages included are Spanish, French, German, Latin, Arabic, Greek, Japanese, and Portuguese, among others. It’s a very helpful site for your student, or maybe for you, if you’re planning a trip!

Discovery Education also includes homework help for other subjects. Point your student in the direction of this site. They’ll find it helpful, and entertaining, as well!

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This week’s Homework Helper is not a website, but a tip-something it’s sometimes easy to forget with teenagers. Despite being older, crankier, ignoring you, and driving you crazy-they do still need help with homework sometimes!

It isn’t always easy to help them at this age. Believe me, I know. My teenage daughter is a math whiz. Just the sight of the problems in her textbooks makes me cringe. My helping her with math is out of the question. If she needs help with her math (which, being a proud parent, I can say she rarely does), she turns to her stepdad or my brother. My brother majored in physics and his entire job involves sitting at a computer and working calculations all day-but that’s another story!

However, I do help my daughter with writing essays, studying for tests, etc. We have a lot of fun with history, which we both enjoy, and with literature. We compare notes on stories and the meanings we both got out of them.

Sometimes, one of the most difficult parts of helping a teen with homework is, simply, getting them to talk with you about it! During the teen years, they don’t want to share a lot about their lives with you at times-plus they think their own parents have GOT to be some of the dumbest people on earth, and what could they possibly know about this stuff!

One of the most fundamental things to remember is to show an interest in your teen’s homework. This means not just asking them if they’ve started it or finished it yet! Talk with them about their assignments and what’s going on in their classes. If they have projects, ask if you can help them shop for the supplies they need. If you share a common interest in a particular subject, discuss it often, outside of the context of homework. It can be a great way for you and your teen to get to know each other better.

If they have a test coming up, help them study. Sit down and help them make a study outline. Or help them make flashcards. Then you can ask questions and they can answer. Or, take a page from “Jeopardy” and give them the answer, then have them come up with the question.

Just remember that the need for homework help doesn’t stop with teenagers. They often need it more, especially if they’re looking to get into a particular college or career and need to keep their grades up. Helping teens with homework can be a good learning experience for both of you.

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The History Place is a great website for history in all areas. It covers wars, social events, and people (among other things) in depth. Two great features are “Photo of the Week” which has photos of the famous, infamous and everyday in history, and “Speech of the Week” which covers a speech made by a historical figure.

Another great feature is “This Month in History” which covers, month by month and day by day, what happened on each date in history. One of the most entertaining sections is reviews of movies dealing with history, from classics to more recent offerings such as “The Good Shepherd” and “Flags of Our Fathers”. Among all it’s informational offerings, there is also a helpful guide on how to write a better history paper.

For me, personally, history was always one of my favorite subjects in school, and I still love reading history. Have your teen give this site a try for help with history classes, or just read some of the offerings yourself for entertainment!

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Today’s homework helper is one of the best sites on the web for help with anything literature related.
Bartleby.comoffers access to many of the greatest reference books around, including the following:

*Columbia Encyclopedia
*World Fact Book
*American Heritage College Dictionary
*Roget’s Thesaurus
*Bartlett’s Quotations
*Oxford Shakespeare
*Gray’s Anatomy

…and these are just a few!

They have lots of poetry anthologies, including complete works by specific poets such as Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost, works by classic authors like Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson along with biographies and reference sources for doing reports on the poets and authors.

In addition, they have works by, and biographies of-nonfiction authors like Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and Benjaming Franklin. Complete books are available for download! This is a must site for language and literature classes. Bookmark it and refer to it often!

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Along with some other changes in the New Year for Parenting Teens, this section “Homework Helpers” will now regularly appear on Friday rather than Saturday. I hope that doesn’t mess up anyone’s schedule! I’ve had some good responses for Homework Helpers and I’d like to keep people happy!

CELLS alive! is a great site for help with biology. This nifty site has sections on cell biology, microbiology, immunology and microscopy. It also has many great interactive features, including the following:

*cell models
*mitosis
*meiosis
*cell cycle
*puzzles
*quizzes

On top of all this, it also offers ideas for science fair projects, and even tells you how to cite the web page if you’re writing a paper! Heck, I wish I’d known about this site when I took college biology! So if your middle- or high school student is having problems with biology, needs an idea for a science fair project or just wants to check out some of the neat interactive features, point him/her toward this site.

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Is your teen interested in science and science fairs? This week’s homework helper points you toward the Science Fairs Homepage. Here, students in any grade from 1-12 can find help with the most difficult part of a science fair project-getting an idea.

Projects are listed in the areas of biology, physical science, engineering and lots more! It also provides links to other sites on science fairs, including sites on doing a project step by step. This is a great site if your teen is entering a science fair or just needs a project for class!

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This week’s homework helper is a site that I think a lot of people miss out on, because they only think of it as a TV show! I thought of it that way too, until my daughter informed me that she used it a lot for her history classes.

The Biography website has histories on just about everyone who’s ever lived! Presidents, generals, scientists, authors, artists-the list goes on and on! If your teen has a paper to do on any famous or historic figure, this is a great resource site!
They even have biographies for kids for your younger children!

Biography Channel, biographies, history, homework, teens, teenagers

Today, I’m beginning a new weekly feature called Homework Helpers. This feature will give tips on how you can help your teenagers with homework, and will give you websites to share with your teen on homework help in different subjects. I’ll be posting this feature on Friday nights. My logic behind this particular time is based on my daughter’s recommendation that weekends give teens more time to check out websites, and also, that teachers are more likely to make longer writing assignments, etc., due on Mondays.

One item that almost all students can use help with at times is writing essays. Infoplease has a great Writing Skills page. It gives step-by-step instructions on writing an essay-from establishing your topic all the way through proofreading your final draft.

A highly recommended site if your teen has trouble with writing, or is just trying to write that first-ever essay!

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