Posted by: Sara Carbone on: April 10, 2012
Ever wish your kid actually cared about what she was studying? Not the grade, but the actual topic? In the book Unconditional Parenting – Moving From Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason education expert Alfie Kohn writes: In place of excessive focus on school achievement, we should take a lively interest in what the child is learning. [...]
Posted by: Sara Carbone on: April 5, 2012
Think that homeschooling is some weird lifestyle choice you could never relate to? Think again! Blogs by homeschooling parents have quite a bit to offer when it comes to helping your child with school: Outside the box curriculum ideas and supplemental materials for subjects Product, event, activity, museum reviews Descriptions of home projects or field [...]
Posted by: Sara Carbone on: March 30, 2012
I can’t say enough good things about the Princeton Review SAT study guide Cracking the SAT. I’ve used it for over 10 years to prep students for the SAT. It’s both accurate – their questions match the real SAT’s closely – and clearly organized so that a student can easily step her way through it. And [...]
Posted by: Sara Carbone on: March 23, 2012
The following is a list of 5 top rated books about parenting and education on Amazon.com. I chose books that had consistently positive ratings from readers (many of them parents) for practicality, strong research and readability. Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child – The Heart of Parenting by John Gottman This book is all about helping your [...]
Posted by: Sara Carbone on: March 19, 2012
“A little less conversation, a little more action” sang The King. Very true when it comes to helping the kid who avoids and procrastinates. A kid avoids homework for many reasons – it’s hard, boring, overwhelming or just plain inconvenient. Lecturing and nagging doesn’t tend to work. So try some action instead. Sit down and [...]
Posted by: Sara Carbone on: March 16, 2012
These presentations are blowing my mind. My husband recently introduced me to the fascinating world of TED. TED – Ideas Worth Spreading (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a nonprofit that holds conferences gathering luminaries from all over the world. At these conferences individuals give talks and performances about ideas close to their hearts [...]
Posted by: Sara Carbone on: March 13, 2012
Start this process about a month before the actual exams. Do the following for each subject. 1. Grab everything for that class and lay it out on a table – vocab notecards (hopefully he’s saved them from over the year), textbook/texts, workbooks, handouts, support books (i.e. Barron’s Regents Practice Books), class notes, quizzes/tests, midterm/final review [...]
Posted by: Sara Carbone on: March 10, 2012
With arms crossed, Rebecca stares stonily at the bedroom wall. Anna peers down anxiously at her. “Your work habits are going to keep you from ever being able to hold down a job. If -” says Anna. “Stop talking.” Rebecca’s hand coming up could halt an oncoming train. “Just leave.” “Look, we know you can [...]
Posted by: Sara Carbone on: March 6, 2012
There are certain words and phrases that come with baggage. Our culture uses them over and over again in ways that mean they’re loaded with negative connotations. I tend to avoid them when working with children. This may seem like silly semantics, but I like using language that aims to keep academic work clear of [...]
Posted by: Sara Carbone on: February 29, 2012
Elana is a feisty, intelligent high school student from Connecticut. She describes qualities in an English teacher that I’ve found to be key and, unfortunately, not so typical. Sara Carbone: What makes a great English teacher? Elana: A great English teacher knows how to interact with their students and knows the text being read in class [...]