The Secret to Raising Smart Kids

From Scientific American 2007

Hint: Don't tell your kids that they are. More than three decades of research shows that a focus on effort—not on intelligence or ability—is key to success in school and in life

By Carol S. Dweck Young people who believe that their intelligence alone will enable them to succeed in school are often discouraged when the going gets tough.

Growing Pains

• Many people assume that superior intelligence or ability is a key to success. But more than three decades of research shows that an overemphasis on intellect or talent—and the implication that such traits are innate and fixed—leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unmotivated to learn.
• Teaching people to have a “growth mind-set,” which encourages a focus on effort rather than on intelligence or talent, produces high achievers in school and in life.
• Parents and teachers can engender a growth mind-set in children by praising them for their effort or persistence (rather than for their intelligence), by telling success stories that emphasize hard work and love of learning, and by teaching them about the brain as a learning machine.

See the rest of the article at:
http://www.sciam. com/article. cfm?id=the- secret-to- raising-smart- kids&page= 1

blogging course

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

imagination and the BIG picture!

story of stuff

Wow - Our children need to know this!
Watch this short movie - it will open your eyes to our "shopping" world!
http://www.storyofstuff.com/downloads.html

This looks really useful

http://www.tutorvista.com/

Unlimited tutoring for flat monthly fee. Really cool

Homeschooling study results..

This is an extract from the Executive Summary of the research done by the Fraser Institute :

http://www.fraserinstitute.org/Commerce.Web/product_files/Homeschooling.pdf

• Home schooling continues to grow in popularity
among parents in both Canada and the US.

• There are good reasons to be suspicious about easy
comparisons between the test scores of home
schooled and other students, since it is difficult to
ensure comparable testing conditions or levels of
student participation, among other reasons. However,
the number of scholars and studies comparing
the two groups continues to grow, bolstering
older studies.

• Many studies, Canadian, American, and international,
have found that home schooled students
outperform students in both public and independent
(private) schools. One US study found that
home and private school students perform comparably
well, and that both maintain a strong advantage
over public school students.

• Home educated children enjoy no significant advantage
if one or both parents are certified teachers.

• Surprisingly, several studies have found that home
education may help eliminate the potential negative
effects of certain socio-economic factors.
Though children whose parents have university
degrees score higher on tests of academic achievement
than other home schooled children, home
education appears to mitigate the harmful effect of
low parental education levels. That is, public
schools seem to educate children of poorly educated
parents worse than do the poorly educated
parents themselves. One study found that students
taught at home by mothers who had never finished
high school scored a full 55 percentile points
higher than public school students from families
with comparable education levels.

• Despite a widespread belief that home educated
students are not adequately socialized, the preponderance
of research suggests otherwise. The average
Canadian home schooled student is regularly
involved in eight social activities outside the
home. Canadian home schoolers watch much less
television than other children, and one researcher
found that they displayed significantly fewer problems
than public school children when observed in
free play.

• Though the long-term effects of home schooling
are less well studied, both Canadian and American
findings on previously home schooled adults are
encouraging. Canadian home-schooled students
report a life satisfaction score well above their public
school peers. American studies have found indications
of a wide range of non-academic benefits
from home schooling.
The Fraser Institute 3 Home Schooling, 2nd ed.

• The widespread use of the Internet has helped the
development of social connections and pedagogical
resources of home schooling families.

• Home schooling families reportedly spend less
than US $4,000 per year per household on home
schooling though that cost does place any value on
the parents’ time. In the United States, the most
recent figures show public school spending to be
$9,644 per child.

Got to love it!!

What is unschooling?

Amazing milk experiment

Amazing Magic Milk - The best bloopers are here

A great way to lock in the memories!

We are not boiling our babies!

:: "I'm Not A Frog-Boiler!" ::

When you reject authoritarian, coercive parenting in favor of non-punitive, pleasure-oriented parenting, critics and naysayers will warn you that your child won't be able to cope in the "real" world.

The assumption is that "it's a jungle out there" and we should gradually toughen up our kids and get them used to suffering so they won't be shocked when they venture out into the big, bad world.

It's like that famous experiment where they tossed a healthy frog in boiling water and it leaped right out. But if they put the frog in cool water and raised the temperature gradually over several days, the frog would be able to *adjust* and stay in the water.

The slow boil seems more humane, but that "well-adjusted" frog eventually *died* from the heat! Whereas the non-adjusted frog's intact sensitivity protected it from being boiled.

Today, look for evidence that your child's sensitivity is intact (e.g., negative reactions to unwanted conditions) and be *grateful* for it! Tell yourself, "My child will *never* get boiled!"

http://www.dailygroove.net/frog-boiler

Feel free to forward this message to your friends!

(Please include this paragraph and everything above.)

Copyright (c) 2007 by Scott Noelle

Oh yes! How aptly put!

Do you still have any common snense?

My parents told me about Mr. Common Sense early in my life and told me I would do well to call on him when making decisions. It seems he was always around in my early years but less and less as time passed until today I read his obituary.

Obituary - Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Aspirin, sun lotion or a sticky plaster to a student; but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by five stepbrothers; Me First, Who Cares, I Know my Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm a Victim.

(extract author unknown)

I have a child like that! Too funny!

great conversation starter...

I love the internet for starting up all sorts of conversations with our kids...
This one is really cool - actually a lot of the videos at metacafe.com are cool for science and math.
Enjoy!
Do Try This At Home! Episode 3 - Defying Gravity - The most popular videos are here

Is your child prepared?

Just reading about a woman agonizing about whether she had prepared her child for his career...I sympathise and I think it is worth noting that statistics predict our children will change their careers about as often as they change their hairdo's! Not just minor changes either.

We can only prepare them to ask good questions, find answers, evaluate those answers and ask better questions.
We can help them develop skills like decisiveness, curiosity, persistence, communication and literacy.
We can be an example of courage, integrity, compassion and faith.

With all that any career will open its doors wide for them. The data can be learned when they need it.

education vs schooling!

I was reminded yesterday that there is a significant difference between education and schooling!

When should my child be reading?

It is an excellent question and one I was asked twice today.

There is no good reason why a child would naturally be reading at any specific age. They read when they are mature enough and motivated enough.

Children in the institutional system :) need to read by the time their peers do because they will be obviously out of step with the class if they don't. This is about "fitting in" and class control. This is not about your child's special strengths or what is best for him.

A blossom cannot be pulled open in order to encourage it to bloom. You will simply damage it. It will open in it's own good time.
Facilitating your child's education means understanding where they are and having resources to offer them to take the next step. It doesn't have anything to do with "forcing" the bloom.

Trust your child. They will eventually read. Just probably not on your schedule!

Another one!


Human Calculator - The best home videos are here

And YEEEHA!

Fast Math Trick - Amazing videos are here

Oh Yes Please!!!!


Math :: Harry Potter Style - Click here for this week’s top video clips