Here’s an idea for family fun this Spring Break season or on any rainy weekend: board games. Sounds corny, perhaps, but you can have a great time playing board games with your children. It is a golden opportunity to spend time together without any screens, and a good way to build skills, confidence and good sportsmanship (which you must [...]
It’s 9pm, and my middle schooler suddenly remembers that he has a history quiz tomorrow. Where is that study sheet? Crumpled up at the bottom of his backpack, or left in his locker? At 9:30 we find it, buried under one of the many piles of papers on my desk, where it has been for the last two days. [...]
Marc Aronson, an author and editor who writes a blog called "Nonfiction Matters" for the website schoolibraryjournal.com, reviews our blog in his latest post which can be found here. Take a look at this and browse through his other posts while you are there.
At GCP we are always on the lookout for resources that can help parents boost our sons' (and daughters') achievement. Below are some sites that may be helpful: Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org) This site, created by Sal Kahn, has over 2100 videos which feature mini lessons and self-paced exercises covering math (from basic arithmetic to advanced calculus), science (biology, [...]
When should you hire a tutor and what type of tutor is best for your child? GCP sat down with several established tutors who work with students in Maplewood, New Jersey and New York City to get some expert advice on what to look for, what to expect and how best to work with tutors. A threshold question is [...]
Are Black and Hispanic college educated parents doing all that they should to help their children learn? Ask Dr. Ronald Ferguson, Harvard professor and director of Harvard’s Achievement Gap Initiative, and he will point to Table A8 in his book Towards Excellence With Equity: An Emerging Vision for Closing the Achievement Gap (Harvard Education Press, 2007), which justifies the [...]
Patricia H. Shimm, author of "Parenting Your Toddler: The Expert's Guide to the Tough and Tender Years", has run the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development for over 20 years and knows the benefits of parent groups. Shimm established parent groups as part of the Toddler Center program since its inception, and has run scores of them for decades. [...]
Dr. Tammy Mann, Executive Director of the Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute at the United Negro College Fund, leads the Institute’s efforts to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for African American children from preschool through college. While many of the Institute’s programs are gender neutral, she is acutely aware of the need to focus on boys. “On UNCF campuses [...]
A few nights ago, I watched Malcolm Gladwell interview Wendy Kopp, Founder and CEO of Teach For America. I sat with about 450 young, mostly white people, and listened to Kopp talk about TFA’s mission to end educational inequity along economic lines, and its successes in poor communities in New Orleans, Newark, Philadelphia, and elsewhere in the nation. As [...]
I’m sure that most of our readers dutifully read to their sons from infancy through toddlerhood. I am equally sure, though, that as soon as their little princes turn five, many of those same readers thrust a basketball, football or bat into their hands. Many of our sons’ early school years are marked by the routine of twice weekly [...]