Parenting
One of the things I love about summer is that I’m able to read a lot. I lean toward mysteries and modern fiction. This summer, I branched out a little and read a few young adult books, which were really good. Below are several lists of recommended books. Some are for parents, others are for kids, and some are for everyone. The children/teen/tween list my two kids helped me compile. It’s a list of their favorite books, from grade school to high school. We had a fun time creating it. I hope you find some books you enjoy. Happy reading! Books on parenting: How to Raise an Adult by Julie Lythcott-Haims Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck Parenting Teens with Love and Logic: Preparing Adolescents for Responsible Adulthood by Foster Cline & Jim Fay The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control…
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Instead of being a snowplow parent, give your kid a shovel and show them how to use it. Helicopter parent, snowplow, lawn mower, bull dozing, blackhawk, tiger mom…there are an increasing number of phrases used to describe today’s parents in a pretty unflattering light. We hear that seemingly well-meaning parents are actually doing harm to their kids, all under the guise of parenting. The latest high profile case was parents bribing SAT/ACT proctors, fabricating their children’s transcripts, and paying off college coaches to get their children into “elite” colleges. Let’s be honest, we all can identify with at least some of these traits. How many of us have called up our children’s school to request a certain teacher, made a point of ingratiating ourselves to our child’s coach in the hopes of getting them more playing time, volunteered to be a room parent in order to get the inside scoop…
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A recent Washington Post article, by Jacque Gorelick, There is no room for average students these days. Here’s why that worries me.” highlights many of the reasons that I started The Sycamore School. I saw a critical need to respond to the stress and pressure being placed on students at increasingly younger ages. As Gorelick writes, “Kindergarten is the new first grade…” And with middle school students being expected to take multiple high school level courses, “… middle school is engineered as a fast track to the Ivy Leagues.” While there certainly is room for acceleration in our schools, it should not be the standard. A child who is strong in writing or reading should not be pushed to take intensified algebra in middle school in order to still be a “smart” kid. Our education system is slowly sucking the joy out of learning. As a result, we’re seeing more…
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Guest Post by Current TSS Parent If your 5-10th grade student isn’t thriving at their current school and you are considering other options, I highly recommend The Sycamore School (TSS). Our daughter transferred in November, and it’s one of the best decisions we’ve made. She went from having terrible school anxiety and refusal, to happily skipping inside the building and being incredibly proud of her school. She had horrible math anxiety, and now signs up for extra math classes to try to improve her math. She tells me that she now likes math! What makes TSS different is the small, personalized, engaging, and experiential learning. There is a lot of choice, and with that comes personal accountability and responsibility. TSS recognizes all students don’t learn the same way. They accommodate a variety of learning styles by offering a choice-based learning model with personalized instruction. In their words: “TSS is for students who would…
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A Conversation with Karyn Ewart, Ph.D. on Radio Hotline with Dennis Price Why can’t school be fun and engaging? When did school become all about worksheets? Why does learning stop at the walls of the school? Founder and Head of School Karyn Ewart discusses these topics and why she started The Sycamore School on the Radio Hotline with Dennis Price. This interview was recorded live on December 4, 2018.
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Educators and clinicians across northern Virginia are seeing a significant increase in the number of youth who are experiencing some level of anxiety. We’re also seeing the onset of anxiety start at a younger age and many children are significantly compromised by its affects. There is an increased prevalence of school avoidance, school refusal and somatic complaints. Anxiety can take many forms and some students are very good at masking it. Some students wear their emotions on their face. For those students, the anxiety is quite apparent. A student might have a look, their cheeks get red, their speech quickens or their expression changes. Other students hide their anxiety quite well, but parents report that when their child comes home, he or she falls apart. Some students start to exhibit physical symptoms, such as headaches and stomach aches. Other students start having difficulty sleeping. The question weighing on our minds…
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Summer is a good time to reflect on your child’s school and think about whether it’s a good fit. Did your child seem happy at school? Have friends? Enjoy learning? With back-to-school upon us, is your child upset about going back? Here are five signs your child’s school is not a good fit: School avoidance: Does your child not want to go to school? Does he/she struggle to get to school on time? School avoidance is a good indicator that something is not right at school. It could be academic, social or both. Unhappy: Does your child come home unhappy? Many parents report that their child is able to hold it together at school but when they come home, they fall apart. This is a signal that they feel anxious or stressed and are using a lot of energy trying to keep it together at school. Other children complain about…
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My Wish for Students this Summer Over the summer, I’d like our students to explore, inquire and enjoy. Many parents are already struggling with managing their child’s screen time, and frustrated with kids who don’t know what else to do. Here are some ideas of activities that might engage tweens and teens (and adults!) From books to games to hikes and festivals, nature centers to mini-golf, there is so much to explore and do in and around our area. Bookmark this list and make 2018 the summer to remember. Be sure to share pictures of your summer highlights and tag us on social media. BOOKS – the perfect activity when you are alone or need a break I recommend anything by Kwame Alexander – he writes stories about youth centering around soccer, basketball and other high interest topics but it’s in verse. He’s written over 24 books that include The Crossover, Booked…
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We don’t want perfectionists, we want risk-takers who will fail and learn from their mistakes. I want our students to make mistakes and [gasp, shudder,] even fail. Making mistakes is a great way to learn. Learning is disorganized, perhaps messy, and not linear. And yet, mainstream education presents curriculum in a manner and sequence that presumes a linear path of learning, leading students to seek perfection. At The Sycamore School, we regularly present students with challenging problems or tasks and ask that they go outside of their comfort zone to try something new. For example, one student is making a water wheel out of two LPs, lots of carpenters glue and a pencil. One of our teachers often warns, “the first model will be rough, but the next time you do it, you’ll know what to avoid and the process will go much more smoothly.” We teach students to value academic feedback.…
Read MoreLast year, when our school was being developed, we blogged about the SOLs. Now that we are are open and our students are thriving, and we have practical experience in authentic assessment, we felt the subject deserved another post. The Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) are the Virginia public school’s standardized testing program that sets learning and achievement expectations for core subjects. The SOL Test is a minimum competency test designed to assess whether students have mastered the basic concepts of a core subject area. The evolution of the SOLs is a story of how a well-intentioned educational tool has undermined authentic learning. The SOL learning strands themselves are not “bad.” SOL standards can serve as a pacing guide, to ensure that teachers cover the basic tenants of biology, algebra or Spanish I. It’s the SOL test that is problematic. Many school systems mandate teaching to a test. Schools have…
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by Karyn Ewart, PhD. “He used to love school,” is a common refrain I hear from parents. Too many students are falling out of love with school after elementary school, when school transitions from hands-on learning to rote memorization, layered with a lot of homework and a culture of acceleration. Schools are holding college preparedness workshops at the end of elementary school; middle schoolers are taking numerous high school credit courses; then, in high school, students are encouraged to take as many AP classes as possible, so that they can earn college credit. The result of this acceleration? Students are constantly worried about how to get ahead instead of being present. How do we stop this vicious cycle of stress and help our kids learn how to learn? Parents are afraid to ask this question. They need to understand that we can’t engineer a good life for our kids by…
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