Tutors can be an excellent asset in your child’s education. Finding the perfect tutor could boost your child’s confidence, shrink his or her test anxiety and encourage your little one to ask for help more often. However, not all tutors are suited to assist all children, even if they are masters of the academic material. Keep a close eye on these two clues when searching for the best possible tutor. COMMUNICATION Keeping a household running is no small task. Parents are balancing work and kids, kids are balancing school and friends, and not to mention that everything in-between must still get done. Having a tutor who forgets to notify you of schedule changes or who fails to update you on your child’s progress can be an unnecessary burden. A top-tier tutor will communicate reliably and efficiently because they understand the demands on parents’ time and want to use it wisely. When vetting potential tutors, double-check if provide the best modes of contact and prime hours to reach them. Ask yourself, “Are they flexible and forthcoming?” Be sure to tell them your communication preferences outright, and take care to notice whether they accommodate those preferences. Lastly, ask them about how they normally provide updates on student progress, and express your expectations on frequency up-front. A great tutor will appreciate this openness, and should readily meet your standards of communication. RAPPORT We all know about the “it” factor. That indescribable something that allows one person to connect with another. The best tutor must absolutely establish a positive rapport with you and your child. Tutoring is an intensely personal and social profession that comes with high points and low points that must be navigated skillfully. While hunting for the top candidate, it is worthwhile to evaluate the impression your tutor leaves. Do they bring a positive and encouraging attitude to the work? Are they warm and friendly with your child? Do they notice when your child is struggling, and can they find fruitful ways to assist? Sometimes, even the most qualified tutors lack the bedside manner that fits your family. But when you stumble upon someone just right for the job, it should be easy and pleasant for both you and your child to work with them. At the end of the day, finding the right tutor can mean a world of difference for your child academically. Once you encounter someone with stellar credentials, take a moment to determine whether their style of communication and the rapport suits your needs. Nab that perfecttutor and watch your child’s grades soar!
The fall semester of senior year comes with a particular significance–college application time. Usually at this point in the high school experience, students have completed their last rounds of standardized testing and are polishing off the remaining personal statements. In the hustle and bustle of daily life, applying to college can often seem like an insurmountable obstacle. How can parents keep the household running, manage work and other children, and craft the perfect admissions application? Is there any part of the process that is within my control? Indeed, there are two. Glad you asked… RECOMMENDATION LETTERS Let’s face it. Teachers sometimes struggle to complete college recommendations in a timely manner. This is not necessarily out of negligence. In fact, it is probably a safe bet to say that many teachers wish they could recommend many more students that they ultimately do each year. But the reality is that writing college recommendation letters can be time-consuming and tend to become into another box that needs checking off the ol’ to-do list. But it does not have to be this way. Ask in advance. Approach your potential recommender a month or more before the deadline. Make it as easy as possible for recommenders to perform this favor for you and your child. Things like providing the writing prompt for the recommendation, including the URL link where they should submit, and communicating the exact deadline work wonders for streamlining the process. Then, let them know that you understand their workload, and will follow-up at weekly or biweekly intervals to relieve the pressure of them having to remember the deadline. If you are feeling extra-cautionary, fudge the deadline by telling the recommender it is a week or two earlier than in actuality. This way, you have a buffer for procrastination and can sleep cozily at night knowing the recommendation will not be late or rushed. Over-ask for recommendation letters. If your child’s dream school requires two letters of recommendation, secure four people willing to write on their behalf. Why? Some will be stronger testaments to your child’s character than others. Some will be more timely and eloquent than others. Most importantly, though, your “Plan B” is already enacted. Better safe, than sorry, right? Think outside the box. While it’s true that college admissions offices love to see recommendations from recent core-class teachers, there are many people in your child’s life who could offer an illuminating recommendation. Consider athletic coaches and trainers, church and community leaders, and even employers. The goal of a recommendation letter is to hear an adult who is involved in your child’s life elaborate on the strength of his or her character. So feel free to cast a wider net in your effort to find a stellar recommender. PERSONAL STATEMENTS These are the Holy Grail of college admissions. Why? Because the personal statements is the only guaranteed opportunity an applicant has to speak directly to an admissions officer. Think about it. What are the other components of an application? Transcripts, test scores, recommendation letters, college resumes, etc. Not one of these elements allows your child to speak to why they are a suitable candidate for admission. Make the most of a personal statement by having your student write about themselves. Each and every sentence is an opportunity to shed a bit of insight into their personality, dreams, goals and psyche. The picture the personal essay paints needs not be a summation of who they are (the other components sum everything up already), but rather an extremely vivid one. One good test is to change the name at the top of the essay and then reread. Is it so general in content that it could apply to literally any high school senior in America? Sentences like, “I am passionate about learning, and dedicated to achieving my goals” are major red flags. They beg the question of who isn’t passionate and dedicated these days? Instead of generalities and platitudes, go for the juicy details. Concrete, specific and illustrative. If your child writes about a family vacation, for instance, ideally it is written such that the admissions officer gets a clear sense of what kind of vacation, family, and experience your child had. Most critically, the essay should communicate how your student feels about each and every one of these topics. The personal statement should be imbued with your child’s point of view and opinion because this reveals glimpses of who they are. Why do so in a vivid way? Because admissions officers, after all, are people too. And people remember things that resonate most with them. So as the Early-Decision, Early-Admission, and Common Application deadlines quickly approach, wrap up the last bits of your child’s application confidently of knowing that you put the best foot forward. The rest is up to the universities.
Today’s youth share a unique bond with technology. They have grown up around Apple products, mastered finding wifi and HotSpots, and most never think twice about using words like “Google” or “Facebook” as verbs. For adult generations, however, this fluency with technology is not as second-nature. In fact, parents may feel conflicted about the seemingly omniscient presence of technology in their children’s lives. Each week, alarming headlines appear on the front page of every major news outlet touting the risks and drawbacks of allowing kids to use technology. Concerns range from questioning whether your child has a technology addiction, to debating if technology causes social difficulties in the future. While the jury is still out on determining fact-based answers to these puzzling questions, one fact remains: kids and technology seem intertwined. Bearing in mind this relationship, we have a few recommendations for how parents can introduce their young ones to maximize the more productive apps that technology has to offer. Check out this amazing list of educational mobile applications for younger children. Some, like “Cookie Monster’s Challenge,” utilize popular characters from highly innovative and successful educational children’s television programs like Sesame Street or Disney to teach fundamental concepts like reading and mathematics. Parents can search for the name of the app on their phones, and download many for free or under $3! Digital Trends ranked the top twenty best educational tech toys for kids this year. The list includes build-your-own robot kits and electric circuit puzzle challenges that strengthen motor skills and encourage creativity. Not to mention, that many of the items on the list are fun for adults and older children as well. While the use of technology can tend to pose many worrisome questions about long term effects on young people, it can also be used to reinforce key educational concepts or to promote family bonding. With gadgets and gizmos here to stay, parents might very well decide to invoke the old saying, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!”
