Though issues like drug abuse and teenage pregnancy are troubling the whole of United States, often we miss the root of such burning issues. Any guesses? Call it boredom or idleness, teens across the world waste their previous time after school. Earlier, circumstances were quite different. Kids, after school, would either do their homework or go for their jobs.

The World Wide Web has opened a whole new world of entertainment and information for teenagers. There are innumerable websites that host valuable information. Wikipedia, for instance, contains information about almost everything. But can the same be said about social networking websites like MySpace or face book? While online interaction with people across different continents and culture can expose kids to a whole new environment, abuse of the same can lead to wastage of time, and health problems (sitting for long hours in front of the laptop/desktop).

Boredom can be definitely dealt with. How? Parental Involvement is a simple solution for addressing idleness among kids and teenagers. After-school jobs can keep kids occupied, thus preventing them from wasting time in unnecessary activities.

Online tutoring can keep kids occupied while helping them learn new concepts and deal with the difficulty they face solving math problems or understanding a chemical equation. An online math tutor can spend 45-60 minutes with your child and teach the desired subject matter.
The next time you find your child sitting idle, visualize the devil’s workshop!

It, therefore, becomes important for parents and teachers to teach road safety rules to children. Pedestrian safety rules, in fact, should be made a part of the school curriculum. Children are not going to learn pedestrian safety rules unless we teach them. Listed here are some of the rules that teachers and parents can teach children.

Crossing the road with an Adult

Children should be instructed to cross the street only when there is an elder person with them. As children appear short to drivers of heavy vehicles like trucks and buses, the company of an adult can possibly reduce the chances of fatalities. In the absence of an adult, children should be taught to ask the nearby policeman or traffic policeman to help them cross the street.

Understanding Traffic Signs

Children should be able to figure out the meanings of the ‘WALK’ and ‘DON’T WALK” signs. Elders should teach them the meaning of the red and green signals. Zebra crossing should be used to teach kids when to cross the street.

Look on Either Side

Parents should demonstrate to kids the importance of looking to the left, then to the right and again to the left before crossing a road. It takes just a few seconds to avoid a possible mishap.

Use of Sidewalks

Sidewalks are generally elevated from the driving street in order to protect pedestrians from possible accidents. Children should be taught to use the sidewalks.

Pedestrian rules, if followed, can save the lives of millions. The lessons children learn at a young age become a part of their lives when they grow up. That is why it is best to teach them at an early age.

Children love to receive gifts from their parents and elders. While you can surely gift your child a nice bicycle or a baseball bat, you must also try to give him the most precious gift- Knowledge.

Education is something that would be with your child all through his life.  John Dewey put it correctly “Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself”.

What could be better than to see your child get quality education and grow up to become a successful person in the field he chooses? A new year is about to come. It’s time you decide what’s best for your child. Compromising on education is not something that would do any good to your child.

Your child needs a helping hand to guide him through the difficulties he faces while solving a math problem or a chemistry equation. While it is best if you can be by your child’s side and guide him, busy work schedules hardly allow parents to teach their children.

Teachers come across some so called ‘rebels’ in school who ask questions like ‘Why do we need to learn Math?’ or ‘what good would this do when we grow up?’. While most teachers would talk about getting good jobs or making life simpler, there are a few who would strive to find the right answer to these questions. I am not saying that education does not help in getting the best jobs and status in society.

However, this argument would not satisfy a school student. The true answer would be math, unlike most other subjects, prepares children to tackle day-to-day problems. It would not be incorrect to say that without math there would be no meaning of business transactions.

How would we take a bank loan if we cannot calculate the rate of interest it carries? How would a businessman calculate whether he has earned profit, or is in loss? Math is about making a child ‘find’ the solution to a complex problem. This habit, when properly developed, makes a child a better problem solver in real life. Math is a ‘simulation’ for our real lives. Children can be taught math in a fun way using objects of real life, animals, and toys for instance.

Just like our muscles need exercise to grow, the human brain requires daily workout to function smartly. John Louis von Neumann rightly said- If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is.

Most teachers prefer using the long division approach to solving complex division questions. However, there are certain shortcuts that can at least help check the answers to a division problem, thus solving a lot of time and efforts, and hence leaving little or no room for errors.

Ask a middle grade child in a US school to solve a division problem and the first thing you would notice him/her taking out is the calculator. I am not against the use of calculators. I agree that these devices save us a lot of time. But one must also understand that too much dependence on calculators from an early age can deprive children from learning metal skills of calculations.

Mental Math is the key to making math simple for kids as well as adults. What if I say that with a little practice a middle grade child can solve a problem like 117852/138 in less than 30 seconds? Now for those who cannot do without a calculator, let me clarify that most calculators will NOT display the answer (of the aforementioned question) with a remainder.

Mental Math does not just help kinds in solving text book problems; it would also help them figure out various bills, account sheets, and taxes when they grow up. Mental Math is not only for kids. Parents and teachers should also start learning, and applying its techniques in order to simplify math, and help children develop interest in math.

KenKen combines the logic of Sudoku with basic math. You do not require a supercomputer brain to solve a KenKen puzzle. An unsolved 5×5 KenKen puzzle would look like this:

With options to play puzzles in grids of 4×4, 6×6, 8×8, or 9×9, KenKen offers a wide range of difficulty levels for beginners to advanced solvers. Online Math tutors as well as school teachers can look into these puzzles and then introduce these to their students. Online tutoring can be taken to a new level by including KenKen into the curriculum.

“I believe that if you give children good learning materials, they will think and learn and grow on their own” says Miyamoto. The best thing about a KenKen puzzle is that your child would not feel that he is learning Math; KenKen does it all in a fun way.

For learning more about this brain teasing puzzle and downloading FREE puzzles, you can visit the website www.kenken.com

I could not deny the fact that most of us use our schooling system as a benchmark for measuring our kids’ schooling. However, there is no scientific proof that this formula would work. This led to a rather long debate, albeit a constructive one between us three.

I argued that information availability in our days was not as easy and quick as it is today. Children, now can have all the information they need within seconds, thanks to the Internet. This, however, was not the case when we were in school. We had to browse through the pages of thick books to get the information that we required.

Personal Learning was a ‘thing of the future’ when we were young. Online Tutoring, or web based tutoring, today offers students with the flexibility to choose their own study hours. Real-time learning, in our days, meant learning at school or under the guidance of a private tutor. Today things have undergone a drastic change. Technological advancements have made ‘real-time’ learning a simple and affordable affair.

While my friends assumed that the process of integration of knowledge is ‘social’ in nature, I believe that it’s more of a personal process. Parents are increasingly providing their children with new avenues of learning. We must understand that what we learned in school might not be adequate for children today. Parents and educators have the responsibility to provide children with intelligent and interactive learning tools that can lead them to a successful future.

Online tutoring can prove to be an aid to existing schooling. One of the greatest advantages of online tutoring is that it does not require children to carry a number of textbooks with them. Moreover, it provides immediate feedback on your child’s performance. Schools cannot customize a lesson to suit the needs of ever single child. This is not the case with online learning. While schools focus on the ‘macroscopic factors’, online tutoring is all about accessing the ‘microscopic elements’ of education.

The whole round of debate between the three of us was quite productive. We unanimously agreed that we should strive to make education a more interactive and interesting process for our children.

These are just some of the articles that explain the growing concern among parents and educators in the United States. Isn’t it ironical that a country that is the most developed in the world fails to keep up with its counterparts as far as the school educational system is concerned?

A country’s future depends on the development of its children. Someone has rightly said “Our children are our only hope for the future, but we are their only hope for their present and their future”. The picture below taken from one of the articles on The New York Times is self explanatory:

According to the American Institutes for Research (AIR), the scores and rankings of 12 nations in the 2003 International Mathematics Assessments for Grades 4 and 8, US did not stand anywhere close to the top (read http://www.air.org/news/documents/Release200511math.htm).

US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan did not shy from speaking the harsh truth in front of a room full of Math & Science experts of the National Science Board “We are lagging the rest of the world, and we are lagging it in pretty substantial ways, I think we have become complacent. We’ve sort of lost our way”.

Blame-Games between educators and parents, educators and government make matter worse. It is time parents and educators sit together and ponder over the current scenario and work out ways to improve the same. Last but not least, let us not sing to the tunes of the No Child Left Behind Act. I am sure school administrators voice the same opinion. An Act that cannot do any good to the education system should not exist!

Working parents find themselves struggling to find time for their kids while managing their wok and other chores. Children, among other things, need a lot of attention. And this, in turn asks for TIME. Math, for most kids, is a nightmare. Sure, you can hire a private tutor. But are you prepared to manage the high costs of hiring a private tutor?

And there is no surety that the private tutor would drop in at your place to teach your child. Are you ready to take out time from your busy schedule to drive your child to the tutor and back home? If these questions reflect the problems you are already facing, then online tutoring is the right choice.

Online math tutoring is not only affordable, but also convenient. You would not have to worry about child missing an online tutoring session. You can schedule an online math session as per your convenience. Children love using the Internet. Parents can channelize this habit into a constructive mode by enrolling their children for online learning.

24/7 tutor availability, one-on-one mentoring and regular feedback are some of the features that only an online tutoring company can provide.

Express Love

Children love being loved. Loving your child yet not expressing it, would do no good. Verbal encouragement and support can help your child develop interest in various fields. Children devoid of love and encouragement do not display confidence even when they grow up.

Participate

Get involved in your child’s routine. Play with him and his friends.

Show Positivism

Never should parents use negative language in front of their children. Words like ‘impossible’, ‘I won’t be able to do this’ create a negative environment. Children learn a great deal from their parents.

Use stories

Read stories to your child that can teach him responsibility. Minds of children are very receptive. Therefore, parents should ensure they transmit only positive thoughts to their children.

Meaningful Communication

See to it that you do not develop a communication gap with your child. Speak to him regularly. Topics need not only be school and books. Derive stories from day to day experience and converse with your child.

Last but not least, parents should read about child psychology to deal with their children in a better way.