In the 21st century, a deep understanding of mathematics, and the ability to apply that understanding, is more important than it has ever been. In Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools (MCPS), and across the country, mathematics instruction is changing to provide students with the skills and knowledge they need for success in college and the…

Hungarian pediatrician Emmi Pikler theorized that freedom of movement facilitates infants' development and learning. The self-education promoted by freedom to move gives an infant a lasting view of herself as a competent learner. Pikler's approach also emphasizes the importance of helping each child feel respected and secure. The author examines…

Children move through the same anger cycle as adults and need similar coping strategies and problem solving skills. This paper presents pre-anger approaches, discussing what to do before the "boil-over" occurs, when the boiling point is reached, and after the boil-over. A sidebar presents a list of questions and activities parents can use with…

Explains how mirroring can help parents respond to their children's problems. Mirroring, which is also called active listening, reflecting, and empathetic listening, involves listening and responding rather than explaining, fixing, and advising. Mirroring can help parents soothe and solve troubling situations by hearing and mirroring what their…

Describes how parents can teach children to be creative problem solvers, providing information from the University of Michigan's Future Problem Solving Program (FPSP). The FPSP model involves brainstorming subproblems, identifying important problem areas, brainstorming solutions, brainstorming criteria for evaluating ideas, evaluating solutions,…

The paper reports on parent survey comments to raise awareness of teachers of children with disabilities and facilitate the parent-teacher collaborative experience. The Life Management Survey (LMS) was designed (Scorgie, Wilgosh, & McDonald, 1997) to corroborate nine themes (Scorgie, Wilgosh, & McDonald, 1996) identified through in-depth…

This book, which provides information parents can use to counter violent television programing, alerts parents to the fact that television programing in the United States is pushing violent entertainment to its technological limits and allowing children to interact with the programing through their toys. The nine chapters in Part I discuss the way…

Discusses sources of stress in children's lives, noting adults too often trivialize situations children face, judging them by adult criteria. Parents must realize children's fears are real, and create a home that minimizes stressors and encourages openness. Suggestions for ways parents can help stress-proof their children's lives are included. (SM)

Five suggestions help parents teach their children to make decisions: give children tasks and choices that encourage a feeling of competence; allow children to share their opinions; give children weekly allowances and let them decide how to spend it; have children plan specific activities; and involve children in family councils. (SM)

Summarizes the Big6 Skills information problem-solving approach: (1) Task Definition; (2) Information Seeking Strategies; (3) Location and Access; (4) Use of Information; (5) Synthesis; and (6) Evaluation. Discusses parent and student roles in information problem solving, the value of assignments, and technology and the Big Six. (PEN)

This booklet was developed by early education teachers to help parents teach their children values necessary for learning and for living. The introduction identifies six lifelong values, discusses the important role played by parents in teaching these values, and offers a checklist of positive ways parents interact with their children. Each of the…

Using the premise that skills for living successfully are learned, not inherited, this book details for parents and teachers specific skills that parents can teach that will make a difference in children's lives. The skills have been consistently named by researchers, parents, experts, and educators as critical to success, and pilot-tested at…

This guide is aimed at easing the transition from childhood to and through adolescence for both children and their parents. Supplementing the topics covered in the work are data gathered from a questionnaire study of 100 adolescents on their opinions of the areas studied in the guide. Part one of the book, "Milestones of Adolescence,"…

The point system used at Boys Town is often misunderstood, but the approach is a middle ground between two extremes: one relying on classical behavior modification, the other, rejecting behavior as a starting place for helping children get better. There are two major characteristics of the Boys Town approach: (1) teaching skills, such as…

This handbook provides advice to help parents, caregivers, and teachers arrive at personal answers to basic questions that affect children's achievement. The handbook is intended as a personal notebook in which are recorded reader responses to the home/school problems raised in the book "What Do We Say? What Do We Do?" The sections are:…