Newsletter February 2009
February 4, 2009
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We strive to bring you the most helpful and up to date information every month, and the February 2009 newsletter is no exception.
You can scroll down through the articles below, or you can click on a headline you like to go directly to that article.

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This Month's Headlines:

How to Help With Homework

Preventing Senioritis

Subsidized Tuition for Some University of California Students

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How to Help with Homework

Sometimes when helping their child with homework, parents take on too active of a role. It’s important for parents to find the right balance of homework assistance and support, in a way that doesn’t take away from the child’s learning.

Children complain about homework, but most often it’s well within their skill level, especially if they are performing at or above average in their grade level. Parents generally know when they are helping too much, and for teachers it’s usually obvious too. Here are a few tips on how to effectively help with homework.

Watch and Learn
Try to be around while your child is doing homework. If you can sort paperwork while she’s working you can watch her study habits and find the areas where she struggles or gives up.

Be Involved
If you see your child developing poor study habits or difficulties with particular areas, don’t hesitate to tell the teacher. The sooner you can reinforce more positive habits, the better.

Be Honest
Parents should admit to teachers when they helped with certain tasks, and why they felt their child needed help with it. This way the teacher is better informed on the child’s weaknesses and skills, and can help the child work on certain areas.

Do As You Say
Make sure you are setting the example you want your child to follow. If you want him to understand that it’s bad to take credit for work he didn’t do, make sure you also give credit where credit is due.

Long-term assignments are important for students too, as it reinforces the ability to make connections and complete a task over time. Larger projects that require multiple skills help children develop more well-rounded thinking and keep them engaged. All students technically have long-term assignments, with the responsibilities and length of time increasing as they advance through the grades, whether it’s reading a story over the course of three nights or working on a large term paper. Here are some tips particularly suited for long-term projects for students in grades three and up.

Get Direction
Teachers can help parents find the proper balance for a project by labeling duties. For example, parents could be responsible for collecting the materials the student will use. Having these duties on paper helps students understand where their focus should be and helps parents avoid the temptation to do more than they should.

Give Encouragement, Not Answers
If your child is stuck help him by offering some inspiration for ideas. Avoid the temptation to feed him ideas directly, but instead try to spark his own natural creativity and critical thinking.

The End is Near
Always keep the goal in mind. For younger students, the following 3 questions are helpful with long-term projects. What is the goal? What are the steps needed to reach the goal? When do the steps need to be completed? These simple questions train students in scheduling, evaluating and setting goals. Keep children on track when they lose their way by offering gentle guidance, not concrete answers.

Time On Your Side
It’s good to have a general idea of how long the work should take your child. This will depend on the grade level and the student’s individual skills, but keeping an eye on the length of time is a good indicator of the child’s struggles or successes.

Location, Location
Make sure your child has a quiet area to work on homework that is conducive to studying and learning. The better the spot fits your child’s needs, the more likely she is to be productive. Keep in mind good posture, lighting and a ready source of supplies help work move along more smoothly.

Quiet Time
Some children can concentrate with a lot of background noise while others can’t. Try to make homework time quiet time—turn down the TV and cell phones, or move to another room where the noise won’t disturb anyone.

Study Time
Setting up a study time in your house shows children that schoolwork is an important priority, and helps them develop good study habits at an early age. Make sure study time is scheduled around eating, so the child is fed and focused. You can also expand homework time with some more fun, hands-on activities like reading or researching things on the Internet.

Foster Growth
Don’t try to do everything together. Give your child small assignments and check back periodically on their progress, offering positive feedback along the way. Dividing work into small tasks can help children concentrate better and stay engaged.

Know When You’re Needed
Sometimes children need to experience hard work on their own. If your child is doing well with a particular assignment, resist the urge to pitch in. When they are finished, the satisfaction will be all theirs. Plus you stepping back shows them you are confident in their ability to handle things on their own.

Practice At Home
Even small tasks can be telling for a child’s development. Simple household activities, like taking down phone messages or helping you compile the grocery list can reinforce basic but important skills in reading, writing, and comprehension.

Bring in Help When Needed
Sometimes there’s only so much a parent can do to help their child with homework. Often bringing in a trained tutor can help put your child on the path to good study skills and habits. Make tutoring sessions a part of the homework schedule. Tutors can tailor the sessions to your child’s individual needs to make sure they are getting the support in the areas they need it.

Source: “The Right Way to Help with Homework,” school.familyeducation.com.

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Preventing Senioritis

With the new year behind us and February already upon us, the school year is beginning to pass the halfway point. Although there are still a few months left in the academic year, some seniors may have already fallen into the senior slump. “Senioritis,” as it is often called, is the belief that a student can coast through the last year of high school with an easy course load, receiving decent but not excellent grades, until receiving their diploma in May. As tempting as Senioritis can be, this attitude can affect students’ future choices when it comes to college.

Many schools and universities want to see senior grades and course work that reflects a high level of achievement throughout all four years of high school. Sometimes when colleges accept students admission may be contingent on the student’s continued performance at a particular level. Technically, this sometimes means the school can deny admission if the student’s grade drop significantly during senior year. And often when students receive notice of acceptance from the college of their choice, the temptation to fall into the senior slump can get even worse.

There are ways to avoid, or help minimize your child’s temptation to coast through senior year. Here are a few tips and suggestions for keeping students on track as they finish up their high school career.

A proper course load is important. Although sometimes there are fewer requirements senior year, you should encourage your student to take classes that put them on track for college. AP courses, which can give students credit at many schools, are a great choice senior year, or even earlier.

It’s important for students to find ways to stay focused on their schoolwork. Career-focused jobs, after school activities and internships are excellent ways to bring in new stimulus while still giving attention to the course work they are studying.

Students have to do their best to stay engaged with the materials, even while doing other important things like college applications or securing after-school work. Parents should pay attention to their child’s academic success during senior year, and recognize when their child is slacking off too much. Often times a tutor can help bring a fresh perspective to a subject that has become dry for students. It’s important not to let poor study skills or a lack of interest in certain subjects become a bad habit, as student’s actions now will lay the foundation for their college experience.

Another option that may be successful for those with a particular interest in a subject is early college courses. High school students can often take a class at a local community college, further stimulating his or her interest and keeping him or her ahead of the curve. Certain community colleges even have special arrangements where students can spend their last year or two years taking classes at both the high school and college level. This exposure to college courses helps ease the transition from high school.

No matter what, stress to your child the importance of hard work and dedication to academics regardless of the time of year. Remind them that senior year is not the end of their school career, but more often just the beginning of a long and fruitful road.

Source: Burtnett, Frank. “The Bridge to College, Avoiding the Dreaded Senior Slump” ednow.org.

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Subsidized Tuition for Some University of California Students

University of California president Mark Yudof recently proposed a new financial aid program aimed at helping low-income students who might not otherwise be able to afford the school’s cost. The plan would subsidize four years of tuition and system wide fees for low-income students.

The Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan is a new program that would set an income threshold for aid. Families earning less than the state household median of $60,000 per year will qualify for a minimum level of assistance. Yudof says the timing is key for financial relief in college planning, particularly with unemployment growing and savings disappearing.

Once it is reviewed by the UC Academic Senate and student groups, Yudof’s proposal will go the UC governing Board of Regents in February. The plan, with a price tag of $3.1 million a year, could take effect as soon as this fall. Some 1,000 students could benefit from the change, including those currently enrolled who receive federal and state grants below the University of California’s $7,126 price tag per year.

The funding for the plan will come from an increased percentage of tuition revenue set aside for financial aid. With budget crunches at both the school and state level, this plan could bring increased tuition and fees, although the amount of increase has yet to be determined.

Yudof claims the plan is as much about changing minds as it is about lessening the strain on people’s wallets. The President wants more families to consider the University of California in their quest for affordable college education. Most of those who would be affected by this new plan are already covered by other state and federal grant programs, so the school is not covering them completely but rather adding security to their financial situations. UC students whose family have incomes between $60,000 and $100,000 and receive grants will not be affected by this new plan.

Currently, the University of California enrolls more low-income students than any other research university. Of the schools’ 173,000 undergraduates, more than half receive grant and scholarship assistance from the school, averaging $10,300 per recipient.

Yudof says he hopes this new program will bring larger number of low-income applicants to the University of California. Transfer students from community colleges—often where low-income students start their college careers—may also benefit from the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan. The Board of Regents recently approved enrollment changes that will bring 500 more transfer students to the campus, all part of Yudof’s goal for a better socioeconomic and ethnic mix at the school.

Source: Yolllin, Patricia. “UC has plan to subsidize tuition for low-income students,” January 23, 2009, sfgate.com.