Huntington Connects
While summer is typically a time for children to relax and enjoy time off from all-day learning, it's a good idea to take charge of your child's skills during this period.
If your child has experienced any difficulty in school, then you likely know well the challenge of keeping things positive amid poor grades and dwindling self-esteem. School has any number of anxieties, even for the student who sails through classes seemingly with ease. However, for the student who frequently comes upon academic road blocks, the school experience can instigate negativity, fear and other problems.
A lot changes when students transition into high school and one skill that becomes more important than ever is that of note-taking. “In high school, students are expected to become proficient note-takers, and those notes will become essential study tools that they use to review material for quizzes and tests,” says Co-Founder Eileen Huntington of Huntington Learning Center. “Note-taking should augment student learning and help students recall difficult concepts more easily and remember what teachers teach. Our goal when working with students is to share some of the basics that will help them retain what they learn and study smarter.”
The Huntington Learning Center is launching its annual summer reading program this week, called Reading Adventure. Reading Adventure runs May to August and is open to students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Students choose books from Huntington’s pre-selected book lists, which offer a variety of high-interest choices by grade level and reading ability. Each student receives a reading “passport” in which to record books as completed and make a few notes of what he or she learned and enjoyed about each book.
Writing is one of the most important skills a child will acquire as a student—and also one of the most difficult to master.
If your child is struggling in school it is natural to search for a math tutoring program that can provide the assistance needed before gaps grow too wide and misunderstanding snowballs out of control. Watching your child struggle with learning math is hard and finding the perfect program can raise a child’s understanding and boost confidence. A carefully designed program will work to fill in gaps in your child’s learning and build on established strengths. You want to choose a program that carefully evaluates your child’s math skills, is aligned with adopted standards, personalizes instruction to the individual child’s needs, and provides ongoing feedback.
For parents of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), it can be very challenging to figure out exactly what motivates their students to study and complete homework. CEO & Co-Founder Eileen Huntington of Huntington Learning Center says that parents should help their children get to know themselves as students and embrace techniques that work for them. “While parents will find it difficult, if not impossible, to change their children’s behavior, modifications to their study habits and learning environment are far more likely to be helpful,” says Huntington. To motivate children to strive toward academic success, she suggests these five tips:
We know reading skills are important, but exactly why should parents be quick to address reading issues the moment they are identified? Don’t all students learn at their own pace? It’s true that every student has his or her academic strengths and weaknesses, and may pick up some skills more quickly than others; however, if your elementary student is reading below grade level or receiving report card marks that indicate under-performance, taking action is imperative. Ignoring a reading deficiency can set the stage for struggles for the rest of the academic year and beyond.
It’s easy to tell that a child needs tutoring when he or she continues to receive one poor report card after the next, but there are a number of other less obvious signs that parents shouldn’t ignore. Eileen Huntington of Huntington Learning Center says that parents can look for clues in a number of places. “Stressful study sessions and bad grades are the tangible evidence of a child’s school struggles, but there are several other indicators to watch for,” says Huntington. “The sooner you recognize school problems, the faster you can help your child overcome any issues and boost his or her confidence.”
