During the summer, most parents default to enrolling their child in a general summer camp or sports clinic, but what if there was an option for kids to explore an academic interest and build a competitive edge in the classroom? 

The Sylvan Learning Center of Richmond is introducing Math Edge — a new activity this summer for kids to build math skills and avoid summer learning loss.

Designed for kids in grades one through five, Math Edge helps nurture students’ natural math ability and builds on core math concepts in a fun, kid-friendly learning environment alongside other kids with similar interests. Well-trained teachers manage the small sessions of 12 students or less and offer encouragement, motivation and rewards in an effort to foster independent learning and encourage students to set personal goals. Math Edge is a unique learning experience that also allows students to build camaraderie with a small group of their peers. 

“There are few opportunities for young students to cultivate their passion for math outside of the classroom, particularly in the younger grades. With a growing demand for students interested in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), it’s important to get them engaged now, our goal with Math Edge is to help foster a love of math when kids are young, helping to lay the foundation for a competitive edge in middle school and even beyond to a potential job in a STEM-related field.”

Steve Green, owner, Sylvan Learning Center of Richmond

Students interested in the Math Edge program need to take a qualifying assessment at the Richmond Sylvan Center to ensure that they are performing at grade level. The assessment will also provide students with an accurate starting point to begin the Math Edge program. From there, students will advance through the program track, which aligns to Common Core standards, in a low-stress setting at their own pace.

Math Edge will be offered in Richmond Sylvan Center at least three days a week initially during afternoon and evening hours. The program starts at $149 per month with two sessions per week and unlimited access to games and premium educational content through Sylvan’s online portal, mySylvan.

For more information on Richmond Sylvan’s Math Edge enrichment program, please contact Lisa Branner Stickley at 804-744-8002, email address sylvansouthside@gmail.com, or visit the Sylvan website.

This article is sponsored by Richmond Sylvan Learning Center

By Steve Green, Executive Director
Sylvan Learning of Richmond

It’s that time of the school year again – report card time.  While many students will come home with good grades, others would rather stuff their report cards deep into their backpacks than show them to their parents.  As parents, you want your child to do well in school, so what do you do when your child’s report card doesn’t reflect his or her academic potential?

Children get frustrated and upset when their report cards show they are not reaching their potential. Understanding your child’s personal ability and determining if your expectations are too high will allow both you and your child to set appropriate goals for each class before report cards are distributed again.  It will also help establish an environment in which your child is not apprehensive about sharing his or her report card with you. 

Sylvan Learning, the leading provider of tutoring to students of all ages, grades and skill levels, offers the following tips for parents on how to deal with a “poor” report card:

Set expectations. Not every child will earn all A’s, but that doesn’t mean your child should strive for less.  Talk with your child before the school year starts and explain that you won’t be upset if he doesn’t bring home all A’s – but that you will be upset if he doesn’t try his hardest and doesn’t ask for help.

Communicate with your child.  Don’t wait until report cards are issued to talk with your child about school and grades.  Talk with her every night and every week about homework.  Ask how she is doing in school and what subjects she finds challenging.     

Discuss your child’s performance with his teacher and/or guidance counselor.  Your child’s teacher and/or guidance counselor are the best sources for information about your child’s scholastic performance.  Your child’s teacher can recommend ways to help your child or point out difficulties he is having.  His guidance counselor can provide progress reports between reports cards or help set up additional parent-teacher conferences when necessary.    

Set goals for improvement with your child.  If your child is currently a C student — then setting a goal of getting all A’s may not be reasonable.  However, creating an improvement goal for each subject will help her work toward an attainable level for each class. 

Establish a personalized study plan with your child.  Your child should keep a schedule of all classes, assignments and key dates (e.g., project deadlines, big exams, etc).  As part of that schedule, he should include specific time for studying, projects and extracurricular activities.  The more comprehensive the schedule, the more efficient your child will be in completing his homework and the better he’ll do in school. 

Seek outside help.  Some children may need additional attention that can’t be provided in school.  Speak with your child’s teacher about tutoring or supplemental education providers to help your child work towards better grades in school.

Praise your child’s successes.  Praise your child for what she is doing well, whether it’s a specific academic subject or an extracurricular activity.  If your child is not doing well in English, but loves to read the latest Twilight book, show her the connection between the two. 

For more educational resources for children in grades pre-K through 12, please visit Sylvan Learning Center online or call 804-782-2377

Steve Green is the Executive Director of Sylvan Learning of Richmond, the leading provider of tutoring to students of all ages, grades and skill levels with more than 30 years of experience and nearly 800 centers located throughout North America. Sylvan’s trained and Sylvan-certified instructors provide personalized instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, study skills and test-prep for college entrance and state exams. Sylvan also hosts MomMinded.com, a blog offering tips and resources from moms and education experts. For more information, call 1-800-31-SUCCESS or visit www.sylvanlearning.com

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If your son or daughter has recently taken the SAT Exam or other standardized tests, you know how stressful and challenging those times can be. If your child is just now preparing for an upcoming SAT Exam or other tests, there are ways to help him or her be better prepared and more confident.

Tutoring Club of Richmond offers unique ACT Smart and SAT Smart programs for the ACT and the SAT can improve scores dramatically. A diagnostic test allows them to individualize your student’s program to maximize his or her time with professional tutors. Their special software system allows them to match up specific items on practice tests with those items missed on the diagnostic.

What does all of this mean?

1. It means that students know exactly what areas they need to study most to get the best scores.
2. They don’t waste time on a general study of everything – but they focus only on what they need to study for optimal performance.
3. Students spend less time and you spend less money to get the tutoring your child needs.
4. Students gain the confidence they need to successfully complete the exam and succeed.

Tutoring Club experts help your child choose the right test to take and the right time to take it too.  These tests are important to your child’s future and they may dictate whether or not your student is able to attend the college of his/her choice. Tutoring Club increases the chances of students scoring higher on tests for a better future.

Upcoming SAT Test Dates are just around the corner for many students. Let the Tutoring Club professionals prepare your student and give him or her the confidence, information, tips, and solutions he/she needs to perform at an optimal level.

For more information on individualized instruction that helps reduce stress and build confidence, visit the website to learn more.

More Information

Also, check out these great articles to help your student excel in school and in life:

• Amazing Math
• Rx Reading
• The Write Way
• Guaranteeing Your Child’s Success

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And why is algebra such a big deal anyway? Will kids ever need that knowledge and training?

Absolutely and the Tutoring Club can explain why. The article below was written by the Tutoring Club to help kids and adults understand the value of learning algebra today for success tomorrow!

Why Algebra?

Algebra is the “gatekeeper” that lets people into rewarding careers — and keeps others out.  It is used by photographers, architects, upholsterers and just about everyone in a high-tech career. It is simply a civil right, says Robert Moses, a veteran of the civil rights movement.

Basic algebra is the first in a sequence of higher-level math classes that students need to succeed. Because many students fail to get a solid math foundation, an alarming number of them are graduating from high school unprepared for either college or work. Many are taking remedial math in college, which makes getting a degree a longer, costlier process than it is for their more prepared classmates. And it means they’re less likely to complete a college-level math course. For middle school students and their parents, the message is clear: It’s easier to learn the math now than to try to relearn it later.

What Makes Algebra So Important?

The first year of algebra is the prerequisite for all higher level math: geometry, algebra II, trigonometry and calculus. According to a study by the ACT, students who take algebra I, geometry, algebra II and one additional high-level math course are much more likely to succeed in college math.

Algebra is not just for the college-bound. Students headed straight from high school to the work force will need the same math skills as college freshmen, the ACT found. This ACT study looked at occupations that don’t require a college degree but pay wages high enough to support a family of four. Researchers found that math and reading skill levels required to work as an electrician, plumber or upholsterer were comparable to those needed to succeed in college.

Algebra is, in short, the gateway to success in the 21st century.

What’s more, your child develops abstract reasoning when he makes the transition from concrete arithmetic to the symbolic language of algebra. That helps him become an abstract thinker, a benefit that will carry over into his study of other subjects.

When Should Your Child Take Algebra?

Students typically take algebra in the eighth grade. The benefit of starting the sequence of high-level math classes in eighth grade is that if your child takes the PSAT as a high school sophomore, she will have completed geometry. By the time she’s ready to take the SAT or ACT as a high school junior, she will have completed a second year of algebra. Both of these college admissions tests have questions based on algebra II.

There’s a growing movement to have students take algebra in seventh grade. That may work well for students who are motivated, mature and prepared to tackle it. But many seventh-graders aren’t, math educators say.

“Some kids get turned off of math because they start algebra too early,” says Francis Fennell, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the nation’s leading organization of math teachers.

Parents, he said, need to “make sure you ask yourself, ‘Is this move for you or for your child?'”  Fennell recommends talking to your child’s current teacher to help you assess her readiness to advance. The goal is for your child to learn algebra well and keep her engaged in math, not push her through the curriculum as quickly as possible.

Look for Homework Clues

W. Stephen Wilson is a Johns Hopkins math professor who teaches freshman calculus and is a former senior advisor for mathematics in the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. He offers this advice to parents trying to evaluate their students’ math instruction:

“If a student isn’t bringing home work that requires lots of manipulation and lots of word problems, then there is probably a problem.”

Fennell suggests talking to your child and the math teacher about how homework is used. You may learn a lot from the answers if you ask:

• Are homework assignments corrected and returned in a timely way?
• Is homework reviewed in class so students can learn from their mistakes?
• Does the teacher change the pace or direction of his instruction, based on the feedback he gets in homework?

You don’t need to be a mathematician to ask good questions about the content of your child’s class, Fennell says. “Ask the teacher ‘What is the math? Is it a repeat of math that should have already been mastered? When my child finishes this year, will he be ready for high school math?'”

Bill Moore directs the Transition Mathematics Project in Washington state, which is working to better prepare students for the transition to college math. He summed up what middle school students need to get out of math this way:

“Students need to have a very solid foundation of basic procedural skills that really make problem-solving more fluid. There’s a fundamental set of stuff that just has to be memorized, and there there’s a sense of numbers, a sense of what’s a reasonable answer. That’s particularly important with the use of calculators. In some cases, in the elementary grades, they’ve been used as a crutch. Students go straight to the calculator and if the calculator says it’s right, then it must be right.”

Look at How Calculators Are Used

Talk to your child’s math teacher about how calculators are used in the classroom. Debate has raged for years over whether students are relying too much on calculators and failing to learn the standard algorithms – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. But there does seem to be general agreement with the view expressed by Fennell that “the calculator is an instructional tool. It should support but not supplant anything. You don’t use it for 6 x 7.”

For more information on algebra or any other subject, contact the experts at the Tutoring Club. They offer kids the advantage they need to excel today and succeed in life.

The Tutoring Club is an advertiser on Richmondmom.com

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http://www.tutoringclub.com/rx_reading.php

For many parents, the decision to have their child tutored is precipitated by a teacher conference or a report card.  Poor grades or problems in the classroom are certainly indicators that a child is struggling academically, but there are often more subtle signs that parents can detect.  In education, as in healthcare, intervention at the first sign of trouble can prevent a deeper crisis.  For many children, problems with academic performance may have less to do with learning disabilities than with gaps in the process of building academic skills.

Particularly in the areas of reading and math, skill acquisition and retention is based on a sequential skill building process.  Gaps in this process, for whatever reason they may occur, can impede mastery of those skills.  Unfortunately, once these “skill gaps” manifest themselves in the classroom, parents cannot always be sure they will be alerted soon enough.

Based on the experience of Tutoring Club centers throughout the U.S., there are a number of indicators that tutoring may be beneficial to a child.

The following are the most common signs:

1. Homework frustrations.  If parents have to constantly help a child complete homework, or if the child experiences continual frustration, there’s a problem. While it is natural for parents to want to minimize their child’s frustration, getting into the habit of helping them complete homework rather than identifying the cause of the frustration and strengthening the learning skills will not help the child become a successful learner.
2. Lack of motivation.  When a child seems unwilling to try, it is a clear sign that the assigned tasks are either too difficult, or that the requisite skills to accomplish them are lacking.
3. Weak math skills.  Contrary to the belief of some parents, there is no “math gene.”  Success in math is based largely upon mastery of basic skills – and the critical period for establishing this foundation is between 3^rd and 7^th grade.  If a child falls behind during this period, his or her ability to grasp 8^th grade algebra is very problematic.  A child who does not complete algebra by the 8^th grade is behind in the math course sequence for typical college-bound students.
4. Inability to read at grade level. The foundation for reading skills is laid down from Kindergarten to 2^nd grade.  If that foundation is shaky, it can affect virtually every other learning skill that children need to acquire.
5. Inappropriate classroom behavior.  Children who “act up” in class or are constantly seeking help from other students may be having deeper problems than being “troublesome” or “lazy.” Frequently, a child with these behaviors is masking gaps in his or her academic skill building.

While tutoring is an effective means of addressing all of the above, it has an additional underlying value: it sets an expectation for success.  When parents invest in tutoring, they are sending some very important messages to their child: First and foremost, they are telling their child that learning is a priority, and that they are committed to their child’s success.  They are also demonstrating that learning is a process, not just an outcome.

When children learn to master that process, which is what an effective tutoring program should accomplish, they gain a sense of competence and confidence that is ultimately more important than the grade level at which they are reading by the time their tutoring program is complete.

For more information, contact:

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Would you like to save $25 by opening a savings account for your child’s future education? How about getting free admission for one to the Science Museum of Virginia, or 1/2 price tickets to the theatre? Maybe you’d like to get 10% off new fashions for your home, or save $10 on a facial. We’ve got great discounts waiting for you right here – and there are no gimmicks, fees, registration requirements, or hidden costs!

Hundreds of Richmond moms love our Savvy Saver Card and there are plenty of good reasons – check them out and you’ll love them too.

If you don’t have your card yet, be sure to visit this link to download a copy and request a tri-fold card by mail here. Dozens of Richmond moms and dads have already taken advantage of great savings with their card.

Wondering why you should request your own Savvy Saver card?

Here are some fantastic reasons for you to consider:

Hayes & Fisk offers a complementary session fee valued at $150.

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Get 10% off 2 or more custom window treatments at Sewinit’ where you’ll also find duvets, pillows, monogrammed items, accessories, and more.

The Science Museum of Virginia has a “Buy One Get One Free Friday” offer on Savvy Saver.

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Save $25 registration fee when you enroll in Virginia College Savings Plan 529 – get your card to get the code.

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Leave a comment below and let us know what you love most about your Savvy Saver card. Let us know what you’ve used your card for and how much you saved. We’d love to know how much our Richmond moms, dads, grandparents, and friends are saving!

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Come Support a deliciously sweet LemonAid Stand Friday. College Nannies and Tutors is excited to host the Anthem LemonAid Stand for the 3rd year in a row. Please stop by their Learning Center tomorrow, Friday 7/20, between 11 am and 4 pm for a refreshing cup of lemonade.  

Suggested donation is $1 and all proceeds benefit the Children’s Hospital of Richmond.  This is a great opportunity to help “put the squeeze” on childhood cancer in Virginia!

We hope to see you there!

College Nannies & Tutors of Richmond 10825 W. Broad St.
Richmond, VA, 23060
804-346-2242
glenallenva@collegenannies.com

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College Nannies + Tutors also has lots of resources to help children keep learning all summer long with their College Tutors.

It’s a proven fact that kids forget much of what they learned during the previous school year, so providing them with ongoing learning and tutoring during the summer is a smart thing to do. It will definitely benefit them in their academic performance for the next year and make it easier for them to excel.

According to the National Summer Learning Association, kids forget math, reading and spelling skills over summer. Some professionals refer to summer as “the brain drain”. Now you can do something to help kids during the summer by engaging a summer tutor from College Nannies + Tutors.

It’s such a simple solution!

Whether you’re looking for full-time, part-time, or occasional help for nannies and tutors, you will find all that you need at College Nannie + Tutors.

Check out their services and give them a call. You will be glad you did.

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According to The Wall Street Journal, “More than 25% of Kids and Teens in the U.S. Take Prescriptions on a Regular Basis”. That’s an astounding fact and one that we want to try and reverse.

As more and more research demonstrates how stressed and anxious children are today, the risks of drug abuse, including cigarettes and alchol, escalates.  That’s why yoga may be a natural option for kids learning to deal with the challenges of growing up.  Yoga is easy and can be a healthy activity for all ages. “If you can breathe, you can do yoga,” said RYT-200 and children’s yoga instructor, Cindy McNamara.

Yoga is now available for kids at Melody Magic Music Studios in Short Pump.

Often times yoga is thought of as an adult practice, but children also reap the benefits of a yoga practice. Owner, Meghan Sheriff, a high school English teacher by trade, and McNamara developed Smart Moves to encourage students to look inward, connect with nature, breathe, bend and most of all believe in themselves. Yoga is a great way to help children learn to focus and develop positive coping mechanisms for life. Sheriff founded Smart Solutions Tutoring in 2007. The full service tutoring company works with local organizations like the North Richmond YMCA, Hanover County Parks and Recreation and Hanover County Public Schools. For more information visit, www.smartmovesyoga.com and www.smartsolutionstutoring.com. You can also call (804) 291-6751 for scheduling information.