5 Ways to Keep Your Child Focused During the Holidays

We all know that it's pretty tempting to lie around the house, munch on leftovers and watch old movies during the entire Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks.  Oh wait...those things are tempting to us adults, but probably not to our children!

For them, there are a ton of age-appropriate (and sometimes not) distractions over the holidays that can negatively impact academic performance when it's time to return to the classroom in January.  Here are 5 things that you can do to counter the distractions and help boost your child's brain power and productivity at the same time:

Make a Plan of Action
1.  Many of IST's students are assigned a winter packet from their teachers.  You can assist your child by helping to create a plan of action to work on the packet each day of the break rather than waiting until the last minute.  The beauty of having time off is that s/he can put in an hour or two of work and then do something fun later to strike a balance between daily work and play.

Keep Reading in the Mix
2.  If your child is not assigned a book (or books) to read during the break, you should create a short reading list together.  Often, it's much more enjoyable for the student if the topic is on something that s/he likes.

Finish Applications Early
3. If your child is applying to private schools or colleges with application deadlines in early January, you should plan to have everything finished before Christmas break, so ideally you're aiming for somewhere between Thanksgiving and the middle of December at the latest. 

Catch Up on Current Events
4.  Help your child understand what's happening in the world around him/her.  There are various media, of course, but we find that reading the newspaper is a great way to catch up and learn new SAT-level vocabulary words in context. 

Get a Jump on Summer Plans
5.  Make a plan now for how to make the most of your child's summer.  Many of the more popular and competitive summer programs and internships open the application process in January.  You can help your child take advantage of these opportunities by researching programs together and making a chart of important dates and application components.

What do The Washington Post and SpongeBob Have in Common?

SAT words!  In my never-ending quest to find vocabulary words in everyday life, I did another little experiment: I read one article of The Washington Post and watched one episode of SpongeBob Squarepants to see how many "SAT" words I could find in each.  Here are the results (in order of appearance):


The Washington Post
Article: "How Adrian Fenty Lost His Reelection Bid for DC Mayor"
by Nikita Stewart and Paul Schwartzman (9/15/10)

1. oblivious
2. constituent(s)
3. remorse
4. unrelenting
5. hone(d)
6. incumbent
7. aloof
8. catapult(ed)
9. confidant
10. electorate

Etymology is Everywhere!

et⋅y⋅mol⋅o⋅gy  [et-uh-mol-uh-jee]

1. the derivation of a word.
2. an account of the history of a particular word or element of a word.
3. the study of historical linguistic change, esp. as manifested in individual words.

Parents often ask me what is the best way to teach their children new vocabulary before they come to IST. I am convinced now, after only a few short hours of a completely non-scientific experiment, that the first step in effectively learning new words is to simply open your ears and eyes throughout the day.

Tonight, I was sitting in church when I heard a man next to me repeat one of the words the pastor said, as if to ask, "What does that mean?" The word was "chasm." It was then that I realized that I had been subconsciously creating a list of the SAT-type words that I heard during the past two sermons.

Later, after I got home, I watched two hours of prime time TV (this is a lot for me!) to see how many more SAT words I could add to the list.  Click the link below to see the results...

Teaching Through Relevant Examples

What do Wile E. Coyote, E.T., and John Legend in common?  To everyone except me, the answer is "nothing."  But to me, the common thread is that I used each of these as teaching examples in my verbal test prep sessions this week.  Each example is a true testament to how well you can facilitate student understanding just by making relevant connections to things that students already know and/or are interested in.

Wile E. Coyote
In the first session, the SSAT question asked my student to select a synonym for the word "wily"  from a list of five words.  He had no idea what it meant, that is until I asked him if he ever watched the show, "Bugs Bunny."  When he told me that he had, I asked him to name all of the characters.  When he got to the coyote, I asked him to give me his full name:  "Wile E. Coyote."  For those of you who don't remember, Wile E.'s main activities involved devising wild (and always unsuccessful) schemes to catch the Road Runner.  After thinking about Wile E.  and looking again at the answer choices, the student immediately chose the word "crafty."  Guess what?  He was correct!  "Wily" is an adjective that means "crafty or cunning." How many of us knew this when we watched the cartoon years ago?!