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Newsletters>
October newsletter
October 1, 2007
Hi every one,
I hope everyone is settling back into the routine of
combining work with their child’s routine and have happy
memories of the summer of 2007. Once you have organized
your day to accommodate the after school activities and
homework help, I am sure your days are full and you are
looking forward to the next break!
Homework can often make or break those quiet evenings that
you look forward to after a long day. We are often asked
“How should we approach this?” When you see your child
struggling with so many hours of work, what is the best way
of helping?
First of all make sure your child has a quiet place to do
his/her work. Having said that, I know my daughter
preferred working with music playing in the background!
This used to drive me crazy as I felt that this was not the
best way produce her best work, but I was proved wrong. You
know your child and sometimes you have to give them the
benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise! Many prefer to
do their work in their bedroom and this is better than the
kitchen table! Working at the kitchen table leads to
distractions and then the homework takes longer than ever.
How organized is your son or daughter with her Agenda? Does
he/she write everything down? Keeping this up-to-date is a
vital exercise and the next question has to be “How does
he/she use the Agenda?” It’s a good idea to write down an
estimated time that each subject will take. This way she
can decide which subject to tackle first. A good idea is to
tackle the easiest/shortest subject first just to warm up,
just like you would in the gym! Write down the “real” time
this took and move on to the hardest subject next. After
this, move on to the next “easiest” subject and again time
how long this takes, then take a short break. Rewarding
self at this point in the homework is appropriate, then go
back to the next batch of subjects….first the easiest, then
the hardest and so on. This way your student is being
proactive and the work will get done. If this is something
you would like to try it will take some encouragement and
monitoring at first but after a time it will be a matter of
routine.
As you will know our tutoring has started back. SSAT help
has also started this week. If you or someone you know is
interested in this sort of help please tell them to contact
the Centre. There is a lot of work involved and it is
better to be prepared than leave it until the last minute.
We are also starting back our art classes in October and I
am really excited with Tricia’s Fall Projects. She is
catering for the 5 – 10 age group but if you know of a
student or know of students who are older and would love
to have a chance of dabbling in art with a mixed media just
let us know. Students will have exciting opportunities in
sculpting using Papier Mache, painting, using recycled
materials, experimenting with textile, opportunities in
design and printing. These classes will start October 12
and run for 8 weeks. They will be held on Fridays 4:30 –
6pm and Saturdays 3 -4:30pm at the Centre.
Any feed back from this letter or anything else you would
like to contribute please call or email me.
All the best
Christine
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