Bleary-eyed and sleepy, your middle schooler awakens at 6:30 AM. After stumbling through their morning routine, they arrive at school about an hour later. The rest of the day is a cacophony of activity that includes classes, tests, projects, socializing with friends, in-school sports, and often extracurricular activities. With any luck, they are back in bed around 9:30 that night. So how can a busy middle schooler fit studying into this schedule?  

While much about education should and does change over time, one thing is certain: Deep learning comes not only from practice, but also from conceptualization, discussion, trial and error, collaboration, and review. Rather than rely on traditional teacher-led math instruction only, a math curriculum that incorporates all of these learning strategies can be much more effective. Read more to learn how to make math lessons stick. 

I cautiously took a sip of the warm homemade concoction I had been handed in a dixie cup. The solution had been whipped up before my eyes only minutes before by an ambitious 14-year-old student named Chad. I prepared to wince. Surprisingly, it wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t even bad. What is the Capstone experience at Independence? Read more to find out.

Besides the obvious family bonding experience and the noteworthy combat for fighting off boredom during those long summer days and nights, board games have a notable underlying superpower.  Did you know that playing board games contributes to the development of literally all of the Executive Functioning Skills your child needs throughout their lifetime? 

If you are a curious parent reading about elementary school-age education, you might be surprised to encounter the term “critical thinking” in online blogs or magazine articles. Critical thinking for young children? While critical thinking is often considered the domain of higher education or even secondary school, it turns out that the need to develop critical thinking skills in children at an early age is important to lifelong learning, academic confidence, and success.

Regardless of social factors like geography, socio-economic background, or the type of school you attended as a child, almost each of us can relate to days in the classroom spent learning information until it was time to take “the test” on it.  But brain research is changing education and offering new alternatives to student assessments. 

Middle School is difficult, and no adult I have ever known has admitted to wanting to repeat it. I don’t mean the academics. I mean that feeling of wanting to crawl out of your skin, hide under your bed, and wait for this awkward and terrifying stage of life to pass without anyone noticing you.  How can we make school more comfortable during these difficult transition years?

With the return to school following pandemic closures, we’ve seen articles and photos touting taking classes outdoors as one strategy to keep students and teachers healthy. But learning in a natural environment has many benefits beyond access to fresh air!

Heading off to school for the first time can be an intimidating and overwhelming experience for both parents and children alike.  Consider these pointers in making the transition as smooth as possible for everyone.