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Published monthly by Linda Silbert, PhD and Strong Learning, Inc.

Dr. Linda’s School Success Newsletter | August 2010

In This Issue

Happening Now: Registration for Courses, Private Tutoring and College Advisement
Note from Dr. Linda: August: A Time to Daydream
School Success Tips: Get Organized!
Family Fun: “Adventures of Berticus Barns,” Part One
Now It’s Your Turn: Let Us Know What You’d Like

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Note from Dr. Linda

Hi Parents, Grandparents, Teachers and Friends:

August is a time for kids to let their minds wander and daydream. During the school year, children’s minds are occupied with homework, tests and projects. Even the projects don’t give kids time to daydream and create because they have to follow the rules to get the grade!

Often wrongly, the child whose mind wanders is diagnosed with ADHD, labeled a daydreamer and called an underachiever. This is sad, because there’s plenty of room for this form of creative thinking.

Lots have been written about the importance of creativity and letting your mind wander. In fact, many children and adults can go off on a tangent when they hear something that triggers something else in their brain. A creative light goes off and ta-da!–an idea is born. That’s how new ideas are developed.

In business, creativity is encouraged in think tanks.  Creativity is considered an important skill for CEOs, business leaders, and politicians.  These leaders receive large salaries when they can creatively solve problems in their industry.

So, give your children time to play, create and imagine. Give them time to let their minds wander. Let August be a month when your children are not following rules and solving problems out of text books. Celebrate August by giving your children time to create their own rules to solve problems.

Best wishes,
Dr. Linda

P.S.

Creativity WorkbooksEncourage your children to think creatively with Strong Learning’s Creative Thinking Workbook Series. This set of seven activity books gives children ages 5-10 an opportunity to create through writing, thinking and drawing.

From test taking to homework, from math to reading, twice a week, you’ll get short, effective tips to help your child learn. Sign up now and invite other parents to sign up. It’s my FREE gift to you and your children. Check out the bonuses you’ll get when you subscribe to the tips http://www.askdrlindasilbert.com/tips.html

School Success Tips: Get Organized!

School Success NewsletterA 3-hole punch is one of the most important items to buy for your six year old, your 12 year old or even your child going off to college.

Your child is going to have piles and piles of papers. These papers need to be organized. Some are necessary for the next test and some are notices about next week’s cupcake sale . . . or last week’s sale, oops.

Every night or at least once a week, go through the papers with your elementary-school child, tossing the unnecessary sheets into the paper recycling bin and hole punching the others. Encourage older children to follow this plan. It could even be on their to-do list that’s on the fridge.

Once the papers are hole punched, put them in 3-ring binders. Label each binder. For example, one can be English, another math, etc. Or put dividers in an individual binder, sorting the papers by subjects and labeling the binders by dates, for example, 1st quarter, 2010, 2nd quarter, 2010. Encourage your children to create a system that works for them.

Keep the binders on a shelf to be referred to for tests and exams, science projects, book reports, term papers, fund-raising activities and field trips.

Make a table of contents for each binder including the date for the test or event. When that exam or event is over, cross it off the table of contents and throw away the paper. Be sure, however, to save papers that need to be referred to again for a mid-terms or final exams.

The teachers will let your child know what they want in the binder they use for school. It’s all those other papers that need to be filed away.

Family Fun: “The Adventures of Berticus Barns” by Brian Silbert

If you’re living with or teaching one of those kids often labeled an “unmotivated, disorganized, procrastinating, mind-wandering underachiever,” you’ll love Berticus. Berticus represents all those children who don’t fit into the system. They’re daydreaming and creating. They’re the future inventors, writers, artists, musicians, and creators of the world. After all, Thomas Edison was thrown out of school in the second grade because his teacher thought he was stupid. Now enjoy this read-aloud story for the whole family.

Part One: Happy Birthday to Me

A lot of kids got excited about going to school. Not me. I was the opposite of excited. I sat with a grimace on my face looking like I had just sucked on a lemon.

I stared at the back of Thatch’s head, which was slowly morphing back into its normal disorderly state and let out a sigh. Here we go again, I thought. Another long year of tests, homework and sneaker stomping.

I have not yet been able to prove it medically, but much like some kids are allergic to peanuts or bee stings, I’m certain that I’m allergic to school.

One year, in fact, I broke out in a giant rash that I believed to be caused by school. But it turned out to be chicken pox. It could be argued that I got it from some other kid while being AT school. So, I sort of proved my point.

No Birthday Party for Berticus

Besides this being the first day of school, it was also my birthday. A birthday is normally a glorious day that a kid will anxiously wait for all year long.

There is a wonderful anticipation, as the beloved day grows nearer—a day that should normally be chock full of cake, ice cream, singing, games and best of all… presents! Lots and lots of presents.

There’s a fine art to laying down subtle hints to your parents as to what presents you want. Most kids wish for a bike or a trampoline or something fun. This was not the case for me, however. Each year, I hoped that I didn’t have to go to school. But, no matter how hard I wished, it didn’t work and inevitably the first day of school would always arrive.

So here I was downright miserable with the idea of tests, homework and lessons already looming in my head. Yuck!

Mary M’Gerkin Whistles through Her Nose

Plus, to make it even worse, I was sitting next to Mary M’Gerkin, whose nose was constantly whistling from allergies. Mary had been in my class for three years in a row and I’d heard symphonies come out of her nose.

To be honest, it was quite impressive. The first year we were in class together her nose whistling skills were still being honed. But, as that year progressed, she really came into her own. She mostly dabbled in classical melodies early on.

After the winter vacation, Mary experimented with different pitches and tones. She must have practiced hard the following summer because during year two, her nose whistling talent evolved to even include undertones of jazz with a hint of the blues.

I was anxious to see what this year had in store for Mary. Now that she had another year under her belt, perhaps she would venture into reggae or maybe even hip-hop.

I asked her one time if she took requests, but she just sneered at me, turned her head and ignored me for a week.

Berticus Asks Mary M’Gerkin for a Birthday Favor

Maybe she’d have a new attitude this year. After all, it was my birthday. So I wrote her a note and slid it across her desk: “At lunch today, could you please whistle ‘Happy Birthday’ to me out of your nose?”

She crumpled up the note and threw it at me in a huff, which I found not only rude but also environmentally unconscionable. She should have recycled that crumpled up note, not littering our fragile planet. I taught her a valuable lesson by ignoring her for the next few hours.

Copyright © Strong Learning, Inc.  2010. All rights reserved.

To be continued in the September newsletter. Find out what happens to Berticus when the teacher catches him daydreaming.

Now It’s Your Turn

Dr. Linda Silbert

Go over to Dr Linda’s Blog now and subscribe by email or RSS feed so you won’t miss anything. Leave a comment. I love to hear from you. Let me know what you’d like to see in the next newsletter and on the blog with its great new look. I want to thank Regina Smola and MaryJo Wagner for the transformation.

Thanks so much for all your emails, calls and comments.

Wishing your children and all you loving and hard-working Moms and Dads, a happy rest of the summer vacation.

I’ll have fun tips to give kids a boost for back to school in your September Newsletter