By Camille Rodriquez 

Education is inherently spiritual in nature. At its very core the goal of education is to change minds, transfer information, present cultures and characters to see how values have been successful (or not), share systems of order, organization and structure that benefit all people. The word education comes from a Latin term (educatus) having to do with “leading forth” and “rearing” of a child. In a sense, educational goals and discipleship goals in a religious context are no different.

One primary tenet of education is to present data and transform the understanding of information in the mind of another. This may take the form of sharing of information, teaching a new skill, or showing how to apply knowledge for personal use and enrichment. Another pillar of education is the reviewing of history and knowledge left behind by other cultures and civilizations, as well as the character of those leaders. Every step of the learning process and its goals can be said to be also true of the process of discipleship. The making of converts has at its heart the transference of information, the hope of application, and the betterment of a society.

We cannot ignore that the role of the church and educational system are more alike and compatible than not. So, it is important to look at what we are teaching, what information is transferred, the methods we use, and how we present the information. The value we place on education matters, just as the value we place on faith matters.

Our educational choices affect our character and our students’ character. Religion and history both show us how a leader of good character can positively impact many, but a leader of poor character can tear down those around them. It is important to be conscious of the values we emphasize and stress in our educational system. What we do to educate others matters, how we teach it, and what value we place on the application of the material at hand speaks volumes of our character.

By Debbie Elder 

One way to avoid micro-managing your teen is to involve them in the process of managing their lives. Some areas in which they can contribute and take ownership of their own lives such are school life, free time, and extra-curricular activities.

It’s important to involve our teens in their day-to-day life for three reasons. First and foremost, it is their life. Secondly, this area offers you many teachable moments. And third, if you make all of the decisions for them, two things will happen: You’ll be the one to blame for things that don’t work out, and they won’t learn how to make decisions.

Here are some ground rules to make this work.

1)      Only offer choices with outcomes that are acceptable to you.

2)      Only offer what is readily available.

3)      Clarify the parameters and boundaries to your teen when you offer choices.

4)      If your teen chooses choice C when you only offered Choice A and B, you need decide up front negotiable and non-negotiable issues. For instance, a restaurant choice you did not initially offer may not be an issue. However, if your teen suggests a curfew time that you did not offer, this subject may be non-negotiable.

 Our teenagers need to know they have a valuable contribution to daily life around them. However, you also need to respect your teen’s ability to choose how and when to contribute.

We need to respect our teen’s opinions. Being able to formulate, articulate and defend your opinion is an incredibly valuable tool that I want my teenagers to possess. With a grasp of who they are and what they stand for, you can rest assured they won’t be easily swayed by the thoughts and beliefs of others. But, if they are never given opportunities to voice their ideas or investigate their beliefs, they risk being influenced by others who may not share your core values. Personally, I’m not willing to risk that for my children, are you?

By Debbie Elder

What is the #1 thing that keeps us from achieving goals we set? FEAR

Fear is “False Evidence Appearing as Real” and frequently it is all that it takes to halt our actions before we even get started.

After studying the works of Napoleon Hill, it is obvious to me that to accomplish what I want, I need to focus on it, commit it to memory, and act upon it immediately. Hill uses the term Definiteness of Purpose. This term refers to the total commitment to a goal, daily thought and action given over to an attainable end result. Definiteness of Purpose describes how I want your students to approach college.

To begin this process, you need to decide on specific goals, write them down, commit them to memory, and plan how to achieve them. But most importantly, take action.

Parents do not stop your students from dreaming BIG and making goals that are from their heart. You might be surprised to see the goals eventually reached, but it is important to not put limits on goal setting for your teens and yourself.

Let’s talk about “smart” goals. They must first be specific. You must detail exactly what you want. Goals must also be measureable. You need to know where you start and end. All successful goals require action. Change the behavior if you intend to achieve your goal. Goals also need to be relevant and realistic. You should push yourself within achievable limits. Lastly, goals must be time specific. This helps to know where to focus your energies.

Here is your challenge. Sit down and write 10 goals for yourself, and help your teen do the same. Help them prioritize and take action. Hand write the goals out every day, and practice the habit of committing them to memory and taking action. It has been said that you must do something faithfully for 21 days to make it a habit. So I challenge you and your teen to do this for one month, every day, even on weekends. You might be surprised where you both are in one month!

By Camille Rodriquez

We’ve all experienced situations where we run into someone whose face we know, but cannot remember their name. We finesse our way through the situation, and typically, within a few hours, the name will come to us. This is because our brain had the name all along, but it was filed poorly initially and hard to retrieve when needed.

Now think of the last time that you asked someone to find something. You may have used mental images while you were picturing the object and its location that could easily be described to the person. Visual images such as mental pictures are very powerful in the brain’s filing system for data management, and something that we can apply to new information that we learn.

Knowing your purpose when you read and encounter new information is the primary tool for organizing it in a meaningful way. Using questions, emotions, and images also keeps our brains actively involved in storing new information.

In order to know your purpose for reading, it is useful to preview the material before you read it. Inspectional Reading is one method that helps you pull out key words and phrases that your brain can “hang” the information on while reading. After previewing the material, engaging your brain with questions, and looking for information snapshots and mental pictures, your subconscious mind will be working to answer those questions and sorting the information according to the purpose that you assigned the reading.

A final step to learning to manage information efficiently is to write a short summary of the information. This can be hand-written or typed, but using the hands to write the essence of the material and the eyes to see the summary, creating another visual image, creates a content loop that reinforces the new information in your brain. So, take notes – What did you just learn?

By Debbie Elder

When I was raising my children one of my main goals was to equip them to go out into the world where there are no big bad surprises. I want them to be prepared enough to make wise decisions. There are definite life lessons and the earlier in life you learn these, the less they cost.

I believe that part of our job as parents is to allow our children to experience as many life lessons with us as possible.

I have a friend whose son wanted to purchase a game system with money he had from birthdays and a summer job. However, if he waited it would probably be updated and possibly under his Christmas tree. So, my friend decided to forbid her son from spending the money so foolishly.

While talking to my friend, I asked: “So how would you respond if your boss handed you your pay check and said, ‘Don’t be buying any shoes this weekend. That’s not what this money is for.’”

She answered, “But I am an adult.”

“And when are you going to let him learn how to be one?” I asked.

After a long discussion, my friend let her son make the decision. The son went ahead and bought the system, and as I predicted, by February he came to her disappointed in his decision. Looking back he would have used the money for something else. Not only was she not the bad guy, he learned a valuable lesson. Allowing him to stub his toe on this decision probably prevented a broken leg in the future.

We want our teens to have a base knowledge, understand the risks, and be decisive enough to make good choices when we are not there to help them. Decision making is a process that needs to be taught and practiced! When you make all the decisions for your teen, you get better at making decisions and they never learn the process.

When parents do not let their children learn from making minor mistakes, they will end up making big, bad, and sometimes deadly mistakes. You can manage the minor mistakes to help them make better decisions. We can help, contact us at http://www.newcollegeprep.com/college-prep/

By Camille Rodriquez

Recently the U.S. Department of Education through their Institution of Education Services showed the steady decrease of academic scores across grade and subject in the U.S. compared to other countries. This decline should not shock us when we consider the constant flood of news about the lack of funding and poor school performance rates, but it should certainly call us to action. We must look at the big picture at hand. One critical area to look at is the difference between learning and reading.

Learning is not the same as reading. We can read something, interesting or not, and be unable to recall it with any detail hours later. That is because we fail to actively engage with the reading. We do not learn, we only read. Our educational system pushes students and teachers to move through designated amounts of material in limited time periods, all the while leaving their brains “disengaged.”

Clearly this impacts our productivity, understanding, and ability to apply what we have read to our daily work, or our learning process. However, true learning impacts application and that is the end result of wisdom – changed behavior, changed application. Imagine if students mastered what they read because they know how to use their brains effectively. When we view our God-given brains as a tool and allow them to do their job, we will see amazing things!

Students must learn to be involved with the content, to understand its significance, to connect to what they are reading and learning with a purpose. When students stop going through the motions, they can apply their time to effective and meaningful learning. This all must start with using our brains more efficiently. By having our brains as an active partner, we will see an increase in our academic standards.

True learning can impact our understanding and application and create more effective citizens – this is what it means to be serious about education. Effecting change, understanding data, and impacting our culture for more than a semester is the natural by-product of brain-based learning! If all educators were allowed to focus on learning, not a checklist of lessons, we would see a change in our future generations. For more information on how you can impact your student’s learning and your own visit http://www.newcollegeprep.com/learning-system/.

 By Debbie Elder

“Real communication is meaning transferred from one mind to another – not simply the exchange of words.”

It is important to pay attention to body language, yours as well as theirs, during communication. If the body is sending a different message than the words, the body is what we tend to believe.

Use your “I” statements. Effective communication cannot happen when someone feels defensive or backed into a corner. When you point the finger at their “failings”, they quickly shut you out, get defensive, and become angry. Using “I” statements while communicating allows you to express your feelings without giving the other person the feeling that you are attacking them, and they are more willing to discuss this situation.

One of the most essential skills for effective communication is being a good listener. Too often, we charge off to “fix” the problem instead of listening to all that is being said. As a good listener, you need to have empathy with the other person and acknowledge the emotions they are sharing with you. When you do this, you are able to validate the person’s position. Sometimes they just need to know that their comments are being heard, and considered, not for you to “fix” their issue.

Practicing real communication requires you to reserve judgment. Often we begin to formulate our own responses while the other person is talking, interpreting and judging all they say. This hinders true communication. When we practice effective communication and reserve judgment, it allows you to hear all that is being said honestly. I once heard someone say that feelings have no right or wrong to them. They are just feelings. It is how you act upon these feelings that make a difference. This may be the most difficult step for a good listener, that of not assigning a “good” or “bad,” “right” or “wrong” to the statements being shared.

People only care what you think if they think you care! If you are constantly giving advice, children will see your statements as judgments not as caring remarks. Use your times of advice sparingly and preferably when requested, especially as they get older.

Thanks for listening!

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By Camille Rodriquez

A new trend on the rise among the homeschool community is that of hiring a homeschool Coach. While this concept may sound humorous initially, when you take a closer look at homeschool Coaching you will easily see the benefits. However, the benefits are correlated to the right fit of any particular homeschool Coach with your own unique needs. In order to find the best possible fit for your homeschool program, it is important to ask a few questions.

One of three such questions that you should ask is about the accountability or “check point” system that the homeschool Coach prefers. How frequently are the check-ins? As well as simple accountability, these check-ins allow adjustments in scheduling to be made based on the needs of the student or family.

The second question for your homeschool Coach should be about the variety of curricula with which they are familiar and comfortable addressing. Your homeschool Coach should be able to speak to various subject matters, curricula, and learning styles in order to provide you with the best possible solutions for your child.

You also need to ask your homeschool Coach about the methods with which they make themselves available. It is important for you to know whether they are available by phone, email, or both. Some homeschool Coaches might make themselves additionally available through webinars and newsletters. Take advantage of the range of options provided by the homeschool Coach to best suit your needs, so discuss your needs thoroughly with any prospective Coaches http://bit.ly/dqSCMR.

Clearly these are not the only questions that you should ask of a homeschool Coach. You will want to ask more questions based on your set of unique needs. However, these three questions will give you an insight to the homeschool Coach’s quality and the experience you will have while working with them.