April

Get Ready For Summer Now!

Posted April 19, 2011

When spring is in the air, it’s natural to start thinking about what summer will bring. Our Spring Newsletter can help! It’s packed with tips to help make spring great, and get your family ready to have a great summer!

Click on image to download and print our Spring Newsletter!

Parent Question: How Do I Help My Four-Year-Old Become a Reader?

Posted April 14, 2011

You asked. We answered!
This question comes from our archives…

Question:
How do I help my four-year-old son to develop a love of reading? He struggles to sound words out, and doesn’t seem to be interested in reading on his own. How can I help him learn to love reading?

Answer:
Books can be our best friends. But to struggling children, they can also be the enemy. Children are aware of our expectations, and they recognize our desire for them to read. To avoid disappointing us, children with reading issues may just push books aside for activities that don’t require so much effort.

Strong reading skills are the foundation for learning, so they are a critical skill to develop early on. Luckily, an aversion to reading at a young age can easily be overcome.

Sometimes different approaches are the solution to getting reluctant readers to embrace books and reading. Our Little Readers program is developed to help children as young as three learn to become strong, competent readers who love books! We help kids learn the sounds that make up the building blocks of our language. Kids become able to sound out words and develop confidence in their ability to try to read new words.

Remember that learning to read can be a struggle for many children, but if you give your son the skills that he needs to be a successful reader, a love of reading will follow eventually. Continue to make an effort to share reading time with your son, and encourage him every step of the way!

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Five Years of High School, By Choice

Posted April 6, 2011

High School is typically a four-year commitment. However, an increasing number of teens are choosing to return for a a so-called Victory Lap.

The Victory Lap is a term that refers to returning after graduation for an extra semester or two.

Why would teens want to return to high school? There are many reasons:

• Not feeling emotionally or socially prepared for college or university
• To continue with sports
• To improve grades
• To complete credits
• To increase self-confidence
• To increase post-secondary qualifications
• To save money

Some estimates say that as many as 15-20% of Ontario students return for an extra year. If students don’t feel ready to go to university or college, or don’t have the grades, and high school will allow them to re-take courses, or to take additional courses, then is there anything wrong with staying in high school for an extra year?
But critics say that in terms of the cost of education, it’s an expensive habit that is a waste of taxpayers money.

The official government of Ontario position is that not all students learn at the same rate, and if certain students need an extra year to obtain the necessary grades to graduate, then—as long as the students is under 21—this is perfectly acceptable.

Other critics say that it gives students an unfair advantage over others who don’t have the option of taking a Victory Lap—that students who remain behind to take (or to re-take) courses to bring up their averages may be unfairly stacking university admission odds in their favour.

Those who support the extra year of high school say that it helps students better cope with transition anxiety, as the move from High School to Post-Secondary is recognized as one of the biggest life transitions, right up there with marriage and retirement.

Factor in the high cost of post-secondary tuition and the alarmingly high first-year drop out rate, staying in high school to improve grades, and increasing university readiness will help high schoolers be more successful in college and university.