School Family

Do you find parent-teacher conferences to be: a) enlightening, b) mutually beneficial, or c) about as fun as going to the dentist? If you answered c, you’re not alone. Plenty of parents get nervous about meeting with teachers, but still, you shouldn’t feel like you’re being called into the principal’s office.

If you haven’t met your child’s teacher yet, this is a great opportunity to share any information that will help her work with your child. It’s also a good time to ask the teacher all those questions you’ve been saving up. Not sure where to start? We’ve put together a list of Back-to-School Conference Questions just for you.

A high school English teacher in New Jersey is making waves for requiring parents to read the same assignments as their kids and comment about them on his blog. The teacher explained to The New York Times that because parent involvement in education tends to wane as kids become teenagers, he decided to make it part of the class. Parents complain about never getting to see their kids work, he said. Now they have to.

The article has stirred up debate about just how much schools should expect from parents. (Blogger Uncertain Principles makes a good case for parent homework, while LT Strickland argues that this approach is unrealistic for many families.) What do you think? Is it unfair to ask parents to ponder Kafka after a long day at work, or is it just part of the job of being a parent?

“It’s well-documented that parent involvement helps kids do better in school, but during the busy school year, it can be tough to set aside quality time with the kids. That’s why a nationwide campaign is asking parents to have meaningful moments with their kids every day.

The Be There campaign encourages parents to do simple things to connect with their kids, like smiling, making eye contact, and asking questions about school. The idea is that these small steps show kids you care about them and their education. Schools in several Virginia communities recently signed on to the campaign, which will get the word out to parents through billboards, banners, and fliers sent home with students.

I’d love to hear from you on this. When things get crazy at your house, how do you break free from distractions and connect with your kids?

“I grew up in a very small town. The kind of town where you can’t go anywhere without seeing someone you know. So when I went back for a visit earlier this month, it wasn’t the least bit unusual that I ran into several of my old teachers. What surprised me was how much I remember about being their student.

When I saw Mr. G, my former elementary school principal, I thought back to my first day at the school, which I transferred to in the middle of first grade. Mr. G walked me to my new classroom, which he assured me I’d like. I was shocked that someone so tall (and so old) could be so nice to a little kid. Looking back, it was his kindness (along with the new friends I made at recess) that helped me get past my new-school jitters.

I also caught up briefly with my second grade teacher, Mrs. G (no relation), who taught me to write in cursive. At that age I was incredibly shy and didn’t say much in class. Mrs. G recognized that I was more comfortable writing than talking, and encouraged me to do more of both.

Another day I talked with Mrs. H, my sixth grade teacher. I don’t recall much about our lessons, but I remember a lot about Mrs. H. As we were dealing with our daily adolescent dramas, she kept a reassuring order in her classroom and required that we treat one another with respect.

I’ll bet that every one of you has similar stories of teachers who taught you as much about life as they did math or social studies. As your kids get to know their new teachers, don’t forget to thank them for doing the same thing.

Whether you think rap music is a bad influence on kids or harmless fun, you’ve got to give a hand to Ludacris, who recently held a back-to-school fair for low-income kids in his hometown of Atlanta.

Whether you think rap music is a bad influence on kids or harmless fun, you’ve got to give a hand to Ludacris, who recently held a back-to-school fair for low-income kids in his hometown of Atlanta. The rapper and actor outfitted 200 kids with school supplies, provided free medical checkups, and gave away gift certificates so the kids could shop for name brand sneakers or athletic wear.

Luda, who made $16 million last year, is among hip-hop’s top earners. At the back-to-school event he told kids that sticking with school helped him attain success in his music career, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

For years parents have criticized rap for lyrics that promote promiscuity and glorify violence. But talking with the kids, Ludacris sent a message that parents can get behind.

The music business is 90 percent business and 10 percent music. You’ve gotta know how to write and do math and speak effectively, Ludacris told the kids. That’s why I’m so successful. I stayed in school.

When I heard that former President Bill Clinton was on the Rachael Ray show last week, for a brief moment I wondered whether it was a creative campaign appearance for his wife�s White House run. It turns out he’s in the middle of a different kind of campaign, urging schools to serve healthier meals to kids.

Clinton helped form the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which is tackling the issue of childhood obesity. According to the alliance, 17 percent of American schoolkids are overweight, and school lunches that resemble fast-food fare are a big part of the problem. The alliance is working with schools and major food companies to get more nutritious meals onto kids’ plates.

Of course, serving healthy foods doesn’t do much good if kids won’t eat them. That’s why we’re sharing great ideas for a week’s worth of nutritious sack lunches your kids will actually like.

What’s going on in your child’s lunchroom? Is the school offering healthier meal options, and are kids actually choosing them?

Here’s yet another sign that “back to school” is big business: limited-edition Nike sneakers with designs inspired by school supplies, released just as students are headed back to class. Kids can pick from three different styles, each with the image of a schoolhouse or school bus bearing the Nike swoosh. My favorite is the black and white shoe that resembles a composition notebook, but maybe you’d prefer the bright-blue and orange of an Elmer’s glue bottle or the distinctive green and gold of a box of Crayola crayons.

Sneaker aficionados have gone gaga over the shoes, but education bloggers are mixed. On the Biz of Knowledge, Bill Belew questions the cool factor of wearing “crayon shoes” to school. But Alexander Russo of This Week in Education thinks the shoes have a good shot with kids, or at the very least with their parents.

One online store sells the back-to-school sneakers for $85 to $120, but on eBay, bids for the composition book shoe have already topped $160. This leaves me wondering just who the target market for these shoes is, schoolkids or the grownups in their lives?

School starts here in three weeks, and the back-to-school advertising blitz is in full force. My neighborhood big-box retailer has long since converted its seasonal section into a smorgasbord of spiral notebooks.

In Georgia, we mark the occasion with a sales tax holiday about a week before classes start. Stressed-out parents and fussy kids crowd the stores, under pressure to get everything on their lists before time runs out. It’s a lot like the mall a week before Christmas.

One year, I braved the outlet malls during the sales tax holiday. Around the millionth time I was elbowed by a stranger in a shoe store, I vowed never to do it again. When I pick up school supplies for a donation drive this year, I’ll make an early morning trip to the office supply store to avoid the crowds.

What’s your shopping strategy? Do you hit the big sales, or do you stay home and buy everything online? Wait till the last minute to load up on filler paper or maintain a constant stockpile of No. 2 pencils?

In the public schools I attended, the dress code was plain and simple: no shorts, no hats, and nothing too skimpy. How times have changed. This week, I read about a girl given in-school suspension for wearing Tigger socks and a boy whose battle over this anti-Bush T-shirt went all the way to the Supreme Court.

The school clothes crackdown is aimed at keeping kids from wearing gang colors or apparel that promotes drugs and alcohol, but with the zero-tolerance policies applied at some schools, common sense has gone out the window.

In the Napa, Calif., school where Tigger was outlawed, the policy bans clothing with stripes, patterns, pictures, or logos. Students there have been disciplined for the vile offenses of displaying a heart sticker on Valentine’s Day, carrying a backpack with a Jansport logo, and even wearing a T-shirt with the logo of the anti-drug program DARE.

In both cases, the courts ruled in favor of the students, saying the schools could not restrict free speech rights guaranteed under the First Amendment. But don’t expect this to be the last word. Elsewhere the battle continues, with students and administrators butting heads over the color of belts, the placement of pockets, and other such key issues.

I’ve always loved going to camp, so when I was asked to spend last weekend supervising middle school campers, I jumped at the chance. The last time I’d worked at a camp was in college, when I spent a steaming
summer in a platform tent, a hike away from electricity and running water.

It wasn’t the first time I’d visited this camp, so I knew that some buildings had air conditioning (gasp!) and that WiFi service had been added for company retreats. Still, I was surprised by how much technology I found in the hands of the campers.

Each of the kids in my charge had an iPod and a cell phone, even though the camp is in a remote area with no service. One boy brought his prized bass guitar and was excited to find (to his counselor’s chagrin, I’m sure) that a cabinmate had an amplifier. More than once I heard campers discussing their MySpace friends, and I realized that for them, roughing it is going a week without going online.

Although I couldn’t believe all the technological toys the kids had brought to camp, I was in no position to criticize. I had packed my laptop, and whenever I had an opportunity, I was in the cabin checking my email!