Improve your child’s vocabulary and spelling

Vocabulary and Spelling do not come naturally to a child. The academic progress of your child is determined by how well the vocabulary and spelling is taught and learned. These vital aspects form the base for the future. Parents encourage their children to pick up new words by reading books or by encouraging them to use the dictionary for reference. All this may lead to good habits, but is your child really understanding the pronunciations and recognizing words that could either determine or undermine their understanding of the story? This is a point to ponder, as many kids are crammed with new stuff in school they don’t even understand or are forced to learn.

A professional tutor for your child

You can improve your child’s reading comprehension if you take the step to enroll him/her in a tutoring center which offers comprehensive programs designed for each student’s needs and requirements. Pinecone Active Learning Center in Santa Clara County realizes the importance of building a strong base for children’s education right from the kindergarten level to high school. There are math programs, reading programs and general homework help with expert guidance in learning friendly environment. As a parent, you will witness immediate improvement in your child’s focus, attitude and concentration levels.

For tutoring services, please call (408) 270-4548 or visit their website at http://www.pineconelearning.com for more information. Their class hours are 3-7 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Excelling in reading comprehension

A large part of our life is spent reading, if we just stop and think about. We read through kindergarten, school, college and work. The basis of reading and understanding vocabulary is strengthened at the grass root level. My daughter Shea needed some coaching during the early part of her school years, so that she could excel in reading comprehension and other subjects at school. Reading is not just meant for understanding the English language but is used as an active mode for teaching concepts and general knowledge in other subjects like math, science and history to name a few. So I decided to enroll her in a reading program that helped her improve her vocabulary and understand grammar concepts.

Improve with grades with tutoring

Pinecone Active Learning Center in San Jose was the place Shea joined when she needed some extra homework help after school. She is now a straight “A” student and is a star in reading comprehension at the 6^th/7^th grade level. Her writing is winning her recognition from the school principal and she has been chosen with a couple of other 4th grade students to a higher math level in school. Thanks to the efforts of her teacher and mentor Vivian Hobbs from Pinecone Active Learning Center, Shea and I are grateful that the reading program is impacting her school life in such a positive way.

If you have kids and would like them to learn how to read the right way and not just as part of a curriculum, don’t hesitate to enroll them in this school tutoring center. They can be contacted at (408) 270 4548. You can also visit http://www.pineconelearning.com for more information on admission procedures and class timings.

Does your child have problems in Math?

Many kids right from kindergarten and through high school have problems in math. My daughter Alyssa was no different. She never liked this subject and always ended up falling short of expectations. As a mother, it can get frustrating if your child undergoes some telling times in school, when grades are falling apart and confidence levels decrease with time. So I decided to send Alyssa to a tuition center which imparts specific training and coaching to help her overcome her fear of math and excel in this particular subject. I decided to enroll her in Pinecone Active Learning Center.

Get an academician to teach your child

This tuition center is run by Vivian Hobbs, a dynamic and enterprising figure renowned for playing a major part in children’s education in the California Bay Area. Pinecone Active Learning Center is known as a tutoring center which offers comprehensive math programs and reading programs for pre-schoolers and elementary-school students. After Alyssa joined the math program, she did so much better. She feels that she could never have reached this far academically if it weren't for the program and that it was worth all the time spent. This learning center has developed her math skills and also helped her discover a love for math. She is presently looking to pursue a career in related fields like business and economics.

If you say that your child needs that extra something to excel in math, you can call Vivian at (408) 270-4548 or visit www.pineconelearning.com for more information on other tutoring services offered.

The Kase for Saterday School

The Wall Street Journal ran an article on March 20^th entitled “The Kase for Saterday School”. The headline stated: “Kids in China already attend school 41 days a year more than students in the U.S. Now, schools across the country are cutting back to four-day weeks.” It went on to say that schools in China receive 30% more hours of instruction, Singapore classes operate 40 weeks a year, and Saturday classes are the norm in Korea and other Asian countries.

Charter schools in the U.S. such as KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program which has 80 schools around the country) understand the vital importance of extended instruction time. Middle-schoolers receive 60% more instruction time than public schools including 8-10 hour days, Saturday morning classes and abbreviated summer breaks.

The Kaiser Family Foundation recently reported that American youngsters spend an average of 7.5 hours per day using entertainment media which translates to 53 hours a week versus 30 hours in school.

Getting back the competitive edge

Adding hours or days to the school year might make an improvement, but there is also the problem of the typical school day in America. There is an enormous amount of time spent in a typical American school day on gym, recess, lunch, assembly, changing classes, homeroom, lining up for the art room, looking at movies, writing down homework assignments, quieting the classroom, celebrating holidays, preparing for plays, student drives, and on and on. Although these activities can be productive and meaningful in their own right, they don’t do much to enhance test scores, prepare a student for high school or provide the vital minutes that students need for practice to master concepts.

The Journal states that “Nearly every young American needs to learn more than most are learning today, both for the sake of their own prospects and on behalf of the nation’s competitiveness in a shrinking, dog-eat-dog world.” The nation’s competitiveness is not fairing well with recent international test scores which show about 90% of our states receiving D’s or F’s on the international scale. Until the government, the local districts, the teachers unions and the American families can agree to needed revisions in the length, number and content of elementary school days, families will need to provide their own resources for the added practice time and learning time for their students.

Pinecone Active Learning is one source for helping students truly master important Math and Reading Concepts. Children who find it difficult keeping up with their school work or need extra coaching with Math and Reading can enroll in Pinecone Active Learning Center. To know more about this tuition center, visit their corporate website at http://www.pineconelearning.com/ or call (408) 270-4548 to fix an appointment and discuss your child’s needs and requirements.

Overcoming child challenges

Every child faces some challenges in school and my daughter Claire was one of them. She suffered a massive stroke in which she had lost function in 2/3rds of her left hemisphere. The biggest challenge we faced was getting Claire into the general education kindergarten. Claire had trouble writing words and numbers, with difficulty in even writing her name. That is when we decided to enroll her in an Active Learning Center for Kids where special emphasis was given to Math and Reading Programs. Pinecone Active Learning Center in San Jose was the answer to our prayers.

Tuition Center for math and reading

Vivian Hobbs the founder of this wonderful tuition center played an important part in helping her develop skills in reading, writing and being able to understand pronunciations and numbers independently. With a lot of hard work put in by other professional tutors, Claire had developed her fine motor skills and cognitive reasoning. This was pretty impressive coming from a child with this kind of diagnosis. From joining the Math and Reading program, she continues to improve each day. Vivian was the main reason for her success and this goes to show that she is a wonderful advocate for kids and parents. I as a parent can seriously say that kids who find it difficult keeping up with their school work or need extra coaching with Math and Reading can enroll in Pinecone Active Learning Center. The results will speak for itself.

To know more about this tuition center in San Jose, visit their corporate website at http://www.pineconelearning.com/ or call (408) 270-4548 to fix an appointment and discuss your child’s needs and requirements.

Two Million Minutes and BASIS

Last year I wrote about the film Two Million Minutes -- the amount of time a student spends in high school and how an American male and female compare to those of India and China. The film was detailed in how the students spent their days, their study times, and recreation times as well as their approaches and attitudes about school and life in general. As you might guess, the number of hours of study spent by the Americans was far below that of the Indians or Chinese and the corresponding standards were much lower.

I have now viewed the latest film, Two Million Minutes – the Solution. This is an inspiring and hopeful film about a school called BASIS. The founder is a foreign teacher who noted that American universities are among the finest in the world, but our K-12 public system is a system of accommodation. She described it as a government monopoly that is disorganized – a safety net for the disadvantaged and a good system for the gifted, but nothing in the middle – no challenge, no teaching of responsibility.

This woman wanted to research the standards of the rest of the world and bring them to the U.S. She fought hard with unions and committees here but finally opened the first BASIS in Tucson, AZ. It is open to all students and average or even slightly below average students can graduate from BASIS.

The requirements of BASIS are rigorous. Part of the BASIS philosophy is “What can be brought down to the 8^th grade?” Algebra I, II and Geometry are required to go into 9^th grade. Ninth graders must have a minimum of eight AP courses. Pre-Calculus is taught in 9^th grade, Calculus in 10^th and the Calculus AP exam is given in 11^th grade. Differential Equations or Game Theory are options for 12^th grade. In general, all math courses are treated more deeply and with more repetition, with proper notation and vocabulary.

BASIS has four years of English and four years of Social Science. In English, the courses delve much deeper into Grammar. There is a minimum of three years of foreign language. Mandarin, Spanish, French and Latin are introduced in 5^th and 6^th grades. Latin is a big help for English Grammar.

BASIS requires three honor science classes and one taken to AP. Chemistry, biology and physics are taught in 6^th grade (Physics is the basis for much of Philosophy). Eleventh graders may graduate if enough credits and many will graduate with 11 AP exams. Twelfth graders can do a 3-month internship.

The teachers all have Masters and PhD’s in the subjects they teach. They must engage kids and encourage them. They both are and inspire students to be creative and autonomous. AP courses are divided into two years to make room for the creativity of the teachers. There is NO boredom and no wasted time. And…teachers are paid for performance. They receive bonuses for AP exam scores, for example.

The BASIS graduates have a 100% college admissions rate.

About the author: Vivian Hobbs

The Pinecone Active Learning Center is the brainchild of Vivian Hobbs. She has an MS in Industrial Psychology with minors in research design and mathematics. She has 30 years of experience in math and research, including operating her own businesses, one of which was a well known supplemental education franchise. She has always been involved with children's education and has visited Italy to study the renowned "Active Learning" Program used there. With this knowledge and an understanding of the problems faced in imparting education to young children, she spent years working with educators and colleagues to formulate a system of teaching using focused individual tutoring that would provide the right foundations for children and also be aligned to state school requirements. The result is Pinecone.

Sharpening Math Skills

Mastering math is essential for future opportunities in school and career. Your kids will need to reach a certain level of competency in math to take many advanced high school courses, to be admitted to college, and to have a wide variety of career choices. Here’s how to maximize their math-smarts.

1. Make sure your children understand mathematical concepts.

2. Help them master the basic facts.
Mastery of a basic fact means that children can give an answer in less than three seconds. Considerable drill is required for children to give quick responses.

3. Teach them to write their numbers neatly.
Twenty-five percent of all errors in math problems can be traced back to sloppy number writing.

4. Provide immediate help when your child needs it.
Math is one subject in which everything builds upon what has been previously learned.

5. Make sure your child always completes his math homework.
Doing math homework reinforces the skills your children are learning in class.

6. Encourage your children to do more than the assigned problems.
Considerable practice is necessary for children to hone their math skills.

7. Explain how to solve word problems.
To learn to solve problems, you must solve problems. Teach children to read a word problem several times.

8. Help children learn the vocabulary of mathematics.

9. Teach them how to do math “in their head.”
One of the major ways to solve problems is by using mental math.

10. Make mathematics part of your child’s daily life.
Mathematics will become more meaningful when your student sees how important it is in so many real-life situations.

Pearson education, Inc.

To learn more, visit http://pineconelearning.com/and http://www.mathtutorsbayarea.com/ or contact Pinecone Active Learning, call (408) 270-4548 or pay a visit directly to 5988 Silver Creek Valley Rd #60, San Jose, CA 95138