SOMA Living September 2021

EDUCATION This article was originally written in August 2018. We have experienced many changes since then in how we, as parents and students, perceive and experience school, as the classroom experience came right into many of our dining rooms, bedrooms and spread across our kitchen tables. What will school be this fall? What will schools do to accommodate the larger than ever spread in preparedness for “grade level”? A teacher friend of mine said, in response to my question about what she thought her district would do to accommodate this, “Sixth grade is still sixth grade, as far as I can tell so far.” “Schools are like trains, they go from origin (September) to destination (June) with children as their passengers. Each year your child boards the train along with his or her K to 12th grade classmates. He or she takes a seat in his or her “classroom car” as the train pulls out of September Station. The trip starts out smoothly as the train begins to move along. Every child has his or her ticket, the conductor is friendly and knowledgeable, the bathrooms are clean, and the Wi-Fi is working! We are all hoping for a safe and secure trip. Take note, however, trains move quickly and sometimes the ride can be bumpy and jolt a child out of its seat! Your child’s conductor, despite excellent training, experience and intentions, cannot secure every single child in every moment. I come from a family of conductors and know that things happen, kids slip, despite good intentions. The train is on time to June station, no matter what. Time tables, schedules, curricula and lesson plans dictate it. Tutoring is a seat belt for your child while on this important annual academic journey. Supplemental academic support, like we offer at Best in Class, holds your child firmly in their seat as the classroom car speeds along to June Station. Getting this “academic seat belt” on your child before the train starts and keeping it on the whole ride is critical to make sure they successfully make it to their destination, academic progress and success.” What we have come to realize, more these last 18 months than ever, is the critical necessity of parent buy in to children’s academic success, which means more than dropping them off or logging them into our classes. It means setting up structures for study at home, it means checking on progress and engaging in the ideas being learned with us over the dinner table or in the ride to karate practice. It’s not easy, but that is what works best in enrichment and in school settings, active parental involvement in the success of the student.

Dr. Alissa Gardenhire is the owner of Best in Class Education Center, named one of the three best tutoring centers in the region by 3 Best Rated dot com. Copyright 2021 © Dr. Alissa Gardenhire and Kids Win, Inc.

38 somalivingmagazine@gmail.com

@somalivingmagazine