Grab the companion handout to Monday’s Aim Science session here:
AimScience-FunWithBalloons-Handout
Dr. Karen Joseph teaches The Wonders of Water, Sensational Senses, and Zoology for Aim Academy. She loves sharing her knowledge and love of science with students of all ages.
Every Monday Dr. Karen Joseph uses Facebook Live to conduct science experiments on the Debra Bell Facebook page. Recently she demonstrated three different experiments that all use vinegar. Although the setup and supplies list is simple, each of these experiment packs a big WOW factor.
Dr. Karen Joseph teaches The Wonders of Water and Sensational Senses for Aim Academy. Second semester, she will teach zoology for 4th – 8th graders. She believes that science should be fun. She works to create classes that have a strong hands-on component, and that will ignite in her students a passion to know more about the wonderful world they live in.
If Grit was simply will power or self-control eventually most of us would be exhausted and there would be few of us who would be able to keep up with the work. Although these characteristics are important, for the persistence needed to be gritty we need to develop a different strategy. The strategy of consistently changing our habits.
Will power and self-control are limited resources, and setting ourselves up for success involves doing something that is automatic and doesn’t draw on these limited resources. If every morning I were to exercise only based on my will power, most mornings I would fall back into bed as a dismal failure.
Habits are aspects that we can change with a minimal amount of effort since they require only an understanding of their components. Habits exist because, according to Charles Duhigg the author of The Power of Habit, there is a cue, a routine and a reward.
For example, when you procrastinate it starts with:
This behavior creates a “Habit loop”. You feel better in the moment, but you still have the work to do. When you change a habit the cue and the reward stay the same – although it is important that you find out what really is rewarding you with a particular habit.
The cue helps you see when you are about to fall into an old habit, and then what you need to do is to find a new routine.
Looking at the same example:
Bonnie Gonzalez has 36 years of experience as a counselor. She has taught high school and college classes and is now offering Intro to Psychology and the Secrets of Success course series through Aim Academy.
Enrolling in an AP English class can feel both exciting and intimidating. AP Language and AP Literature are great opportunities for students to leap into texts which contain interesting characters, beautiful language and important ideas. It also gives them a chance to explore those ideas in their own writing as they develop their analysis and argumentative skills and find their individual writing voice.
Of course, a primary reason parents choose AP courses for their high school students is to prepare them for the English Language and English Literature Advanced Placement Exams themselves. High-scoring students have the potential to earn college credit through taking these exams! If you earn an AP Exam score of 3 or higher, chances are you can receive credit, advanced placement or both from your college. For more on earning credit for your AP scores, check out this helpful resource from the College Board. My AP English Language and AP English Literature courses are both certified by the College Board, which means they are truly taught at an introductory college level and are strong, relevant preparation for the exams. It’s a confidence and maturity-building experience – and can earn college credit as well!
Back to that combination of excitement and intimidation: How do you know you are ready for an AP course? Is there any way to ensure you enter the AP classroom feeling comfortable and ready to sink your teeth into the texts?
Yes, absolutely!
Fortunately, there are very specific skillsets an AP teacher would love to see a student possess before they enter an AP English class. The printable resource included below has two parts: first I list the specific skills a student should strive to gain before an AP English course, and then I include a general “game plan” including specific classes which help to build those skills! The resource helps to plan from junior high; however, if you have a high school student who would love to join an AP course this fall but would like an additional “skills boost” I have a summer class which is especially geared to help: Introduction to Advanced Placement English Writing (summer session).
Happy planning! If you have any questions about AP courses, feel free to reach me at [email]lserbickiap@gmail.com[/email].
Lili Serbicki teaches AP English Literature, AP English Language, and Creative Writing for Aim Academy. This summer she is also offering Intro to AP English Writing, Senior High Creative Writing, Junior High Creative Writing, and SAT English Prep.
Remember that apathy is the enemy of good government. As discouraging as government policies might be to us, we shouldn’t give up involvement. Show your children that you are willing to take the time to vote and be engaged. We don’t want to forsake our privilege of shaping the government. Our political future depends on us!
Nate Gilbert teaches Introduction to Government and Introduction to Economics for Aim Academy. When he isn’t teaching online he is actively involved in homeschooling his own children.
This is the second in several installments about navigating through the teenage years. In this post I would like to spend some time describing the culture our teenagers find themselves facing; and discuss how parents can both grieve the loss of our compliant naïve children and begin to rewire the brains of our confused adolescents.
In case you haven’t noticed, it’s a pretty scary world out there. And it’s not just scary for you and me as adults, but it’s especially harrowing for our teenagers. We have created a world dripping with violence, drugs, and sex, and our children are right in the middle of it. For a moment, let’s delve into this culture of madness that our teens claim “we just don’t understand.”
The temptations begin with the culture of drugs and substance abuse. For teens, drugs provide a short term antidote for the pain of crazy emotions, raging hormones, and a bleak and uncertain future. Although the effects of this antidote are often short term, the eventual use can kill your child. Unfortunately the insanity of the teenage years, and a brain looking for short term pleasure without long term reasoning sees this as a pain free alternative.
Adding to this deadly sin is the potent enticement of adolescent sexuality. Powerful hormones, combined with a need for peer acceptance, curiosity, intimacy, a female desire to please and a male desire to dominate contribute to a brain filled with desire, with little thought for consequences. Our society has also become hypersexualized and kids (even younger than teens) have no way to process this information in a healthy way. These are only a few of the many evil temptations in the world. I could go on to mention violence, negative peer influences, and internet insanity, but I think you get the picture—the world is a scary place, especially to a naïve kid who has just left the comfort of playing with Legos and dolls.
In the last blog post I mentioned that the adolescent brain is in a state of re-wiring; a pruning occurs which is eventually hardwired into the brain. Research shows that parental influence of both a good and bad behaviors has an enormous effect on adolescents. How we interact with our kids gets burned into that adolescent brain telling it how to act as an adult. Thus, as Michael Bradley states, “through the rewiring process, the sins of the parents becomes the insanity of the adolescent. Likewise, the wisdom of the parents can become the salvation of the teenager.”
For the next several paragraphs let’s take a look at this potent influence, and how we can use it to our advantage in training our teens.
Future Discussion
I would like to save the final few suggestions for the next installment. As a final discussion I would like to present some research on how important modeling or copying behavior is in training the adolescent brain and finally present ways to improve your teen’s respect towards you.
Bonnie Gonzalez has 36 years of experience as a counselor. She has taught high school and college classes and is now offering Intro to Psychology and AP Psychology courses through Aim Academy.
Reference material from Michael J. Bradley’s, Yes, Your Teen Is Crazy, Loving Your Kid Without Losing Your Mind, Harbor Press: 2003.