Category: Middle School
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Top 10 Books for Parent-Child Book Clubs with Tweens and Teens
Read Article: Top 10 Books for Parent-Child Book Clubs with Tweens and TeensAs the author of a book about mother-daughter book clubs, and as a parent who often read books with my daughter at home, I cannot speak highly enough about the transformative power of literature. My favorite part of sharing books with my daughter is having a discussion that begins with some aspect of the plot…
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Going Offline: 10 Fabulous Books to Read With Your Kids This Summer
Read Article: Going Offline: 10 Fabulous Books to Read With Your Kids This SummerIn today’s world of ubiquitous personal and mobile screens, family time is becoming harder and harder to come by, and is often framed or fractured by children’s (and parents’) prioritization of digital socializing over the in-person relationships right there inside the home. Family book clubs are educational and are a great way to encourage reading,…
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An Educational Consultant’s View on Admissions & Learning Disabilities
Read Article: An Educational Consultant’s View on Admissions & Learning DisabilitiesThis week, we interview Lori Day, an Educational Consultant in Newburyport, MA. Having worked in academia for her entire career, Lori is well-prepared to serve the needs of her clients. We chatted with her recently about her work with parents, students (with and without learning disabilities), and schools. Read more…
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Grownups: You Can Read YA, and Why Not Read It With Your Kids?
Read Article: Grownups: You Can Read YA, and Why Not Read It With Your Kids?Ever since Ruth Graham wrote “Against YA” for the Slate Book Review last month — the article that launched a thousand blog posts — I’ve been reading the scathing responses as they roll in one by one. The Barnes and Noble Book Blog calls it the best debate on the internet. Indeed. Read more…
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Eight Favorite Books Starring Interesting, Exciting, Daring, Adventurous Girls!
Read Article: Eight Favorite Books Starring Interesting, Exciting, Daring, Adventurous Girls!Google is full of girl-empowering book lists. Favorite female protagonists from the classics, like Pippi Longstocking, to more recent heroines, like Katniss Everdeen, abound on these lists, but I wanted to make my own after reading so many children and YA books to curate for recommendations to mother-daughter book clubs. Here are eight of my…
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Middle School Survival Kit: Are the Experiences of Middle School Boys and Girls the Same?
Read Article: Middle School Survival Kit: Are the Experiences of Middle School Boys and Girls the Same?This is the final in my four-part series on raising middle schoolers. Read more…
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Middle School Survival Kit: The Role of Technology in Parenting a Middle Schooler
Read Article: Middle School Survival Kit: The Role of Technology in Parenting a Middle SchoolerDuring some interviews with grandparents, I found the universal sentiment that raising children “is harder today” for their children than it had been for the grandparents. Asked why, most of them commented on the role of technology, and when I interviewed current middle school parents, the majority of their worries were in some way related…
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Middle School Survival Kit: Which is harder, being a middle schooler or being the parent of one?
Read Article: Middle School Survival Kit: Which is harder, being a middle schooler or being the parent of one?Sometimes I don’t know what is harder—being a middle schooler, or being the parent of one. I’ve always felt that the wounds your child receives cut you more deeply than those received personally. I often say that seventh grade was the worst year of my life. Many of my friends echo that sentiment. But when…
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Middle School Survival Kit: Build Strong Supports To Help Your Child Survive Middle Grades Struggles
Read Article: Middle School Survival Kit: Build Strong Supports To Help Your Child Survive Middle Grades StrugglesWhile I could have written an article about the middle school years based on my career as a school administrator, educational psychologist, and teacher, as well as my observations as a parent, I wanted to get out of my own head a bit, so I interviewed 15 parents of current middle schoolers around the country.…