Our Kids Blog

Affording the Cost of Private School

A great way to get a group of people to see dollar signs is to bring up private school; there’s no doubt that most people associate private education with high prices. Of course, not all private school options are a five figure investment, but the point that private school can be expensive remains. Some people advocate for a school funding structure where public money goes toward private education, through vouchers or another system, and debate on this subject has filled a lot of airwaves through the years. But the current reality is that public money pays for public (and Catholic) schools and not for private and independent schools.

This means that the decision about whether or not to send our children to private school, or even which schools to consider, can be influenced – sometimes heavily influenced – by the associated tuition and expenses. Elaine Rachlin is a financial planner and her Epoch Times article about funding private school comes at an important time. With the world economy in turmoil it’s not an easy time to think about the thousands of dollars private school may cost. But Rachlin has a few tips that could go a long way to helping parents decide just what is affordable.

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Ashbury College Grade 12 Wins YouTube Contest

Julia Dales is a typical Ashbury College Grade 12 student who keeps a 95% average and enjoys music (she sings, writes music and plays guitar), but she has also been beatboxing since age 6 the way some children take up piano lessons. Beatboxing, for the uninitiated, involves making “drum sounds with your mouth,” according to Julia. But what is clear from the video below is that beatboxing is a lot more than drum noises, with a variety of percussion, DJ scratching sounds and more, all of which comes together to make a new song.

In Julia’s case, that new song – put up on YouTube for all to see (and several hundred thousand people have seen it) – resulted in an upcoming trip to Berlin to compete against 20 other aspiring young women beatboxers in the Beatbox Battle World Championship.

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Anxiety in the Classroom

“Studies show that peoples’ number one fear is public speaking,” explained Jerry Seinfeld, in one of his show’s stand-up bits, “death is the number two fear,” continued the comedian, effectively setting us up for the punchline. “That means that more people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy.” For some reason this short bit has always stuck with me; personally, public speaking is not my favourite thing, but I don’t run in fear from the duty, either. That’s not true of everybody, though, and I certainly know people who would do anything to get out of a public speaking gig.

Naturally, those same fears or anxiety also show up in our children, and for some students who have a speech or presentation to give in the classroom experience intense anxiety. After participating in a Your Voice panel discussion on the topic, Cheryl Jackson learned first hand from her daughter what childhood anxiety can look like, as her daughter meticulously prepared for a speech on toxic stress. Her daughter’s speech was a three minute affair, and she spent days memorizing the whole thing. Naturally, as something of an expert on the topic, Cheryl offered some advice to help her daughter, but when the time came to give the speech the anxiety was still intense.

None of this is out of the ordinary, but it’s important to try to nip that anxiety in the bud. It’s also great that children get the opportunity in school to practice things like public speaking, to try to alleviate that anxiety through experience.

What causes anxiety in your children or students? What strategies have you used to relieve the anxiety?

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“Real” Work

Early on in my teaching career I thought I might like to leave teaching to pursue work that was more tangible. By tangible, I mean work that involved a definite beginning and end with a visible product at the end. Say, being a carpenter – start with a pile of lumber – end up with a house – step back and say, “It is good.” I persisted in education however and as I matured as a teacher I began to see the results of my vocation and would not have traded my work for anything else.

This past Sunday’s New York Times Magazine (May 24, 2009) featured an interesting piece by Matthew Crawford titled “The Case for Working with Your Hands.” It explores the concept of the value of the trades:

“…life as an independent tradesman gave me an image that I kept coming back to: someone who really knows what he is doing, losing himself in work that is genuinely useful and has a certain integrity to it. He also seemed to be having a lot of fun.”

Crawford gives up a career in a Washington policy organization to run his own motorcycle repair shop in Virginia and the article provides an interesting perspective on the nature of practical work.

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What’s On: Week of May 25, 2009

Welcome to What’s On, The Chalkboard’s weekly roundup of interesting and exciting events on tap for the week. To help make sure we know about all the best events be sure to leave a comment below or send an email to agnes[at]ourkids[dot]net. Now on with the week ahead!

Friday, May 29
Special Event | HOMECOMING
St. Jude’s Academy | 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm | Profile
Please call Mrs. Parsons at 905.814.0202 for more information

Sunday, May 31
Open House | FLORIDA AIR ACADEMY OPEN HOUSE
Informational Campus Tour given by our Admissions’ Staff.
Florida Air Academy | 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm | Profile
Tiffany Malcolm | 321.723.3211 x30012 | 

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Would You Ever Send Your Kids to Camp?

Only 8-10% of Canadian families send their children to a summer camp program. This came up earlier in our annual board meeting with camp directors, educators, professors and association leaders.

Photo of Camp Mini-Yo-We

Why is that? Are families just not aware of the benefits of camp? The camp experience provides social, developmental and educational experiences that kids will remember for their entire lives. Are hesitations and parental concerns holding families back? Are children not interested? Safety? Homesickness? Not worth the money?

All of these topics were discussed in depth with a group of professionals and we have an exciting line-up for next year’s edition of Our Kids Go To Camp magazine, but we want to hear from you. Would you consider camp for your child? Do you send your kids to camp? If not, why? What are your concerns?

Learn more about summer camps

• Experts agree camp offers numerous benefits
• Paying for camp: grants, scholarships and tax credits
• My child has special needs? Is camp safe for them?

French School Worth the Commute?

The first decision parents struggle over for their child is what to name their little bundle of joy. But in seemingly the very next decision, it’s time to pick which school that very same child will attend. Should it be the local public school? Is the Catholic school better? But what about all the private and independent options? And, of course, in a great bilingual country such as Canada, what about French school?

Over on the Canada Moms Blog, Kate lays out her dilemma of having a son who turns 5 a mere 10 days after the cutoff to begin school, leaving her with the choice of continuing daycare or enrolling in the French school that’s an hour away. Judging from the lively comments, this is a decision many families face, often with a story of one parent having attended French school and the other quite Anglophone.

Ultimately, of course, each individual family must decide what is best based on their specific situation. And advice and support from friends, family and peers is certainly wonderful. But this is also the sort of decision that Our Kids is passionate about supporting, and the website is chock full of articles, information and schools. After all, choosing a child’s education is no small task; it pays to be well informed when making those decisions.

But with all of this information, how do parents ultimately make a decision? What was the difference maker in your own experience? As always, the comments are open.

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Blogging and the Classroom

There’s no question that blogs have made a big and lasting impression on how we use the web, and seemingly everybody has a blog now (even us!). So it comes as no surprise to hear that some classrooms are now running a blog. It seems only responsible for children to learn about the internet and blogging in a safe school setting, but it will naturally raise all sorts of concerns because of what all is available on the internet that children really shouldn’t access.

There is an interesting thread on Classroom 2.0 between two teachers, one of whom runs a classroom blog and has a student interested in starting his own personal blog or website. The teacher won’t support his efforts, but at the same time won’t stop him, either. Her approach to encouraging a safe learning environment strikes me as well-informed and beneficial to her students.

But I’m interested in what readers here have to say. Do you have any experience with classroom blogs? How do you handle your children’s or student’s interest in the internet and blogging? I haven’t faced this question yet in my own life, but it’s only a matter of time until I do.

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