In the face of budget shortfalls our school systems are either going to cut classroom time or increase the class size. Either way, our children are going to have less instruction. This leaves a huge void in our education system. Our children already spend far less time in the schoolhouse relative to Asian nations. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend about this very topic. In the end, this situation is a threat our children’s ability to compete in the global marketplace.
To make the issue even more complex, American children spend a shocking 7.5 hours per day “using entertainment media” according to The Kaiser Family Foundation. That means our children spend about 53 hours a week on the Internet, playing videogames, communicating on cell phones, or watching television. To put this in perspective, children spend 30 hours a week in school but 53 hours a week in the entertainment world.
So given the tension between less classroom time and a strong entertainment industry, there is only one solution and that is Moms like you and me are going to have to get busy, creative, and more involved in our children’s education.
Obviously we need to communicate with our representatives that education is important to us and that if our educational system breaks down the United States will suffer – we already have seen evidence this is happening.
Solution to Improve Education
Voice your concerns to your representatives
Become more involved in your child’s education
Define areas important to you or your child
Math & Science
Music
Performance Arts
Visual Arts
Find resources outside the classroom that can build these areas
May have to find a new school (private or public)
If the school where your children attend has cuts in place that you really can not accept, you may have to look outside your current school for the solution. Maybe you need to move to a different school system, or you may need to enroll your child in a private school. We all know how critical a good education is, you will just have to evaluate your own personal situation and what is best for your child. There are many parents who have placed their children in private schools and made other sacrifices to be able to afford the costs.
Of course, FAMILY Magazine is ready to help moms. We are dedicated to searching out the best and most creative ideas to help your children learn the skills they are going to need in the future.
The best way to stay in the loop is to keep visiting MomsLikeMe.com or the FAMILY Magazine site. And you can fan us on Facebook at FAMILY Magazine of Washington. Our online guru, Jolie Perara will have breaking news and ideas there every day. She also has some math games she is going to be sharing with our fans.
GOAL SETTING
One way moms like you and me can get more involved in our child’s education is to teach children how to set and achieve goals—a very important character trait.
The first step as a parent is to guide your children to make realistic goals—ones that they can successfully achieve. On the other hand, the goal must not be too easy. A challenging goal teaches our children to wrestle with a problem, instilling those core values like tenacity and hard work. So, the goal must be challenging yet achievable.
One word of caution, as moms we must gauge our child’s emotional level. If they are feeling low—an easy, short-term goal will boost their self-esteem.
Some simple guidelines to help our children set goals is to
1. Talk about what they want to achieve
2. Why that goal is important to them
3. Breakdown the task into manageable and achievable
pieces
Do you have some ideas that you think will help keep our kids competitive in the global economy? What are you doing in your household?
Share with us and we will share your ideas with our readers.
Happy Parenting, Brenda
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