Happy New Year!!

As I was walking my children across campus yesterday at their school, one of the administrators yelled that out to us. My little one laughed and then tugged me down to her level to ask me if that lady was ok..."she does know it's August and not January, right?"

I realized though, that most of us work on this "new year" instead of the traditional one. All our lives revolve around what starts about now. In our family, it's school, golf, and cheerleading. College football is right up there, too. We get new clothes, new shoes, new lunch boxes, new hair cuts, book bags, pencils, and friends. Sleeping late and sun tans fade away and become a distant memory. Sigh.

As you and your family embark on your new adventures for the year, I hope you keep in mind the importance of your child's education. Work on the fundamentals that will remain with your children long after the new clothes get too small. These are important things that will help your child throughout their life.

Since it is a "new year", my resolution is to keep up with this blog. I have an exciting year, professionally, that is just beginning and I think sharing with you all will be a great way to help me through what will be a crazy year.

Happy New Year!!

3...

Weeks, that is...until summer vacation is over at my house. I have started to be "that mom". We are doing little bits of review each day before we go back to school. Mostly we play games in which my kids have no idea that they are reviewing "school type" material. For my youngest we do a lot of counting and some basic math. For my oldest, she counts up the coupons and tells me how much we will save before we get to the checkout. Then we see if she is correct. We also read...A LOT. I'm sure you are shocked about that one.
Don't get me wrong, the majority of our day is spent poolside. We are a tan bunch. But when the opportunity arises, or I see a "teachable moment", we incorporate some sort of "lesson" each day.
The summer has flown by; we have been super busy. I can't believe that the girls will be in school in a few weeks.
Hope you are having a nice summer and that you find some "teachable moments" that are fun!

website!

Well, summer has certainly gotten a hold of me! I have no idea where the time has gone already!
The last 10 years, in regards to my tutoring business, have been word of mouth. I have been blessed with people who have told other people about me. I haven't really done any advertising at all. I realize how lucky I am that this has happened this way.
In August, both my girls will be in school (at the same school!) and I decided it was time for me to decide what to do. I love tutoring, but could it be my "job"? I decided that I really did want to make this what I "do". So...full steam ahead!
Below is a link to my website. I will still use this blog as a venue for advice or suggestions. Please pass along the link to my website to anyone you think would be interested! Thank you so much!

www.testprepwithjess.com

exciting

There is exciting stuff going on here at our house.

School is out in 2 days...I have two little girls who can't wait for that!

The SAT is in 2 weeks...I have a student who can't wait for that!

And now something I can't wait for...

There are going to be some changes coming to Test Prep With Jess. Give me a few days (actually, the more I think about it give me until mid-next week) and I will share all the new and exciting things that have been coming together for the past few months.

In the meantime, enjoy your last few days of school. Next week I will be back with some fun stuff!

phonics

For the last couple of years I have had students who (I'm hoping, at least) were not taught phonics when they were taught to read. I would have dismissed this thought if it had been one or two...but I'm seeing it pretty frequently and since my own kiddos aren't 17, I'm thinking that these kids were taught to read with sight words only.

Learning how letters sound and how they can go together is a really important thing. I hate it when I have a 17 year old here and said 17 year old can't sound out a word. Like they really just can't. They are not lazy or dumb, but they really don't know and/or understand how words and letters go together to form words. I think it is really important that kids are taught this.

I never know who is reading this blog. I think it's neat to see how many people see it and where they see it from, but I never know who is actually reading it. Having said that, if you have young kids and are reading this, please take the time with them to show them how letters sound and how they can combine to make totally new sounds. It's super important to be able to know this. Why? because you might one day be sitting somewhere and see a word you don't know, but if you understand how sounds go together you might be able to recall hearing that word and then remember what it means using context clues. (and this my friends, is another post for another day...maybe tomorrow)

cliffhanger...are you so excited?

rain

It's raining here today...like I am afraid my car might spontaneously turn into a raft.

Here are my suggestions for a rainy day:

1. read

2. read some more

3. learn 10 new words

4. do a crossword puzzle

5. read again

Not only will these activities pass the time, they will also help your vocab for when you take the SAT. It's all about the vocab, people. You have to know words...big ones...with multiple meanings. It will seriously make the test so much easier.

hmmm....

so...i've been a little busy. such is life.

it's such a crazy time of year. there is so much going on. my friend and i were talking about this yesterday afternoon. it seems like every day from now until the end of the school year there is something we have to do. i will be so glad when school is out so we can just stop and take a deep breath. and sleep past 6.

there is a s.a.t. on june 5. this is not a busy time of year for me. i wish it was. it makes so much more sense to take the test in june rather than to wait until the fall. i know that there are finals and eoct's and lots of other things, but the kids are out of school (here at least) with plenty of time with no school where they could really focus their efforts on this test and not have to worry about it this fall.

in the fall i tutor a lot. and there is such a panic associated with it. like it is the end all be all...and in some cases it is. this is their last shot at getting the score they need. so much pressure. i usually have one session with each of my students where there are tears. i hate it for them. i understand it too. senior year...

so, if you know anyone who is a junior and doesn't want to freak out fall of their senior year, please encourage them to take this test. it really is a good idea. and if anyone has any questions, i'm always available to answer them.

back to regular posts now, i promise!