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Posts Tagged ‘Educate’

Schools are struggling and art is the answer. If you are interested in starting your own art workshop center, that’s the pitch you would want to give to the parents. As they become increasingly helpless to find the resources their kids need, your answer to their problems is the balm that soothes all ailments.

Schools graduate a high rate of students who can’t even read or write. Parents rely on schools to be able to at least accomplish that much. So, politicians have stepped in to solve the problem. Schools are mandated to meet certain requirements or state and federal money is cut. This reduces a school’s task to worry about meeting state minimum requirements rather than just simply concentrating on the kids.

As schools fail miserably to give kids what they need and parents expect, you can turn that situation around. Of course art workshops benefit people of all ages, but part of your marketing campaign should be to remind parents about the failing situation of the schools, educate parents on the benefits of art and to give them the solution.

Did you know that schools are seriously considering cutting the arts from their schools? Some initiatives exist motivated by the notion that art is extra-curricular and should not be included in the curriculum during a school day. These initiatives believe that teaching reading, writing and arithmetic are the only mission for schools. So, as the entrepreneur opening up your own art workshop center, it would be a good public service for you to educate parents on the need for art to increase student cognitive ability, personal awareness and problem solving.

Think that through! If schools are cutting art in their curriculum, what are parents to do? That’s when you let them know that your art workshop fills in the gaps where education fails them. Parents will think you deserve to be nominated for a Nobel Prize Laureate. And following in the footsteps of all of the greatest entrepreneurs in the world, you will have created the need and supplied the solution. Maybe you do deserve a Nobel Prize!

Parents aren’t very aware of the problems schools face. We spend more money on the military than we do on education. Our schools have books that are ten years old. But, art is fluid. It is ever changing. In the mind of the artist, it spawns reflection and a higher level of thinking. Art can do wonders for a child struggling in school and parents to need to know that.

Forcing your child to study or show learning of concepts that they are not ready for are a guaranteed way of creating a hatred for learning. The best way to let kids learn is to provide them learning games and let them set their own pace. As and when kids get curious about things they will indicate in some way or the other that they would like to know more. Your task as a parent at this stage is to expose them to a myriad of options starting from picture books to shapes and blocks that they can plug together. Allowing a comfortable pace at this stage and not being pushy about learning right from the very start helps kids become creative, develop exploratory skills and are more involved as students later.

As your child grows older the educational needs of your child change and so do the educational toys or games. At this stage your child may need to develop skills in math or science or maybe reading skills. One of the games that have been developed for increasing math skills is a variation of Bingo, in which you call out simple mathematics problems that may require mental addition or subtraction to start with and the kids strikes off the number that is the answer. This can prove to be a very interesting game that can be played among friends as well without intervention from you. The kind of problems that you set as questions can be made to be relevant to the age of your child and so this is one game that does not make itself useless to fast. Older kids may like to play with games that can demonstrate the practical aspect of science and the manner in which it can be used in normal daily life.

It is important to note that there may be some children that may take to learning easily and enjoy the activity as is but there are some who do not take to it so easily. For these children, especially the educational games are a boon and allow them to learn while having fun. The benefits of using these games do not stop at learning skills but they also associate a sense of fun and enjoyment with learning of any kind. Your child is less likely to desist from acquiring new skills if the process has been smooth in the past.

As the long summer months stretch out ahead of you, are you worried that your children will forget everything they learned in school over the past year? Well, never fear. With a little planning and not much money, you can keep your children learning and entertained at the same time.

1.Get them involved in a free reading program.

Most local libraries offer a reading program during the summer. It encourages the children to read because they want to win free books and other prizes By reading about topics that interest them, your children will be learning without realizing it. Additionally, many libraries  allow small children to take part by having their parents read books to them.

2. Participate in community education summer programs.

Many community education programs offer special classes for children throughout the summer. Usually, the activities are fun and educational ones and may include music, sports activities, and various artistic classes. The class fees are usually very reasonable.

3. Visit local historical sites, galleries, and exhibits.

Get your children out of the house. Take them to museums, art galleries, and different exhibitions. If you live in a town with a lot of historical landmarks, take advantage of those as well. Your children will have a great time enjoying these cultural activities.

4. Use computer programs to enhance learning skills.

Buy or rent some computer programs that enhance learning skills such as math and spelling. It’s a good idea to limit the time your children spend on the computer, but when they do use the computer try to make it a worthwhile educational experience as well.

5. Start a vegetable garden.

If you have the space, let your children help you with a vegetable garden. They can learn about many different science topics this way. Having a garden will also encourage them to feel good about completing a project when they get to try some of the produce they’ve grown themselves. Taking care of plants also teaches them responsibility and the fact that lack of responsibility has results – such as dead plants.

6. Work on a family tree.

Children are usually very interested in finding out about the lives of their parents, grandparents, and other ancestors. You can match the difficulty of the project to the age of your children. Working on a family tree will enhance their research skills and give them the opportunity to learn history at the same time.

Even with high gas prices, you can do many of these activities without traveling far from home. Give your children the experience of a learning-filled summer and they will be well prepared to resume their school classes in the fall.