Teens often have a packed schedule during the school year, so when summer rolls around their temptation may be to get into a routine of sleeping in and spending their days doing-well, not much of anything. But with a little planning you can make sure your teen gets some well-earned rest from school while also having a fulfilling summer.

Plan ahead: It’s a good idea to look at a calendar and mark some important dates or vacations. This way your teen can start to get a better idea of how much time they have on their hands and find things to fill in the gap-whether it’s a summer job, baby sitting gig, camps or workshops.

A week at a time: It may also be helpful to make rough weekly schedules. While it’s often subject to change, it will remind your child of their commitments, as well as extras like a movie opening they want to attend or a newly released book. This way when they are looking for something to do there are plenty of options at their fingertips.

New experiences: Summer is a good time to experiment with hobbies and other interests that your child may not usually have time for. This can include reading about a new subject that interests him or her, volunteering with local organizations, or something more physical like joining a softball league or riding a bicycle.

Taking advantage of the freedom of summer days isn’t just for the benefit of your child’s health and well being-it also helps their futures, as colleges love to see hobbies, interests, memberships to clubs, internships or summer courses, summer sports leagues, and other activities on student’s applications.

Source: Keep Your Teen from Getting Bored this Summer by Organizing Their Time

Ashley Tutors believes that learning can be fun and educational at the same time! With this in mind, Ashley Tutors is offering one lucky family the chance to win a pair of tickets to Wolf Trap’s International Children’s Festival this September!

The Arts Council of Fairfax County presents the International Children’s Festival ­– the premier international arts education experience in the U.S. — featuring the exciting young U.S. dance sensation TAP KIDS; young performers from Georgia, Serbia, and Spain; over 400 local artists and performing groups representing a diverse range of art forms, genres, and cultures; interactive arts and education tents and more!

Discover the Arts & Technology Pavilion, witness artists and performances close-up at the Global Art & Rhythm Tent and the Arts & Crafts Market, experience international foods, and participate in dozens of interactive educational activities at multiple stages and tents around the park.

Visit www.internationalchildrensfestival.org for more information.

For your chance to win a pair of tickets, please email your name, address, phone number and children’s’ ages to contest@ashleytutors.com. A winner will be selected at random on August 1^st, 2009.

New findings show that exercise doesn’t just lead to a healthy body, it can actually lead to a healthier mind! Regular workouts can improve memory, learning, and attention span. Excercise can also be a stress reliever for students, and can help reduce the effects of ADHD in some children.

Of late, increased research is being conducted on children, in whom many believe the benefits of exercise may be even stronger than adults. In fact, studies have found more accurate answers on standardized tests from children who had moderate exercise before being tested, compared to those who had been sitting still.

A 2007 study measured 259 students’ physical and academic abilities. Published in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, the report revealed direct correlations between the number of physical tests passed and the child’s scores on achievement tests-regardless of gender, race or economic background.

In a time where recess, sports and extracurricular teams are being cut from school programs, exercise seems even more crucial than ever. The good news is with summer here, your child can enjoy the freedom of the summer days spent playing outside, riding bicycles, taking hikes and swimming. A strong mind and strong body go hand in hand!

Source: A Fit Body Means a Fit Mind

Even if the thought of summer reading is daunting for your child, it doesn’t have to be painful, or the grounds for arguments at home. You can help your child create a plan for completing his or her summer reading list. Here are a few tips:

Make a Plan. Whether it’s in the morning, as an afternoon break or a way to wind down after dinner, try to set a structured reading time for your child every day.

Read Together. You can read aloud, or you can both read the same book silently, stopping to discuss as you go. When reading together, you can help make sure your child is grasping the basic storylines and plots and demonstrate that you enjoy reading too!

Compromise. Allow your child to take a break from “required reading” by selecting a book, magazine or journal of their own choosing.

Here are a few suggestions if your child needs a break from required reading:

Kindergarten: Mud Puddle by Robert Munsch

1^st Grade: S is for S’mores: A Camping Alphabet by Helen Foster James

2^nd Grade: See the Ocean by Estelle Condra

3^rd Grade: A Mirror to Nature: Poems About Reflection by Jane Yolen

4^th Grade: Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

5^th Grade: A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements

Middle School: The Ghost in Allie’s Pool by Sari Bodi

High School: Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson

Summer reading is an important part of wrapping up the school year and segueing into the next. So, encourage your children to keep reading this summer!

Sources: “Under the Sun: Best Books for Outdoor Summer Reading.”  and “Tackling School Reading Lists”

It’s easy to let school lessons fade away with the freedoms of summer, but just because school is out doesn’t mean kids should stop learning. It’s often a struggle, however, to find just the right information to cover to keep kids engaged and prepare them for the coming year.  A question was recently posed to me by a parent that I thought would be beneficial to share with everyone as we kick-off summer!

Question: What are the best items to focus on during the summer months to ensure that a student is prepared for the fall, without being over prepared and bored in class?

Answer:  I think this is a question many parents, who want to keep their kids sharp over the summer, face as they plan for summer review and fall preparation.

A great goal for the summer is to review concepts from the previous year to ensure that the student has a complete understanding of the objectives taught.  It’s also a great idea for parents to provide a small preview of the material you anticipate the student learning the following year so that they will be confident when fall rolls around.  Reviewing concepts ensures a strong foundation. Remember…it is important that all of the foundations are in place in order to be ready for new and more challenging concepts in the fall!  

For more ideas on how to keep kids sharp over the summer, check out Ashley on NBC4!

While lots of us have had experience with bullying and know how painful it can be, kids today face challenges earlier generations never saw. Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook facilitate bullying outside school and around the clock. When talking with parents of my students who want to learn more about issues impacting their child, I tell them that the biggest factor preventing a student from focusing on academics may not be lack of interest or understanding, but social issues like bullying.

Talk with your child about bullying and offer them support. Some tips:

· Communicate with your children every day. Parents are often the last to know their child is being bullied (or being the bully). Create open communication, where you know things about your child’s friends and who he or she interacts throughout the school day. You are much more likely to be aware of problems if you regularly talk about social issues.

· Get involved. Speak to school officials if you believe bullying is occurring and learn what steps will be taken to stop the problem. Schools that approach the problem with ongoing educational programs about respect and diversity are usually more successful than school’s with zero tolerance or punishment-driven policies.

· Understand cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a relatively new concept to many adults but is a fast growing problem area. Cyber bullies need to be taught that they are responsible for their actions, even online. Studies show that the risk of cyberbullying goes up with the more online exposure a child has, so consider limiting online time and monitoring usage by younger children.

I encourage you to visit two online sources with more information about bullying:

• The Bullying Information Center: tips and advice on how to approach bullying conversations with your child
• Stop Bullying Now: animated webisodes and games for younger children

Remember…we can all help put an end to bullying!

Source: Education.com

Time to put the much deserved spotlight on another one of our successful and super experienced tutors. Dave Trachtenberg is Ashley Tutors “jack of all trades” because he has helped so many different students in so many different subjects. Whether it is basic Algebra, Chemistry, Science, Social Studies, Government, History, English, Literature, Reading, Math, and Writing — Dave can tutor it! I am going to let a press release about Dave do the talking — learn more about Dave’s success with kinesthetic learning all around Montgomery County, Md. and the Washington, D.C. area.

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Mar. 10, 2008 Colleen Lerro

Director of Communications

240.780.3233

colleen@ashleytutors.com

ASHLEY TUTORS EDUCATES ALL AGES IN ALL SUBJECTS

Ashley Tutors helps students earn better grades and build confidence

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. – Ashley Tutors (http://www.ashleytutors.com) launched in October 2007, offers one-on-one in-home academic tutoring to Washington, D.C. area students in grades kindergarten through 12. While other tutoring centers use their own curriculum and parents must travel to their location, Ashley Tutors develops unique, individualized strategies to meet the needs of each of its students in the comfort of their own home.

Ashley Tutors team member Dave Trachtenberg, an American University senior, has taken on every student with amazing zest and success since he joined Ashley Tutors in January. Trachtenberg, who specializes as a reading tutor, has helped his students succeed in subjects from college level English, to high school chemistry, and even confidence building. For Josh Chernikoff, the Ashley Tutors team member who sings Trachtenberg’s praises to new clients, Trachtenberg’s success is no surprise to him.

“Dave’s years of teaching experience, and especially his training at the prestigious Lab School of Washington, made him a perfect candidate to join our team,” said Chernikoff. “Not only has he served as a mentor and tutored students before, Dave has helped teach and supervise students with ADD, OCD, tourette’s syndrome, dyslexia, and behavioral problems. Dave is one of our strongest reading tutors, but he can tutor anything from writing, to arithmetic, to the right attitude.”

The parents of Trachtenberg’s students saw almost instant success. “In only three weeks I think my son has already made great progress with his instructor Dave,” said Rhonda Shore, a parent of a student at Murch Elementary School in Washington, D.C. “He is thinking through his answers a bit more thoroughly, his handwriting is neater, and he is becoming more confident.”

This special rapport Ashley Tutors develops with their students already has supporters from Bethesda to Gaithersburg and all over Montgomery County, Md. “Ashley Tutors really identifies the strengths and needs of each student,” said a Great Seneca Creek Elementary School parent.

“I watched Ashley Tutors work wonders for my son,” said a Bethesda Chevy Chase High School parent. “His grades are up and so is his confidence in and out of the classroom.”

I am here with another great Web site for the students in your life and one that we use all the time with our students at Ashley Tutors.

As adults, when we want to learn more about something, we have all been programmed to say, “Google it.” What are kids to do? Where can they go to investigate a subject that we know is safe? Here is what our tutors have been suggesting:

http://www.kidsclick.org/

This site was designed and is maintained by a group of librarians who were concerned about Internet safety and specifically search engines. These fine people developed a user friendly search engine that will be valuable to your student and direct them to age appropriate web sites. One tutor and his students forwarded me this neat fact from the site — did you know that Benjamin Franklin advertised the first pencils for sale in his Pennsylvania Gazette in 1729? I learned it at www.kidsclick.org!

The more and more we talk with parents all over Montgomery County, Md. and the Washington, D.C. area interested in Ashley Tutors, we are finding out that most students are very smart and motivated - organization in school is the main concern. During the first session, most of our tutors help their students get their binders, backpacks and even lives organized. Whether it be color coding their agendas, making new folders for each subject, or simply throwing away old papers — organization is something that is not taught in school but is vital to every student’s success. At Ashley Tutors, we recognize that and I think it is very important to help all of our students get organized!

AND, IT IS IMPORTANT IN YOUR LIFE TOO! So, here is how you can be more organized as a parent, at work or just surfing the net! I found this very cool site: www.mystickies.com. Here’s how it works — ever go to a web site and want to read an article on it but you don’t have time — put a “sticky” note on it, tag it with a name and come back to it. No need to bookmark the whole page, print the article out or put a sticky note on your computer screen — this site does it for you. The site even organizes your tags so they are easy to find! I usually don’t add tools like this to my computer because I am not computer genius (and I don’t play one at Ashley Tutors either) — but this is easy to use and super helpful!

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Colleen Lerro

Director of Communications

240.780.3233

colleen@ashleytutors.com

ASHLEY TUTORS EDUCATES BY FOCUSING ON

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STYLES

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. – Ashley Tutors (http://www.ashleytutors.com) launched in October 2007, offers one-on-one in-home academic tutoring to Washington, D.C. area students in grades kindergarten through 12. While other tutoring centers use their own curriculum and parents must travel to their location, Ashley Tutors develops unique, individualized strategies to meet the needs of each of its students in the comfort of their own home.

A recent UCLA study of Finnish adolescents showed that only about half of children diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), clearly exhibit the cognitive defects commonly associated with the condition. The study also concluded that the prevalence and symptoms of the disorder are similar in different populations whether or not medicine was used.

Ashley Tutors works with all students to find the learning style that best suits each student. While some students may appear to be affected by symptoms of ADHD, the problem might actually be that they don’t learn well in a traditional classroom setting.

“The goal of Ashley Tutors is to develop a unique, individualized and very interactive strategy to meet the needs of each student,” said Josh Chernikoff, the Ashley Tutors team member who personally interviews, investigates and selects each individual tutor. “Our methods are highly interactive, and our tutors work with your child to find out how they learn best.”

Parents see the results from these individualized strategies. “Ashley Tutors has taken the time to get to know my son’s strengths and the things that motivate him,” said Maria Cornelius, parent of a student at St. Jane Frances de Chantal in Bethesda, Md. “His grades have improved and he continues to gain confidence. It has been a real blessing.”

“Ashley Tutors worked wonders with my child who is learning disabled,” said a parent of a Bethesda Chevy Chase High School student. “Our tutors used new individualized strategies to build on my son’s capabilities and boost his self-confidence.”

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