Although your child might want items that are decidedly non-educational, there are still some gift ideas that can advance them academically while still being fun.

Black Friday was the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season. Although your child might want items that are decidedly non-educational, there are still some gift ideas that can advance them academically while still being fun.

Drones

Drones are going to be huge this year, even though most of them only amount to radio-controlled helicopters. What aren’t talked about are their educational benefits. Hand/eye coordination is drastically improved. They can open up discussions about aerodynamics and weather. And perhaps most importantly, they get your child playing outside. Drones can range from around $50 to thousands, with or without cameras and advanced equipment for balance and guidance.

Weather balloon

Along the same lines (but much higher in the air), weather balloons have become popular projects in science classes. People attach a camera and send the balloon on its way. It’s great for meteorology as well as geography, since the camera allows students to study the land around them. This kit is around $80, but there are others available.

Telescopes

Telescopes are making a comeback, thanks to recent media attention on the exploration of Mars and other celestial bodies, as well as the celebrity status of astrophysicists like Neil DeGrasse Tyson. A cheap one can let your child get a good view of the moon, but if you go up to around $100 they can study near-Earth bodies.

Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer. It has all of the components of a computer, but comes completely blank. Educationally, it is meant for students to explore coding, networking, hardware, and other STEM concepts. Because the community is non-profit, the Raspberry Pi is extremely cheap ($35) and is offered by a foundation rather than a company. The foundation’s website provides online ordering as well as repositories for project ideas and technical assistance.

Snap circuits

Another popular STEM toy, snap circuits are easy to use circuit boards where children snap in various components to build basic electronic tools, like FM radios and voice recorders. With the right components, the possibilities are almost limitless.

The non-submitting student has to be stronger in other aspects than their counterpart who has an impressive score in their pocket.

This past year, 47 colleges and universities announced that they would adopt “test-optional” admissions, meaning students can be considered for admission without submitting an SAT or ACT score. Nationwide, there are 850 such schools according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing.
Why are colleges going test-optional?
The goal of these colleges is simple: to broaden their application pools. With larger pools of students to choose from, they can be more selective. If they appear to be more selective, they can possibly move up US News and World Report’s annual rankings.
For the student, the implications are a little more complicated. First, these schools tend to be smaller liberal arts colleges. Fewer large universities have joined the test-optional ranks. If your child has big dreams at a big school, skipping the test is probably not an option yet. For competitive prospective majors, such as pre-med or engineering, non-submittal is usually not an option altogether.
Which students should consider not submitting a score?
Of course, the prospective student who chooses not to submit a score fits an obvious profile: they are strong overall but have underperformed during the testing process (or have avoided it altogether).
The non-submitting student has to be stronger in other aspects than their counterpart who has an impressive score in their pocket. Test-optional schools tend to have more strict cutoffs in other areas, particularly GPA and class rank. According to the New York Times, one school (George Mason University) will not consider a non-submitter with lower than a 3.5 GPA and a top-20 percent class rank. AP scores, International Baccalaureate participation, and extracurriculars play a bigger part.
So, if your child is exceptional in everything but their test scores, not submitting might be an option (although working toward an exceptional score might open up new college opportunities).
If your child is borderline all around, they still need to strive toward an impressive SAT or ACT score. It can make a big difference, no matter which school they are trying to attend.
Does the increase in test-optional schools signify the death of standardized testing? Probably not. Both tests are spending a lot of time, money, and effort revamping themselves to increase their relevance to the colleges. What colleges are always trying to see throughout the process, with the help of all the evidence, is a picture of the kind of student your child will be.

Many outside activities, whether sports or clubs, are pursued with other students and guiding adults.

Although electronic pursuits have an increasing presence in a student’s life, plenty of children still participate in interests outside of school. Those students are enjoying some benefits that are not only valuable in their current lives, but for their future as well.

Making commitments

Video games and apps do not require a commitment. Students can turn them off for weeks at a time and resume wherever they left off. Most extracurriculars teach a student what it means to follow through on a long-term commitment. Colleges love this benefit because they accept students who are likely to see their education through to the end.

Time management and prioritizing

Inherently, a student with extracurricular activities is busier than one without. This forces the student to organize their time wisely and prioritize their activities. Again, this is a valuable life skill in college and beyond.

Collaboration

Many outside activities, whether sports or clubs, are pursued with other students and guiding adults. Collaboration might be the most valuable skill that a student can learn to prepare themselves for the working world.

Self-esteem

Because students are usually working together as a group, club, or team, they tend to experience more success. For students who believe they cannot be successful in their pursuits, this is a valuable self-esteem boost. They also often find that they become valuable, if not indispensable, members of the group.

Less chance of negative behavior

Although this might not be a concern for some students, if a child is busy with activities outside of school, they are less likely to seek less desirable activities to pass their time. These activities can range from wasting away indoors all the way to drug use and criminal activity.

Try new things

Many afterschool activities feature students who didn’t think they would be interested at first. Perhaps they only sung in the shower, yet joined a chorus or glee club and found out they have a passion for it. Maybe they find the speed they had on the elementary playground has translated to success in track. Finding a new interest—and success—can make the difference toward becoming a well-rounded student.

Enhanced academic performance

Although the science is still forming, it’s starting to become apparent that interests outside of academic actually help a student’s academic pursuits. It might have to do with brain development, or it could simply be the self-esteem, collaboration, and time management benefits at work.

Overall, the first report card of a new school year is to be taken with a fairly large grain of salt.

For many schools and districts, we’re coming up on the end of the first grading period of the school year. Many students will come home with perfectly acceptable grades. Some will have their parents confused in one way or another. Here’s what to look for in that first report card.

Conduct

For the most part, don’t worry too much about actual grades (more about that later). What you might want to pay more attention to is conduct. Obviously, if conduct is bad, then learning suffers later.

If you are at all surprised about any conduct reports, reach out to the teacher immediately. Lots of things, including mindset, can change over the course of a summer. It’s better to get a handle on those changes now.

Grades

As said before, don’t pay as much attention to grades. It’s the first grading period. Summer brain drain, new surroundings, and new relationships can all make for a steep learning curve this early in the year. There are a few exceptions:

• For high school seniors, a lackluster report card now can signal the start of the “senior slide” and can have effects on the future that the student doesn’t understand. Their college of choice will still see these grades on their transcript, even if they’ve been admitted early.

• Bad grades for subjects in which the student normally excels are worth a conversation. In math, it might just be another steep learning curve (there is a big difference between geometry and calculus, for example). Some outside help might be warranted. If it’s another subject, there might be something wrong that only the child or the teacher can uncover. These tend to be interpersonal or organizational issues that are easily solved if caught early.

• Slipping grades in the “easy” courses, like PE or electives, are also worth a conversation. There can be a lot of reasons for these as well, but they also count just as much on a GPA and deserve some attention.

• Obviously if any grades are really bad, some action on your part is needed.

Overall, the first report card of a new school year is to be taken with a fairly large grain of salt. Yes, there are potential warning signs of upcoming troubles. But for the most part, many students struggle with getting back into the routine of school.

Every teacher prefers a different method of communication, so make sure you know theirs.

The first parent conference of the year is always part getting-to-know-you session, part business meeting. Here are the things on which you should concentrate the discussion. If there was a specific reason for the conference, that obviously takes precedence.

“Have you seen anything that could keep [your child] from being successful in class?”

Everyone is there to help your child be successful in school, so there’s no reason to beat around the bush. The teacher’s response could be anything from the odd misbehavior to serious skill deficits that might require remediation. You might think you already know the answer, but parents of children of a certain age (middle school) might be very surprised with their child’s personality at school.

“What does this year’s curriculum look like?”

This should have been covered briefly at Back to School night, but now’s the time to go in depth. Curricula have changed a lot since you were in school, so don’t expect you know what is learned in your child’s grade. You can also discuss your child’s experience with learning certain topics and where the teacher might expect him or her to struggle.

“How can we help [your child] outside of class?”

Even with kids that are superstars, teachers will always have suggestions for how parents can help maintain that trajectory at home. Even if they don’t think your child needs help, they will make suggestions, viewing your willingness to help as a bonding activity.

“How can we help you?”

There is always something for parents to do inside and outside of class to help out the teacher. It might be volunteering to chaperone a field trip, serving as a guest reader, or donating supplies. If the teacher doesn’t offer anything, suggest something simple. A big help these days is offering to update the class’s social media regularly. That saves the teacher a lot of time.

“What’s the best way to stay in contact with you?”

This should have been covered during Back to School Night, but just in case. Every teacher prefers a different method of communication, so make sure you know theirs. And also nail the teacher down on how they will be reaching out to you. Communication is a two-way street.