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These are blog posts from our parenting experts and from our guest bloggers.
How To Prepare For A Disaster - Use Social Media Tools!
Earthquakes. tsunamis, power outages, trees falling on houses, there is no shortage of disasters that seem to be occurring at an ever increasing rate in our world. When these happen, it leaves us feeling helpless and overwhelmed. And when you have a family, the anxiety also sets in. And with the plethora of media and information we all have in our lives, from Twitter and Facebook to iParentnetwork, the steady stream of information keeps us aware of ...
So What Do Teachers Make?
So what do teachers make? Ever wonder? Ever wanted to ask a teacher? For those teachers who have been asked, here's a GREAT response!
Class Dismissed: Should we Eliminate the Senior Year?
The senior year of high school. Cruise-time for some. For others it offers an opportunity for them to take college level courses for credit before entering college, with their high school subsidizing or paying for those credits. For many others, it represents a period of time of treading water. They have applied to college, and some even have been accepted (if they choose early decision) and for those who plan to work after high school, ...
Twitter in the classroom? Good or bad - what do you think?
I've taken part in live conversations via twitter and have benefitted from it. I've used Twitter as a real time search tool and I've used it to search for news. I also use it to laugh at the ridiculousness of life....found incredibly interesting information that others have shared and in general have had mostly positive interactions with Twitter -- none of which have to do with knowing what someone is eating for breakfast (the typical ...
143 4E&E
143 4E&E
What the heck does THAT mean? Ok, so you run across a text that you don't understand, or you walk by your kid's computer when they are chatting with their friend and you see the following:
BTWITIAILWU
Any clue what they are saying? That's exactly the idea! Partly because the internet has created a way for kids to have a secret life from their parents and partly driven by social networking sites like ...
Mansfield Schools Modification Proposal
I know there has been a lot of interest on iParentnetwork about the proposed Mansfield Schools modifications -- whether to renovate and update the existing schools or to tear down all the elementary schools and build one, much larger school.
Here is the document that the Mansfield Town Building Committee has made available, in case parents would like to review what they have so far.
Old School: Perfection as the Goal. New School: Imperfection as the Goal
Our society is rooted in the concept of perfection. It used to be that when you designed a product, you had one shot to make it perfect because it was generally produced in a factory by the millions and if you created something that was less than perfect, it would be financially disastrous if it failed in the marketplace.
That was always the ultimate goal for everything. Perfection.
Well, the world has changed.
Now imperfection ...
Parent Orientation at High School
Attention all parents of 8th graders! EO smith is planning to hold its important parent orientation for the parents of incoming freshman for next year on Thursday, March 25th at 6:30 PM in the EOS Auditorium.
At that time, you will be presented information on academics, extracurricular activities, and student life. It will also be an opportunity for parents to ask questions.
Dr. Douglas Melody, Director of Guidance ...
Parent Survey Results
Results of the Tri-town Coalition’s Parent Survey
The Tri-town Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking sponsored a Parent Survey in December and January. Many thanks to all of those who responded and provided helpful feedback! The purpose of this survey was to help the Tri-town coalition evaluate the effectiveness of its programs and to see how we can do a better job of reaching parents. Here are some of the survey results.
Who responded? 106 people ...
Digital Nation
Did anyone watch the Frontline episode called Digital Nation? If not, you should check it out online. It's quite enlightening and shows how wired our kids really are. Certainly not all kids, but a good majority of them. It is changing everything, from the way they are taught in high school and college to interactions in the workplace in the future. Even their hearing is being altered from being wired all ...
Imagine what could happen
Imagine the impact on our world....
Please watch this very powerful video. It's called the Girl Effect.
Meetings held in Mansfield to present options for school renovation
The Mansfield Board of Education will be holding a meeting at Mansfield Middle School Thursday, January 28th at 7:30 pm to discuss the four options that the Board is considering for school maintenance and construction. As you have probably heard, the choices include options for the construction or renovation of one, two or three elementary schools, as well as an option to maintain the current buildings. The projected costs of ...
Sweeney Todd To Be Performed At EO Smith
The E.O. Smith Drama Club will present Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, School Edition this February. The production will be directed by Lenore Grunko with musical direction provided by Ken Clark. The play is based on a book by Hugh Wheeler with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. This is the story of the Benjamin Barker, who is banished from London for a crime he didn’t commit. Barker returns ...
Are you checking out the bookmarks section of this web site?
I hope all of you are checking out the bookmarks section of this web site. I just posted a great article from the NY Times about the cost of raising an autistic child. Did you know that it costs parents $72K on average for each autisic child? Many of the recommended treatments are not covered by insurance. How do parents afford this? Especially when time is of extreme importance as early treatment of ...
Planning for College
Help with Planning for College at E.O. Smith
I would highly recommend that, if you are a high school student or the parent of one at E.O. Smith, that you make sure you are registered to use Naviance through the E.O. Smith High School Guidance Department.
A college/course planning software program, called Naviance, is available to parents of high school students through E.O. Smith. The program allows students and families to investigate, research, track, and ...
Time wasters - all of them!
Facebook. Twitter, MySpace, Cell phones, Blogs, iParentnetwork....
Time wasters. Time thieves. At least that is how the media has sometimes portrayed them. Not real. Online friends? Get serious. That's not really human contact. Those are trivial connections that take up time that we could be spent with our real friends, right? Those using social media, such as iParentnetwork, are the lonely folks, the isolated. Social media must adds to that sense of isolation.
Nope.
A ...
The Generation Gap of THIS Century
I read an article the other day that I just had to share. A little toddler picked up a book and said "Daddy's book!" How cute, you may think. Except the item in that toddler's hand was a Kindle, an e-book, not a book at all, in the traditional sense.
It was at that moment that I realized that each generation will have their own little generation gap to deal with and it all ...
Why Facebook may be unwittingly exposing your kid to underage drinking
Facebook wasn't even around five years ago and now it is may be a central part of your teen's social activity. With over 250 million users, it's doubtful that Facebook hasn't impacted your teen's life in some way, even if they are not registered users of the social networking site.
Roughly one third of active users are under the age of 21. One of the revenue streams for Facebook is through advertising. Facebook pages, applications, ...
Anything happening during the holiday school vacation?
Has anyone heard of anything fun happening during the upcoming holiday school vacation period? Please post your ideas here. The kids will be home for 12 days straight (including weekends)! That's a long time to keep them entertained. Let's share ideas here.
C'mon - who will be the first to post a great idea?
Power School - Have you been on the site?
Wow - what a great thing EO Smith had offered parents when they added Power School to their bag of tricks. Have you gotten your user ID and password and gone on the site yet? This is a great web site that allows parents to check the online status of your child's grades, their attendance history, the balance they have on their lunch card and whether they have an detentions on their record.
This ...
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