Category Archives for "School"

0 How to fit in homework and play

Honey asks: I’m a nine-year-old girl. How can I both do my homework and play, after I get home? I don’t have time!

Hi Honey –

Oh I hate this!  I certainly understand why schools assign kids homework – it gives the students a chance to practice what they’ve learned, and builds habits that will help you a lot later in your life – but I’m a huge fan of play!  I play all the time, and I think kids learn as much from playing as they ever can learn from homework.  So while I want you to do the work you have to, and stay out of trouble (!!), I sure want you to have time to play as well.

What it sounds like you’re really dealing with is what adults call Time Management.  That’s a fancy term for planning out your day, to make sure you get what you care most about done.

So let’s try a pretend day, for an example.  Let’s say you get home at 4:00 in the Continue reading

0 How to help a child with great Anxiety

Ninong asks: My daughter (7 years old) is a wonderful, intelligent and socially adept child. Lately, however, she cries and vomits every time we begin her to school. This happens every time she waits for the results of an exam/test or a quiz she has taken in class. I could observe that she literally would count the days when the exam results would be announced getting fidgety as the date draws near. She always (and this is not an exaggeration) would get excellent results and in fact is the top student of her school. She would immediately return to her usual happy and wonderful self as soon as the exam results are announced. Her home-room teacher has observed this behavior and even called my attention to it. We have ruled out bullying and other factors since they are visibly absent in her case. We have assured her that we would be as happy with any result she would get for as long as she tried her best. We have talked to her about this and have kept re-assuring her.

Hi Ninong –

I’m so glad you wrote me about your daughter.  This is a very tough problem, and she definitely needs some help.

It is totally normal for children to be anxious about school and exams (In fact, just between us, why they bother giving exams to 7-year-olds is beyond me!).  But your daughter’s reactions are not the normal Continue reading

0 How can a teenager handle their need for afternoon sleep

Star asks: Hey Shirelle – Every day I come from school and eat, and then I always sleep and never get the chance to look at my books, and then I always have to go to karate classes at 15:00. What can I do to stop sleeping, or at least read first before I sleep?

Hi Star –

You wrote JUST the right expert on this issue!  Let me describe an average dog’s day to you:  Wake up, wake up owner, go outside, do business, run around, bark at a few things, come inside, eat a little, go to sleep.  Get up, bark at more things, go back to sleep.  Kiss owner goodbye for day, feel horrible and abandoned, go back to sleep.  Wake up, sniff around, chase something, go back to sleep missing owner.  Wake up, sniff around more, not minding being alone so much, bark at what sounds like dogs walking by, go back to sleep.  Wake up thinking owner’s home, realize he’s not, sniff around, chase something, eat some bit of a plant, go back to sleep.  Wake up thinking owner’s home, find out you’re right, go absolutely nuts running around in circles barking to the world your ecstasy, jump all over owner ruining his clothes, play tug of war, go lie down and take a nap.  Wake up when you hear owner pouring out your dinner, eat, beg for some of what owner’s eating, hopefully get some, go back to sleep.  Get up at the sound of your leash, run around in circles, make it really difficult for owner to put leash over your head, go for walk pulling like crazy, get home, sniff around to find what’s happened while you were gone, go to sleep.   Wake up when owner’s ready to go to bed, complain about whatever he does, go to sleep cuddled up.

Now if I’m counting right, I’m describing a dog going to sleep ten times a Continue reading

0 What are the best medical universities in the UK?

Cinderrella asks: Hey, I’m writing from Africa. I’m in my second-to-last year of school. I always wanted to study in one of the universities in the UK, but I can’t seem to find the right one, since all the universities I checked seem to be very expensive. I was wondering if you could help me find a university in UK, with comprehensive fees. I’m in the science field, and would like to become a medical doctor.

Hi Cinderrella –

Thanks for your question about UK universities.

I have to confess, I really don’t know much at all about UK universities.  But I did a web search, and found some websites that I think can help you.  I’d suggest you look at Continue reading

0 Can you make your parents proud with your choice of college or career?

star asks: Hi Shirelle. Sorry if I’m asking too many questions, I just don’t know who else to ask! I’m really trying hard to make my parents proud. The things I most like to do are singing, comedy and playing guitar, but in my country I cannot really go anywhere with these things. So I have to study at a school abroad, such as in the UK or US. Can you help me find a school there? I really need and want to make them proud!

Hi Star –

No problem!  There’s no reason to feel bad about asking me questions, that’s what I’m here for!  I love answering them!

So I need to look at a few things in your question separately.  First, about trying to make your parents proud.  You know, different parents feel pride for different things.  Some parents would be absolutely thrilled for their son to become a rich stockbroker, while others would be appalled and say he’d lost his Continue reading

0 What are some important things to remember when addressing students?

jolly asks: I want to address my students on teacher’s day. Please give me some suggestions.

Hi Jolly –

I have to confess, I don’t know what Teacher’s Day is.  In my training classes, we didn’t have anything like that; the teacher just showed up with treats, noisemakers, and a leash – and from then on everything kind of went the way he wanted.

I also don’t know how old your students are, so I have no idea what interests they’d have.

But I can tell you a few definite constants:

1)    Be funny.  Most teachers aren’t, and kids get bored.  Also, humor tells the kids that you’re a good person, and can speak to their hearts.

2)    Only talk about yourself in ways that they can relate to.  If they’re teenagers, don’t spend a lot of time telling them how you learned to Continue reading

0 Do you have to like all your classes at school?

Gracie asks: Hi. I like maths but hate English, although I do very well in both subjects. Everybody I tell about this tells me that I have to like English because it’s compulsory. What do I do?

Hi Gracie –

It’s great that you do well in both subjects.  I’m not sure why anyone’s upset then, but since they are, let me talk about your words here for a second.

There are certain things in life you ‘have to’ do.  You have to breathe and eat and drink, for example!  You also, in order to get along in your society and family, have to do your homework, treat people with some politeness, and sometimes hold your temper in.  But Gracie, I’m here to tell you that you don’t ‘have to’ like anything!

There are things I have to do.  I have to obey when Handsome tells me to sit or come or stay.  I have to keep myself from jumping out the Continue reading

0 How to control yourself from talking too much.

Shefar asks: Hey Shirelle, can you tell me how to be quiet? I know this is lame to ask, but I can’t shut my mouth up in classes or anywhere else!

Ha!  Oh Shefar if you only knew my neighbors, you’d know how funny your question is.  Me teaching how to be quiet is like Marley teaching self-discipline or the hundred and one Dalmatians teaching birth control!

But I’m guessing that you’re not jumping up in class and barking because you hear someone walking around outside.  Or standing in the yard barking to hear if anyone responds.  You’re probably conversing, or at least responding to something someone else says.  This is a really common problem for young people (and some adults), and pretty easy to fix.

It tends to come from being very uncentered.  You’re in that giddy, excitable state of mind (which I know well!), and it’s hard to hold that excitement in.  Or you’re just being kind of unconscious, saying things without Continue reading

0 Should parents worry about specific developmental delays?

shilpi asks: My daughter is four and half years old, and she is in nursery school. She always writes some of the alphabet letters as their mirror image like S and N, and she also wears her shoes on the wrong feet. Otherwise she is very intelligent and has very good grasping power. Please advise: Is this normal and what does it reflect?

Hi shilpi –

This is a great question.  Thanks so much for it!

There are humans who know a great deal more about the development of the brain than this puppy ever will.  But one thing I can tell you is that brain development is a very winding and bumpy road.  Children will seem to have mastered a complete sort of awareness, and then show an equally complete confusion about something that we see as extremely simple.  What makes this especially difficult is that different children develop different skills at different speeds.  For example, my friend Handsome taught himself to read at age three, but had a terribly difficult time mastering the seemingly-easier tasks of reading a clock and tying his Continue reading

2 Will raising grades make parents proud?

star asks: How do I, as a 17-year-old student, improve my grades enough for my parents to be proud of me?

Hi Star –

Sorry I wasn’t able to answer your question earlier.  I must say, I’m impressed with your persistence in “hounding” me to answer you, though!  If you show that same persistence in your studies, I’m sure you’ll do great!!

My main answer to you, in terms of how to improve your grades, would be the same as my answer to CaNdAcE’s question about school skills for teenagers (You can find it by typing keywords into the search box on the right side of the page here).

But Star, I think there’s another issue here I want to address with you.  You want to make your parents proud.  Now I don’t know you or your parents, but I know enough humans to know that Pride is a very, very tricky thing.  Some parents are proud of their kid no matter what bad things that kid does.  Other parents can’t be made to feel proud of their kid, no matter what good or great things that kid does.  The kid could get straight-A’s in school, rescue a drowning child in a river, or make millions of dollars and buy those parents a mansion and three cars… and they still won’t feel proud!  It’s not about the kid; it’s about them.   They’re just incapable of feeling pride.  Or maybe they’re able to feel it, but they’re not able to express it to their child.

Again, I don’t know you or your parents, so perhaps it is possible for you to win their pride through better grades.  But I just want to warn you, if you raise your marks and still don’t feel they’re taking pride in you, your job is to feel that pride about yourself!  Let them have their own strengths and weaknesses, and move on in your own life.  The more real pride you feel in yourself, the less you’ll need others to feel it about you.

And this is a terribly important lesson to learn in life, Star.  One which learning at 17 is a wonderful fantastic accomplishment.

So hit those books, raise those grades, and see where that takes you.  You’re at the beginning of adulthood, Star.  Your whole future lies ahead.  Do your best, and step forward.  The world is yours!

Cheers,

Shirelle