Happy New Year!!!

Nashville Learning Center would like to wish each of you a Very Happy New Year and decided to give you some quotes to inspire you. 

May this be your best year yet!

New Year's Day. A fresh start. A new chapter in life waiting to be written. New questions to be asked, embraced, and loved. Answers to be discovered and then lived in this transformative year of delight and self-discovery. Today carve out a quiet interlude for yourself in which to dream, pen in hand. Only dreams give birth to change.
Sarah Ban Breathnach

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something.
Neil Gaiman

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.
Oprah Winfrey

Learn as much as you can while you are young, since life becomes too busy later.

Dana Stewart Scott

Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.

Albert Einstein

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Organizing Your Way to Success II

Yesterday we gave you some ways to help get your child organized and today we will provide you with some additional information.

• So one of the things we tend to do is leave out or deny the fact that at some point in our lives we have been unorganized or messy. Instead of being in denial give your child some ways that you use to stay organize, this not gives them a sense of normalcy but provides them with ways in which they can get better organized. For example show them your calendar and how you keep up with appointments or show them how or where you place things that you need on a daily basis.
• Review your child's assignments nightly and compare them to their agendas or calendars. There are several school systems that use the gradespeed system or similar web based grade book that allows parents to access to student assignments and grades at any time. If a system like this is available through your school district make sure you sign up for access and use it to monitor your child's grades and assignments.
• Have your child pack their back pack for the next day upon completion of homework that way all of their things are in place and ready to go for the next day.
• Make sure your child has a way to store school supplies that is well organized. In other words they should not have pencils and pens tossed in the bottom of their backpacks.
• Discuss long-term projects with your children and develop a schedule that allows them to work on those projects on a regular basis in small chucks so that it is not so overwhelming.

Now Let's Get Organized!!!!

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Organization is the Key to Success!

One of the many problems that keeps students from maintaining academic success is their inability to stay organized. Most students think they are organized however, we often find that when we request something of them they are not capable of producing what we need. So in working with our students on academic resolutions we like to help them get organized and will provide you with some ways to do so as well.

Have you ever sat in a meeting with a teacher or read an email from a teacher that said something similar to any of these?

......Mary is a joy to have in class and has a great personality however she is not submitting her assignments on time.

....... It is such a pleasure to have Jacob in my class this year. He is always willing to help his classmates out and volunteers consistently but he has several missing assignments.

........ I just wanted you to know that Ashley has 10 assignments that she has not turned in.

Well usually these types of students are really good students and they mean well however they are unorganized and can never seem to get assignments turned in on time or at all even when they have completed the assignments.

If you get a message like any of the ones above it is best to do the following:

1. remain calm
2. ask the student for their backpack - usually you will find a complete mess so be prepared (and you may find those missing assignments)
3. if the backpack is not the issue go to the school and check the locker or for younger students check their desks again this is where you will probably find a big mess and some if not all of their assignments.
4. develop a plan to help get and them organized

There are many occasions in which the teacher may ask that the student maintain a separate folder or binder for their individual classes for some students this works but for students who have organization issues this is the worse thing that we can ask them to do. For unorganized students it is easier for them to have a main binder with all subjects in that binder that way everything stays in one place. If you know that your child has an issue with staying organized talk to the teacher and let them know that it is necessary for your child to have the one binder and if they need to submit something to the teacher they have a binder that they can transfer notes or assignments to in their locker or desk for that particular reason. If the individual binders are unavoidable just make sure they are clearly labeled on the spine and cover so that the student can grab and go.

Make sure that the binders have tabs. If they are using one binder for each subject use the tabs to label which subjects they have in the order in which they attend the courses. Also include a section for notes and assignments behind each tab. Here's an example:

One binder for all subjects!

Multiple binders with one subject per binder or a method to label tabs behind each subject tab if using one binder

Once you get the book bag, binders, desks and lockers organized then you will have to help remind them to stay that way. If they have been accustom to having things all over the place they will not be capable of getting and staying organized overnight so make sure that you support them during this process reminding them to stick with their schedule, utilize their agendas, and to clean out their backpacks, lockers, desks, and binders weekly storing old assignments and tests in a file at home until the end of the term.

If you can assist with getting them organized this will lead to better results ultimately leading to better grades.

Now Let's Get Organized!!!!

Nashville Learning Center
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Time Management: Where to Start?

So you want to help your child learn how to manage their time better. There are some steps that you can take in order to assist them with having better time management skills.  

First you need to know how your kids learn so the very first thing you want to do is a simple learning assessment. A learning assessment asks a series of questions that you and/or your child can answer that will lead you to what their learning style is and what steps you can take to assist them in maximizing that learning style. We've included a few links for some learning assessments that you can use. 

http://www.schoolfamily.com/school-family-articles/article/836-learning-styles-quiz

http://www.pesdirect.com/lsitest1.html

http://www.homeschoolviews.com/quiz/quiz-child.html

Create a great study space according to their learning style and needs. Remember all students don't require a quiet space to study some need a little white noise to help keep them focused. Make sure it is a clean space that is available to them at all times. Whatever works best for your child and makes sense is what you want to stick with. 

Use agendas or calendars. Most elementary and middle schools have school issued agendas if these are available and meet your child's needs please feel free to use them however, if they don't give you what you want or need make sure you find one that does. They can be purchased from any parent teacher store or office supply store and if those don't meet your needs create your own using a template from online sources. If your kids are younger feel free to allow the teacher to assist with completing agendas and having you sign them but if they are older allow them to have the responsibility of completing the agenda daily. If it's a full calendar have them incorporate study time and homework time. 

Make sure they have a bed time. A lot of times we get a little relaxed on bed times as kids get older however they still require a specific amount of sleep. Children in elementary and middle school need between 10-11 hours of sleep per night and high school students require about 9 hours of sleep.

So take the steps above and help your children meet the goal of better time management in 2015. 

Nashville Learning Center

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New Year, New You!

As we prepare to enter the new year many people sit down and start to reflect on the things that occurred this year or the things that they wanted to accomplish but did not get a chance to and then we start to set resolutions for the new year. Normally when we think of resolutions we think of adults not children however as parents we should sit down and help our children set some resolutions. 

Instead of the normal adult resolutions such as weight loss, finances, etc. set some goals with your children such as better grades, higher test scores, study more, get organized, manage time better and then help them to implement these goals. 

Over the next few days we will provide you with ways in which you can help with time management, organizational skills, study skills and more. 

Stay tuned and remember in order meet a goal you have to know what that goal is and the action steps required to achieve it. 

Now let's go set some resolutions!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Merry Christmas from your Nashville Learning Center Family!!!!!

Nashville Learning Center
www.nashvillelearn.com
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615-450-6NLC (6652)

Merry Christmas!!!!!

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It's Christmas Eve!!

We have made it to Christmas Eve so as we continue on our topic of things you can do that are educational over the holidays we wanted to give you one of the things that we do each year.

Each year Nashville Learning Center adopts our own personal angel. Now when we started to think about adopting a family our thought was to go to the Salvation Army Angel Tree and get a family that we could help but we have been blessed enough to have those families brought to us. Last year we teamed up with the Mishaw family and helped a family who had lost everything in a fire and it brought us great joy to see the smiles on the faces of the youngest child when we presented her along with her mom and niece with all of the gifts from their wish list.

This year we are servicing another family who again was just brought to us and we were able to not only assist in getting their electricity bill paid down significantly and avoid disconnection, and with the help of SCJ Enterpirses, the Mishaw Family Singers, and a member of Piedmont Natural Gas we were also able to present them with gifts for all four children. We love the feeling we get when we are able to give back and help someone who is less fortunate. 

So make a plan to help someone else this year. It may be a little late for an angel tree gift but it is never to late to help someone in need. Below is a list of things you can do over the holiday to help someone in need:

• Donate
• Volunteer
• Prepare a meal for someone
• Give of your time to your church or community
• Give blood
• Visit a nursing home and interact with the residents
• Send gifts to the troops

Nashville Learning Centerwww.nashvillelearn.comwww.facebook.com/nashvillelearn615-450-6NLC (6652)

Merry Christmas!!!!!

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Unplug from Technology!!!

During the winter holidays one of the things that our kids tend to turn to is technology. This could be in the form of television, video games, computers, tablets, cell phones or any other type of technological device that causes them to be sedentary for long periods of time. In order to give them a healthy winter holiday experience make sure to have them unplug from technology for a few hours a day and limit the amount of time in which they are allowed to stay on these devices.

You can choose to place them in winter sports which will keep them active during the winter months or if the sports are on break as well do something less structured like have a family dance party in the living room. Crank up the music, move the furniture, and get to dancing. This is not only fun for the entire family but it gets everyone moving. Allow the kids to choose the music giving everyone an opportunity to choose a song and before your know it you have spent 30 minutes to an hour dancing.

Nashville Learning Center
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Happy Dancing!!!!

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Go on Educational Outings!

A lot of times when we think about going on an educational outing the thought of planning and prepping for the outing becomes overwhelming. It is obvious to most that you can take your children to a museum, aquarium, library, or zoo but educational outings don't have to require planning or that you spend money.

Something as simple as a trip to the grocery store can be an educational outing. If you allow your children to do the following you have covered a wide range of subjects/ topics:
plan for the trip (i.e. the grocery list)
have a budget for them to spend
allow them to find the items in the store
compare prices
use coupons when feasible
check the nutritional value of the products that they are planning to purchase

In doing the things listed above you have provided a lesson in Mathematics, Reading, Finance and Budgeting, Nutrition, Organization, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving.

Nashville Learning Center
www.nashvillelearn.com
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615-450-6NLC (6652)

Happy Shopping!!!!

#nashvillelearns

Avoid Holiday Learning Loss II

Cook a meal together.

Cooking a meal with your child has a number of advantages. Some of the skills that can be learned from cooking include:

Reading skills: Ask your child to read the recipe and explain to you what they are in need of (from ingredients to tools).

Math skills: Allow your child to do the measurements for the recipe. This will focus on their math skills

Communication: Communication skills are increased because you are engaged in an active conversation with your child.

Healthy Eating: Just because you have invited your children to cook doe not mean that you have to make cookies. Check out your recipes and look for something healthy that you are sure your children will like.

Confidence: Being in the kitchen and accomplishing a full meal gives the child a sense of confidence that they may not have had before. Allow your students to come up with menus based on what they like to eat.

Nashville Learning Center
www.nashvillelearn.com
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615-450-6NLC (6652)

Happy Cooking!!!!!

School's Out Now What to Do with Your Children?

So your kids are home for the next few weeks and you are thinking what can I do to keep them busy and keep them from losing anything that they've learned during the fall semester. Well we will be providing you with some ideas of the next week or so of activities that will be fun but also keep your children busy and engaged.

One approach is to get a vacation package (if available) from the teacher.Vacation packages can include worksheets for each subject, a book, possibly a reading log, and book report form. If this is not something that your child's teacher does then you can find out what they have worked on during the first semester of school and create your own. I think it is good to add in some sort of art project as well as a technology project.

Listed below are some sites that you can browse for more ideas on what to do during the holiday break:
www.storylineonline.net
www.readtomelv.com
www.kidsites.com
www.funbrain.com
www.pbs.org

Holiday Learning Loss!

We all love the holidays and as students and teachers we appreciate having some time away from school and work. You as parents may even use it as a time to take family vacations or just to take some time out to be at home with your kids however between Thanksgiving and New Year's something more than just time away from work and school occurs. During this time students experience learning loss and can lose up to a month of schooling forgetting a third of what they learn during the fall semester.

There are several things that you can do to prevent Holiday Learning Loss and over the next several days we will be giving out tips to avoid learning loss as well as creative activities that you can do with your kids. Stay tuned!

Nashville Learning Center

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Happy Holidays!!!!!

Create a Practice Test

So you have been studying all week and you want to know how much information you have retained and what you need to focus on for this last night of studying. Well the easiest way is to take the information that you  have been studying and create a practice test. If you are having a major exam you may have to do several small tests but either way you want to create a test or have someone create a test that you can take to see what you have learned and what you have left to learn.

How do I create a practice test?
Well the first thing you want to do is gather up everything that you should know for your exam.

Let's say we needed to learn the capital for all 50 states you could create a practice test that matches the state with the capital:

1. Tennessee                                                a.Olympia
2. Kansas                                                    b.Carson City
3. Washington                                             c. Nashville
4. Nevada                                                  d. Salt Lake City
5. Utah                                                       e. Topeka

In the test above you would match the City and States of course this is just a small sample of what the practice test would look like but provides you with an example.

We hope that all of the tips provided this week has helped you to achieve great grades on your finals.

Nashville Learning Center

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615-450-6NLC (6652)

Happy Studying!!!!!

Music, Cheers, Raps, Poetry

Music and rhymes can be used to make learning information easier. There are many benefits to using music to help you remember things:

• it's fun
• allows for creativity
• allows you to work in groups
• helps you to recognize and remember patterns easier
• allows you to do something different

For an example let's say there's a set of terms you need to know how to spell. If you place those to music or to a certain rhythmic pattern they become easier to remember. 

Think about how easy it was to learn your ABCs. They were placed to music so you were able to pick them up easier. Sometimes when we are trying to think of the order of our ABCs we sing the song in order to recall the location of the particular letter.

You can even add in claps, stomps, and dancing if that will help you learn the material. At times when working on sight words I have used motions to help the students remember the words.

Older students will create a rap or song to help remember facts. 

Whatever works for you go for it! Be creative and gain the knowledge that you need through song or dance!

Nashville Learning Center

www.nashvillelearn.com

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Happy Studying!!!!!

Using Acronyms to Study

Using Acronyms to Remember Facts

PEMDAS, SOHCAHTOA

One of the most popular acronymic sentences that we are taught in school is Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. As most of you know this is used to describe the steps for the Order of Operations.

P - Parentheses
E - Exponents
M - Multiplication
D - Division
A - Addition
S - Subtraction

The order in which you would solve a problem with multiple operations such as (2 + 6)² – 8(3+4)/2.

We use these acronymic sentence to help us memorize the steps we need in order to solve the problem and we can use them to remember any information that we need to remember.

Here's how to create one of these sentences:

• Determine what information you have to remember and write it down
• Underline the first letter of each item that you have to remember using the first letter of the most important word if there are several words within a piece of information
• Write a sentence using words that begin with the letters that you underlined

Another example would be My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles - This is used to help remember the nine planets.

Nashville Learning Center

www.nashvillelearn.com

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615-450-6NLC (6652)

Happy Studying!!!!!

Taking Good Notes

One of the many things that we do not learn in school is how to properly take notes. It is something that we are expected to know but rarely does someone sit down with us to make sure we are even taking notes let alone to see if we are doing it properly.

Today I want to talk to you about taking good notes.

The purpose of taking notes in school is to have a place to go and reference what was discussed in the classroom because we all know that we will not remember everything discussed so this gives a place to go to get that information.

I personally like using the Cornell Method of note-taking but any method will work as long as you take good notes.

When taking notes in class you need to start by writing down the main points. Sometimes your teacher will tell you "write this down" but most of the time we have to decide what is important and what is not so make sure that you are writing down the key points from your lecture. If your teacher writes notes on the board then that is a bonus.....just write what they write and if you feel the need to add anything additional do so.

Do not try to write everything that the teacher says. If you try to write down everything that the teacher says you will be absolutely crazy. Again make sure you are only writing down key points. This will take some getting used to but keep trying and don't give up.

Use your notes daily (they should not be placed in a folder until test time). If you study your notes daily you will retain the information better. Keep your notes neat, organized and in one place.

Nashville Learning Center

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Happy Studying!!!!

Location, Location, Location

As you start to prepare for your exams it is imperative that you ask yourself a few questions so we have listed those below in hopes that you can answer yes to them all. If so you have a proper location for studying if not you have some work to do before you can focus on studying for exams.

Do you have all of the materials that you need in order to study for the exam that you are preparing for?

Be sure that your location has all of your textbooks, notebooks, handouts, worksheets, paper, pencils, pens, calculator, computer, dictionary and thesaurus and any other type of material that you may need available and handy. This way once you sit down to begin working you will have everything at arms length and no need to interrupt your study process.

Will this location be available to you any time that you need it?

If you are using an area in which you must share the space for instance if you share a bedroom with a sibling or even study in a room that the rest of your family uses like the kitchen it may not be the best option for you. If this is the only space available to study make out a schedule so that your family is aware of the times in which you will need the space and so it's available to you during those times. It would be terrible to be in the middle of a study session and your sister comes home with five friends who want to hang out in your room.

Is this location quiet and free of disturbances?

As much as we believe that we can study under any conditions it is not possible. It is OK to have a little quiet music playing and it may even be OK for you to have a little white noise from the television but you do not want a full on concert going on while you are trying to study. You want to make sure that your study area is quiet and free of disturbances allowing you to have uninterrupted study time. If necessary put up a STUDYING DO NOT DISTURB sign so your family is aware that you need peace and quiet.

Are the following conditions being met?

enough lighting

proper lighting

comfortable temperature

comfortable seating

enough space

If you have all of the above in place you have a great location for studying. 

For more tips like these contact Nashville Learning Center:

www.nashvillelearn.com

www.facebook.com/nashvillelearn

615-852-6524

Happy Studying!!!!!

Studying for Finals

It's that time of year again where most students are preparing to take end of semester exams. So this week we want to provide you with ways in which you can study for those finals. Stay tuned for our daily tips.