Homeschooling

Many parents used to say no to schooling at home.

homey home for the studying homebodies, homeschooled from their homes
Source: pexels.com

Homeschooling

“No, I want my children to enjoy their school life and have fun.” “No, I do not want my children to only see their dad and me as their friends.” However, as the first quarter of 2020 rolled in, studying at home was no longer an option – it turned out to be a necessity.

The only culprit behind it was the coronavirus that spread throughout the globe. When the pandemic began, various schools decided that it was best for students of all ages to take classes online at home. Instead, they should continue attending homeschooling online to remain in the comforts of their home.

Homeschooling

The Issue

This new homeschooling rule was technically excellent, considering kids could be as susceptible to diseases as senior citizens. They might have a robust immune system, but it might still not suffice to deal with the scary coronavirus. As a counselor, I could understand 100% why the education authorities made that online homeschooling decision. The thing was, not everyone happened to be happy with homeschooling.

I assumed that the resistance would come from the parents who loved their kids but did not want them to be at home 24/7. However, it turned out that the actual students were the ones complaining about the home ruling.

Homeschooling

Kids Complaining

The complaints had something to do with the fact that the children could hardly get out of the home. There were not enough establishments open during the beginning of the pandemic, after all. When their operations resumed, you could count the number of public places that agreed to accommodate people below 18.

If being homeschooled was tough for young kids, though, you could imagine how challenging it could be for teenagers. They were at that age where hanging out with friends was more significant than staying at home with family. But due to the spreading coronavirus, they could not see their peers at all.

homey home for the studying homebodies, homeschooled from their homes
Source: pexels.com

More importantly, many children found it challenging to keep up with their lessons through online homeschooling classes. Even my teenage sister, who used to ace all her exams, did not have it easy. My mother said that she found my sister crying in her room sometimes, unsure if she could finish her projects and assignments on time.

Counseling Teens With Homeschooling

Suppose your school agreed to let you return to your classes in person; kudos to you. It entails that you could leave online homeschooling in the past and hope that you would never have to do it again. However, if your school continues to take precautionary measures until it’s inevitable that the pandemic is over, think of the situation in other ways.

Prepare For The Real World

The parents — home teachers — I knew mentioned that the children complained about not having teachers to ask about their lessons. As I heard, some institutions had after homeschooling programs that students could attend to clarify a few things with teachers. But since they could only meet their teachers online during the pandemic, the kids felt like they could no longer keep up.

homey home for the studying homebodies, homeschooled from their homes
Source: pexels.com

Homeschooling

Well, if you are one of those children, will it be too much to ask you to look at the problem as if you are already in the real world? The lack of extensive guidance from the teachers will allow you to realize how much you can do independently. And if you genuinely cannot handle the situation anymore, become mature enough to accept that you need help and see that it may not always come from the same people.

Use This Opportunity To Improve Your Resilience

Online homeschooling can challenge anyone’s mental resilience. That’s especially true if you have always had classmates to study or do group activities with. When you are doing assignments all by yourself at home, you may feel scared and assume that you won’t pass if others cannot help you.

The fact of life that you should understand is that you won’t have people to depend on all the time. You need to build up your resilience so that you won’t feel lost if that time ever comes out of the home.

Source: pexels.com

Homeschooling

Remember That No Challenge Is Too Tough To Overcome

One day, my mom called me worried about my sister, who exclaimed that she did not want to continue studying anymore. According to her, homeschooling classes were too challenging – as if they were invented to see more students fail and drop out.

Homeschooling

As I explained to my sister, no challenge could be too tough to overcome. The sense of defeat that you might experience with being homeschooled could be brought on by stress and anxiety. You have not lost if you cannot solve your math problems, understand your science equations, and focus on your multitasking skills. But if you let such issues consume your chances of becoming someone important in the future, that’s when you become an all-time loser.

Final Thoughts: Homeschooling

Tutoring at home cannot be a cakewalk, especially if you are a kid who has always had the help of some sort all your life. However, if you can survive this home studying phase, you can pretty much survive anything.

Good luck!

What Are The Mental Health Struggles Dealt By College Students

Research suggests that around 10-20% of students aged 15-29 are affected by mental problems, and more than half of these end up in death. These are the ages when a teenager is starting or is currently attending a college or university. With that, many learners suffer from mental disorders, and the numbers alarmingly increase yearly.

Many factors can be considered as to why college or university students suffer from psychological or mental problems. If these are left unaddressed and untreated, they can significantly reduce a teenager’s life quality and bring negative consequences.

Source: flickr.com

Understanding Cognitive Issues Dealt By University Learners

With mental health as one of the leading causes of disability globally, it is undoubtedly that teenagers who are continuously growing and developing are affected by it. The adolescent phase constitutes a challenging time, as there are many changes biologically, socially, and psychologically.

Developing a cognitive issues or psychiatric disorders is a combination of multiple factors, as mentioned earlier. Evidence shows that risk factors increase during the transition of a youngster to adulthood and gaining—partial, if not full—freedom, aka college life. Everyone tells you that college life is all fun and games. It is your moment of independence, so they advise you to make the most out of it. But there’s a significant side that is often overlooked and unspoken—the prevailing mental health challenges faced by college students.

To help most college students with the struggles they encounter, it is crucial to understand the roots and causes of their mental instabilities.

Why Many Learners Are Struggling With Cognitive Disorders

College is often the most challenging phase for most teenagers since this period includes significant transitions. Aside from the grueling requirements of the university, most students must learn how to be independent alongside.  This transition can be challenging, especially for those who spent most of their lives depending on their parents and guardians. Nobody prepares you for it.

Many people tell you how college is so serious. It is your ultimate preparation and initiation to the “real adult” world. Entering college life usually means leaving the comfort zone for a lot of people. Flying or driving a couple to several thousand miles away from your home, moving entirely to a different city, state, or country, and standing up on your two feet for the first time in your life, your parents nowhere to be found.

For the first time in your life at college, you get to make your own decisions—at least for most people anyway. New perspectives, new changes, and new beginnings, there are endless possibilities. But as exciting these may all sound to you, stress may also follow you.

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For people who move out for college or university, homesickness is one of the most common reasons students develop mental illnesses. As aforementioned, another challenge is the overwhelming academic workload, putting pressure on the student more than ever.  And speaking of pressure, there is also tension for adolescents to conform to sometimes ridiculous societal standards.

Some people have a tough time adjusting to a new environment. Along the way, financial problems may arise because of expensive tuition fees and activities. These and the ones mentioned above are some contributing elements to mental health issues or psychological instability in teenagers.

Fortunately, more and more people are now openly talking about most psychological disorders. This ongoing cognitive soundness conversation gives college students options, opportunities, and mental health resources ‘to seek professional help and mental health services or treatment.

Early Detection Of Cognitive Disorders In University Learners

According to studies, among mental illnesses, depression and anxiety disorders are the most common diagnosis in youths. These two often come hand-in-hand and even share similar signs and symptoms, such as frequent mood disorder, fatigue, and excessive worrying or fear. If these are present, one must take action and seek help from mental health services like counseling centers.

When a cognitive problem begins to show in a college student, it is more likely for it to interfere with their studies. They may slowly stop attending classes and eventually drop out altogether. Attendance can be extremely difficult. A once social butterfly is nowhere to be seen. Apart from that, this age is also vulnerable to alcohol and substance abuse, which may add to their debilitating mental conditions or mental illness. So before things get worse and these mental health problems occur in students, college universities must focus on healthy minds.

Helping college students overcome their mental disability starts with the very basics: yourself. Many of the young are thrilled to leave home to start fresh with their newly-found freedom. However, we’ve already mentioned how college isn’t all fun and games. You have to manage your physical wellness and yourself well and be responsible enough not to take your independence for granted.

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Parents should also be able to recognize what’s best for their children. If you are a parent, you have to question yourself, “Am I ready to let my child go and forge his/her path? Or am I forcing him/her into a direction he/she doesn’t want?” We all know stories of parents creating a path for their children to follow. While that is to the best of your intentions, you also have to give credit to your children’s dreams and goals and let them find themselves fulfilling them.

It will also assist in employing the help of the mental health support system of colleges and universities for college students. Health services, particularly counseling services with a licensed and certified professional or mental health professionals, would certainly be a benefit in the long run.

Final Thoughts And Takeaways To Consider

If you are a college student currently reading this, do not lose hope. Your mental disorder is a minor setback. It gets better. Life always gets better. Do not be afraid to seek treatment if you need it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Cognitive Issues And Challenges Do College Students Face?

What Are The 5 Common Cognitive Issues Learners Deal With The University?

What Is The Biggest Mental Health Issue In College Students?

What Is The #1 Cognitive Issue Impacting University Learners?

What Are The Factors Affecting The Cognitive Well-Being Of University Learners?

Why Do Learners Struggle With Cognitive Disorders In School?

What Is The Most Common Feeling Reported By College Learners?

What Is Causing University Students To Feel Anxiety, And What Are The Effects On Cognitive Wellness?

What Is The Greatest Challenge That Learners Encounter Today?

How Can University Learners Improve Their Cognitive Learners?

What Are The 3 Top Cognitive Issues Encountered By University Learners?

What Are 4 Examples Of Cognitive Issues?

What are the top 3 mental health challenges?

What are the two most common mental illnesses among college students?

How does stress affect college students?

5 Tips For Tutoring Youngsters In The Family

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My husband and I have been blessed with twin boys in 2015. We were both surprised in the delivery room because we merely assumed that I was only carrying one child. Before that, we asked the doctor not to reveal the gender of the baby (or in our case, babies), and she agreed, a bit too happy to do so. Little did we know that she already saw two fetuses in my womb and practiced how to say, “Here are your newborns!” for some time.

Of course, we were overjoyed because our family of two doubled in less than a year of our marriage. Before my doctor allowed me to go home, my husband already went shopping and bought two of every baby product he could find, starting from car seats to bassinets to clothes. Luckily, we decided to wait until after my childbirth because we had no idea if we would have a girl or boy.

The experience of parenting twins has mostly been a positive one. The boys were both very calm and giggly; they loved baths and lullabies. Objective speaking, I thought that they would grow up to become smart kids, considering they seemed to be memorizing everything at a young age.

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Before the twins celebrated their first birthday, they had already taken their first steps and could say “Mama” and “Dada.” After letting them watch shows that taught children how to recognize letters and numbers, my husband brought home rubber mats with letters and numbers. When I showed ‘A’ to the boys, I was sure I heard them say the letter, although their pronunciation was still not clear. When I tried again and raised the number 4, they uttered the correct word again. The entire family was incredibly amazing, knowing that some children were not as advanced as our twins. Thus, we could not wait until they turned five years old and became old enough to pre-school.

As expected, my sons were supposed to start going to pre-school after the summer of 2020. My husband and I already picked a great school not too far from home last year and even fixed our schedules so that we could always collect them from pre-school together. Unfortunately, it appears now that our plans need to wait a little longer because of the coronavirus that has been lurking around everywhere.

When I spoke to the principal about it, the kind woman said we did not need to postpone the kids’ education. She uttered, “We offer online classes at every level. However, since the teachers cannot meet the students in person, the parents must step up to the plate and become the kids’ tutor until the pandemic ends.”

5-tips-for-tutoring-youngsters-in-the-family
Source: pxfuel.com

I relayed the information to my husband, and he was on board with the idea. Still, we had the same question: “How can parents effectively tutor young children?”

Here are a few suggestions I received.

Start With The Favorite Subjects

The first thing you should do is figure out which subjects your kids like — or will like — the most. We noticed that the boys are chirpiest in our little family when they could identify numbers and letters. They were excellent at knowing the names of different objects, too.

Once you know the kids’ favorite subjects, they should be the first ones you focus on. This way, your children will undoubtedly give the lessons their full attention.

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Source: pxfuel.com

Be Creative With Examples

When it is time to tackle the subjects that they are not interested in, you need to be creative with your examples. Otherwise, the children will try to do anything but listen to you.

Considering my twins are not tracing letters and numbers, I decided to spice things up by giving them differently colored pens. We also have a mini blackboard in the house where they can trace the dots with colorful chalks. Sometimes, I would give them green peas and beans and line them up like the traceable dots, and then I’d ask the boys to complete the letters and numbers with carrot slices. They started to feel interested in it in no time.

Study When The Kids Are In The Mood To Learn

My husband and I also made sure to tutor the kids when they seemed more curious than ever. We never tried to teach them anything when they were not in the mood to learn because it would never work.

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Source: pxfuel.com

The best window for learning in our household is typically before lunchtime. That’s when the kids have a lot of energy and want to do many things at once. So, if they want to play in the backyard, for instance, we go there and ask them to count to plants, identify the flowers’ colors, etc.

Final Thoughts

Tutoring youngsters in the family may not always be easy-peasy, but we are grateful to continue teaching our kids. Nonetheless, we hope for the pandemic to end soon so that our twin boys will meet their new classmates and experience the joys of becoming full-bloom pre-schoolers.

 

 

What Makes Studying More Challenging Than It Already Is

According to Kendra Cherry, “Learning is often defined as a relatively lasting change in behavior that is the result of experience.Apart from change, learning is among the constants in the world. From the moment you open your eyes as an infant, you tend to study the sounds and the sights around you. When you go to the park for the first time, you try to learn how to interact with other kids. At home, doing chores, knowing how to dress up, and cleaning after yourself are part of the learning experience, too. All of this aims to prepare us for actual studying that will take place at school.

Source: flickr.com

The thing is, the more year levels people cover, the more you may find it challenging. “There are gains in learning to be harnessed from putting minds together,” according to Benjamin Mitchell-Yellin, Ph.D. It is the reality that a lot of students deal with. In the beginning, it may be math or science alone. After a year or two, history or chemistry may become difficult as well. There may come a time when everything seems tricky, and you may genuinely consider quitting school before you even develop your multitasking skills.

The question is, why does it happen? What makes studying more challenging than it already is?

Urge To Meet Everyone’s Expectations

Ever since we were kids, we were programmed to want to meet everyone’s expectations. For instance, whenever your mother would say, “Make sure that you will become #1 in class,” that’s what you’d strive to do. If your father said, “I hope you will excel at math,” you might force yourself to make it happen.

However, why should you have to go to such lengths? Is it for praises, recognition, or determination to prove your worth? If any of those acts as your driving force, you will undoubtedly run out of juice before you reach the finish line.

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Incessant Grade-Shaming From Parents

It is fantastic to have moms and dads who never pressure you to be better than your peers. When you come home with a B- or C+, they congratulate you and tell you how proud they are of your accomplishment. Even though you have a tough time during your exams and perhaps only get half of them correctly, they say that it’s okay and that you can always come back stronger next time.

What’s awful is having parents who always nag you to be the best. The typical conversation at home may go like this:

“Mom, I got an A-!”

“Oh yeah? Why didn’t you get an A+?”

“It was an extremely challenging project, and—”

“No more excuses. Any grade below A+ is trash. Do you hear me?”

Now, I am hardly exaggerating. Some parents genuinely talk like that to their kids. They think it will do them good, but that’s not true. Their driving force to study is the fear of getting insulted by their parents and feeling insignificant because their A- is “not good enough.” Because of that, the kids may end up flunking once they crack.

Final Thoughts

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How difficult is it to be helpful to a person who tries their best to get good grades? Sure, not every hard worker has a shot for the gold, but it will still be nice to encourage them to push forward. As Nate Kornell Ph.D. said, “College isn’t all about grades, it’s really about learning.”

A word of advice? Don’t let anyone pressure you and make you feel less because someone is better at something than you. If the opposite happens, you may give up on studying altogether, thinking that you are not smart enough to stay in school.

Ultimately, if learning has become very challenging to you to the point that you have been stressed, anxious, and worried, be enlightened by talking to one of the compassionate online therapists from BetterHelp. Mental health, whether it be mild or severe, is a priority for each counselor of the BetterHelp team. Take that step and get connected to us today.

 

Fostering A Helping Relationship Between Your Child’s Therapist Or Psychologist And His School

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Their therapists often see children who have special needs in medical facilities. There, they are being looked after until such time that they can thrive on their own. But the work of therapists and psychologists doesn’t stop when the kids start going to school. They are much needed by these children more than ever before, as the kids’ transition to a life that’s filled with challenges and development.

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How Therapists Teach And Help Kids With Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a neurological and often genetic condition that makes it hard to read, and to learn. In the country, between 5 and 15 percent of Americans is dyslexic. Due to this alarming number of patients, therapists are continuously looking for ways to help people with dyslexia cope with the hardships of visual, language-related learning. Currently, there is still no cure for the condition. But the early diagnosis, support, and guidance reduce the impact of dyslexia on the person’s quality of life. According to Margie Gillis, Ed.D. with Eve Kessler, Esq., “Children with dyslexia will not learn what is left unsaid and must be taught in a “programmatically scaffolded” manner, building little by little upon what they have already learned.”

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A person with dyslexia has trouble processing written material typically. It is a misconception that dyslexia links to the level of intelligence of a person. “A dyslexic person who has word-finding difficulties can have trouble with their expressive language,” says Scott Bezsylko, the executive director of Winston Preparatory School, which specializes in teaching kids with learning disorders. Though dyslexia at present is considered a learning disorder, people with the condition can be more intelligent than the average person.

There is no clear cut symptom of dyslexia. A person has to go through rigorous testing before a doctor can fully diagnose him with dyslexia. The effects of dyslexia vary. The only shared trait between people who have dyslexia is that they all read at levels generally lower than other people their age.

Symptoms Of Dyslexia

Symptoms of dyslexia can be visible as early as childhood. However, Dr. Matthew Cruger, director of the Learning and Development Center at the Child Mind Institute, suggests waiting until kids are at least six years old and have had some formal instruction in reading to seek out a formal evaluation. If you think your child has dyslexia, visit a therapist right away so you can have a proper diagnosis. Young children with dyslexia often have trouble learning nursery rhymes, recognizing rhyme patterns, mispronounce familiar words, and have difficulty learning and remembering the names of letters in the alphabet.

Adults with dyslexia carry with them the reading difficulties they experienced in early childhood. An adult living with dyslexia might have fine-tuned his reading skills over the years, but the activity still takes considerable time and effort to accomplish. They struggle to retrieve words, frequently experiencing episodes of “at the tip of my tongue.”

Complications of dyslexia can lead to several problems, mainly: difficulty in learning, social issues, and other related problems in adulthood.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

Children who have dyslexia are also at risk of developing other related conditions, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).  In individuals with ADHD, hyperactivity and impulsive behavior makes it difficult to sustain attention, making dyslexia harder to treat.

Treatment Of Dyslexic Individuals

Compensatory strategies help individuals cope with dyslexia as they go about their daily activities. Early diagnosis and treatment also contribute to how much dyslexia affects the individual as he grows older.

Teaching individuals afflicted with the condition requires patience, and complete understanding of dyslexia and what it is. Individuals with dyslexia need a systematic approach that builds on previously learned skills, slowly, one skill set at a time. Instructions must be individually given and precisely tailored to each, addressing each person’s unique abilities and the challenges that they face.

Currently, treatment for dyslexia includes specific instructional techniques and developmental learning approaches. You should first undergo proper diagnosis and psychological testing to determine which aspect of learning you have the most difficulty dealing with. From there, you can employ specific learning techniques by your therapist and the tutor that matches your needs and helps you in the particular area of learning you need it the most.

Teachers may use techniques that involve touch, vision, and hearing to improve their skills in reading. A useful method that tutors employ is exercises that involve using multiple senses at a time. It helps the individual respond better and helps significantly with the processing of information simultaneously. Experts refer to this method as multisensory instruction.

Multisensory instruction also grants patients to over-learn material through repetition and using the learned skill in different contexts.

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Regardless of approach and the materials used, all learning sessions with a licensed therapist and a tutor answer directly to the needs of the individual. Since no dyslexic symptom and condition are the same, learning strategies and coping mechanisms, have to be explicitly tailored to the person suffering from it.

You should also engage in reading tutor sessions with a reading specialist. In people with severe dyslexia, slow progress is standard, though tutor sessions need to be more frequent than the usual number of sessions an average dyslexic patient has in a week.

Another treatment option you can try is assistive technology for reading,  such as audiobooks and the use of text to speech software.

There is no known way to correct the underlying brain abnormality in dyslexic individuals. It is a lifelong condition that needs to be dealt with to not interfere mainly in the quality of life of the dyslexic individuals. Therapists and licensed tutors can employ numerous educational techniques to aid individuals with dyslexia with their learning disabilities.

2016 Brooklyn Annual International Conference On ELearning

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Learning about “eLearning” is easy and straightforward. ELearning is acquiring knowledge and getting the education a person needs by using electronic means like personal computers, laptops, wireless gadgets or tablets, and mobile phones, if necessary. The setting is very non-traditional since teaching and learning (educational curriculum) is not in a classroom. It happens online through internet means, and yes, the course or program is delivered online. Everything about it was discussed in the 2016 Brooklyn Annual International Conference On ELearning, and more. As for Andy Tix Ph.D., “new thinking and research convinces me that all courses—including those online—have the potential to elicit powerful emotions that can inspire long-term knowledge creation.”

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10 Tips For Tutoring Students With Disabilities And Mental Disorders – From The 2016 Tampa National Tutoring Association Conference

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Many of the tutees you will work with have different disabilities or mental illness. It is therefore essential to address their needs the right way and be able to communicate with them effectively, as explained in the 2016 Tampa National Tutoring Association Conference. According to Gregg Henriques, Ph.D., “Roughly 30% (of college students) struggled with schoolwork due to mental illness, while one in four experienced suicidal thoughts, and one in seven engaged in reckless behavior.”

Continue reading 10 Tips For Tutoring Students With Disabilities And Mental Disorders – From The 2016 Tampa National Tutoring Association Conference

Helping Kids With Autism Through Special Education Tutoring

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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) makes it difficult for children to study in a regular, standard classroom setting. There are a variety of factors like the language, the atmosphere, the people around them (family and friends), and the activities can make these children confused and overstimulated. According to clinical psychologist Deborah Offner, Ph.D., “If your child’s mental health condition is affecting their functioning at school, your first step should be to identify their condition with either a mental health professional or pediatrician and present this diagnostic information to the school.”

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Getting The Most Out Of Tutoring With Scientifically Proven Learning Strategies

Getting a tutoring service is not to be taken lightly. It involves a significant investment in time and money. Even then, the results are not guaranteed. However, tutoring can be a very effective way to review past lessons or to take new lessons. The effectiveness of tutoring will depend not only on the skills of the tutor but also on the strategies adopted by the tutee to learn quickly and retain information. According to Nancy Darling Ph.D., “You need to know the basics before shortcuts can help.”

In a nutshell, having the right mindset and practicing correct methods of learning will help you get the most from your tutoring sessions. This article discusses ways to do exactly that. In addition, this article also presents ways to take care of your physical and mental health, as having a sound body and mind will work wonders on your ability to learn.

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