Don’t forget to celebrate Endangered Species Day with your youngsters next week! The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is encouraging everyone to join them on May 17th by participating in the eighth annual Endangered Species Day. This day will recognize the national conservation effort to celebrate and protect the nation’s rarest species in the plant and animal kingdoms.

Kidzmet Founder Jen Lilienstein’s latest piece for Lesson Planet gives several ideas and suggestions that you can implement at home or in the classroom. Read more here »

Coming off Spring Break and Easter week can leave lots of kids whining, “I’m bored…” Here are thirteen FREE (or almost free) ideas, care of NannyTax.ca, to help kick boredom to the curb.

As a parent, have you ever felt this way about your kids? The “Jekyll” child you’re used to around the house suddenly becomes Hyde and turns the whole household dynamic on its ear for awhile. Or you sit down at a parent-teacher conference to think the teacher must have the wrong file in front of her, because it certainly doesn’t seem like she’s describing your child. At least, not the child you live with.

Chances are, if your child is acting out of character, there’s something called reversal theory at play. For me, this is one of the most interesting aspects of personality type theory. When people—especially kids—get stressed out, they literally “flip out” from a temperament perspective. For instance, if your child is really anxious about something, instead of being the analytical kid you know and love that sees decisions in black-and-white, the landscape will become a gray area and he’ll be overly emotional and sensitive. Or your intuitive daughter will go from seeing the broad strokes of life like an impressionist painter to craving the super sensory that keeps her purely in the moment—whether it be rubbing a favorite blanket or being overly sensitive to fabrics and clothing tags or wanting to devour everything sweet in the house.

Here are the most common ways that the different personality types react to situations under “normal” circumstances and under stress:

You’ll notice in this chart that the thinkers and feelers tend to pendulum swing MOST in the area of extraversion or introversion. So, often the sign of stress in these kids can manifest as talkative kids withdrawing or reflective kids talking a mile a minute.

For sensing and intuitive kids, however, they pendulum swing MOST in the judging/perceiving aspects of their personalities. Perceiving kids that typically enjoy the journey will crave a game plan and fly into a tizzy if things don’t go according to plan. Judging kids who typically like to reach a conclusion as soon as humanly possible will get nervous about any potential directions they haven’t explored yet and stay in the realm of possibilities much longer than normal.

If your child’s teacher describes a child during your parent-teacher conference that seems completely different than the child you know and love on the home front, take this as a cue that he may be stressed out at school. Instead of accusing him of acting out, being lazy, or not doing his best, take him out for a special one-on-one time. Say something like, “you know, the student that Mr.                 described to me during our conference isn’t the person I know at home. Is something bothering you at school?” Try to get to the root of the problem. It may be anxiety related to his performance in class. It could be a queen bee in the classroom that makes your daughter feel uncomfortable. It may be a general feeling that he’s just not as smart as the other kids.

As soon as you can get to the root of the problem(s), you can become a team and start figuring out a game plan to help her solve her challenges. If it’s a challenge that you never had to deal with as a child, ask permission to recruit another team member that may have better insight into what works and what doesn’t work. If you didn’t experience the same problem as a kid, don’t offer canned suggestions because if the suggestions don’t work, he’s much less likely to come to you for strategies and solutions in the future.

Once the underlying problems are addressed—or, at least, he sees a potential light at the end of the tunnel—chances are good that your child in “Hyde”-ing will return to the kiddo you know and love…both at home and in the classroom.

Man playing the djembe (nigerian drum)

This weekend, listen to some music from other parts of the world with your family.

What different instruments are used? How about harmonies, chords, dynamics or rhythms? Do these differences in the country’s music give you any clues with respect to what it’s like to live in that country? See if you can find some translations of the lyrics to popular songs. Does the combination of music and lyrics paint a more vibrant picture of life there?

University is a huge step for anyone. It’s one of those ‘life-moments’ which you will look back on in a few years and think “I really did that” or “finding that course gave me that success”. For many people, it’s an exciting period; a time when you can discover yourself, find new friends, and basically have fun. But for some, more specifically introverts, it can be a time full of anxiety and nervousness.

Introverts can find themselves in a bit of a catch-22, because they want to strive, educate themselves, and climb the educational ladder, but they can find themselves too scared to interact, join in, and basically become part of the university fold. It’s tough. But don’t worry; because there are plenty of reasons why the introvert can succeed at university.

The Environment

The trouble with introverts and the university scene is it is a very social set-up. The majority of students like to party, drink a lot, have fun, and then they study at the last minute, so this is clearly not the ideal situation for an introvert.

This environment can be quite an intimidating one for an introvert, as the noise, social-aspects and partying goes against almost every time an introvert will feel comfortable with. But fear not, because while university can be like the aforementioned, it can also be about the solo-journey. You can happily walk around campus keeping yourself to yourself, listening to music, and studying by yourself.

There are loads of places to call your own, and if you don’t like the hustle and bustle of the main social areas there are still plenty of areas which are designed for quiet and studying. If you want to avoid one of the biggest social ventures, Facebook, then just don’t create an account. It’s easy to stay away from the situations you won’t feel comfortable with.

Most university courses last three to four years, so remember that you will be in it for the long-haul, meaning you will become more comfortable by the day. The first few weeks may be quite a shock to the system, but as time goes by you will have the opportunity to find a few friends who you may get on well with, along with finding out what the course is all about. It’s a long road, but one you can walk.

If you do find you’re struggling, remember that your family and friends are only a phone call or Skype away. It’s so much easier these days to contact your loved ones – so make use of the latest technology and have video chats with your family. This will not only make you feel better, but will calm you of any anxiety and nervous-tension you may have building.

The final thing to remember is that you are doing something productive and life-changing. Going to university is an incredible experience, and if you really apply yourself you could leave with a seriously impressive degree, lots of life experience, and potentially a lot of new friends. Try and embrace this and give it your all.

Being an introvert at university is a step-by-step process, but with the aforementioned tips and plenty of bravery you should get a lot out of the experience. Take your time, be yourself, and talk about any worries or anxiety you may have. This could well make the difference.

Featured images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source

As everyone who has connected with Kidzmet understands, personality type impacts the way in which our kids naturally learn. But tips, techniques and strategies found in books—including our own Playbook for Learning—can only take you so far. The insights that will help you most in challenging moments are the ones that have worked for parents, teachers and tutors who have experience with your type of learner in the real world.

We’ve launched this forum with the intent of creating a supportive place to share learning related struggles, strengths, and strategies that work with other parents, teachers and tutors of kids with similar temperaments. Because not all kids learn in the same ways! Just think back to when you were sleep training your child. In the same way that some parents breathed a sigh of relief when their kids “learned” to sleep through the night through cry-it-out methods, other kids finally “got it” with a bedtime routine and still other families swore by using scheduled wake-up times or putting their kids to bed sleepy. It’s not that one is right and the others are wrong. All of these techniques have been found to be effective. It’s about identifying the best techniques for your child’s temperament.

If you haven’t already done so, we encourage you to take Kidzmet’s FREE personality profile to pinpoint the forum(s) in which you will find tips and techniques most relevant to your child(ren). If you like what you see or the direction we’re headed, the best way to show your support is to subscribe, post and let other parents, teachers and tutors you know about these new forums. Here are some ideas with respect to how you can get started in our new Kidzmet “LikeMinded” Community. And, as always, if you’ve got ANY suggestions about how we can improve, please don’t hesitate to let us know by contacting customer service [at] kidzmet [dot] com.

GOT AN APP, BOOK, WEBSITE, OR TECHNIQUE THAT’S WORKED WELL FOR YOUR CHILD? PLEASE SHARE IT IN THE APPROPRIATE FORUM!

Taking two minutes to recommend a product that worked for YOUR child will help other kids with similar temperaments be more inspired, enriched and engaged in their learning experiences. (Not to mention help other parents, tutors and teachers create stronger bonds with the kids in their lives!)

IS YOUR CHILD HAVING STRUGGLES IN SCHOOL?

After you know what personality type your child has, pose your question to the Kidzmet Community and get suggestions of techniques that have worked in practice from parents and teachers of kids just like yours. (As we get started, we’ll also post these questions out to our social networks to get the ball rolling and make sure your questions are answered as quickly as possible.)

TEMPERAMENT-BASED STRENGTHS

Sometimes, it’s just good to read about what gets other kids with similar temperaments “in the zone” and brings them joy, strength and confidence. If you have a story that you’d like to share about your child’s accomplishments, this is the place to do it. Your story may give other parents, teachers and tutors ideas of how to bring more joy into their kids’ lives!

THE FORUMS

  EFJ Kids (Extraverted Feelers)
  ENP Kids (Extraverted iNtuitives)
  ESP Kids (Extraverted Sensors)
  ETJ Kids (Extraverted Thinkers)
  IFP Kids (Introverted Feelers)
  INJ Kids (Introverted iNtuitives)
  ISJ Kids (Introverted Sensors)
  ITP Kids (Introverted Thinkers)

A guest post by Madeline Sunshine.

Science fair season has become increasingly more competitive. This is because the stakes at these events are no longer limited to ribbons and plaques. There are big money rewards to be won and chances to impress college entrance boards as well. All of these factors make it necessary for students to gain every advantage that they can. One way to gain an advantage is to utilize a science fair kit as the raw materials for a project.

Find A Science Kit with Parts and Tools

The first tip to use when choosing kids science fair kits is to select a kit that comes with parts and tools, as opposed to a completely assembled project. This option will give students the chance to both complete the experiments that are outlined in the kit and to create their own projects and experiments using the parts. These are the only kits that will be acceptable at science fairs.

Select Age Appropriate Kits

It is important to select a kid’s science fair kit that is age appropriate for your young scientist. Young kids will need project kits that do not have small parts that could pose a choking hazard, and older students will need kits that will challenge their minds. Also age appropriateness is important for providing students with the raw materials needed to complete a project that will do well at a science fair.

One That Follows the Scientific Method

If your student will be using the kids’ science fair kits in their science fair project then you will need to select one that follows the scientific method. This will help your child to learn how to complete the scientific method as well as ensure that their final project will be appropriate for a science fair.

Multiple Projects Possible

To give your student the most options for their own science fair projects you will want to select a science fair kit that is designed for the completion of several different experiments. This will ensure that there are enough raw materials left over after the student completes the sample project to complete their own experiments.

Safety Issues

Safety is an issue that you need to think about when purchasing a science fair kit. This is why it is important to look at who manufactured the kit and where it was manufactured.

Safety Supplies

One sign that a science kit is a quality product is that it comes with safety equipment. Safety equipment like goggles, gloves and face masks are common safety equipment.

Topics Impact Science Fair Score

If your student wants to win a science fair, then they will need to create a project that is interesting and that is focused on a topic that is important to today’s scientists. This means that you will need to select a science kit that has a topic that fits these criteria.

Shelf Life

When shopping for a science fair kit you will want to look at when the kit was packaged. Some ingredients will have a shelf life. If a package looks faded or tampered with select another box or kit.

Ordering Extra Supplies

Selecting a science kit that has been manufactured by a reputable company is a good idea. Usually these companies will allow parents to place order for refill kits or to purchase extra tools and supplies directly from the company.

Fun Project Kits

The final tip is to select a science kit that looks like it is going to be fun. If the kit looks dull then your scientist is not going to want to play with the kit and if they do use the kit to develop a science fair project then their project will most likely also be boring.

Featured images:

•  License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=experiment&ex=1#ai:MP900399789|mt:2|

When helping your child to choose a science fair kit what is most important is that the child chooses what is of interest to him/her.

In 2013, we’ll be delving more deeply into how some personality types and learning styles are aligned with certain learning differences…and what parents and teachers can do help honor and embrace these differences, while helping the kids play to their learning strengths.

In this guest post, Hailey Anderson highlights some of the techniques that can be used successfully with kids with ADD and ADHD by utilizing techniques that work for kids who prefer to file knowledge kinesthetically (engage in learning more effectively while moving around or interacting with manipulatives) and extraverted learners (who learn better with discussion/interaction that are more frequently seen in afterschool programs than standard, quiet classroom environments that focus on listening/reflection).

ADD (i.e., Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD (i.e., Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) is a common challenge among children and young adults. While the disorder affects people of all ages, it is especially difficult for younger age children who are still learning how to control their behavior and may not have received proper diagnosis yet.

Symptoms of ADD/ADHD include the inability to pay attention, restlessness, and hyperactivity. These symptoms can have either minor or major effects on school performance, which include classroom disruption, non-compliance with school rules, and difficulty understanding and completing a task, depending on the severity of the disorder.

The good news is that schools are getting better at providing solutions to those affected by this disorder.  Two solutions include: afterschool programs; and specialized school furniture to help make students more comfortable and more likely to pay attention during class.

Afterschool Learning Programs

By providing after school learning programs for students dealing with this disorder, schools can provide those students  with the extra help they need without taking time away from other students during class. The student can stay in mainstream classes with his or her friends while receiving the extra help they may need in a controlled and organized environment. With a program and goals tailored to each individual’s needs, this is a great way to help students get extra learning time without a loud or busy environment to distract them. Structure and organization is the key to keeping students who suffer from ADD/ADHD on task.

Furniture Tailored to ADD/ADHD Students

Those who suffer from the disorder feel the need to constantly move around – whether it is consistent foot tapping, rocking, or bouncing around, it has been proven that allowing students the freedom to move about in their seat results in a higher ability to pay attention to the task at hand.

Virco, a leader in the school furniture industry, supports a theory called Healthy Movement. Healthy movement supports sensory integration, which refers to the way individuals sense, interact, and understand different things in their environment. The theory behind sensory integration is that an ADHD student who can move around as they please is more likely to stay engaged.

A Solution that Benefits All Students

Virco chairs have unique features that allow the user to move around without being overly distracting to other students, too.   Contrary to popular belief, sitting still does not equal undivided attention – instead, students tend to zone out. Thus, this specialized school furniture is great for all students, even those who do not suffer from the disorder.

These are just a couple ways that schools are catering to the needs of those with specific learning disorders. With the help of supportive teachers, a loving family, and outside resources, students with ADD/ADHD can be just as successful (if not more) than those who don’t have a learning disability. These solutions result in higher grades, less disruption in the classroom, and happier, healthy students.

Citations:

• Photo Credit: title=”old school” by alamosbasement, on Flickr
• Photo Credit: title=”Old School School Room” by JJLosier, on Flickr

Attached Images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source

Hailey Andersen enjoys writing about the latest trends and regularly contributes to a variety of publications.

Have you noticed that kids nowadays are always glued to their phones or playing video games instead of going outside and hanging out with the neighborhood children? It seems that good ol’ fashioned games like duck, duck, goose are a relic of the past. Kids have moved on to something bigger and better: technology. We’re seeing less and less of crayons, hula hoops, and mud pies and more and more of iPads, TVs, and video game consoles.

It’s the 21st century, and things are different now. However, don’t despair! This can actually be a good thing.

You know how they say that video games and other forms of technology turn your brain into mush? That’s not necessarily true. Technology can actually improve your cognitive skills.

Not counting TV, that is. If you put a young child in front of a TV, he vegs out. If you give him a smartphone, he’ll become proactive and figure out puzzles and fine-tune his motor skills. Smartphone apps can actually make your kid smarter and put him ahead of the learning curve.

A study conducted by PBS KIDS revealed that children who used smartphones had better vocabulary than those who didn’t. Smartphones have also been proven to improve a child’s work ethic and collaboration skills.

Does that mean you should download a bunch of child-oriented educational apps on your smartphone or tablet? Not necessarily. Some fun games can be valuable learning tools! For example, let’s look at…

Angry Birds

Angry Birds is actually quite a great educational tool. It can teach children about physics and improve their problem solving skills. Angry Birds requires the user to think abstractly, and that can bring on so many benefits to a child’s cognitive development, including logistics, spatial skills, strategy, pattern recognition, mapping, and perseverance.

(Extra credit: check out one way a teacher extended his kids’ enthusiasm for Angry Birds into a fun classroom lesson that taught measurement, geometry, addition, skip counting and money on this YouTube video from Teacher Tipster.)

Bejeweled Blitz

Who ever thought some pretty jewels could teach your child some great life skills? Well, it’s possible! A 2011 study by PopGames and a researcher at University of Massachusetts Amherst concluded that Bejeweled Blitz could improve one’s cognitive skills, namely rapid decision-making, conjunctive visual search skills, and reaction time.

Sudoku

Sudoku helps develop a child’s or a teenager’s deductive reasoning process. It’s the process in which you think ahead and track from cause to effect. It also helps improve the ability to solve problems, train the short-term memory and working memory, and develop pattern recognition.

Trivie

This trivia game app is more suited for teenagers, because some of its questions are too complex for young children. Trivia games have been directly linked to cognitive development. They improve working memory, sharpen memorization skills, and encourage more knowledge in different areas.

Playing interactive games online or on the phone is a more educational experience than ever, so next time your child asks you if she could play Angry Birds, by all means go ahead and say yes. Who knows? This time, the game could teach her all about gravity!

Many thanks to Kate Simmons for this article contribution!

Kate Simmons is an occasional blogger and journalist specializing in social media and education, currently pursuing studies at Colorado Technical University.

We’re finally back from Summer hiatus! Thanks to everyone who has patiently waited for new content on Kidzmet’s blog. This summer, I completed eight books on how kids temperaments shape the ways in which they are uniquely wired to learn, based on each of Carl Jung’s cognitive processes. This article illustrates why I felt it was so important to write the Playbooks for Learning. I hope you enjoy it.

To our kids’ collective success,
Jen Lilienstein
Kidzmet.com Founder

As parents, we have all been there. We collectively pored over BabyCenter, eagerly anticipating news that our baby had grown to the size of a grape or an avocado. Once our wee one emerged from the womb, we started talking to “expert” friends and family members as well as devouring books and websites that would tell us what developmental stage our kids would reach in the coming days, weeks or months. As they grew, we began to debate with our spouses and friends whether co-sleeping, the No Cry Sleep Solution or Ferberizing our baby would be best. (Though we may not have realized that this was actually a temperamental debate!)

As our babies became toddlers and preschoolers, we started to understand that their personalities played a big part in which form of discipline was most effective. (Time out for the child or time out for a favorite toy? Talk to them about why their actions were wrong from a logical perspective or an emotional one?) We were, in effect, translating the same message into a “language” that resonated with our kids. Gary Chapman’s best-selling Love Languages series of books has a similar message for parents—that everyone speaks in different languages when it comes to both expressing and receiving love.

As our kids grew into little learners, however, we began to move back toward a solely “developmentally appropriate” mentality. With growing class sizes and curriculum standards at both state and national levels—not to mention worldwide benchmarks—it’s becoming even more challenging for teachers to teach to anything BUT the curriculum “middle”—or thereabouts—during the school day. Standards dictate what’s developmentally appropriate to teach and learn during each grade and our kids are required to keep pace…whether that means speeding up or slowing down their developmental pace to that of their class. This aspect of learning in-and-of-itself is a challenge for teachers, kids and parents.

But, in the same way that we all found different methods to work best when disciplining, potty training, or sleep training each of our kids, we as parents need to make sure that we partner with our kids’ teachers and schools to help our kids “translate” the curriculum they receive in school into a language that they not only understand, but resonate with so that the new learning is “chunked” in a way that makes sense and gets filed in long-term memory…not just so that they can ace their Friday quizzes.

This means keying into your child’s temperament. Is your child an extravert that likes to “think out loud,” as one of my favorite personality experts, Donna Dunning, likes to say…or is she more like Susan Cain’s Quiet introvert who prefers to reflect before responding? Neither one is better, but they approach learning differently. Similarly, does your child prefer to logically analyze situations…or does he feel uncomfortable when emotion is removed from the equation? Again, neither is better…but these types of kids just think different. Something I think most of us, as parents, believe our kids should learn how to do! We need to help our kids understand that different kids arrive at conclusions in different ways because we all naturally approach problems differently. Is your child a “slow and steady wins the race” tortoise or more of a hare that thrives on the energy of a looming deadline? Keying into this difference and the project planning ramifications of this temperamental dichotomy can help make homework and projects less of a headache for you both.

The next time you sit down with your child to help with homework, please keep this in mind. Just because certain organizational, learning or study techniques worked well for you as a child (or work well for you now) does not mean they are temperamentally appropriate for your kids. There’s a reason why 89 of the Fortune 100 companies use personality type in their businesses; why eHarmony has had more that 30 million members since conception; and why Paul Tieger’s Do What You Are is a reference text in so many high school career centers. Temperamentally appropriate learning works for babies, toddlers and preschoolers when we’re teaching them the “rules of the road.” Temperamentally appropriate living works for us as adults.

It’s time for us as parents to start playing a bigger role in our school-aged kids’ education by helping them key into their temperament-based strengths as early as possible and showing them how to translate homework and school day curriculum into temperamentally appropriate lessons that still fulfill the requirements of the teacher, but gives them a deeper understanding of why the knowledge is important…even if the teacher or class naturally “thinks differently” than they do.

Learn more about what’s temperamentally appropriate for each of your kids with Kidzmet’s acclaimed Playbooks for Learning—now available on Kindle or as an award-winning personalized set.

Not sure which temperament your child has? Take our free quiz—designed for kids and calibrated to CAPT‘s estimated frequencies of personality type—to find out.