The self-driven child - Chapter 8: taking a sense of control to school

Get them engaged

• 预习
• encourage your child to learn by herself, and to teach what they've learned to someone else.

Choose a school that

• challenge but does not stress out your child - when they are given difficult material in a learning environment in which it is safe to explore, make mistakes, and take the time they need to learn and produce good work.
• when your kid is terrified that his teacher is going to call on him and he'll be embarrassed in front of the class, he's not thinking at all about whatever she is teaching at the moment. 
• do our kids feel safe in school, physically and emotionally? is it safe for them to make mistakes?
• are developmentally sensitive to their curriculum and appropriate for your child. Some kids do well as big fish in small ponds. it gives them the confidence to tackle the currents without being afraid of being swept away. They get to grow strong and feel strong. So what if there are bigger fish in bigger points? 
• Choose a school who incorporates meditation or mindfulness in their curriculum

Don't teach kids when they are not ready

• Kids feel frustrated, embarrassed and lack of control if they are not ready for what they are being taught. when kids fail again and again, they internalize the failure.
• Relax and take a long view even if no one else around you is. Most kids who learn to read at 5 aren't better readers at 9 than those who learn to read at 6 or 7. Pushing academics too early was harmful and produced no lasting benefit. Any gains from rushing development will wash out.

Test kids the right way

• What we do repeatedly with deliberate effort more readily become etched in our brain. testing not only measures knowledge but changes it. 
• testing can mitigate test anxiety. The mild pressure is a useful stepping-stone to the stress of the actual exam

Standardized Test scores are not a label for your child's intelligence. Make sure she knows it.

Children need to be able to hold numbers in their head to understand addition. they must be able to discern oblique line in triangle to recognize and write letter such as "K" and "R".