The Children's Creative Cottage

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Contact Information:

Website: http://www.childrenscreativecottage.com
Email: info@themomscafe.net

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This Weekends Highlights:

• In The News: The Road Increasingly Travelled: Homeschooling
• Featured Article: Positive Parent Conferences
• Homeschool Resources: Free Printables
• Back To School
• Visit Our Sponsors

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In The News:

The road increasingly traveled: Homeschooling
By Sandra L. Churchill/ Back To School Tuesday, July 25, 2006 -
Updated: 12:02 PM EST
Amid the sundrenched days and salty spray of summer, thoughts of backpacks, report cards, and school buses may still be packed away in your mind, but September’s apples and school days are just around the corner. For one segment of the population, however, the balmy pre-autumn month carries a different set of images. Rather than shopping for back-to-school clothes and stocking the house with pre-packaged, lunch-friendly snacks, these families are more often leafing through curriculum catalogs and scheduling upcoming community field trips. They vary face-to-face, house-to-house, and run the gamut from PhDs to high school diplomas: we call them homeschoolers. These folks have opted-for the short- or long-term, for one, or for all of their children-to explore the alterative educational path of educating their sons and daughters independently.

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Featured Article:

Positive Parent Conferences
By: Frank Holes Jr.
It's parent-teacher conference time! Some are positive experiences where teachers are able to make great connections with parents. And yet other meetings are foretold by apprehension and met with strife. Over the years, you will encounter the gamut of positive and negative experiences, and everything in between. However, there are strategies you can use to make the best of any situation.
It is extremely important to make a good first impression (even if you already know the parents). Make eye contact with them, and greet the parents with a firm handshake. No weak grips! If you've never met the parents, stand up to introduce yourself. Welcome them with a smile. Remember that you are building relationships, and setting the tone for the conference.
A good way to open the conference is to ask how the student is doing in other classes. Ask about their other grades, and start building an overall picture. You will often find the student's strong and weak areas, and you may even find surprises. I've found students who were failing every class but mine. And I've found the opposite too. A good overall picture can really give you a new perspective on your students.

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Homeschooling Resources:

Free Downloads and Printables: Click Here

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Back To School:

I found a great article to help parents and kids get back into the routine of going back to school: Click HERE

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Visit Our Sponsors:

Visit Home Schooling Supplies for End of Summer Sale: Click HERE

Visit Dragonflies and Ladybugs for your Back to School Clothing sales: Click HERE

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