Category: Edu-and-Ladue-School

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Edu-and-Ladue-School

School Safety and Security

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Physical Safety

Below is mostly from the School Safety & Security web page

See something, say something => Anonymous Tip Line | Report an Incident – Ladue School District

Parent Procedures

4E’s Tips for Parents – Ladue School District (also google doc)

It looks we have some minor issues on the web page above: mainly on the right side “Frequently Asked Questions“. Two things I noticed, and below is 1st corrected one:

All students practice at least 16 drills annually. They consist of at least:

10 Fire Drills
2 Active Intruder Drills
2 Earthquake Drills
2 Tornado Drills

(this part is at the bottom, should be moved up)

Why should my child participate in active intruder drills?

Drills are a way for students and staff to practice and be prepared to act in a crisis. Active intruder drills are clearly identified as “Only a Drill,” and we have members of our staff who are trained to assist students with special needs. All students should be trained so that they are not only able to use these skills taught at the school, but also in any dangerous situation they may encounter outside of school.

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CrisisAlert School Safety Solution – Ladue School District || Leading School Safety Solutions for K-12 Rapid Incident Response | CENTEGIX

I will add more content as time goes: things like best practice, lesson learned etc.

Internet and network safety and security

Francis Howell School District closes for two days due to ‘disruptions to computer systems’ (it seems the IT director of the school district didn’t earn her/his paycheck 🙂

(Update 09-17-2024) Updated all the links from the school district website.

Today Ladue high school cancels classes Tuesday due to bomb threat (KDSK)

My quick thoughts: knock on the woods, 我们学区/学校相对来说是安全的。当然，世界上没有绝对的安全。我来美国27年，00年到圣村，05年搬到Creve Coeur，后来就一直住在拉肚学区。经历过Columbine high school, sandy hook elementary (new town), 近年德州Uvalde 小学，圣村CVPA （central visual and performing arts high school, Stl city) 等。从一开始不理解为什么美国人需要枪到现在不理解为什么美国人需要冲锋枪(assault rifles, AR series). 当然还有September 11 – it’s another big topic.

(Update 09-18-2024) Now I remember when my old daughter was in the middle school, once they had some similar hoax on the TikTok, and one day a lot kids (or their parents decided) not to come to school, after seeing the thing on TikTok.

Also I saw this last night – Florida sheriff ‘perp walks’ boy, 11, with kill list after shooting threat

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Edu-and-Ladue-School Fun

Snow days, school bus and school lunch

Reading Time: 2 minutes

We had 2 snow days right out of the gate this month, once because it was extremely cold (1/16 Tuesday), another time it was due to the freezing rain and black ice on the road. Basically the road become a skating rink (1/22 Monday).

The green firetruck hit the blue car (nobody inside), barely missed the house, fortunately no one got hurt

Both my kids loved snow days. In the process I also learned the typical Americans’ ritual to get snow days: such as “Wear your pajamas inside out.” On serious note, black ice (ice on the concrete or asphalt) is dangerous both for the cars and the pedestrians. I have 1st hand experience on both. Once my minivan was spinning like the firetruck above at the Briarcliff club house parking lot. Another couple times I was walking like a duck crossing the Olive road, or walking near Olive and Spoede road.

School buses and the drivers for school buses would encounter the same issue. And the teachers and staff too. Plus the parents (guardians) drive or walk kids to school. This is a no win situation in terms of going to school. And we can always learn or have school on a normal day.

School lunch

Last 2 weeks, my old daughter got hurt during tennis clinics (group class). And I sent her to places to make sure she is okay. Once I bought her Chick fil a on the way back from provider to school around lunch time. She liked that. I think the school lunch is probably not as good or flavorful as the chick fil a sandwich.

My younger daughter does bring lunch to school on Fridays. So yesterday morning at the bus stop, right before the bus coming, she said: I forgot to bring the lunch. I said: I can either do carpool to drop you off, or I can drop you off at the next bus stop that your friends will also be there. We did the latter.

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Edu-and-Ladue-School

Ladue high school, we are coming, series I

Reading Time: 5 minutes
History Wall at Ladue Horton Watkins High School

(Update 01-16-2024) It looks like Dr. Thompson (LMS Principal) just posted the relevant information for the 8th graders via the parent square (and her weekly Sunday email) – “LMS Weekly Memo: 1/15/24”. All 8th grader parents and guardians can see it either from the ParentSquare (web, Android app, iOS app) or via the email – look for the section titled “8th grade families”.

(Original) Cannot believe our old daughter is starting high school this fall. It seems not too long ago we sent her to the toddler’s program, the kindergarten, middle school, and now high school.

I have been to the high school quite a few times, both before pandemic and post pandemic. Before pandemic, I recall I went there for the elementary school night (the football game), and the basketball game shortly before pandemic shutdown, and post pandemic I went there more often for a bit over a year as I was the Parent District Council rep for Spoede School Association (our Spoede Elementary School PTO/PTA). Not to mention I have been to all the ‘Due Run for Education (Ladue Education Foundation) over the years since year 2017.

Curriculum night at the high school

It was good. I saw a lot of familiar faces. Due to covid/pandemic, and kids grew apart from elementary school days, I didn’t have a lot opportunities to see the familiar Spoede friends faces. I got to see the teachers and the staff at the high school too. And I stayed almost to the end, and talked to some of the teachers there.

I took some notes on the presentation. The notes are far from complete, but I think maybe helpful especially for those who could not or didn’t make it for some reason. One friend didn’t make it due to the misunderstanding of it will be held the next week (probably just glancing through one email/parent square post about the potential severe weather). I like to exchange notes with you all too 🙂

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Enjoy high school
Pump the breaks – assistant principal Mike Tarpey – a kid only needs go to one college (for most kids; one can’t go to 5 or 10 Univ.)
Dr. Rappof – associate principal for class of 2028
LinkCrew – a tool for transition to high school (new to me, research?)
*Public speaking electives in addition to English 9 (other journalism focused course?) may be encourage my daughter take it?
Social studies: at sophomore they can take AP history
Encourage kids to self advocate (a slide)

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I took pictures of all the slides, and if anyone needs it let me know. Last but not least, I think the advice of “be yourself” and “advocate for yourself”.

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Link to Ladue School Curriculum: this has all the courses (or most of them).

Compare to my high school courses

Math: math is foundation for science and many other things. Try to get better at math. No need to be scare of it. No need to rush it either.

Science: Ladue has much more choices, in addition to the biology, chemistry and physics we had in China, Ladue has life science, biomedical science, earth science, environmental science, and so on. One thing we need to note though, is the Physics course has some pre-requisite for math.

Electives

Project Lead the Way: Project Lead The Way is an American nonprofit organization that develops STEM curriculum for use by US elementary, middle, and high schools (Wikipedia). This is the 2nd time I heard about PLTW, the 1st time I was at an LEF event.

Non-traditional career choices

The Catalyst Program

In general, if I can borrow a comment from an old friend, the Ladue offerings can educate more well rounded students (or adults).

Course load and GaoKao

Time is different, two different countries, and you bet the curriculum is different. But I am very proud of my education I received there. Overall I think I had a heavier workload in the middle school, compared to high school, due to special circumstances (we have a quite strict counselor in the middle school, high school counselors are more laidback). I expect the kids in the Ladue High School will have a heavier course load compared to the middle school. This is a general trend in the US, in addition to the competitive nature of many students here.

Other standout item is the money the school spent to renovate the language lab, and essentially I started my English listening comprehension training there (VoA, BBC and TOFEL?). The English teacher in high school is both nice and very good. I did mess up my Physics class to some extent: I didn’t always pay attention to the teachers, and sometimes I was doing something else. A kind of joke, once the teacher said, the grade of Physics shows someone’s IQ, it seems from there my grade started going downhill 🙂 But once I was very proud, in a less significant test (none the less, a simulation test) before the GaoKao, my Physics test got 95 or something, there were very few students got score over 60. I didn’t know why or how, but I think probably less a pressure played a role here. Or maybe my IQ was not that bad at all? 🙂

I attended a wonderful middle school (and high school) in China, in the middle of 1980s, Zhenhai Middle School. We do have 2 tracks from the 2nd year in our high school: note in China there are 3 years for high school. The two paths are: liberal arts, and STEM (文理分科 in Chinese). The “liberal arts” track students take Geography and History class, and the STEM kids take Physics, Chemistry and Biology classes, in addition to the core: Math, Chinese language, English and Political Science (there is some philosophy stuff which I think useful). Last but not least, I think the Math is slightly easier for the “liberal arts” track.

GaoKao: source GlobalTimes

High school transition tips: don’t work too hard or push your kids too hard, pump the breaks sometimes

I think everyone will have some transition. But the continuity plays a role: the kids went from the same middle school got an edge (same means same school district). In my case, my middle school and high school are the same. In the case of my 13 year old, it’s the same school district. She will have the same percussion teacher.

When I was talking about a related FB post to WeChat, and a friend pointed out her book “Loving Hard When They’re Hard to Love: Essays on Raising Teens in Today’s Complex, Chaotic World” – || Then another friend pointed out another one – Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic—and What We Can Do About It

Our school district and Ladue High School

When I bought my condo back in 2005, I had two choices, one is the condo near Olive and Creve Coeur Mill road (Parkway school district). Another one is the Briarcliff Condo in the Ladue School District. I picked up the Briarcliff although it’s a bit more expensive.

The school district passed the Prop R in 2016, and finished the work in year 2018 (or 2019). This initiative and bond issue completedly changed the Ladue High School. In fact, the 1st time I was in the building for the PDC meeting at the library, I was impressed by the facility as well as by the students there (I was thinking wow, I hope my daughter will grow up like them: confident and polite).

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Edu-and-Ladue-School

We like/love all our kids’ teachers

Reading Time: 2 minuteshttps://fox2now.com/news/missouri/one-st-louis-area-public-school-among-nations-top-50-in-new-rankings/

(Below was written in 05-31-2014, about 9 and half years ago, when our old daughter S was at Hope Montessori Academy in Creve Coeur. We love both our daughters’ teachers since then too 🙂

There is a cliche, saying we learn a lot from our kids (being parents). And I would like to add, we learned a lot from S8’s teachers too. Actually many times we can see teachers’ teaching from S8’s daily behavior at home. Sometimes when my partner lost patience when asking S8 to do something, S8 will say “be nice to friends”. Or other times we joked about something, she will say “mommy/daddy, no potty words”.

(Update: 12-23-2023) 

Obviously we have met and worked with a lot more teachers since May 2014. In November 2014 our S8 went to the Immanuel Lutheran Olivette for about 7 months, before she headed off to the Spoede Elementary. She is a 8th grader in the Ladue Middle School now. Note we are very fortunate that we live in one of the best school districts in the state of Missouri: the Ladue School District website: district recognitions web page; and niche.com ranking for the Ladue School District.

Our little S6 followed her big sis’ path, for the most part: she went to ILSO 1st when she was 2 and 3 years old. At 4 year old we sent our little S to the Hope Montessori in Creve Coeur. Now she is a 4th grader at the Spoede Elementary.

And I also volunteers at the school regularly, and had a glimpse of teachers/staff’s work behind the scene, including but not limiting to the work shortly before the pandemic shutdown, during pandemic (do you still remember the Zoom and virtual learning? :-), and post pandemic. I know many teachers and staff because of my volunteer work: it ranges from being a chaperon in the school (kids) field trop, serve on the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO, our PTO is SSA and LMSPA, btw), or the Math Fact Scholars (MFS) program.

To put it in a more tangible way, I have seen PE coaches putting away the tables for us post the MFS morning testing sessions. I have seen music teacher left her sick kid to grandma (her mom, btw, her mom was Spoede teacher too :-), and shuttle back and forth to make sure the kiddo’s musical rehearsal is still on. And teachers volunteered their time and their spouses’ time (and kids’s time) to help move to the new building, and organize, or prep for kids’s musical or Lego League expo (competition); after school academic and other enrichment clubs too.

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Edu-and-Ladue-School Fun Fun Video

The most important thing we can teach our kids

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Imagine when a kid falls and how western parents and traditional Chinese grandmas react

Is probably the confidence. From the day they start to walk. I still remember the time my older daughter started to walk. I think most parents would encourage their toddler kids to walk when the kiddos were still learning. I guess the same goes for the potty training. Now I recall we gave our older daughter chocolate when she successfully used the potty without peeing or pooing in the diaper. when we started potty training on her. And I clearly recall she asked for chocolate at her toddler daycare place when she successfully did it there.

In terms of teaching kids to walk or run, I also recall, that many years ago, in my college (China), sometimes we saw Western parents walk with young kids on campus. And occasionally, kids will fall, to my initial surprise, the western parents would usually let the kids get up by themselves, and in a way help them grow. This way of handling kids falling is totally opposite to what my grandmas would do: they would walk over, blame the ground, pretend hitting the ground, and so on.

Fast forward though, I think partially due to kids growing, partially due to our own aging, it seems we can use more patience as kids growing up. I know it’s easier said than done, especially for parents of teens, pre-teens etc.

I think the below tweet showed an excellent way the parent supported his kid. Lot of hard work, obviously. But it both improved her volleyball skills and perhaps equally important if not more, her confidence in playing volleyball.

Confidence without substance (or relevant skills) is ignorance, in a way or from my perspective. I think sometimes we all make those kind of mistakes.

Soldier On or Soldier Through

I think the confidence can also gained by trying, or in Charlie Munger’s case, he emphasized “solider on”.

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Edu-and-Ladue-School

The middle schools and high schools in STL area 圣村的初高中

Reading Time: 5 minutes
https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/one-st-louis-area-public-school-among-nations-top-50-in-new-rankings/
The front entrance of Ladue Horton Watkins High School, on Warson road

I recall there is a forum and people talked about the high school they went in the STL area. Here is the thread, and let me quote some below 🙂

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This topic would be on my list of things I like least about St. Louis. It’s something I’ve never experienced anywhere else, and something I simply don’t enjoy. I did grow up in St. Louis and did go to high school in St. Louis, before relocating, and actually enjoyed my high school experience a great deal, and would recommend my high school highly to anyone who asked. I do also enjoy St. Louis a great deal of course and still spend a lot of time in St. Louis. I have a few friends who’ve recently moved back to St. Louis and immediately were reminded of the whole high school mentality, and they simply say they were home schooled or from out of town and usually the other person asking quickly loses interest in them and walks away. I generally think I have a good tolerance for things and a sense of humor, but where there’s smoke there’s fire, and despite the friendliness and simpleness of the topic, to me it represents the fragmented mentality of a medium sized metro area, or big small town if you will, and the sizing up one person vs another. I’m just not a fan. It’s sort of remniscent of the person who enters a party and the first thing they strike up in conversation is, “So, what do you do?”…because they can’t think of anything else to say.

Read more: https://www.city-data.com/forum/st-louis/263209-so-where-did-you-go-high.html

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Wow thats interesting, I never knew “Where did you go to High School” was a St Louis thing! Thats interesting!

Read more: https://www.city-data.com/forum/st-louis/263209-so-where-did-you-go-high-8.html

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Last but not least, these old google reviews on Ladue Middle School: it seems most of the one star rating is form the Clayton (Wydown) Middle school? This is similar to the sports “trash talk” between STL Cardinals and Chicago Cubs 🙂 Or the rivalry between JBS and MICDS which I will talk a bit below. Note there is a small rivalry between Ladue High School and MICDS too: the rivalry on the Warson road. Incidentally both have ram has mascot.

In a way I think Ladue middle or high school is a bit like my middle (high) school – Zhenhai Middle School. I wrote a blog post; also you may read the wikipedia entry 🙂 Recently there is also a story floating around at the Chinese media, both inside and outside China, this again emphasize the importance of mental health. Btw, I noticed in the US, the medical community is paying attention to this topic too, as I saw the survey questions on the annual physical exam for my kids.

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I think it’s important for a kid going to a good school: both middle and high school. Equally important though, if not more, is the school is a good fit for the kid. Obviously money is a consideration too. I mean the tuition and other costs for the private schools. I don’t think the more expensive, the better the school though.

Also, I didn’t go the high school here. We live in the best public school district per Niche‘s most recent ranking. Fox2Now: One St. Louis-area public school among nation’s Top 50 in new rankings. And both my kids attend Ladue schools (8th grader and 4th grader). Personally I started living in the district since April 2005.

My impression of private schools

And I heard good things about them here and there. But I am not going to comment on any one of the private schools in the area. Btw, there is the website of the independent schools in the STL area.

I actually did some research or tour some area private schools over the years: The Wilson school (toured when my old daughter was one year old :-), Whitfield school (toured when looking for a high school potentially for a family member, it reminds me of the Hilton hotel btw). I visited MICDs and John Burroughs too: went to MICDs and Burroughs mostly for my old daughter’s basketball or Lego competition, and a summer camp at MICDs. Now I recall they had a “play” which is good and cool. I think they all have wonderful facilities. I also visited a few Catholic schools in the area, because both my daughters did one season of CYC basketball, the campus of Villa stands out for me.

Keep things in perspective

I started this blog post due to a few factors. I do agree “what high school did you go” is very much a #STL thing, and sometimes this is rightly, or wrongly, a snobbish question.

Mental health and Happiness

Recently I have seen my 13 year old got nervous about two things: one is the All Suburban Middle School Jazz Band. Her main worry is she needed to do jazz improvise. She said she regret for trying out the Jazz Band audition. She even tried to write out the music notes that she was going to do during improvisation. So far she went for 3 rehearsals. She felt better now. Another one is the YPCO at CMS (Webster U). She said she was not prepared well enough before the joint rehearsal, and plus they are getting a new conductor (director).

A good example to show she was not happy or was nervous: yesterday afternoon, I was probably late for 10 mins per the plan, to pick her up, and she was really upset. I told her we had sufficient time to get to CMS. That didn’t help. She was not talking to me on our way there. This is quite different from after the rehearsal.

Recent episode reminds me one major responsibility for parents: pay attention to kids’ mental health, and make sure they are developing the right skills for time management, prioritize tasks, and feel safe at home. Sometimes (maybe a lot of times) when they feel safe they could also show lots of emotions at home.

(Update 01-07-2023) Today is the day my 13 year old will perform at the All Suburban jazz concert. Things got better recently as she found a friend (new friend) at the jazz band (also a 8th grader girl), and incidentally this girl goes to the YPCO as well. I think in a lot ways, parents influence may not be as good as friends 🙂

Foundation for life

I think overall school is a good place for the kids to try different things, explore, make friends, and to make sure they are prepared for the future, and in ideal situation, find their true passion. I saw a good example the other day. Private or public school may be a factor, but to me this is the ONLY factor.

A question I think some parents may be interested

Should schools ban cellphones?

My comments: personally I don’t like my kid having phone at school. But at the same time it’s a convenience thing for communication as my 13 year old has after school activities to go sometimes. It seems she largely avoid using the phone when in school. In the past I recall former colleagues mentioned the school would hold on the phones in school day (pre smartphone period). Smartphone distraction is really everywhere: I also recall a VP of software engineering doing blackberry when she was meeting with us in a meeting (around 2005 or 2006?). If we really want to do this: as a minimum the leaders should lead by example.

(Update 06-05-2024) Came across this from FB recently 🙂

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Edu-and-Ladue-School Life Life Tips

Winter Camp and Some Holiday Tips

Reading Time: 2 minutes

OR shall we call it winter break camp?

I still think during the holiday season, it’s best to spend more time with the kids as they do grow up so quickly. Enjoy the moment when we can. I recall one of the best preschool teacher and administrator, also a Montessori educator in the area, Susie Dodge-Shelton, once said something like this, basically she said “hug your kids more” during holiday season. We knew Susie since year 2008 (?, I think), and knew her husband David who was the director of Hope Infant Toddler Community (HITC): HITC which is next to the Hope Academy in Creve Coeur (HACC, and Susie served as director for the CC campus for many years), there is a short cut between the two campus as I recall. Now they are behind the giant BJC west campus (there was more trees and greens in the front of HACC. They are both wonderful couple and educators. And I believe they are both happily retired.

With that being said, I am aware of winter break camps, and we have been to some of their equivalent summer camps in the past. Below is not a complete list, to be updated as new information arrives.

Camps

All American Gymnastics and Super Ninja

Basketball: Bobby McCorMack: noticed Dec 18 to Dec 20.

Forest lake tennis camp: Winter Junior Camp

NRG WinterCamps & Specialty Camps

The J

Maryville Holiday Drop and Shop: Dec 10 and Dec 17

Olivette (In The Center of It All 🙂

Below are some holiday tips

Don’t Let Stress Ruin the Holidays (copied/pasted from my employer’s benefit email)
Stress often goes hand in hand with the holiday season. There’s the pressure of buying the perfect gifts — and making sure you don’t go broke. Holiday party after holiday party can stretch you thin. And for many of us, missing loved ones who are not around can make celebrating difficult.
Many adults deal with stress, anxiety, and depression during this time of year. Here are several strategies to reduce stress during the holiday season.

  1. Lean into healthy habits. Virtually any form of physical activity can act as a stress reliever, so get regular exercise during the holidays.
  2. Know your limits for time and money. Consider saying no to some invites to avoid felling overwhelmed. Set a realistic budget to prevent stresses from overspending.
  3. Limit social media. Social media may increase potential negative effects on your mental health. Try to use time around the holidays to step away from your phone and enjoy in-person time with loved ones.
  4. Stay present and be proactive. If you feel tension or worry building, address it before it becomes all-consuming. Giving yourself a chance to catch your breath and refocus may help you feel better. #holiday #stress #health
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Edu-and-Ladue-School math-and-edu

Math Fact Scholars (MFS) FAQs

Reading Time: 6 minutes

What is it? (overview)

It’s a “practice and timed test combo” for math fact, plus some word problems (problem solving). It’s owned by Diana D and she has run this program in the area for about 18+ years. Some people may compare it with Kumon, Mathnasium etc. I don’t have much knowledge on the latter. I do have a little knowledge on Kumon and I think MFS is probably not as much work as Kumon, while MFS also usually has more parents involvement. I vaguely recall we do have one kid switched from Kumon to MFS recently.

How does it work? (workbooks and timed tests)

The kids work on the workbooks at home, with the help from the grownups from time to time. Every Tuesday morning (if the school is in session), we have timed testing sessions between 8:15 and 8:45 am in the Spoede gym.

How can I order the workbooks for the kid(s)?

Here is web order form (You will need the SSA MTK credentials to log in). There is also financial assistance available through school counselors and SSA (the information is also on the web form).

We have an email box: also, if you like to text or call, my mobile phone number is 314 540 2721

Why we are getting the same workbooks (or duplicate workbooks)?

The workbooks for the blue ribbon/bronze medal level are the same, ditto for silver/gold medals. The bronze and gold level tests are 2 minutes long, blue ribbon and silver are 3 minutes. I think the Bronze has 18 problems; Silver and Gold have 36 problems. The blue ribbon has 10 problems: it goes from +1 to +10, -1 to -10. Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels all have a final exam (mixed numbers).

Also, Kindergartener and 1st grader usually start from Blue Ribbon, 2nd and 3rd grader start from Bronze level, and the 4th grader starts from Silver (I listed below as standalone question too, to make sure the message get crossed).

Note there are no duplicates in the trophy level workbooks. Btw, the trophy levels goes from Platinum, Fraction, Decimals and Percents.

Which medal level does my kid start?

Note this information is also in the SSA MTK website, the MFS web order form, as well as above. To reiterate here, K to 1st grader start from blue ribbon (addition and subtraction), 2nd and 3rd graders start from bronze medal (addition and subtraction), and 4th grader start from silver medal (multiplication and division). Please talk to us if you feel your kid needs to go faster or go slower.

How much time should a kid practice per day?

Again each kid is different. Typically it’s a good idea for a kid to do a few pages of practice on the workbook, and each page could take a few minutes to (up to) 15 minutes (including the time the parent take a look at the work, check the answers, explain if applicable). There is no need to compare the times a kid work on the workbooks with another kid. Personally I think a good learning habit will help the kid down the road: e.g., focus, don’t get distracted by the TikTok, reading and understand the instructions or a word problem, and so on. This will also help them when they move up grades.

Should I send my kids every Tuesday morning?

No, you don’t have to. You/your kid are welcome to join the testing sessions at any Tuesday morning when we have them, but this is not a necessary condition. Just come when your kid is ready and also when the time slot works for you/your family. One analogy if I may add, is in a baseball/software game, the batter only swings at the ball when he/she feels there is a good chance he/she can get a hit (home run, single, double and so on).

I do understand for some kids, there are some social interactions there as well – we are okay with that, as long as the kid doesn’t cause disturbance to other kids who are more serious. Sometimes we ask am unwilling kid to sit on the steps by the stage and wait for 8:35 am when their classroom is available.

What if I (or my kid) cannot make it to the Tuesday mornings’ tests? (I used Italics to hilight below)

I understand this could be a real issue for some parents, sometimes the mornings could be a bit hectic, with the morning rush for school or work. We still want to encourage our kids to work on the workbooks and if possible, do some timed tests.

If you are confident that your kids are doing the work at home, and you may give the kiddo a timed test too, just using the practice sheet on the workbooks. If you believe the kids can benefit from getting a medal or a trophy etc., please bring in the workbooks and highlight the testing sheet, and we can award the medal or trophy after verifications. In fact during pandemic because we could not have a large group gathering and test sessions, we did something similar.

My personal observation is most kids (and maybe parents too) would value the medal or trophy more than a toy or some other material rewards.

How can you (I, we) help?

Help the kiddos work on the workbooks at home. Talk to them, look at the workbooks from time to time. Encourage them. Better yet (not necessary, but always appreciated from an organizer’s point of view, believe it or not, I have been working as volunteers for 8+ years), please volunteer for the program. This is a program 99% run by the parents volunteers. We need volunteers to run the test: grading, manage the test box, help filing the test papers, to the backend work: processing the order, ordering the workbook and testing copies, reviewing the test papers, and recording them in the google spreadsheet that we publish etc.

I do understand many parents have busy work schedule and they may not join the test sessions. Again please help when you can: there are behind of the scenes work (see the backend work above). Also, I noticed many kids are happy to see their parents in school volunteering. If your work schedule doesn’t allow for in person volunteering, or other volunteering tasks, don’t worry – we will try to treat your kids just like how we treat our kids. Our only ask is please tell your kids we practice Spoede R. O. C. K. S. (Respect, Ownership, Cooperation, Kindness, and Safety) while we are in the gym.

What is the 1st test PDF file?

It’s the 1st test a kid is expected to work on at a particular morning. Again please don’t compare your kid with her/his friend.

Occasionally we have kids that skipped certain tests, due to various reasons. We try to ask them to make up the missing tests – it’s just a way to train their good leaning habit. Not sure take shortcuts etc. We also believe in this step by step approach. In the years I volunteers at the program, it appears to me the kids did the workbook, and not skipping the tests, are usually progressing better. Somewhat like the story/the race of the tortoise vs the rabbit.

What if my kid skipped a test or a few tests?

No worries, this is much less severe than say, we adults crossed a red light or stop sign without stopping. We will try to ask the kid to make up the test: even if we always awarded a medal. Our goal, again, is to not to punish someone, rather to help our kids to build a good learning habit (including doing things step by step and so on), as well as help them to get more comfortable with math, as well as help them get more confidence on math. Sometimes the right amount of confidence is a bit tricky.

Sometimes the mistake is caused by us, we could run out of testing paper for a specific test. We would tell the kid to move on to the next one if that’s the case. Or they can choose to pause there too.

Is Math Fact still relevant in today’s post Chatgpt world?

Yes I think so. Personally I think math is just a fundamental skills along with reading and writing, and math is closely associated with logical thinking, and it won’t be out of date in this TikTok / google search / Chatgpt world. Good old human intelligence will beat AI 🙂

Also, refer to this – All The Math We Need For Trading Stocks. My point is math is extremely important and useful for our daily lives, from personal finance to cooking (think about the recipe and ingredients), to career choices (more than engineering and sciences, for sure).

Our goal: help and encourage our kids to practice math, both in terms of the math fact, calculation, as well as problem solving. Hopefully they will get more comfortable and confident on math with this program (the practice and the timed tests). And all this will lay a good foundation when they move on to middle school, high school and beyond.

What if I have more questions?

We have an email box: also, if you like to text or call, my mobile phone number is 314 540 2721

Last but not least, I wrote about this last school year too, and I decided to start this post as more people (some new) asked me the FAQs above.

Categories
Edu-and-Ladue-School

Some notes taken at a college application seminar

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Or college counseling, college admission (from college point of view). Some tactic (most important of all, don’t mention mental health/struggle etc in the college app); and some aspirational advices (e.g., happiness, expectation, find passion). It was presented by Interface edu and the event was hold at SLMCS.

My comment: mental health is actually the No. 1 issue for both parents and kids. Doesn’t say it or mention it in the college app doesn’t mean it’s not important. See this Universities pushed to address mental health concerns on campus after student suicides

Speakers
Lorna Gray (founder)

Started talking about parents’ anxiety amid the strike down of AA (btw, she thinks “AA or not” will have little impact to 华人/亚裔学生). ED: early decision may help 华人/亚裔学生.

She talked about Stanley Zhong: the famous Chinese kid who got rejected by 16 so-called elite schools but was offered a job at Google – Buried in the news, he will attend UT Austin after one year gap year working at Google.

Admission officer: aha moment

My understanding is storytelling 🙂 And basically the student (applicant) has about 20 minutes to tell her/his story to the college admission officer. Btw, this is not too different from “In summer 1997 yours truly applied for the student F-1 visa in Shanghai”, or “In the year 2000, I applied and interviewed for a job at a software company in STL”.

If SAT score is lower than the average of the school, don’t submit

GPA is still relevant

三条腿原理：academic, social, emotional 相当于中国三好生 (my comment)

ChatGPT: may makes the personal statement irrelevant

Supplemental material 补充文书will be more important

College rep may visit high school, go see them

Profile study: stem boy – writing and publishing, presented a topic to the general public, write about – from not interested in writing to becoming interested

Nanette Tarbouni

Personality inventory

Empathy and curiosity

(This somehow remind me of the recruiters )

Academics and interests
Study habits (time management, the YT video by Amy)

Summer experiences

Identify interests

High school course selection: physics is the most important class in high school

Annalee – Annalee Nissenholtz, Ph.D. DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE COUNSELING

NACAC feedback
College hires outside people to read the apps.
ED

Don’t write about the emotional and mental health and struggles in the application (this reminds me of my Panera interview in year 2011) || don’t be naive about a question on “challenges”

Anxiety and depression are red flags

Colleges are looking for energetic, kind and smart kids

They are looking for a kid’s story : give the readers the story in 5 to 6 minutes (supplemental essays) – additional info ℹ️

Make sure interest is ranked high on the activity list

ED is binding with the exception of colleges cannot meet student or families financial need

Lorna again
Happiness

PS, came across this one and think it’s good.

Also: a related but different topic, college majors vs pay

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated to Interface Edu. I do think for retired people with former college counseling and college admission experience, this is a good gig (or I would say this is likely a win-win situation). And here are all the college counselors.

作为父母是否需要忍耐？父母爱孩子，就不要给ta太多建议？连吃苦都需要让他们自己去领悟？#窦文涛 #梁文道 #马未都 #周轶君

Categories
Chinese articles Edu-and-Ladue-School Fun

Tennis 网球

Reading Time: 3 minutes

上面这张照片(taken at CCRC)没有小孩，this is done on purpose. 这个是从楼上的bar/restaurant 拍过去的。我的两个小孩开始打网球🎾有一年左右, 她俩都有进步：从一开始完全是新手到现在可以和同级别的小朋友打几个回合了。想到我自己真正开始打网球还是来美国以后，读研究生时跟同学打了一下。97,98,99年美国打网球的地方跟国内相比简直是天壤之别。我当时在罗拉的沃尔玛买了个威尔森Wilson 铝合金的网球拍。后来工作后在圣路易斯的Sports Authority （S A）买了个同牌的碳素纤维的拍子。SA 好像在2008年的金融危机中倒闭了。我自己大概有十几年没有打网球。记得06年在Woodsmill 的tennis club 周五晚上跟朋友打过球：庆祝过cardinals 那年拿到world series 的冠军。再之后就是去年开始跟家人，孩子打了。我估计我会很快打不过她们了：因为她们在进步，我在原地踏步再加上年龄在那里。我也是在过去一年中意识到小孩们打球不容易。有一次在CCRC看到两个高中男生打得虎虎有生气：我估计他俩可能在本州高中生里面是高手了。今天是星期天下午，我看老大打球，教练我估计是大学生（年轻人），他玩一个轻吊，一个高中男生（我女儿的搭档）跑过去，失去平衡，摔倒在地，眼镜掉地，肩膀也好像也摔痛。我的太太最近跟拉肚高中校队的小姑娘学网球。据她说，校队不好进。后来我想想其实做好每一件事都不容易。但是反过来说，进不了校队，爬不上常青藤（或相当的学校）也没啥。因为我自己就没有做到这些：and I don’t think my life is less meaningful due to that [捂脸][呲牙]

This reminds me of a related topic: Micro Managers And Micro Management.

If you have Netflix sub, you may want to check out the new movie “No Hard Feelings” too (featuring former American sweet heart Jennifer Lawrence): it touched the topic of “helicopter” parents and parenting.

Last but not least, Ladue repeats Class 2 girls team tennis state title; John Burroughs reaches Class 3 final

PS: I realized the different color for different levels of tennis clinics is in a way very similar to the level in Suzuki violin lessons. Many other programs, from academics to sports, have this progress indicator and it’s a very useful tool to motivate people to learn and to progress. Tae Kwon Do is a good example. Duolingo is another excellent example of this (the founder of Duolingo explained it in a Ted Talk). I think many Credit Card Rewards programs are modeled after this idea too. Just think of miles, points, and elite status vs the streak, the points, and all the stuff in the Roblox games: my 9-year-old just showed me all the “houses” she has in the Adopt Me, and she bought a bed and customized the color on the spot yesterday evening 😀

PS 2: in last few years I noticed the pickle ball is taking off in the US. This is both in terms of popularity and the professional leagues. A new playing place is going to pop up at olivette. The CCRC seems also allocated more spaces to the pickleball. It’s hard to imagine only a few years ago it was really just a niche sport that I saw some older folks play at the JCC basketball court on Saturday mornings.

(Update 19-Nov-2023) STLToday: Girls tennis spotlight: Lafayette’s Amber Yin aims for state title in her only season. Something new to me: so I just learned some players don’t necessarily join the high school varsity team so that they can get better score in the college recruiting. Quote – “I wanted to focus on getting some positive results for college recruiting and I think that worked out well,” Yin said.

Lafayette’s Yin makes one season of tennis count by winning state singles championship

This reminded me in the past, some figure skating kids (who are very good) do homeschool so that they can have 4 to 5 hours ice time everyday, also to be closer to their coaches. And recently I learned violinist (high school kids) do homeschool too. In a way those kids decided their professions, and I think I can understand the sacrifice here.

(Update 02-24-2014) I came across this article recently, and thought it’s interesting to share. For old timers like me, Andre Agassi was quite famous, and he was the top in mens tennis players (along with Pete Sampras), before Roger Federer, Rafael Nodal and Novak Djokovic started dominating the mens single grand slams. Quote the article/Agassi below:

“I play tennis for a living, even though I hate tennis, hate it with a dark and secret passion, and always have,” 好像有点我们中文里 爱之切 恨之深 的意思了。我不知道用英文怎么解释。

Personally I think it’s probably a love/hate relationship, also his parents probably pushed him hard when he was young.

Another side note is Aggasi along with his wife Steffi Graf now are playing the red hot pickleball.