Summer is still in swing for some of us folks here in the South, but it’s soon to come to an end in a little over a month.  In my district, the children start school the first week of August and I suspect the same or shortly thereafter for other surrounding counties, so for us…..it is almost literally the end of summer as we know it.  But for those of you northerners or folks west of us, enjoy the time with your families, have gratitude and make it a priority to prepare for the months ahead. 

Why? Well this coming year (2008-2009) is going to be a challenging year “I predict” for education across the board.  We will see more education treated more as a ”luxury” than treated as a necessity and bases for all.  Believe me I cringe at the thought of that reality as I am a student like many of you reading this and have my own educational expenses.  There will be lots of disappointing news to surface as far as the educational system in our country in the news this year BUT solutions will be forced (by parents, civic leaders, educators, etc.) to be found or shall we say –  not let this one slip through the cracks.  Thank God for that!  Believe me, as a country we are very blessed and WE CAN DO ANYTHING TOGETHER to improve our educational system if we work as a single unit (parents and educators, politicians and communities).

However, we as parents (and I know some of you single parents like me will feel it perhaps the hardest) will need to saddle up with backup plans to assist our kids with all the help they need this year and coming years ahead to keep them competitive.  Take advantage of tutors, online study guides, library resources and the like to enable your child to excel.  We often think that one resource – the video and computer exposure as a negative thing.  It can be if not utilized productively.  But many children are learning and improving via this medium.  For example, I ran across a recent article on this and you can visit the site by going to:  http://www.xplanazine.com/2008/04/improve-reading- skills-with-computer-and-video-games.   I know for me personally, this was a helpful with one of my kids in generating the interest and confidence for them to pick up the books and run with them.  

If a child is having problems reading and comprehending (which personally I feel is the foundation of alot of our issues with education in the grade school stage in our country), a child can become frustrated and discouraged and loose interest in reading the books from the start.  So in some cases this may be a helpful solution if the software/programs are designed this way.  So go with your intuition first and also consider thinking outside the box and apply logic and common sense – believe me you won’t go wrong.

Finally, for those parents who pack lunches everyday as I do, please…..please…….please………make sure the food is clean and handled properly.  I foresee problems or more of them shall we say with bacterial contamination with food surging in the cafeteria’s.  So this goes out to those food service folks to take EXTRA steps to handle food properly, maintain food at proper temperatures, etc. to avoid more outbreaks with strains of E.coli and other bacteria.  I’d love to be dead wrong on this one because I know what a hot mess this can be with a whole lot of sick-stomached kids at school and at home.  So a heads-up on preventive measures for that.

Lastly….yes I know I said I was finished <smile>, Parents we should do some heavy talking with our children about respecting their peers, their peers cultural differences and learning to appreciate the richness of diversity this country has.  Unfortunately, I see more negative acts towards one another in this regard with the kids in the schools across the country as we approach the elections/end of the year.  But we can do something about that if we are “conscious of the energy” at work.  Believe me the dominant energy always takes the lead and we can shift that energy at ANY TIME if its not to our liking.

In the meantime……enjoy the ride!