Assessment Preparation

 Assessment Preparation What thoughts, memories, and feelings arise when you say the words TEST or ASSESSMENT? Do you remember feeling anxiety, self-doubt, self-assurance, or excitement? What made you feel that way?…

Cultivate a Love of Learning

Cultivate a Love of Learning If we were sitting together and chatting now and I asked you, “What is the most important goal you have for your child’s education?” How would you respond? Some parents' first response…

I'm in Charge of Me!

I'm in Charge of Me! “Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.” ~Anne Frank Empowering students…

Assessment Preparation

 Assessment Preparation What thoughts, memories, and feelings arise when you say the words TEST or ASSESSMENT? Do you remember feeling anxiety, self-doubt, self-assurance, or excitement? What made you feel that way?…

You Are Enough

 You Are Enough You may have days when you don’t feel like you’ve got a Ph.D. in parenting, but guess what? You’re doing the job! You deserve the degree! There’s no better human in the history…

How Can We Help?

How Can We help? In a previous Goates Notes, we talked about the importance of tracking our children’s academic progress with regular informal and formal assessments. Using the insight that evaluation provides, we can more…

Measuring Learning

Measuring Children's Learning A friend of mine had a designated space on her mudroom wall where she marked her children’s growth in height from year to year. Each height-mark was color-coded and dated to identify each child’s rising…

The Incredible Brain! Develop Mental Strength

I can do hard things! One of the greatest life skills we can help our children to develop is mental strength. We want to help them gain mental skills and attributes like gratitude, grit, hope, peace, forgiveness, confidence,…

Helping Children Remember

Helping children remember  You’ve probably heard this axiom before, that children remember... 10% of what they READ 20% of what they HEAR 30% of what they SEE 50% of what they SEE and HEAR 70% of…

Kindling the Flame

Kindling the Flame  By the 1940s, over 5,000 fire-watch towers, manned by  Forest Rangers, stood guard over our U.S. National Parks. At the first sighting of errant smoke, the Ranger would communicate with firefighters, giving…