EDUCATION MATTERS—SANFORD SCHOOL'S PRIVATE SCHOOL BLOG

What does it actually mean to be a lifer at a school?

A lifer is a student who has chosen one school to attend from first grade through their senior year of high school, although some begin in preschool. At Sanford many students choose to pick the "Warrior Way of Life", many spending fourteen plus years laughing and learning with teachers and friends. Here's what being a lifer means to us:

Lab sheets, calculations, essays, debates; so much of what students accomplish during their school day exists on the mental plane. All of these exercises, and their affiliate subjects, are crucial in molding a child’s critical thinking and quantitative reasoning skills. These are undeniably valuable when considering the scope of one’s academic career, but how often are students able to appreciate all that they are accomplishing? For developing students, the constant mental focus used to excel can be draining. Pair that with the fact that more and more students are trading in their free time for screen time, and suddenly you have an environment where mental fatigue and burnout thrive.

What better gift than to give a child the gift of meeting new people and experiencing new places? Even better, there is no assembly required! Books are an investment in a child’s future and can be enjoyed over and over again.

Lifelines, resources, motivators, and inspirations, teachers act as the students’guides through the exciting, sometimes frustrating, but always challenging world of education. They are there to prepare the students for the adult world, help them grow into kind, curious, and diligent citizens, and inspire a love of learning. But a teacher’s role is relatively passive. They can only give so much without input on the parts of the students. Students have to take advantage of these giving members of a school community in order to fully profit from the efforts of a teacher. As such, it is essential that students maintain strong relationships with their teachers to wholly exploit their potential.

How do students maintain strong relationships with their teachers?

Working Parents Can Be Involved in Your Child’s School

It is the norm in today’s families that both parents are working while their children attend school. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, both parents work outside the home in 63% of married couples with families. Yet, most working parents in a recent survey shared they also want to be involved in their child’s school. Not only are parents aware of the statistics that demonstrate student success rates increase when parents volunteer at their child's school, but they also desire to create satisfying relationships with other parents.

If you have found a private school that was the right fit for your child but didn’t think it was the right fit for your wallet, think again. A private school education can be far more affordable than you might think. Here are some tips to make a private school tuition work within your budget:

Strength is the ability to produce force against an external resistance. Speed, balance, agility, muscular endurance, and power are all functions of an athlete’s ability to produce force (Wolf 2012). Training to become stronger provides the best “bang for the buck” when preparing for an athletic season.

From academics to athletics, teaching style to use of technology, and campus facilities to classroom culture, it’s important to get to know a school before you decide if it’s the right fit for your family. One of the best ways to do this is by visiting a school during an Open House.

Writing college essays is a daunting task for most high school seniors and the cause of much friction between students and their parents in the middle of the college application process. Parents want to see applications completed and submitted well before admissions deadlines while students find thousands of ways to avoid writing their essays. Writing about oneself is never an easy task, but it is especially challenging for teenagers who are just beginning the process of self-reflection that insightful writing requires. These young writers are often apprehensive about putting pen to paper because they believe that their words, which will be evaluated by unknown admissions officers, will determine their college choices and their success in life. 

Senior year of high school can sometimes feel like the perfect storm. It is the moment in which all that the students have worked for the past three years is put to the test. College admissions anxiety can often cloud the eyes of many 12th graders as well as the sadness that comes with leaving the comfort and security of all that they have known. Though the latter cannot be avoided, there are many strategies that revolve around early preparation and anticipation that can be put towards preventing the former. Here are a few simple steps that, when taken in sophomore or junior year, can help ease the stress of the college application process: