Welcome to the Parents Coffee Chat and Wiki!

This space is for FLVS parents.  We invite you to contribute stories, resources, and tips for other parents of FLVS students.  Each month, we will feature an article by a different parent, and hope that like a good cup of coffee, it makes you want to come back for more.   Pour a cup of joe and enjoy...

FLVS Parents Coffee Chat

View recordings of past coffee chats

• Topics and Dates

• October 24 - Balance and Time Management
            Link for recording:  https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2011-10-24.1512.M.6215E869EFD7138085744D70CC4DCA.vcr&sid=679 

• November 28 -  Help your child to get involved!

Sports, Clubs, Jobs, Volunteering…how do can my child get active, meet others, and build their resume?  Please join FLVS Counselors as they help to provide some ideas and resources for you to help your child get involved!

Link for recording: https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2011-11-28.1512.M.6215E869EFD7138085744D70CC4DCA.vcr&sid=679

For complete list of recordings, view the Coffee Chat Topics page.

JOIN IN A DISCUSSION!

Join us for a discussion on various topics.  If you would like to suggest a topic, please post a comment to this page and we'll add it!

PARENTS!  We would love to have you write an article about your experience, your parent/student story, your FLVS experience! Please email your article (or any questions) to Cindy Knoblauch at cknoblauch@flvs.net.

FLVS Friends Website

Check out the FLVS Friends website for updates on what is happening at the capitol and issues that are being addressed in this legislative session.  You can sign up for email updates and stay abreast of legislation that impacts FLVS families.  Visit or write your legislators and thank them for their continued support of FLVS!  Details can be found at the FLVS Friends website.

http://flvsfriends.com

“Hey…where did that ‘x’ come from?”

From the first time they rode a bike, to their first date, to their first time driving…parents have always been the foundation for teaching their child what he or she must know. Although teachers are the paid professionals of educating, it is parents who ultimately determine their child’s success through motivation, commitment, and of course teaching. We sat with our child as they learned how to add, how to count, and how to subtract. We helped with multiplication tables, long division, and how to figure out how many marbles “Sarah” had after she lost 6. However, most parents dread the day when those fun-loving numbers merge into letters.

When most adults hear quadratics, graphing, slopes, tangents, etc , it leaves them with the thought of “thank goodness I am not in school.” However, once our children reach this point, we are their at-home teacher, helper, and tutor. This is where several parents reach the point of frustration and their will to help becomes subdued by their skill to help.

I wanted to share some resources that will better equip you, the parent, to assist your child with various levels of mathematics. These resources, in my experience, have served as a tremendous help for both parents and students in understanding the core concepts of complex math.

1)      Khan Academy          (www.khanacademy.org)

Students and parents have access to an extensive video library which consists of short, easy-to-understand videos that walk through various mathematical concepts. There are tracking tools and practice pages that will help check for levels of understanding.

2)      Purple Math               (www.purplemath.com)

This site is primarily used for help with Algebra topics ranging from basic Algebra to Advanced Algebra. Mini lessons are presented to review the topics along with practice questions to assist with measuring comprehension.

3)      School Tube               (www.schooltube.com)

Schooltube is a video database of various lessons created by teachers across the world. A student or parent can simply search the topic they need and find many videos available about that concept which taught by various teaching styles to help maximize understanding.

So no longer do you have to live with “I don’t know,” but can now rest knowing that there are resources available to help you, the parent, become the mathematical motivator that they need.

--Contributed by Shawn Wigg, Algebra I Instructor