A new law that took effect with the 2020-2021 school year requires every Illinois public high school senior to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in order to graduate. With students struggling with remote education and family finances perhaps stretched by the pandemic, college plans may seem more up in the air than … Continue reading Illinois Student Assistance Commission’s Free FAFSA Help
Safe2Help Illinois Aims to Reduce Suicide, Bullying, and School Violence
Teen suicide, bullying, school violence, and other threats to school safety are a far too common part of today’s schools. Illinois has now launched a new school safety program called Safe2Help Illinois to address those issues. The program is aimed at getting students to seek help before harm. Central to the program is a free app, website, … Continue reading Safe2Help Illinois Aims to Reduce Suicide, Bullying, and School Violence
Notes from the Backpack Season 3—Even Better
Illinois PTA highlighted National PTA’s podcast Notes from the Backpack about a year ago as the first season finished up. The award-winning podcast is starting its third season, and PTA’s Center for Family Engagement is even more focused on providing the information that families need now and the resources to help spread the word. The third season has … Continue reading Notes from the Backpack Season 3—Even Better
Modifying Your Child’s IEP or 504 for Distance or Hybrid Learning
This spring, when schools closed and teachers struggled to shift to online learning, some students were left behind. Many of them were students with special needs. Now that schools are starting up for the fall, whether in person, online, or a hybrid of the two, families with special needs students may be worried their child … Continue reading Modifying Your Child’s IEP or 504 for Distance or Hybrid Learning
Work with Your Child’s Teacher with Ready to Partner Resources
We’re big fans of Learning Heroes, and we’ve talked about their Readiness Check before. Now, in partnership with National PTA and Univision, Learning Heroes has launched Ready to Partner, a research-based bilingual resource to help parents and teachers work together for what will certainly be a different sort of school year. The Ready to Partner … Continue reading Work with Your Child’s Teacher with Ready to Partner Resources
20 Questions to Help You with Back-to-School Choices
We at Illinois PTA are big fans of National Public Radio’s (NPR) Life Kit podcasts and articles, especially the parenting-focused ones. Now, as we head into an uncertain back-to-school time, they have released a 15-minute podcast and article on 20 Questions to Help Decide What’s Best for Your Kids (and You) This School Year. Whether … Continue reading 20 Questions to Help You with Back-to-School Choices
Teacher-Recommended Math Apps and Online Tools
Of all the things parents have struggled with during the shift to online learning, helping their child with math probably ranks close to the top. Edutopia spoke with hundreds of teachers and sorted through over 500 comments to find the math tools that they found most useful this past spring. The result was a list … Continue reading Teacher-Recommended Math Apps and Online Tools
Supporting Learning at Home
As Illinois heads towards back-to-school time, families are again facing the possibility of their children either starting the year with online classes or perhaps moving to online classes later should cases of COVID-19 increase in their area. After the sudden shift to online learning this spring, some parents and caregivers may be concerned about how … Continue reading Supporting Learning at Home
Get Digital—Facebook’s New Resources for Youth, Families, and Educators
Our children were already spending a lot of time online, and with online learning and shelter-at-home requirements, are probably spending a lot more now. Facebook has created a new collection of resources to support families, youth, and educators as they help children navigate online. The aim of Get Digital is to start conversations with children … Continue reading Get Digital—Facebook’s New Resources for Youth, Families, and Educators
How to Talk to Your Kids About Racism
Parenthood comes with a lot of difficult conversations that you need to have with your child. For some of those conversations, you might be comfortable with the information, but struggle with talking with your child about it. For others, you might feel you don’t know enough to even start the conversation. With the protests following … Continue reading How to Talk to Your Kids About Racism
Make Sure Your Child Doesn’t Have a “COVID Slide”
We’ve talked about the “summer slide” before, and with this year’s shift to online learning due to the pandemic, many are concerned that the “COVID slide” could put students behind where they were at the start of the school year last fall. Longtime National PTA partners Learning Heroes has resources to help you determine what … Continue reading Make Sure Your Child Doesn’t Have a “COVID Slide”
Improve Your Child’s Emotional Intelligence
One of the things that has become clear during the pandemic is that supporting children’s emotional needs will be critical to a successful return to school. Great Schools has six suggestions for different age ranges on how you can help build up your child’s emotional intelligence at home. Students with high emotional intelligence (often referred … Continue reading Improve Your Child’s Emotional Intelligence
Parents’ Guides to TikTok
As a parent, it often seems like your kid’s on a new social media app every other week. One of the apps that has popped up on every teen’s phone lately is TikTok. Two resources can help you understand this new social media platform. National PTA has partnered with TikTok itself to create TikTok Tips … Continue reading Parents’ Guides to TikTok
Caring for Your Kids if You Have COVID-19
COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, has upended our lives—schools are closed, we’re working from home or our employer is closed, and we are staying at home except for essential trips. While this is difficult, it is also an essential step to preventing hospitals from being overwhelmed as the virus spreads. Though we’re busy adjusting … Continue reading Caring for Your Kids if You Have COVID-19
How to Talk to Your Child About COVID-19
Schools and restaurants are closed. You may be working from home. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has upended everyone’s life, and your child may have questions about what is going on, whether they are safe, and more. Today’s post is from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about how to talk to your … Continue reading How to Talk to Your Child About COVID-19
A Parent’s Guide to ADHD
Every child is fidgety or easily distracted at times, but perhaps you suspect it might be something more with your child. Perhaps your child has already been diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In either case, the Child Mind Institute has created a guide to ADHD for parents. Children with ADHD can struggle with settling … Continue reading A Parent’s Guide to ADHD
How Learning Happens—Tools for PTAs and Families
It’s no secret that Illinois PTA is a big fan of Learning Heroes, both for their great resources for families and their eye-opening research. Learning Heroes has now collaborated with the National Commission on Social, Emotional, & Academic Development to create a communications playbook on How Learning Happens. The playbook includes videos, social media assets, … Continue reading How Learning Happens—Tools for PTAs and Families
Helping Your Anxious Child
We covered how childhood anxiety is a significant and growing concern, and we’ve also reported on items from National Public Radio’s (NPR) Life Kit, created in partnership with Sesame Workshop. Recently, NPR and Sesame Workshop added an article on how to help your child when they are struggling with anxiety. The story is also available … Continue reading Helping Your Anxious Child
National PTA’s Notes from the Backpack Podcast
You probably know that National PTA has a wealth of resources to help you support your child’s education, but perhaps you’re a little short on time to hunt them down and read through them. This fall, National PTA launched its Notes from the Backpack podcast as part of their Center for Family Engagement. Each podcast … Continue reading National PTA’s Notes from the Backpack Podcast
Talking to Your Teen About Vaping
Illinois PTA has highlighted the issues surrounding vaping and teens for many years and continues to focus on the issue in alignment with our 2018 resolution on Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). We’ve also highlighted National Public Radio’s (NPR) partnership with Sesame Workshop that created their Parenting: Difficult Conversations podcast, a part of NPR’s Life … Continue reading Talking to Your Teen About Vaping
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