By Amy Landsman The mom from Timonium was furious. Her sixth-grade son had been bullied, but the Baltimore County middle school both boys attend responded to the abuse by putting the bully as well as her son on a one-day suspension. Angry that her son was punished, the mom arranged …

Volunteering for a Positive Future By S C Torrington What’s your teen doing this summer? Although it may feel too early and too cold to think about events months away in the heat of July, for students looking to earn some mandated service-learning hours during their summer vacation, now is …

New School Year, New School Learning the Right Combination for Success by Joan M. Kasura Most of us remember the anticipation, the excitement, and sometimes the sheer dread that the first day of school would bring–an excitement compounded if we were entering a school for the first time. Questions swirled …

PRAISE for Middle School Boys By Joyce Heid “There’s a crisis in our classrooms. In virtually every school district across America, African American children achieve at lower levels, earn lousier test scores, are placed more frequently into special education or remedial and less challenging classes, and are discouraged from striving …

Understanding Your Middle Schooler By Mike Strzelecki They’re called the “tween” years—those tumultuous, treacherous and confusing middle school years when kids dangle precariously between childhood and adolescence. Girls keep dolls in their bedroom and edgy Avril Lavigne CDs in their boom box. They want to bear their midriff by day, …

Understanding Your Middle Schooler By Mike Strzelecki They’re called the “tween” years—those tumultuous, treacherous and confusing middle school years when kids dangle precariously between childhood and adolescence. Girls keep dolls in their bedroom and edgy Avril Lavigne CDs in their boom box. They want to bear their midriff by day, …

Learn to Listen, Listen to Learn By Molly Brown Koch Teenage daughter to her mother: “You never listen.” Mother to her teenage daughter: “I heard every word you said.” Did the daughter say exactly what she means, and did she mean what she said? If she didn’t, how can her …

By Joyce Heid Thought to be more common among boys, ADHD affects an equal number of girls. It just looks different. Beth Walker knew her daughter had a problem. “When my daughter was very young—maybe 2 or 3—I knew she was different in temperament and pace. She was a dreamy, …

By Amy Landsman The mom from Timonium was furious. Her sixth-grade son had been bullied, but the Baltimore County middle school both boys attend responded to the abuse by putting the bully as well as her son on a one-day suspension. Angry that her son was punished, the mom arranged …

Practical Advice about Practicing Music By Amy Landsman No more musical meltdowns! Here are tips for getting your kids to practice their instruments. Nancy Newcome, of Stevenson, admits that her son, Grant, now 10, was less than thrilled when several months ago she signed him up for piano lessons. “He …