Lessons for Violin

Posts Tagged ‘Education’

I’m going to school for music education and am seeing a private teacher for voice & piano lessons. Is this tax deductible?
It’s only $94/month. Would it even make a big difference in my tax situation?
Bostonian…. I’m not talking about education credits. I’m talking about when I file my taxes at the end of the year. Can I claim my lessons as an education EXPENSE?

If President Obama has his way, next summer’s public school vacation may be sharply reduced. The president believes that American kids spend too little time in school, and this puts them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe.

He knows only too well that longer school days and school years are not particularly popular ideas in other families as well as his own, as a father of Malia, a sixth-grader, and Sasha, a third-grader. But at the same time, he’s also well aware that the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom now.

The president would like to see schools add time to classes, stay open later, and let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go. “Our school calendar is based upon the agrarian economy and not too many of our kids are working the fields today,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. It’s pretty clear that some changes may need to be made regarding the length of the school day and the length of the school year, but there’s not a lot of agreement as to what changes to make.

Obama and Duncan say kids in the United States need more school because kids in other nations have more school. “Young people in other countries are going to school 25, 30 percent longer than our students here,” Duncan told the AP. “I want to just level the playing field.” While it is true that kids in many other countries have more school days, it’s not true they all spend more time in school.

One girl from a Boston school, Domonique, initially was upset when she first learned that she was going to be part of a 3-year-old state initiative to add 300 hours of school time in nearly two dozen schools. The plan added about two hours to each school day. Early results are positive. Even reluctant Domonique, who just started ninth grade, feels differently now. “I’ve learned a lot,” she said.

Does Obama want every kid to do these things? School until dinnertime? Summer school? And what about the idea that kids today are overscheduled and need more time to play?

After all, who runs the schools anyway? Is it the adults or the kids?

It is true that kids in the U.S. spend more hours in school (1,146 instructional hours per year) than do kids in the Asian countries that persistently outscore the U.S. on math and science tests — Singapore (903), Taiwan (1,050), Japan (1,005) and Hong Kong (1,013). That is despite the fact that Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong have longer school years (190 to 201 days) than does the U.S. (180 days).

This seems to be the determining factor here. We need to ask ourselves if our American schools are adequately preparing our students to deal with the demands of math and science in an ever-changing 21st century economy. Nobody wants to find themselves left behind.

A researcher from the Brookings Institution, Tom Loveless, found that math scores rose significantly in countries that added only minutes to the day, rather than more days to the year. “Ten minutes sounds trivial to a school day, but don’t forget, these math periods in the U.S. average 45 minutes,” Loveless said. “Percentage-wise, that’s a pretty healthy increase.”

Charter schools are known for having longer school days or weeks or years. For example, kids in the KIPP network of 82 charter schools across the country go to school from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., more than three hours longer than the typical day. They go to school every other Saturday and for three weeks in the summer. KIPP eighth-grade classes exceed their school district averages on state tests.

In Massachusetts’ expanded learning time initiative, early results indicate that kids in some schools do better on state tests than do kids at regular public schools. The extra time, which schools can add as hours or days, is for three things: core academics — kids struggling in English, for example, get an extra English class; more time for teachers; and enrichment time for kids. Regular public schools are adding time, too, though it is optional and not usually part of the regular school day. Their calendars are pretty much set in stone.

Several schools are going year-round by shortening summer vacation and lengthening other breaks. Many schools are going beyond the traditional summer school model, in which schools give remedial help to kids who flunked or fell behind. Summer is a crucial time for kids, especially poorer kids, because poverty is linked to problems that interfere with learning, such as hunger and less involvement by their parents.

That makes poor children almost totally dependent on their learning experience at school, said Karl Alexander, a sociology professor at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University, home of the National Center for Summer Learning.

Disadvantaged kids, on the whole, make no progress in the summer, Alexander said. Some studies suggest they actually fall back. Wealthier kids have parents who read to them, have strong language skills and go to great lengths to give them learning opportunities such as computers, summer camp, vacations, music lessons, or playing on sports teams.

“If your parents are high school dropouts with low literacy levels and reading for pleasure is not hard-wired, it’s hard to be a good role model for your children, even if you really want to be,” Alexander said.

Extra time is not cheap. The Massachusetts program costs an extra $1,300 per student, or 12 percent to 15 percent more than regular per-student spending, said Jennifer Davis, a founder of the program. It received more than $17.5 million from the state Legislature last year.

Aside from improving academic performance, Education Secretary Duncan has a vision of schools as the heart of the community. Duncan, who was Chicago’s schools chief, grew up studying alongside poor kids on the city’s South Side as part of the tutoring program his mother still runs.

“Those hours from 3 o’clock to 7 o’clock are times of high anxiety for parents,” Duncan said. “They want their children safe. Families are working one and two and three jobs now to make ends meet and to keep food on the table.”

Newsmakers
CO Architects, an L.A. firm specializing in medical school and research laboratory design, has named Kent Brown director of science and technology.

Read more on Los Angeles Business Journal

Fort Worth students learn music at I.M. Terrell camp
It sounded like a chorus of fluttering birds Friday as children played scales on their wind instruments, showing off their new skills for families and capping a special week of song.

Read more on Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Sex education constrained by teacher embarrassment – study
Some children are not receiving good sex education lessons because their teachers find the subject embarrassing, UK inspectors suggested yesterday.

Read more on Times of Malta

THURSDAY’S COMMUNITY CALENDAR
Elm Park Concert Series Beatles For Sale, 6:30 p.m. July 22. Park Avenue and Highland Street, Worcester. Free canoe rides courtesy of Massachusetts Audubon Society.

Read more on Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Still Water Community Church announces VBS
SWCC brings Egypt to life. It’s time for Vacation Bible School, and at Still Water Community Church the excitement is building. Vacation Bible School is from 6 to 8:30 p.m. June 20 to 25 at Still Water Community Church, 8401 Princeton Road.

Read more on The Rowlett Lakeshore Times

Education promises fly with Abbott visit
A COALITION government would increase the Education Tax Rebate, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott announced.

Read more on Bayside Bulletin

The moment we speak about complete education, we instinctively associate art and music to the core curriculum. Art and music add value to the overall development of a kid’s psychology. It affects the little one’s perceptions about the things around him, making him a better and reasoned person as an adult. From the time a kid associates himself with the world, the first thing he recognizes is his mother’s lullaby. It is this lullaby that is a kid’s first association with music. Have you ever noticed the glow in the kid’s eyes when he hears Kids personalized music? It’s the beginning of a life long affair with art and music.

Art & Music – A Kid’s First Teachers

Music for a kid is the art of expressing emotions. The kid learns that the subtle language of love and care is different from the other noise around him. The very first thing he learns is the education that reaches his soul, purifying his thoughts and reasoning process. If we talk about science, mathematics, history, social science, all these subjects come later in a kid’s life. All this education would prove meaningless, if the kid doesn’t grow up to be a responsible, logical and sensible human being.

By helping the kid’s reasoning sense develop well, kids personalized music helps develop great problem solving attitude in him. Art and music ensure that the kid develops self-confidence, empathy, logical attitude, creativity and social responsibility. Our foremost desire should be to make the education system complete in all respects.

Communication Made Simple

As music and arts help communicate effectively, kids love to express their emotions in terms of music or a painting. The melody, rhythm and harmony in music reach his brain in waves teaching him to differentiate between good from bad. Similarly, when he learns to draw his first amateurish painting, he learns how to express himself in colors. Kids learn functional communication, cognition, and interaction, hence adding getting into academic learning in a more proficient manner.

You may have noticed young kids making hand and facial gestures while listening to kids personalized music, it makes them overcome the fear of expressing themselves in public. They communicate with ease and in a better manner than ever.

Art and Music Build Strong Personality

Kids are like wet clay which needs to be given a proper shape from childhood. Strong morals and sense of responsibility is built through a kid’s participation in various forms of art and music. We can not build a race that has strong morals if we can not get to touch their souls. And, expression via music and arts is one way we can provide subtle lessons that would stay with them for their life.

You can try making your kid listen to personalized kids CDs, which are full of nice songs with a moral hint to it. Music is generally loved by kids, and you would not have to force anything on the kid. You would notice that without much effort you have instilled essential values in your kid.

Academic and Sensory Education

Even though one may think how art and music affect our daily life, the answer is simple. While other subjects only mean academic, arts and music are not only academic but also sensory, meaning they please the senses. These activities involve imagination and judgment that are essential for the complete development of a kid’s growing body and mind.

It is crucial that the syllabus designed for them integrates the physical as well as mental needs of a student. It should sensitize the neuromuscular system in the body that helps the kid meet challenges through out his life. Arts and music invigorate the kid’s mind sharpening the thought process by developing reading and hearing skills. Personalized kids CDs are an added advantage as they build the interest into music and pave the way for kids to a new motivating and fascinating world.

As you know general education is very valuable. General education becomes more profound and effective when your child starts taking music lessons. However, I am not talking about music lessons taken in a regular public school curriculum. Instead, I would like to talk about private instruction, where children work one-on-one with a professional music teacher and are taught how to master music.  

In order to find out about the advantages of playing musical instruments, all you have to do is read a few articles on how the small motor skills influence the development of a child. Besides improving his/her ability to speak, it also stimulates his/her abilities in many other ways. Some of these can be noticed at first glance. 

So, let’s say that you agree that music lessons will greatly benefit your child. Moreover, all children to some extent like music and each one is ready for musical education in their own time. Your role as a parent is to notice your child’s interest in music and help them prepare for the lessons and organize the educational process. Participation in motivating and supporting his/her interest in music lessons is important.  

If you were to make the teacher responsible for your child learning how to master music, there is definitely a ninety-nine percent chance out of a hundred you would encounter problems during the course of the music lessons. You would spend your time reminding your child to do his/her homework and convincing him/her how important homework is. 

Teaching your child how to master music could involve giving them unpleasant lectures about their responsibility in the learning process. However, there is some good news. You are not alone. This happens to most parents who know nothing about musical education. It has also happened to those parents who had a similar experience during their own childhood. This happens because parents do not have special musical education.  

I do not mean that moms and dads have to know how to read music although this would be great. I am talking about the basic issues parents encounter preparing their child for music lessons themselves. One example of an issue is how to make a regular child into a musical child. As long as a family has basic knowledge and resources they should be able to develop a child’s musical ear as long as the child was born without any hearing impediments. If the child has good hearing there is almost a one hundred percent guarantee that with the parents help the child will develop a musical ear. Even parents with no musical talents can help their child become a musician. 

How can a parent learn to assist their child in his/her musical education? Reading and learning about other people’s experiences of which a few examples can be found in the book “Voices of our children”. This book contains real life stories which serve as examples. You can read and learn from other people’s experiences! It is easy and informative! 

Let’s say you got lucky and it is clear that your child is musically inclined. Now your job is to find out the level of his/her musical abilities. The first thing most parents do in this case is start looking for a music teacher who’d tell them that their child is meant to be a musician. This is an absolutely a right and sound decision and nobody is going to argue with you.  

The next step is to find a good music teacher and buy (or rent) a musical instrument. You may say this is all fine and good, but what does the musical education for parents have to do with all this? What do you mean by this? Everyone knows that in order for a child to learn music all you need is a good specialist and the parent’s job is to find a good specialist and pay for the lessons! You are partially right but don’t be in a hurry to rush to any conclusions. Now we’ll take a little break from the subject of teaching a child how to master music. We will come back to it later, because from this moment on everything that happens to your child deserves close attention and discussion.