Smart Learning Newsletter
Helping You Help Your Kids Rewire Their Brain to Reach Their Smart Potential
Dr. MaryJo Wagner, Editor and Publisher
Vol 1. No. 6 July 23, 2010
Contents
- What's Happening at Smart Kids Smart Parents
- Note from Dr. MaryJo
- Smart Kids Brain Game™: Cross-crawling in the Pool
Complimentary Coaching Calls:
Got parenting questions? ADHD questions? Set up a 30-minute complimentary coaching call with Dr. MaryJo Wagner. Just let me know and we'll find a mutually convenient time.
Tuesday TeleTips: Always Free. Always recorded. Always an Action Guide. But you do need to sign up
July 27: Developing Creativity in your Kids with a list of activities and ideas (Sign up and get half-off "Retrain the Brain for School Success, Series One"--it's the first six Tuesday TeleTips in case you missed them.)
August 3: Brain Games: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know (inluding 3 fabulous Smart Kids Brain Games™)
August 10: ADHD: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know (including reviews of two commercial programs)
If there's something you'd like me to include in Tuesday TeleTips, just let me know
"The Smart Parents Show" every Thursday, 2 pm Eastern on Your Online Radio starting in Sept.
Sept. 2: "Aromatherapy for ADHD" with Barbara Schwartz
Sept. 9: "ADHD and Families" with Dr. Rory Stern
Sept. 16: "The SuperConfitelligent Child" with Denise Hornbeak
I'm looking for guests for the show. If you know someone who should be on this show, let me know. Or contact them yourself so they can contact me themselves.
Ongoing Audio Classes at Smart Kids Smart Parents:
*ADHD Success Strategies for Your Kids. Includes 122 strategies, activities, and programs to help kids manage ADHD and ADHD-like behavior. Begin your audio class immediately with your instant access and download. No waiting for a specific date and time, hoping it fits into your schedule. Sign up now for your ADHD Success Strategies.
*Brain Games Online Workshops. You'll get immediate access to Workshop One. Then another workshop every two weeks for six months. 12 workshops in all. Discover all the Brain Games, how to do them, when to do them, and so much more. Get your Brain Games Online Workshop Today.
Watch for the BIG back to school special from Smart Kids Smart Parents. I'll be announcing it next week.
Coming in the Fall at Smart Kids Smart Parents
*Meetup for Moms in Denver. Watch for more information. It's going to be fun, interactive, and informative.
Note from Dr. MaryJo
Back from vacation. Of course, it was great fun but it's always good to get back to the office too. Granted, I could have done without the heat wave in Denver. Reached 102 on Saturday!
So just a reminder that I'm discontinuing the "Smart Parents Tips," shortening the "Smart Learning Newsletter," and sending it to you every Friday.
Lots going on in the offices of Smart Kids Smart Parents right now. Playing with video--nothing to post yet! And starting a book--it's my story of being an adopted only kid, of struggling with ADHD, and all the adventures in between. It's called "Four Families and a Baby with Two Names."
Back to this week's newsletter: you're about to discover a fun variation on a common Brain Game that kids can do in the swimming pool during summer vacation. You can do it too. I actually learned it at a water aerobics class for grown-ups.
Let me know what you think. What you'd like to see. Just use the contact form. And tell your friends, other parents, grandparents, your child's teacher, anybody who works and plays with kids to subscribe to the Smart Learning Newsletter. It's the Smart thing to do. Tell them to sign up at http://www.smartkidssmartparents.com/sign-up/ We've got a snazzy new sign-up page now to go with the new look of the "Smart Learning Newsletter."
Enjoy!
P.S. And while you're at it, check out Smart Kids Smart Parents blog. Read the latest post about playgrounds. Be sure to vote on the playground you'd choose for your kids. Better yet, the playground they choose. Is it traditional? Or Imaginative and Adventurous?
Maybe your kids don't have ADHD after all and maybe just a change in diet will help with ADHD symptoms. To find out what looks like ADHD and isn't ADHD, I invite you to grab your copy of the FREE "Maybe They Don't have ADHD" inventory and checklist.
Discover 12 factors that can contribute to ADHD-like behavior Give it to teachers and parents. Help stop the over-diagnosis of ADHD! No more prescribing stimulant meds for kids who don't really have ADHD at all (Yes, ADHD is real but good chance your kid doesn't have it. And that's good news!
Brain Games™ Tip: Cross-crawling in the Pool
You probably know the standard cross crawl--it's in all the movement-based programs, physical therapists use it, kindergarten teachers love it.
Lift your right knee and touch it with your left elbow. Reverse. Like marching in place. This simple exercise and lots of variations help kids (and us too) cross the center mid-line to get both the right and left sides of the brain working together.
Doing well at most school activities such as reading and writing, even math, require both sides of the brain.
Kids could care less about school during summer vacation. But you can still subtly get them ready for fall by getting them to cross the mid-line of the body with fun activities.
Do a variation of jumping jacks in the shallow end of the swimming pool. Instead of arms out to the side, arms cross over the head. Instead of legs out to the side, legs cross at the ankles. Alternate crossing arms and legs left over right, then right over left. It's just another form of cross-crawling.
Move with hoola hoops. Have a hoola hoop contest. Play board games and make it a rule that you have to alternate left hand and then right hand to move your piece around the board. Have kids invent as many fun ways as possible to cross the mid-line.
Want more ways to help your kids cross the midline and other quick strategies to help your kids learn and succeed in school? Check out "Why Smart Kids Don't Learn and Other Mysteries." Includes a list of 25 ways to cross the mid-line, quizzes to determine whether you or your kids are left or right brain, Action Plans, articles, resource lists and lots more.
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Watch for next week's "Smart Learning Newsletter." You'll discover all about Brain Games and how they help kids (and parents too).
I'll also be telling you about how you can help Mayan kids in Guatemala go to school.
The oldest girl in the picture isn't going to school because she's helping support her family by selling trinkets to tourists on the streets in Panajachel and probably babysitting for her little sister. School is expensive and her family can't afford it.
In the meantime:
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