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TIP # 4 KNOW WHERE TO GET HELP Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. ~ Barack Obama   Why is this Important?  It is very frustrating for kids when they come upon something they don't know how to do while trying to complete their homework.  Getting stuck can really derail concentration for some kids.  That’s why it is good to know, ahead of time, what your child should do if she gets stuck. What You Can Do: Teachers sometimes use the “Ask 3 Before Me” rule.  This means that before kids go to the teacher for help, they are encouraged to try to solve the problem themselves by asking/using three other sources first.  At home, there may not be three other people to go to for help besides you, but you can brainstorm possibilities: friends, maybe even a pre-arr

  Want to know if 10 Quick Homework Tips  by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly is worth reading? Since we published it, certainly we believe it is. However, as evidence, take a look at the endorsements of others. GOLD WINNER for EDUCATION KOPS-FETHERLING INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS Reader's Favorite evaluation: Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly's 10 Quick Homework Tips is an excellent manual for all parents to help them deal with homework and use the Homework Agreement so that pressure can be taken off the family. The tips are simple and easy to apply so that an organized atmosphere conducive to learning can be created at home. It is a good way to work towards building a space that is just right for the child to finish the homework and produce quality work. The approach to the topic is excellent and makes it easy for both parents and children to deal with homework better so that it is manageable and the ambiance at home is healthy and positive.   Purchase: Kindle versio

So, last month when my trainer was having her baby, she gave me homework for the time she would be out. I found the homework so useful that I continued it even after she came back. Just the right aount for me right now, and I can start to see some small (wish it were large, but it is small) differences. Still, a year and a half ago, I was much pudgier, 11 pounds heavier, and with no muscles. So, since pictures do not lie (well, not usually and not unless doctored), here is my first attempt at recroding some progress. The pictue is so helpful, I will start to do updates for my 6-month assessments. (Short-term goals are as motivating as andmore doable than long-term goals.) For the record, here is the daily homework: 30 minutes of cardio (yeah, I get to choose and to mix and match) 100 abs (another choice and can mix and match) 50 squats Monday, Regular Tuesday. Sumo Wednesday. Chair Thursday. Jump  Friday. Front lunges Sat-Sun. Burpess (really difficult right now,

  Today's fortune cookie comes from 10 Quick Homework Tips by Cindy Alder and Patti Trombly. See more posts by and about Cindy Alder and Patti Trombly and their books HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.  Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact information on our  Authors' Pages .    

  There are many things, obviously, that contributed to Carl's death from cancer. No one thing is the isolated reason (generally). Among those "things," though, is lack of movement.  Carl was obese. It was hard for him to move, and, therefore, he did not like to do so. He accompanied me to the gym and worked with my trainer, but he balked at most of what she asked him to do. She assigned us "homework." Not all of it was enjoyable, but I did it because it was helping me build strength, endurance, and flexibility -- and so the results were enjoyable. Carl was unwilling to do the homework, no matter how simple and minimal she made it for him. Not even a couple of minutes a day. He watched me work out with m y homework, typically about 30 minutes each evening. Although I asked him to do his small exercises of 4-5 minutes instead of just sitting on the couch, watching me, he did not want to and so did not. If I sound frustrated, it is because I am. He might be alive

  photo by Frank Perez It is Tuesday. Time to talk turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Yesterday, I received a book proposal in the mail. Well, a proposal of sorts. The author had not his homework; he thought he was writing to a literary agent! Without any more prefacing, let me quote word-for-honest-by-gosh word the first paragraph: "I know that you have a set fee for helping me to get this manuscript to any one of the many interested book publisher, and that the most standard fees for your work ranges between10% and 15% which is fine with me. However, I would like to make a suggestion for you to present to any of them you may find that are willing to take on these works; this opt

  Books on discount through Kindle (Kindle Countdown) Books on discount through Kindle (Kindle Countdown) Creative Aging   (Vassiliadis & Romer) USA Best Books Awards finalist 11/6 - 11/13 El Poder de lo Transpersonal  (Ustman) 11/7 - 11/14 Healing from Incest  (Henderson & Emerton) Book of the Year Award finalist 11/9 - 11/15 How to Live from Your Heart  (Hucknall) Book of the Year Award finalist 11/10 - 11/17 Books on discount at  MSI Press webstore /books available while supplies last: 10 Quick Homework Tips  (McKinley-Alder & Trombly) 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents: Fun Ways to Help Your Child Succeed in Elementary School  (McKinley-Alder & Trombly) $5 book sale at  MSI Press webstore /books available while supplies last 100 Tips and Tools for Managing Chroni c Illness (Charnas) 108 Yoga and Self-Care Practices for Busy Mamas  (Gentile) For posts on any of these books or their authors, type in the name in the search bar; you will have plenty to read! Sign up for th

  Books on discount through Kindle (Kindle Countdown) Books on discount through Kindle (Kindle Countdown) Creative Aging (Vassiliadis & Romer) USA Best Books Awards finalist 11/6 - 11/13 El Poder de lo Transpersonal (Ustman) 11/7 - 11/14 Healing from Incest (Henderson & Emerton) Book of the Year Award finalist 11/9 - 11/15 How to Live from Your Heart (Hucknall) Book of the Year Award finalist 11/10 - 11/17 Books on discount at  MSI Press webstore /books available while supplies last 10 Quick Homework Tips  (McKinley-Alder & Trombly) 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents: Fun Ways to Help Your Child Succeed in Elementary School  (McKinley-Alder & Trombly) $5 book sale at  MSI Press webstore /books available while supplies last 100 Tips and Tools for Managing Chroni c Illness (Charnas) 108 Yoga and Self-Care Practices for Busy Mamas  (Gentile) For posts on any of these books or their authors, type in the name in the search bar; you will have plenty to read! Sign up for the

In one of her latest posts, Franki Bagdade writes about writing homework: Holy Cr-- my kid has writing homework! Can someone please cue the Jaws theme song? When schools went virtual for the first time (I can't believe that I have to distinguish that), any time my son had to write anything it came with a side of tears. This is Mr. 9, Mr. Happy Go Lucky, Mr. Chill 3rd Child! When he has a meltdown, I find my mind goes completely blank. Even though I teach, speak and write about meltdowns for a living, I have no clue what to do! This is because this kid is so zen that he barely has them. Therefore, I don't have a tool box in my memory full of strategies that work the way I do with the other two. Instead, I start to sweat and swear in my head (at least I think it's always in my head...). Somewhere in the third week of the pandemic I decided to approach this the way I would if it happened in the classroom or if a parent in therapy asked me for advice for their child. As

Released today: 10 Quick Homework Tips . with special advise for activities during a quarantine. Written by two teachers with 40 years of combined experience: Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly.   Check out their other book that also has many activities that can be done during a pandemic: 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents . And here is another source of hood activities to help during quarantine from Black Parenting Magazine: click here .

  Cindy Alder, co-author of 10 Quick Homework Tips and 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents was cited in a Yahoo News article by Emily Pierce, " How Parents Can Offer Homework Help ." Read more posts about Cindy and her books  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter.

Back Story  of  365 Teachers Secrets for Parents: Fun Ways to Help Your Elementary Child Succeed in School  by Cindy McKinley Alder & Patti Trombly Nearly 30 years ago, I met Patti in the back row of a grad school classroom at Eastern Michigan University.  Our professor had us begin the class by writing out a “Bliss List”: all the things that made us happy.  When we compared lists, we were shocked to see they were almost identical! We were both due to have our first babies in a few months, both elementary school teachers, both working on a Masters in Reading, and both had a weakness for soft pretzels. We didn’t know it at the time, but that day sparked a decades-long friendship. Throughout the years, Patti taught upper elementary, and I taught the lower grades.  We met weekly with our four kids and, of course, always ended up talking about teaching and how eager the parents were to find ways to help their kids at home.  I eventually decided to stay home with my kids more and became