Getting Our Kids Back on Track Educating Children for the Future

"My children spend five hours in school every day. They work very hard while they are there, and believe me, it's stressful. The last thing they need is homework. They need to come home and relax. They have a life outside of school."-mother of Fourth grade twins Compared to children from other industrialized countries, our nation's children are scholastic underachievers. But in our quest to keep our children "well-rounded" we leave little time for homework and other activities considered by many to be an important part of their education. It's obvious-our notions about promoting a child's positive self-esteem seem to contradict what is needed to achieve academic excellence. Is it too late to get our kids back on track? Not according to Janine Bempechat-an acclaimed educational researcher from Harvard and the parent of two school-aged children. Bempechat offers parents and teachers a practical guide to encourage and support children's academic success and, by doing so, bolster their self-worth. Getting Our Kids Back on Track reveals that those parents who advocate for reduced homework loads, stress-free schoolwork, and an increase in extracurricular activities are actually doing children a great disservice. Using illustrative real-life examples from her years of research, Bempechat shows how to set priorities and help children develop traits of persistence, diligence, and the ability to delay gratification. Getting Back on Track offers a wealth of advice and information including Guidelines for structuring the home to support academic achievement Tips for making homework an enriching part of daily family life Directions for supporting teachers' values as well as parents' educational priorities Pointers on how to balance schoolwork with extracurricular activities Suggestions for laying the groundwork to provide a barrier against negative adolescent peer pressure This important book offers a new vision that can inspire parents to create a structured, predictable, and consistent home environment that will help children reach their full intellectual potential. [Headline] A new model for taking kids off the "self-esteem track" and putting them on the fast track to educational excellence Getting Our Kids Back on Track is a no-nonsense guide for achieving academic success written by an acclaimed expert in the study of motivation and achievement in children. In this indispensable resource, author Janine Bempechat claims that the so-called self-esteem movement has actually worked to undermine academic excellence in our nation's schools. As an alternative, she offers parents clear-cut advice and details step by step how to create a structured, predictable, and consistent home environment that will inspire children to reach their full intellectual potential. "Practical solutions that will boost kids' competence and help parents know they can make a difference." -Michele Borba, author, Parents Do Make a Difference "Building on her research and personal experiences, Bempechat makes a passionate, provocative, and powerful plea to parents to focus on the academic achievement of their children." -Jerome T. Murphy, Harold Howe II Professor of Education and dean, Harvard Graduate School of Education "Hands-on, practical suggestions for helping children find balance in their lives. She helps parents learn how to forge effective partnerships with schools so that all our children may grow into healthy, well-educated, confident adults." -Jeffrey Young, superintendent of schools, Newton, MassachusettsBempechat, Janine is the author of 'Getting Our Kids Back on Track Educating Children for the Future', published 2000 under ISBN 9780787949914 and ISBN 0787949914.