How Should We Think about Time?

Healthy Kids Tip #30

Why Shouldn't We Assume We Understand?

Healthy Kids Tip #29

Holiday Gifts for Teens

Often when meeting parents at Back to School Night, they would ask me what they could give their children for Christmas or their birthday that would help them get ahead. I loved this question, and soon began writing a list of gift ideas on the board before any parent meeting. Here’s the list I would write on the board this year, (if I was still in the classroom) and the ages when I would give them:

1.   Seven Habits of Highly Effective Students by Sean Covey – Age 13

2.   Personality Plus by Florence Littauer – Age 14

3.   The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz – Age 15

4.   Free $ for College for Dummies by David Rosen and Caryn Mladen – Age 16

5.   The Blue Zones of Happiness by Dan Buettner – Age 17

6.   The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley – Age 18

Of course, it would be unethical to suggest families buy my own book, Free College, if I was still in the classroom, but I’m not. So, long before your child is thirteen, you need a copy of Free College. It’s for all families of Pre-K through high school students (college bound or not). Like the strategy in this article, parents start the process and students take over as they mature.  

You are reading from the blog: http://www.roadtofreecollege.com

For daily updates to help students earn free money for college, check out my Twitter feed, @elizawallace27. For even more information on college planning and scholarships, you’ll want my new book, Free College. It’s for families of Pre-K through High School students.  Scroll to the top of this page, click on the image of my book on the right, and buy it now from Amazon. 

Photo credit: Google Images

Why Should Parents Encourage Kids to Participate in School?

Winter Break Scholarship Challenge

Although many students want to go to college, few have the financial resources to do so without scholarships, grants or loans. I’m completely against loans, since they often destroy a graduate’s future. That leaves grants and scholarships. They don’t magically appear. Someone has to apply for them.

When writing my book, Free College, I realized I didn’t complete writing many chapters without having a specific goal, with a time limit. Once I set this up, the chapters seemed to write themselves. This is true for scholarship and grant applications too. I suggest setting up a routine for finding, filling out, and submitting college scholarship and grant forms.

To this end, I propose a challenge over Winter Break. For most students, this means two weeks. For others, it may be three. Whichever is the case for you, pick the number of applications you wish to submit during this time. They will all be completed online, of course, so you don’t have to worry about offices being closed. My suggestion is a minimum of one per day, better yet would be two or three.

You’ll still have time for visiting with family and friends, watching football or parades, opening presents, and eating lots of turkey or ham. Discuss your family’s travel plans with your parents in advance. Block out time on a calendar (you can print templates online for free). Then block out your sleep schedule. You’ll do a terrible job if you’re sleep deprived.

You now know when you have free time for meeting this scholarship/grant application challenge. Use a red pen to outline the times you are allotting to find, complete and submit your applications. If you have already filed at least one, you know how much time you’ll need. The average student takes about an hour, after the first one.

Sure, vacations should be fun, but why not dedicate 20 hours of the 500 over the upcoming Winter Break to applying for scholarships? Doing so might result in being awarded thousands of dollars for college. Go ahead and do it. I dare you.

For daily updates to help students earn free money for college, check out my Twitter feed, @elizawallace27. For even more information on college planning and scholarships, you’ll want my new book, Free College. It’s for families of Pre-K through High School students.  Scroll to the top of this page, click on the image of my book on the right, and buy it now from Amazon. 

You are reading from the blog: http://www.roadtofreecollege.com

Photo credit: Google Images  

Healthy Kids Tip #28

A Simple Tip to Help Reach Your Goals

Healthy Kids Tip #27

Why Should You Surround Yourself with Good People?

Healthy Kids Tip #26

More Free Cash for College

My new book, Free College, shows how to avoid massive college loan debt. It includes the steps used by successful Full-Ride Scholarship winners. It's a valuable tool for parents, grandparents, teachers and anyone in the lives of Pre-K through High School students. Help them earn more free cash for college and graduate debt free.

Free College is available now. To buy, click the image of the book cover in the upper right hand corner of this page. If interested in making a bulk purchase for your school or PTA, send an email to freecollegeinfo@earthlink.net.

What People are saying about Free College: 

“This book should be available to parents before their children enter school. A perfect handbook for student success.”
-Jeanette A. Fratto

“A much needed book depicting eye-opening methods easily employed by parents and students to maximize scholarships covering college tuition and expenses.” -Shelley Schuber

“Most people aren’t aware of what’s available. This book increases awareness, step by step.”-Jane Lewis

An amazing guide through the ins and outs of acquiring the means for a college education in the United States. Elizabeth Wallace takes you step-by-step through 17 habits that all full scholarship winners have practiced. It is written in a manner that makes these steps easy, without feeling at all overwhelmed. -Amazon Review

This is not only a guide to getting into college for free but practical ideas that will help them do what will make them successful in later life. I recommend every high school parent should own this book. - Rett Lemoult

"I was a scholarship receiver who followed the advice she makes available. Graduated with zero debt." -Elizabeth Burke

"The information in this book is beneficial at any point in a college-bound student's academic life. The book is well-written, easy-to-read, and lays out all the necessary steps in a very detailed and organized manner." -Domestic Diva (via Baby-Boomer-Retirement.com) 

For daily updates to help students earn more free money for college, check out my Twitter feed, @elizawallace27. 

You are reading from the blog: http://www.roadtofreecollege.com

Photo Credit: Free College, Elizabeth Wallace ©

Reality Check

Healty Kids Tip #25

How to Stay Sane The Day Before The Thanksgiving Holiday

The day before a holiday like Thanksgiving is usually just this side of insane at school. Students don’t want to work. Focus is lost. Just keeping the lid on seems overwhelming. Unless you have an educationally sound, kid-approved lesson that keeps them interested, occupied and engaged. Decades ago I created such a lesson. Kids loved it. I loved it. It‘s easy, academic and fun! The bonus of this lesson, it helped with student retention in foreign language classes. 

Here are the steps to follow: 

1. Completely erase the entire white board. You will want the space. 

2. Number the entire board from 1 to 35. Place holiday appropriate symbols, like pumpkins, around each number. 

3. Put a large assortment of dry erase pens at the front of the room. The more color variety the better. 

4. After school, the day before the holiday vacation, have each student in your most advanced class go to the board and draw a culturally appropriate picture next to a number. If your class is smaller than 35, they will need to draw more than one. Be sure to explain to the class the night before they need to come up with three or four ideas for their drawings. Most students are eager, although the shy need some encouragement. After this has become a tradition in your classes, you will overhear students commenting they look forward to being in the class that gets to draw the pictures. Never let an underclassman participate in putting the pictures on the board. 

5. Check each picture as they finish drawing. A few may need a little help so their drawings are clear, and some can be too obscure. You may need to edit, as students can be a bit gross at time. One Thanksgiving students drew a very vivid picture of a turkey being beheaded. I erased that one. Remember, all day students are going to see these pictures. You want to understand them, so you can give hints if necessary. My favorite was The Twilight Zone Marathon. It became a tradition in my program which was passed down each year from class to class. 

6. Before the first class arrives the next morning, place a stack of German (French, Spanish, Chinese)/English dictionaries on the first desk of each row. I always had enough dictionaries that students could work in groups of two. Three does not work. Working alone is tough. 

7. Students should look up what they see on the board, and write the German (French, etc.) on their own papers. Don’t let them put two student names on one paper. This never works. Trust me on this. One paper is turned in by each student in class.

8. They must write the definite article and the noun. If there is an adjective, like in a drawing of black cat, they must include the adjective, with the correct ending. This allows you to preview grammar not yet taught. Students are very receptive to this, and ask for help. It’s a contest. They want to win.

 9. Buy a small bag of individually wrapped candy (or stickers) and give a piece to each member of the first team finished. Be sure to check their work. Sometimes they make errors, of course. Don’t be too picky. Perfection is not the goal.

 10. After the first group finishes, and as each group finishes, they will help their classmates. You’ll find they don’t give them the answers, but give them hints instead, especially in grammar.  

11. Collect work as students finish and the rest of the papers at the end of the period. Grading is subjective. First year classes typically have a few students who finish by the end of the class period. Most, however, finish about half of the pictures. Second year will complete more. The majority complete about two-thirds of the pictures. Most third year students finish them all, as do AP/IB/fourth year students. 

12. There are several goals in this lesson. Students learn the correct way to use the dictionary. They learn the symbols and abbreviations. It removes the mind-numbing boredom a dictionary lesson creates, and replaces it with fun. 

Students learn vocabulary that’s both meaningful, and is usually more advanced than where they are in the curriculum. This they do without complaint. You are able to foreshadow grammar, so when it arrives later in the school year, you’re able to point back to what they discovered at Thanksgiving. 

Finally, it keeps students focused, doing an academic lesson without arguing at a time where students are going nuts in other classes. I had four decades of happy “day befores” while colleagues were losing their minds.

If you don’t teach a foreign language class, adapt this lesson to your curriculum. Remember to keep it fun and entertaining, but academic. 

You’re reading from the blog: https://www.roadtofreecollege.com/

Photo credit: Google Images 

If you’re interested in learning more about helping your children succeed, you can follow me on Twitter, @ElizaWallace27 or click on the image of my book, Free College, in the top right corner of this page. You'll be taken to Amazon, where you can read more about my book, and buy it now.

How Can You Explain Mindfulness to a Child

How to Improve Your Self Image

Healthy Kids Tip #24

What Do We Need for Success?

Healthy Kids Tip #23

Don't Go Looking for Happiness

Healthy Kids Tip #22

Why Is Laughter So Refreshing?

Healthy Kids Tip #21

Why Should Students Enjoy College?

Healthy Kids Tip #20

What Is Unique to Education?

Healthy Kids Tip # 19

Why Should School Be Fun?

Healthy Kids Tip #18

Why Should Parents Be Patient?

Healthy Kids Tip #17

How Does Hard Work Pay Off?

Healthy Kids Tip #16

What's the Key to Being Happy?

Healthy Kids Tip #15

Great Teachers and Parents Know the Truth of This

Healthy Kids Tip #14

Where to Find Help with Free College

Even if you have a great idea for a book, and there’s an enormous market for the subject, nothing will happen unless you learn marketing. Before I began writing Free College, I started this blog, RoadToFreeCollege.com, and joined Twitter, @ElizaWallace27. Once my book was available on Amazon, several people took notice. Their interviews, guest blog posts, and advice have been beneficial. I was lucky to meet Rick Lite, @stressfreepub, who owns stressfreebookmarketing.com while I was on Twitter.

Rick is an expert in marketing, something I need in order to help millions of people pay for college without needing student loans. His useful tips have already pointed me in the right direction several times. Recently, Rick interviewed me for his newsletter. His questions were concise and probing. You’ll learn how I came to write Free College, some of the feedback I’ve had from readers so far, and much more. I'm quite grateful for the opportunity, and for the help I've received from Rick. 

To read the interview, just click: HERE.

You’re reading from the blog: https://www.roadtofreecollege.com/

  

Photo credit: Rick Lite 

If you’re interested in learning more about helping your children succeed in school and win more college scholarships, you can follow me on Twitter, @ElizaWallace27 or click on the image of my book, Free College, in the top right corner of this page. You'll be taken to Amazon, where you can read more about my book, and buy it now.

Once a Child is Introduced to the Library, He is Never Alone

Healthy Kids Tip #13

Keep This in Mind When Taking a Risk

Healthy Kids Tip #12

Wise Words as True Today as They Were in The Past

Healthy Kids Tip #11

What Is The Key to Success?

Healthy Kids Tip #10

Why Shouldn't We Worry about Failure?

Healthy Kids Tip #9