This year’s back-to-school season twisted me inside out. Maybe I’ve just been through too many presentations on “authentic learning.” Maybe it’s because this year, with kids ages 14, 12 and 9 in three different school divisions, I have too many back-to-school events to attend.

In classrooms across America, teachers strive to provide engaging lessons and meaningful homework, but more often than not, our students are not learning how to learn.

Kids walk out of their classrooms armed with study guides, notes, and chapters to read, but they don’t know how to put that information into storage for retrieval tomorrow, next week, or three months from now. Here are four easy ways to help your child study smarter:

“Without geography, you’re nowhere.” - Jimmy Buffett

How many times during your school career do you remember thinking, "when will I ever need to know this?" State capitals, multiplication tables, Presidents of the United States - some of these things seem to fade into the murk as we get older.

While the thought of a big math test can make even the most confident student stressed out, for some kids, the feelings associated with math go far beyond garden-variety stress. For these students, a feeling of intense anxiety develops - to the point that they are no longer able to think clearly. But how can parents tell whether their child's emotions are a real problem or just an excuse to avoid an uncomfortable academic subject?

My parents belonged to my elementary school’s PTA. Them and about five others. I don’t what they actually did at the PTA meetings because they were held behind the closed doors of the faculty lounge that reeked of stale coffee, cigarettes and boredom.

I could drive my kids to school every day, but I choose not to. They both take the school bus and I honestly feel like I’m doing them a favor by not providing mom chauffeur service. Because every time that big yellow bus pulls away from the curb, I’m preparing them for the real world. Here’s what it teaches them:

A few weeks ago I was in my doctor’s office for an annual checkup. Having known my doctor for many years, I asked how his boys, who are now in high school, were doing. He rolled his eyes and said, “They’re great…not getting much sleep, but that’s what four AP classes will do to you!” He said it as though these AP clas

I’m a relaxed mother, sometimes maybe too much so. I try never to panic and I have been forced to learn how to cope with the unexpected.

So when the head of their school told me just weeks before the school year's end that there would NOT be a class to offer my younger children next year (due to lack of students), I didn’t throw a private school parent tantrum. I believe that life throws you curve balls from time to time, and what matters most is how you decide to play them.

Tuesday was my son’s first day of kindergarten. He woke up bright and early, well before he needed to, because he was overcome with excitement. A few days earlier we purchased his school supplies, carefully going though the list his teacher had provided. It was finally the day he would get to put all his supplies in his VERY OWN DESK!