Newsletter

Read Past Newsletters Every Tuesday, Natalie answers questions from subscribers, breaks down important education news, and shares tips to help your children thrive in school. Subscribe here: https://newsletter.primaryfocus.tv/

Newsletter

🦅 We Need To Talk About The Department of education

What's the department of education do...and why are they trying to take it away?

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Great Books for 5 year olds: Gift Guide

Need a gift for a four year old? These books are must-haves in every four year old's child's library! Four year olds can comprehend a lot more now! Select books with more characters and interesting plot lines. The love series with repeated characters and scenes.

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Great Books for 4 year olds: Gift Guide

Need a gift for a four year old? These books are must-haves in every four year old's child's library! Four year olds can comprehend a lot more now! Select books with more characters and interesting plot lines. The love series with repeated characters and scenes.

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Why Every Grandparent Should Read to Their Grandchildren

Reading to grandchildren builds lasting bonds while boosting their learning. Discover how this simple activity creates connections and supports early literacy.

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Is Pre K Necessary?

Many parents wonder: Is preschool or pre-k necessary for my child? The simple answer is no—your child isn’t required to attend. However, it’s important to ensure they still have meaningful learning experiences to help them grow socially, emotionally, and academically.

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How Grandparents Can Help Grandkids be Kindergarten-Ready

Starting kindergarten is a huge milestone for a young child. There are a lot of firsts which can be overwhelming for a four-, five-, or six-year-old. As their grandparent, you can take small intentional steps to help prepare your grandchild for school.

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I Apologize... You Are Doing Enough

Feeling guilty about summer learning loss? You are probably doing enough. But if you want to keep learning, just do this 1 easy tip...

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Summer Time Dysregulation

As a parent, how do you support your child's regular school-year routine while navigating summer fun? The answer may surprise you...

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Use it or Lose it! Prevent Summer Learning Loss

The same way you may prune a plant, a child's brain prunes synapses that it is not using (synaptic pruning). Learn to prevent summer learning loss with these easy tips!

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Routines to Prepare your Child for Middle School

So, you have a rising middle schooler? Whether your child is starting middle school now, or in a few years. Here are some things to consider...

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Reflection: 2 Years Since I Quit Teaching

❤️‍🩹 My first year out of the classroom was for healing 🪴 My second year was for growing

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When it comes to kindergarten, Independence is everything

Independence is not a natural thing, the good news is that it's not rocket science to teach it. Here are 3 simple ways to build independence at home...

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Do Kids HAVE to go to preschool?

People ask me, should I send my child to preschool? Preschool can be a great experience for children, but it's not a viable option for all families.

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What's Summer Learning Loss?

This is a time of year teachers dread: summer break. Over the course of 2 months, children can lose up to 6 months of learning. This is called summer learning loss aka summer slide.

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My child failed a test we thought they'd ace

I had an interesting conversation with a parent the other day. Their first grader was doing well in school all year, no signs for concern. Two weeks ago, they took their NWEA/ MAPs test and BOMBED IT.

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😴 Do kids still NAP in kindergarten?

Kindergarten is much more rigorous than it was when we were kids. Once upon a time, kids went to half day kindergarten and it looked a lot more like preschool...but has everything changed?

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Easy Tip: Stop your child from procrastinating during homework

🕵️‍♂️ Some children are so good at avoiding homework, they could be secret agents. There's one technique that could change their tune about this...

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🤯 2 hours of homework??

Homework has always been a controversial topic. But when it comes to homework policies, it feels like parents get left out of the conversation. So what should you do when it's all too much?

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Target Circle Week Picks: Spring Fashion, Sandals, Patterned Rugs, and Skincare

Target Circle Week starts Sunday April 7-13. They are not paying with these mark downs! Here are my top picks for the sale starting with women's spring fashion, women's sandals, cute rugs, and skincare.

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🚫 This won't fly in school:

Teachers will never let your child say this...

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What's going on with North Carolina School Vouchers?

North Carolina, like many states, has been pushing school vouchers to supplement the cost of private schools. But over the last month the inequity of this program was revealed

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How do I teach my child to embrace other cultures?

This is exactly why multicultural education is so important. It helps us understand that people are just people- and we should see our differences as interesting and worth celebrating. The good news is, it's easy to incorporate multiculturalism into your routine.

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🍀 3 spring holidays that aren't St Patrick's Day

Every spring there are a multitude of festivals and holidays celebrated around the world. Many of them will be observed in your own town. I picked out 3 that are really fun and more likely to have celebrations you could attend.

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😰 Will my child be BULLIED for this?

Recently, I've had a few consultation calls with parents of rising kindergartners. I've been asked this question by them and followers so many times I had to address it. Let's talk about summer babies...

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Hack: Kids Mental Health Meets Reading

When reading fiction with your child there's one reading comprehension question you should always be asking. How is the character feeling right now?