Education

What happened?
On March 5, 2014, the College Board officially announced that it would be redesigning the SAT. On April 16, 2014, it released the exam’s 211-page blueprint. The College Board said that the format is not yet final and that it is still working on the question types and scoring breakdowns.
What are your test options?

Many parents want to give their child an advantage when it comes to education, private schools can be a great choice. These schools can offer higher academic expectations, more of a focus on values and self-discipline, community service, leadership, and a focus on the arts. Unfortunately, for most families, they are financially out of reach.  The good news is that there are ways to get many of the benefits of private school on a budget.

Steve and Nicole Grill are proud to be the new local franchisee owners of Tutor Doctor Santa Clarita. Tutor Doctor is one of the largest one on one in-home tutoring services for kids, teens and adults of all ages for all subjects. We focus on making a “Magical Match” between our tutors and families. We work around the families and student’s busy schedule’s to provide tutoring that will inspire curiosity, nurture and cultivate ideas, and enable the student’s to become independent creative problem solvers. Their business includes: Santa Clarita, Valencia, Stevenson Ranch, Canyon Country, Newhall, Saugus, Castaic, Northridge, Chatsworth and Winnetka.

Having a close friend is one of the greatest buffers against many of the stressors that children face as they grow, and crucial for helping kids develop into well-rounded, happy adults. Forming friendships does not necessarily come easily and naturally for every child, but there is one essential way in which you can Hhelp facilitate the process.
Setting up a play date is the most direct way of helping to promote a friendship.

Teens in Santa Clarita have a new, informative and interactive place to get information about news and events in their City with the City of Santa Clarita’s new website, TeenSCV.com.  The site, which launched today, was developed for teens with input from teens to include the information they want most in a fun, interactive format.

With the holidays just around the corner, your might be wondering what last minute gifts you can pull together. One gift that is sure to be a hit, is the gift of music. No matter what style of music you like, or how old you are, there is something musical for everyone this holiday season. There are a variety of musical gifts to choose from, so let’s find the one right for you!

During August 2014, in Washington, D.C. I was lucky enough to see the Andrew Wyeth (1918-2009) show at the National Gallery called “Looking Out, Looking In.” It was a show that was so large, it took up multiple galleries, and displayed the collection of his watercolors showing “both the formal and conceptual aspects of looking in and out of windows.”  From 1947 over the next sixty years, Wyeth returned to painting windows again and again, and produced over three hundred paintings of that subject alone.

As the landscape of education has shifted over the past decade, students across the country are often encouraged, if not expected, to seek outside help to get ahead in school.
With increasing reliance on standardized tests and pressures of college enrollment, preparing your student now for academic challenges ahead is more important than ever.  As coursework becomes more demanding and expectations rise, the importance of individualized instruction continues to grow.

At a Classical school, the student actively engages with the ideas of the past and present — not just reading about them, but evaluating them, tracing their development, and comparing them to other philosophies and opinions. There’s a very practical way to engage in this conversation of ideas: Read, talk about, and write about the Great Books.
The study of Great Books allows the past to speak for itself, combining history, creative writing, philosophy, politics, and ethics into a seamless whole.

Santa Clarita has lots of activities for young people. Parks abound in paseo-wrapped neighborhoods. Complexes like Central Park and the Aquatic Center offer running tracks, soccer fields, and pools. That’s just the athletic side. Kids who want to perform or draw (and that includes these athletes) have dance and theater troupes, youth orchestras, and, of course, visual arts activities that include drawing, painting and photography. And, supporting artistic activities in this Valley is the city’s Arts Commission.

We all know that learning to play music can be a fun, challenging, and often rewarding experience, especially for children. Yet, what most people never realize is how much of an integral part music can play in shaping not only a child’s social skills, but also their developmental progress,...

The Z Club of Saugus High School has been chartered by Zonta International (ZI)!!  Zontians from the Zonta Club of Santa Clarita Valley will mentor high school students who have formed the first local Z Club. 
Z clubs are internationally known high school affiliates of ZI that are established to expose students to strong mentors and advocate for improving the opportunities available to women and girls.   The mission of ZI is to advance the status of women worldwide through service, advocacy, and awareness. 

This is an exciting time of year for children as they create their wish lists and have visions of the gifts that they “must have.”  However, as we grow older we begin to realize that part of the true excitement and joy of this season is in giving gifts rather than receiving them.  At the Saugus Union School District, we experience the excitement and joy of giving and receiving gifts all year long.

The Sulphur Springs School District has been working hard to redesign its website and build a custom iOS and Android app.  The goal of this redesign is to assure that the district and its nine elementary schools are providing every opportunity for parents and the community at large to have access to information about the amazing events and programs happening in the Sulphur Springs School District such as the 6th grade STEAM pilot, the Junior Engineering Technology Program at Mint Canyon, arts integration, K-6 keyboarding program, Young Author’s Events, afterschool 5th grade Coding Program and the new Engineering Expo that will take place in spring.

Golden Oak is the newest addition to the Sulphur Springs School District fleet of schools.  We opened with 285 students and in seven years we have doubled our enrollment. – with no new houses being added to our boundaries.   So how did our population grow every year?  Because, we are the number one school of parent choice!
Since opening our doors, Golden Oak has been the highest achieving school in our district based on State Testing and use of a program called Accelerated Reading. 

You can play an important role in the achievements of your children by providing them with reading and learning experiences where they can be successful.   Many will agree that with education comes opportunities, success and prosperity, empowering our children to be better people while making a positive contribution to society. 

What does it mean to be thankful?  Are you thankful for the amazing things and people in your life?  This is the time of year when we take time to remember what we are thankful for.  We often think of others and what the less fortunate may be missing.  As parents and educators, we want to instill being a thankful person and showing others that we have gratitude in our hearts at a very young age.  If we start early on, this life long skill becomes a part of everything we do!

During his time as Director of Distance Learning at College of the Canyons, John Makevich oversaw the growth of one of the most comprehensive online programs available to California’s community college students.
The right people took notice, as Makevich has since moved on from the college to serve as the Director of Strategic Planning and Operations for the ambitious statewide Online Education Initiative (OEI).