If children in the South learn that cheating is wrong, they probably won’t learn it from their parents.

Web site Ask.com released results today of a nationwide survey of 778 parents with children under 18. The survey showed that more than 40 percent of parents admitted to doing their children’s homework. In the South, that percentage jumped to almost 90 percent.

“One of the reasons we assign homework is to build attitudes of responsibility,” Fox said. “A parent who does their child’s homework is not supporting their growth as an individual, as a human being.”

The survey is being used to promote the Web site’s new study help feature, Askkids.com.

The survey, conducted by Kelton Research, provided insight into differences in:

Gender. Dad is a softer touch than Mom. Mom handles English. Dad handles math. Both help with art projects.

Age. Parents 65 and older are more likely to help their children with history and social studies homework. Young parents favor English. Math is for the middle-aged.

Affluence. Rich parents help more with homework than poor parents.

Region. Parents in the South and West are more likely to help with math than those in other parts of the nation.

Donna Layer, coordinator for the Birdville school district’s guidance and counseling department, said she can’t estimate how many parents locally do their children’s homework. But Layer said that the concern comes up occasionally.

“That could cause a problem if the teacher chooses to test on information attached to a homework assignment,” Layer said.

Fox said a parent’s job is to make a place for a child to do homework that is comfortable, free from distractions and has basic supplies.

“If a child asks for help, explain the process,” she said. “Don’t do the work for them.”

Source: Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX
http://www.star-telegram.com/593/story/864455.html

Hubert Rowry’s memories of his public school education still haunt him.

As a black student growing up in Beaumont and Austin, Rowry, now 33, says he often felt isolated and ignored in school. White teachers seemed to give white students more attention than to black students, and that affected his learning and self-esteem, said the Cypress resident.

“So many things happened to me in terms of racism from teachers, principals and other students,” Rowry said. “I decided I’m not going to subject my kids to that.”

His three children, ages 8, 6 and 3, have never been in a traditional classroom. He and his wife, Chelsea, home school them.

Once seen by many blacks as something only whites do, home schooling has steadily gained momentum in the black community in the past eight years and is expected to continue to grow, say home school experts.

“Ten years ago, there were not that many people of color home schooling,” said Brian Ray, president of National Home Education Research Institute in Salem, Ore.

General dissatisfaction with public schools and increased awareness about home schooling are motivating blacks to change course, experts said.

Concerns about children missing associating with other students and the loss of a spouse’s income, however, keep many blacks who are interested in home schooling from taking the leap.

An estimated 220,000 black students were home schooled in 2007, according to the institute. In comparison, 84,000 were home schooled in 1999, according to a survey by the National Center for Education Statistics.

Studies show that home-schooled students do just as well or better than their public school peers. For example, they typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests, according to the research institute.

Blacks are home schooling for many of the same reasons whites do, Ray said. They want what they consider a safer learning environment or they want to teach their own values and beliefs. They also want to try different teaching approaches and build stronger family relationships.

Seeing inequities

Home schooling also is an opportunity for blacks to infuse their child’s learning with their cultural heritage because parents don’t feel public schools address it. Yet for others, the decision to home school is based on past educational inequities.

“Almost everybody knows in public schools, blacks are at the bottom of the totem pole,” Ray said.

Joyce Burges, of Baker, La., and founder of the National Black Home Educators, said blacks, like everyone else, want a good education for their children, but they’re realizing that “we’ve been hoodwinked and bamboozled” by the public school system.

Many blacks are pulling their children out of public school because they see quality and equality diminishing, she said.

Burges began home schooling her five children 20 years ago when the practice was still fairly new. Her son’s grade point average had slipped slightly below a B. Instead of working to help him improve his grades, the public school he attended offered Burges two options: hold him back or take him to another school, she said.

“I said, ‘No way am I going to allow you to do this type of damage to my child,’ ” Burges said. “I yanked him out and didn’t know what I was going to do.”

A friend suggested home schooling and helped her get started. At the time, she did not know any blacks who were home schooling, she said.

When she started her nonprofit organization in 2000, she said she received thousands of calls from black parents wanting information. For years, many blacks knew little about home schooling or thought it was an alternative only for elite white people, she said.

Peer pressure also might have kept many blacks away from trying something different, Ray said. In the black community, there’s always been a strong advocacy for public schools. Many blacks see them as a good route to leveling the playing field for everybody, he said.

Burges’ organization has grown to 3,000 members. It provides families with support and curriculum materials and also holds an annual conference.

“Nowadays, everybody knows somebody who’s educating at home,” Burges said.

Tailored teaching

Paul and Vonda Cotton of Houston started home schooling their two daughters, 12 and 14, two years ago after growing dissatisfied with their middle school. They felt the school’s approach to teaching stymied student creativity.

At home, the Cottons, who also have a 3-year-old son, have been able to tailor their children’s education with their own Christian world view and spend more time with them. As part of their education, the family has started a baking business, and now they’re working on a home decorating business.

“They’ve gotten a chance to see real life and make application with learning, and we’ve been able to forge our belief system,” said Paul Cotton, who is a nurse and whose wife is a stay-at-home mom.

Frankie Fontenet gave up a career as an insurance agent at the corporate level to home school her two children, ages 15 and 13. Her husband, Adam, is a firefighter.

”I was making lots of money, but it was well-worth giving it up,” she said. “We haven’t missed it. You learn to tighten your belt.”

The Houston couple tried both private and public schools, but decided to home school in 2007 after spending a day observing her son’s classroom in public school.

“We were appalled and very disappointed in ourselves for putting him that environment,” Frankie Fontenet said. “The teacher was sweet as she can be, but there were a handful of kids totally disrupting the class. We couldn’t see how anybody could learn in that environment.”

The couple share teaching responsibilities and home school all year. She handles the core curriculum during the week, and he does the outdoor and nature activities on the weekends. A typical day involves about four hours learning math, reading, science, history and Spanish. They also spend two hours exercising at a gym.

Every Friday, the children spend time at a home school cooperative at Kingwood Bible Church that offers science and writing courses and electives, such art, music and theater, for home-schooled students. They also participate in classes offered at museums.

“My kids, I want them to be well-rounded, and we have that choice when we choose their curriculum,” Frankie Fontenet said.

Cost varies

Getting started in home schooling can be fairly easy. Most states have home school associations that help guide parents on what to do. Parents can also get assistance from home school support groups.

In Texas, home schools are considered private schools, and private schools are not regulated by the state. But it is recommended that parents choose a curriculum and then withdrawal their child from the school district; otherwise, school officials could file charges of failure to attend school, according to the Texas Home School Coalition.

The cost to home school varies, depending on the curriculum, which can be purchased online and at home school conferences. Chelsea Rowry, the Cypress mother, estimates it will cost about $800 this year to educate her two children. Some parents spend as much as $1,000 per child, she said.

Fontenet encourages parents thinking about home schooling to educate themselves and find a mentor.

”Find someone to take you under your wings,” she said. “It takes away the fear.”

Source: Houston Chronicle, United States
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5964005.html

The secret to the academic success of many Asian students starts in the home, with a study of schoolchildren suggesting a regular homework routine carries benefits into the classroom.

The research examined the study habits of three groups of Year 3 students and found that Chinese children spent more time on their homework, completed more work and did it on a more regular basis than Anglo or Pacific Island students.

The study by University of Western Sydney researchers and the NSW Education Department challenges the myth that Chinese students perform better at school because of a cultural disposition to study.

“There has been inadequate attention given to the ways educational attainment is founded on embodied capacities, such as productive stillness and quiet, which are crucial to sustained attention and application in intellectual endeavour,” the report says.

Cathy Garde, a Year 3 teacher at Berala Public School in Sydney’s west, agreed that less attention was paid in recent years to the practicalities of learning, and training young bodies to sit still.

“I often have to start the year teaching the kids work habits, the capability to sit down and focus,” she said. “Some children struggle to control themselves. They don’t have any self-discipline. You get children who come into the classroom and start walking around the room in the middle of a task.”

The report, Cultural Practices and Learning, involved interviews with parents, teachers and 36 students in six Sydney schools, as well as classroom observation.

The study found that 56per cent of the Chinese students spent more than one hour a night on their homework, compared with 24per cent of Anglo children and 35per cent of Pacific Islander students.

But the study says the time spent on homework was not as important as the study routine.

A greater proportion of Chinese students, 40per cent, did homework in their bedroom or study at a desk compared with 13per cent of Anglo students and 25per cent of Islander children, who tended to do their homework sitting on their bed.

Source: The Australian, Australia
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24115399-2702,00.html

Parents invest in summer tutors to give young children a leg up

Nazira Ason draws the line at 5.

His 5-year-old is too young to spend the summer in academic tutoring. His 6- and 9-year-olds, however, are not.

The Woodlands kindergartener and third-grader are among a growing number of very young children receiving one-on-one help this summer in reading and math. Some parents are hiring tutors, experts say, because they’re feeling the pressure of looming high-stakes tests, which begins in Texas with the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills for third-grade children. Others are thinking about college.

“I just wanted them to have a step ahead from the normal child,” said Ason, who moved his family here from Malaysia three years ago. “Given the competitive environment we have now, parents have to do something.”

Marianna Cleek, president of the Club Z tutoring franchise in the Spring area, said she was overwhelmed by the response her company received when it mailed out fliers advertising help for young children a few years ago.

“Initially I really didn’t realize there was such a market for this,” she said. “I am just shocked. It’s a pretty good chunk of our summer business.”

Houston-area tutors work with hundreds of young children on phonics, numbers, colors, study skills and fine motor skills. Some take children as young as 3 1/2 .

“Four, to me, is not too young,” Cleek said.

But some caution that putting pressure on young children might give them a distaste for school. Rather than spending upward of $45 an hour on private tutors, they say parents should use outings to stores, libraries and museums as teaching moments.

“A child needs summer,” said Kay Hall, director of the Early Learning Academy in the Spring school district. “There’s a lot of learning that can take place over the summer, but it doesn’t need to be in a classroom in a structured environment.”

Yet tutoring companies say that many clients are the children of teachers and school administrators, who realize the need to give children an edge but know how hard it is to work with their own children.

Tomball parent Tracy Chavis, a public school teacher, said she signed her 4-year-old, Noah, up for summer tutoring to ensure that he learns how to read before he starts kindergarten in 2009.

“I’m just really trying to make sure I give him as much advantage as I can,” said Chavis, who pays $42 an hour for her son’s tutoring. “There is a lot of pressure on them to learn certain things and to not be labeled.”

Industry officials said a few families have legitimate reasons to be concerned about school readiness. Five-year-olds are expected to be on the verge of reading, some educators said.

Aiding retention

Young children also are in danger of losing fledgling skills they learned, but may not have mastered, during the school year. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University say that students, especially from low-income families, can regress during summer break.

But in other cases, parents of already high-performing children are just caving to the pressure fueled by Texas’ high-stakes testing, they said.

“They’re buying into what they hear. They buy that social pressure that someone out there is putting on them that their child needs to be a genius by the time they’re 4,” said Michelle Branch, co-owner of Houston-based Academic Resource Tutoring.

Ason said tutoring is a good investment. “I started with my son (in first grade), and he showed dramatic improvement. He’s been on the honor roll since. The money I’m paying for tutorials is worthwhile.” He said he’ll sign his youngest up for tutoring next year.

Source: Houston Chronicle, United States
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5863345.html

Dear Dr. Fournier: I have two children in school, and I am concerned that they might not be receiving a well-rounded education. In past columns, you discuss the importance of preparing our children for a new global work force, and you emphasize how quickly our world is changing. While this may be true, I am not sure that our schools are adapting at the same pace. Some schools are making small strides, but I am not sure that the implementation takes place. When looking back on the past semester, I don’t see much evolution in our school’s curriculum. Is there anything I can do to enrich my children’s education and provide them with the knowledge and skills they will need for the ever-changing future?

Assessment: Unfortunately, your concerns are warranted; the American educational system is in need of change. Many schools are oblivious to the evolving world around them. Even schools that understand the need for change often don’t know how to proceed. In the old educational paradigm of the 19th and 20th centuries, students were often measured by the amount of correct work they could complete. A student who could successfully complete 100 math problems and diagram 20 sentences for homework was considered better prepared than a student who only completed 50 problems and 10 sentences.

In the new educational paradigm, more work is not always better. In fact, more work can often be a waste of time. In today’s world, computers and machines do rote tasks much more efficiently than humans, but there is one thing that machines can’t do: think creatively. The person who can calculate 100 complex math problems in a minute may be considered a savant, but that talent is of little use in today’s world. On the other hand, mathematicians and computer programmers who develop high-level computer applications that solve technical problems will be in demand for their skills. If our students aren’t prepared for this competitive environment, they will be left behind by emerging students around the world.

What to do: You are correct that many schools do not teach for the future, and if your students are in this situation, then you must take action. First, make an appointment to speak with your students’ teachers or principal. Explain your concerns and offer ideas that could facilitate change. Parents need to be proactive and not feel that they don’t have a voice in their children’s education.

Secondly, parents can play an important role in their children’s education through alternative modes of learning. The summer allows parents to invest their time and efforts into these avenues. Take your child to the museum or library and engage your child’s mind with questions and activities. If you attend an exhibit on astronomy, check out a book on planets from the library and give your child a fun follow-up project. Most importantly, find out which subjects are interesting to your child and make the exercise interesting. This will capture your student’s curiosity, and he or she will remember that learning can be fun.

During the school year, many students become disengaged because teachers overwhelm them with work that is repetitive and a waste of time. Parents then become discouraged when their children don’t show an interest in school. Not only is the work boring but also rote homework assignments keep students from spending time with their families. Use the summer to reconnect with your children and instill in them a passion for learning. Ultimately, a child’s education is not the responsibility of the teacher, the school or the government. Parents must take a stand for the education of their children.

Source: Ventura County Star, CA
http://tinyurl.com/5bt6d4

It’s time to abolish the six-week summer holiday. Children’s maths and English skills suffer from it, and boredom leads to petty crime

The Victorians worried that going to school might interfere with a child’s ability to bring in an income for his or her family. So compulsory schooling in its earliest incarnation was very much geared around the needs of children as earners, rather than learners. The starting age was set at five so that children could finish school and start full-time work as soon as possible. A long summer holiday freed up children to work in the fields during the summer picking season.

Fast forward 150 years or so, and many of the features of the original system have stuck - perhaps most notably the long summer holiday. Isn’t it now time to revisit how the school year is structured?

Educational research is unambiguous: a long summer break is an impediment to children’s learning. Studies carried out in the US and the UK show what should be intuitively obvious: with a long break from studying maths and English, children’s abilities take a dive over the summer in both areas. Worryingly, the dip in reading seems to be largest for children from poorer homes, who already start off at a well-documented disadvantage (particularly in England).

This is probably partly down to the quality of children’s educational experiences during the holidays. We know that children from more affluent homes are more likely to have parents who have enjoyed positive experiences of education themselves, and who therefore tend to have more positive attitudes towards their children’s education and more educational resources (like books and games) in the home. Children from better-off families are also more likely to have access to the structured, educational activities in their summer holidays that research has shown are so important for their personal and intellectual development.

Many children say they have little to do over the summer - one survey of 16,000 young people found that eight in 10 said they had little to do outside school. Bored children and young people are a recipe for the higher levels of anti-social behaviour and petty crime we see over the summer - particularly towards the end of the six-week break.

Add to that the fact that the long summer holiday has long been the bane of families with two working parents - many of whom struggle to arrange childcare for their children over the break - and it seems there is a strong case for reconsidering how the school year is arranged.

As part of a broader package of reforms - including giving the curriculum for 5-7 year olds a greater emphasis on school readiness skills and learning through play, providing school counsellors, and broadening curriculum and assessment to focus on a more diverse set of skills - this change would help to address the stalling in standards witnessed in recent years. And it would also make the lives of many working parents a little bit easier.

Source: Guardian Unlimited, UK
http://tinyurl.com/5c2nom

Channelling a child’s energy into skateboarding may be their saving grace.

Adam Walker is all too aware of society’s penchant for stereotyping and pigeonholing individuals. The 30-year-old father of two has dedicated much of his life to skateboarding, a sport and art form that has been mostly misunderstood by the wider community.

Adam is used to the negative comments people make about those who choose skateboarding as their pastime, sport, hobby, even profession.

However, there may be another side to what appears to be the wild antics and often gravity-defying skills of the ‘boarder and it is this side Adam will attempt to expose in his studies at James Cook University.

Having attained a Bachelor of Psychology and Social Sciences (majoring in anthropology and sociology), he is now writing a thesis on reducing the manifestations of ADHD (attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder) by using skateboarding as a psychosocial intervention tool. His interest in finding an alternative treatment for those diagnosed with ADHD comes from personal experiences.

“Yes, I was diagnosed with it,” he says. “I found skateboarding and music were great releases for my energies.

“At school I didn’t fit in with what was perceived as the ‘norm’ because while I had no problems socialising, I was not interested in the whole concept of playing team sports and group activities.”

Adam spent his childhood in Adelaide playing the guitar and skateboarding while his peers were out playing football, cricket and other team sports. He wants to highlight the difference between skateboarding and traditional team sports.

“There are a number of kids who don’t fit that ‘team sport’ criteria and get labelled as misfits, even troublemakers,” he says.

“What we need to do as a society, and educators in particular, is recognise the signs that they may have such children in their class/care but rather than sideline or exclude them, develop or use programs which identify their skills and talents. It’s about understanding how to channel that energy and turn what can so often be a negative situation into a bright, positive one which benefits the community as well as develop the individual’s self-esteem,” Adam says.

Adam has already been playing a role and walking the talk. Eight years ago Adam was sharing a house with a friend on the Gold Coast when a light-bulb moment came to him.

“I was skating, playing music and basically enjoying life,” he says. “But one night I sat at home and jotted down a few ideas of where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do with my life as a career/profession.

“I asked myself: ‘What if there was such a thing as a skateboarding coach?’.”

He thought little more about it until he moved to Airlie Beach where he worked at the town’s surf shop.

Within a month he was asked to manage the store, which in turn led to him rubbing shoulders with “corporate bigwigs”. Adam seized the moment, proposing the store expand to include a skate shop to capitalise on the growing calls from locals and visitors for such an outlet.

The skate shop took off and was a success, resulting in its thriving business which prompted the local council to ask Adam if he would be interested in taking a skateboarding coaching course in Brisbane. “It was the first fully accredited course in skateboard coaching in Australia,” Adam says.

Upon his return to Airlie Beach and the surf/skate shop, Adam developed and ran skate programs at the town’s newly built skate park. He was then approached to move up to a senior management position but felt he was not ready for that major step. “I didn’t feel I was qualified enough,” he says.

Instead, Adam moved to Cairns to embark on studies to gain the necessary management skills. But four years later, his focus has shifted slightly while his passion for skating has remained as resolute as ever.

“Since coming to Cairns I’ve realised I still have those dreams … my own dreams of coaching kids and helping them,” he says.

“But I also recognise that to be able to do that I have to work and earn and that means study to a higher level so I can deliver appropriate programs to them.

“I find it very liberating to teach kids and see the enjoyment they get from learning new skills and building confidence.”

Adam runs his programs through his company SkateMethod and this year had his efforts recognised by the Australian Sports Commission which awarded him a grant to purchase boards, helmets and related equipment for clinics at local schools.

While the skate clinics and courses are primarily fun, they also are designed to promote discipline, respect and dedication, qualities Adam learned from another individual art form.

“I trained for 12 years in Wing Chun (Chinese martial arts) and have transported all of the elements of discipline from that art form to these programs,” he says.

“In martial arts you need to be committed to practising constantly in order to perfect the moves and be dedicated to completing a task and not walk away when the going gets a ‘bit too challenging’.”

Adam has built in certain mechanisms to ensure the children apply themselves and are rewarded in a similar style to martial arts, except instead of different-coloured belts upon completing their grading, they receive a board sticker or decal.

“It’s about rewarding the achievement of learning that special turn, jump or flick they may have been practising,” Adam says.

Adam’s thesis and programs will attempt to educate the wider community on the benefits of using skateboarding as a key to unlock the minds of individuals whose learning experiences may not fit so comfortably with the established and, as he calls it, “rigid” curriculum. But in his attempt to do this he is acutely aware of being seen as “selling out” the underground culture.

“Am I trying to regulate skateboarding? Yes, but only to explain there is a science behind its execution. You have to do things the right way for them to look as good or cool as they do,” he says. “Skateboarding has its origins in a non-conformist culture.

“So in a way, I’m trying to help turn around the lives of children who are often sidelined, even demonised as social misfits, and help them prove they have skills and energies that, when channelled correctly, can enable them to be contributing members of society.

“Also, the art form is always going to have its street edge. It’ll always be funky and cool and retain its underground following.”

Adam hopes to use his collected data to convince governments to invest in “niche activities” such as skateboarding and create an avenue for drug-free intervention strategies to treat conditions such as ADHD.

“I think there is a need to look at alternative treatments and this strategy is strong on education and discipline as well as fun and freedom,” he says. “It’s just delivered in a caring and nurturing environment and with different tools. This is a way to get kids to express themselves and learn.

It needs to be supported.”

Source: cairns.com.au, Australia
http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2008/05/13/3776_lifestyle.html

Parents are increasingly turning their backs on traditional parents’ evenings and would prefer more informal contact with schools to learn about their children’s progress, research shows.

The research finds that only half of parents report feeling very involved in their children’s education, with their working lives being the number one barrier to helping with homework.

The children’s secretary, Ed Balls, publishing the research, said: “We know parents are increasingly involved in their child’s education - and want to do even more. But for many it’s a difficult balancing act to juggle work, childcare and quality family time and still be able to help their children with homework and keep track of how their child is doing at school.

“Parents tell us they like having informal contact with their child’s school - whether that’s a chat in the playground or the chance to go online and see their teenager’s latest marks and make sure they are going to all their classes.”

Parent evenings would always have a role but schools should keep up to date with what parents want, he said.

Although the research, based on telephone interviews with more than 5,000 parents or carers of children at state schools, shows that only half of all parents feel very involved in their child’s education, that figure is up from 29% in 2001. The majority (65%) would like to be more involved.

The parents most likely to be involved in their children’s education - and to help with homework - are women not working full-time, parents of younger children, families from ethnic minorities, and parents who have been to university.

The popularity of parents’ evenings has plummeted since the last research. In 2001, 43% of parents said that parents’ evenings were the “most useful” way of communicating. That figure now stands at 19%.

Balls was speaking at an event to publicise the government’s Parent Know How scheme, which was showcasing new ways to offer support and advice to parents. The programme, worth £44m over three years, is designed to help more parents access information and help through the web, over the phone and through text and instant messaging.

Balls has put parents at the heart of his efforts to improve education. In his 10-year children’s plan, which was published in December, he promised parent councils and a dedicated tutor for every child who would build up a relationship with the child’s family.

Source: guardian.co.uk, UK
http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2278429,00.html

Two leading scientific societies and a charity that promotes scientific understanding have written to every local education authority in the the UK to warn that a programme of exercises being promoted to help child learning relies on “pseudoscientific explanations” and a “bizarre understanding” of how the body works.

The British Neuroscience Association, the Physiological Society and Sense About Science are concerned that some local authorities have promoted the exercise programme, called Brain Gym, in their schools. Brain Gym involves teacher-led exercises that are supposed to improve the cognitive abilities of pupils in primary schools.

“According to the calls we have received and to the material in the Teacher’s Guide to Brain Gym, children are, for example, being taught special exercises to ‘connect the circuits of the brain’ and ‘unblock’ neural pathways,” the scientists wrote. They believe that promoting these bogus explanations of how the brain operates undermines science teaching in schools.

Calls to Brain Gym in the UK for comment were not returned, but the Brain Gym Teachers’ Edition textbook describes the exercises as, “a series of simple and enjoyable movements that we use with our students in Educational Kinesiology (Edu-K) to enhance their experience of whole-brain learning. These activities make all types of learning easier, and are especially effective with academic skills.”

Other promotional material reads: “All liquids [other than water] are processed in the body as food, and do not serve the body’s water needs … Processed foods do not contain water.”

The scientists dismiss all these claims as nonsense. “I know of no evidence to support the claim that, by doing a particular repetitive activity, children will gain general benefits in learning,” said Prof Colin Blakemore of Oxford University, a former head of the Medical Research Council. “There have been a few peer-reviewed scientific studies into the methods of Brain Gym, but none of them found a significant improvement in general academic skills.”

Source: Guardian, UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/apr/03/brain.gym

Michael Ferraro has a major-league swing in a tee-ball-size body, pounding one pitch after another into the back net of the batting cage.

He’s 7 years old and works out with two former professional baseball players as many as five times a month.

“He’s a good little listener, and he takes what you tell him and puts it into play,” says Billy Horton, a former minor-league player who now runs Cactus Athletic Camps, which offers clinics and private instruction, in Phoenix.

In the past decade, the number of parents hiring professional trainers for their grade-school athletes has exploded, experts say. No one tracks the figures nationwide, but coaches say their business has doubled or tripled in that time.

Parents shell out $50 to $100 an hour for individual coaching in baseball, soccer, basketball and hockey. And they send their youngsters to camps, clinics and places such as Tempe’s Arizona World of Baseball, where children work with former pros. Even city parks and recreation departments are hiring former pros to give lessons at batting cages.

“This has become big business,” says Gregg Heinzmann, director of the Youth Sports Research Council at Rutgers University.

Some experts worry that too much professional coaching and kids specializing in one sport could put too much pressure on young athletes and take the fun out of playing.

Although there are parents who hire personal coaches to improve their child’s chances of earning a college scholarship, if not a pro career, many say they want to help their kids improve at the games they love.

“I don’t push him,” says Michael’s dad, Mike Ferraro, as he and Horton watch the youth in the batting cage. “I just say, ‘Do you want to get a lesson?’ If he doesn’t feel like it, we don’t do it.

“I just want him to enjoy himself. I’d rather he be the best he can be.”

Coaches and parents cite good reasons for professional training: Kids may get little individual training on teams of 10 or 20 players, depending on the sport. And volunteer coaches often don’t have the technical expertise of professionals. Few sports are fun if a young athlete is experiencing little success.

When Sean Whyte, a former pro hockey player, began coaching at Ozzie Ice in Phoenix in 2001, he worked with hundreds of kids. This year, he’s on track to coach more than 1,000 youngsters.

Like most coaches, his business comes from referrals.

“I tell parents, ‘If your child truly loves it, give them every opportunity you can afford to help your child reach their full potential,’ ” Whyte says. He cautions parents that private lessons will not make their child an instant star.

The goal should be to improve basic skills that lead to proficiency and a lifelong love of the game.

Professional coaching is not a must, Horton and Whyte agree, but it can help. They work with kids as young as 4 and up through college age.

It’s only natural that parents want to help their young athletes improve, Horton says. In his youth, his mother would scrape together $10 in quarters so he could practice at the batting cages at Golf N’ Stuff in Phoenix.

Some parents bring their kids in for a few lessons at the start of the season; others come regularly all year.

But like Whyte, Horton also cautions parents, “I’m not trying to build this child into a professional athlete. I’m trying to build confidence in this child.”

1-sport pitfalls

Despite the growing numbers of private coaches, Heinzmann of Rutgers University finds the trend troubling. He has conducted clinics on youth sports for 20,000 parents and coaches, most recently in Glendale.

“We see it exploding in recent years from the standpoint of not only parents hiring privatized instruction, but children focusing on one sport to the exclusion of all others and at younger and younger ages,” he says.

A generation ago, the ideal was to earn varsity letters in three sports in high school, Heinzmann says. Now that children are pursuing one sport, they’re suffering more overuse injuries and burning out sooner.

He wonders if it’s worth it.

About 70 percent of kids involved in sports drop out before they turn 13, according to a recent study by Richard Stratton of Virginia Tech’s Department of Health and Physical Education. Just 2 percent of high-school athletes earn scholarships and play in college, Heinzmann says. And the chances of anyone making it to the pros are 0.1 percent - that’s one in 1,000.

Parents put too much pressure on their kids by investing in professional coaching, says Chad Thibodeaux, a longtime coach and host of Kids and Sports radio show on KGME-AM (910).

On the air, parents often compare a professional coach with a math tutor, a comparison Thibodeaux says misses the mark. A child needs to know math, he points out. A child does not need to know how to throw a fastball.

A fairer comparison would be music or drama lessons. Odds are as low that a child who takes piano lessons from a professional will wind up with a scholarship or playing to crowded concert halls.

“There’s this underlying societal pressure to keep up with the Joneses, not just in sports but also in academia and the arts,” Heinzmann says.

Professional coaching may be right for a child intent on making a club team or a high-school student in the running for a scholarship, Heinzmann says. But he doesn’t think younger kids need such training on a regular basis.

Thibodeaux says to wait until a child is at least 12 and even then only if the child wants to do it and parents can afford it.

Prior to turning 12, kids should be in recreational leagues where they can have fun while they work on fundamental skills, Thibodeaux says. Little kids should be going out for pizza with their teammates, he says, not worrying about their stats.

First up in Horton’s batting cage is 14-year-old Jeff Clasen, who plays for the Scottsdale Storm and plans to try out next year at Brophy College Preparatory in Phoenix.

“Remember, knob to the ball, not knob up,” Horton says, and Jeff nails the ball.

Jeff’s dad, Steve Clasen of Paradise Valley, says he brought his son to Horton for help during a hitting slump about a year ago. Jeff has no aspirations to play baseball beyond high school; he simply enjoys the game. But he enjoys it more when he’s hitting well - thus, the regular lessons with Horton.

His 5-year-old son, John, is too young for lessons, Clasen says. He’s having fun on his tee-ball team.

Bart Shillingburg of Scottsdale says his sons, 9-year-old Kyle and 7-year-old Alec, seem to take instruction better from someone else. He played ball in high school, but he says, “I don’t have all the techniques that Billy (Horton) or these other guys have.” This is Kyle’s second lesson with Horton and Alec’s first.

The boys play basketball and football in the off-season, which puts them at a disadvantage come tryouts for Little League. They compete for spots on teams with boys who play baseball year-round.

Like little Michael Ferraro with his major-league swing. He started playing baseball at age 3 1/2. Right now, he plays with 9- and 10-year-olds, some twice his size. Michael also trains with Dax Jones, formerly of the San Francisco Giants.

In Horton’s batting cage, the coach pitches a fastball right by Michael.

“He’s throwing gas at you, son!” his dad says, laughing.

Michael grins.

“Who’s the best hitter in Arizona?” Horton asks.

“Me!” Michael says and sends the next fastball flying.

Source: Arizona Republic, AZ
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/0331kidstrain0331.html