As a parent, you may be wondering what all the fuss over this International Baccalaureate (IB) program is. The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) First, from the IBO website: The IB offers an education for students from age 3 to 19, comprising of four programmes that focus on teaching students to think critically and independently, […]
Education
As the school year starts up in full swing, I’m posting a reminder of the FREE math, science and writing tutors available to public school students. For math and science, tutors are available live, at the time of contact. Through the miracles of modern technology, students and tutors can collaborate […]
In going from Honolulu to Tokyo, one of my bigger travel worries, other than the language barrier, was the transit barrier. Regarding mass transit, I spent a number of years both living and commuting to San Francisco on weekdays. It’s definitely a learned skill and one that most people in […]
US Smartphone Coverage in Japan If you’re currently on either T-mobile or Sprint’s phone plan, you’re in luck. For most plans, both companies offer free text and 2g basic data roaming in Japan. Sprint also offers a 3g unlimited data + text + phone plan for $5 more a month. […]
I give myself a low B- Earlier, I had written about why I thought world language in high school was a questionable endeavor. To prove my point, I spent an entire year actively studying Japanese to see how far it would take me. The “final exam” was a one-week trip […]
At the end of his Niu Valley Middle School eighth grade year, my son was given the option of applying for AVID at Kaiser High School. AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination and is a college and career preparedness route students can take. AVID’s early roots date back to […]
In the first week of his freshman year, my kid’s high school math instructor presented him with one of two graphing calculator suggestions. The choices were the Texas Instruments TI-Nspire CX and the Texas Instruments TI-Nspire CX CAS. For a detailed breakdown, visit Texas Instruments’ webpage on exam acceptability. I presume […]
Mini Maker Faire 2016 at Iolani School: A recap Mini Maker Faire in Honolulu wrapped up on June 25, 2016 and I finally made it to the event in their third year. It was all I expected and more. I had also signed up for a soldering lesson. Soldering, pronounced […]
Niu Valley Middle School has a world language core requirement, either Mandarin Chinese or Japanese. Once that language is selected, if your child goes on to Kaiser, they must continue in that language unless that language is spoken regularly outside of school. It’s all part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) […]
The more I work at trying to learn Japanese, the more I think that schools shouldn’t make world language mandatory. It’s not that I’m not progressing; I am. In fact, more so than when enrolled in formal classes. It really boils down to the learning curve and the amount of […]
