This blog post was originally published on the Core Christianity website. The author, Mr. Andrew Menkis, is a faculty member at Washington Christian Academy and the head of our Theology Department.

If you are looking for tips and tricks to control your teenager's social media accounts, this isn’t the post for you. If you want a list of rules or the “10 Commandments of Social Media,” this isn’t the article you are looking for. However, if you want to have meaningful conversations with teenagers about how to use social media wisely, this article may help you start a discussion.

As you examine school options for your elementary school aged children, you might be wondering what type of qualifications they should have. Our experience over the fifty-plus years of operating an elementary school has taught us to focus on a couple of key areas. There are other factors, but we consider the ones listed below to be critical.

We get this question all the time. Parents with children just reaching school-age want to know the potential benefits and/or drawbacks of the different options. We've operated an elementary school for over fifty years and have experience with pre-kindergarten programs - ours and others. And, because we are a school that serves children through twelfth grade, we also see the longer term affects of this decision. 

Your high school child may be doing well in school, but is he or she ready to succeed in college? Ongoing national test scores and surveys have shown time and time again that not only do a majority of high school seniors feel unprepared for college, they are unprepared. These students are nonetheless being admitted and charged thousands of dollars for the chance to waste four years of their lives. If you want your child to be ready to benefit from a college education make sure he is doing these four things in high school.

Many boys and girls who grow up on athletic fields aspire to one day play sports in college and even professionally.  However, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), of the nearly eight million students currently participating in high school athletics in the United States, only 5.75% of them will compete at the college level.  And of that group, only a fraction will go on to compete as a professional athlete.

Reading is a rewarding skill that lasts a lifetime. It has a multitude of benefits, including improved concentration, developed imagination and it is shown to improve academic performance.

Even so, reading is a skill that must be nurtured. While teachers can improve a student’s interest in learning in the classroom, parents also need to instill a love of reading in the home. Here are some ideas on how to raise a reader:

Kindergarten marks the start of a child’s formal education and this formative time can have a significant influence on the way your child develops and relates to others for the duration of his or her life. We’ve put together a list of 7 great ways to help prepare your child for kindergarten to give them the best possible start to their education. 

If your child has a busy academic schedule, enrolling them in performing arts may seem to come down the bottom of the priority list.

But there are many reasons why performing arts should play a key role your child’s education, be it in school or as an extra curricular activity. In many studies, researchers are now linking involvement in the arts to better child development and higher student achievement.

Aside from the obvious physical benefits participation in team sports can offer your child, there are numerous mental and emotional benefits as well.  Here are five additional ways involvement in team sports can be a valuable experience for your child: