Parenting and Learning Issues

Do you dream of becoming the next big sports star? With athletics paving the way for collegiate scholarships and admissions, a rising number of high schools are creating programs specifically designed to foster athletically skilled students. In fact, in Canada, high schools designed specifically as sports academies are opening their doors – and American charter schools may soon follow suit.

How New Schools Balance Athletics with Academics

Many parents and students have expressed frustration over the demands of developing gifted athleticism alongside the rigors of the high school curriculum. While each school’s fundamental objective is to educate students, many argue that encouraging athleticism, training, and building teamwork also significantly contribute to a student's overall development. While many teens are forced to sacrifice grades to balance a sport's demands, select schools have begun experimenting with new athletic programs to challenge the status quo.

According to the National Post, the Toronto Public Board of Education, Canada's largest educational institution, has created a new basketball academy. At this campus, students with high athletic potential can improve both their physical and intellectual abilities. The academy's curriculum is designed to create a more symbiotic balance between the demands of the sport and academic work. Commonly referred to as “schools of choice” in Canada, these equivalents to America’s charter schools are becoming more popular.

This video looks at the benefits of high school sports.

Are Schools of

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High school students are faced with the daunting task of making choices that will have momentous consequences on the remainder of their lives. They must choose whether to pursue higher education at a four-year college or university, begin their studies at a two-year community college, start a vocational training program, or enter the workforce directly after high school.

For those students who decide they want to pursue a college education, the choices to be made only multiply: students must decide how to present themselves in the optimal light on college applications, which colleges to apply to, and which college to ultimately attend.

Fortunately, most public high schools have a “guidance office” and guidance counselors who are given the job of helping students to navigate the sea of tough decisions that must be made towards the end of high school.

But are high school students getting the help and advice that they need from the guidance counselors at public schools? A new study released by the nonprofit research organization Public Agenda suggests that most people who have graduated from public high schools in the last decade do not feel that their school guidance counselors provided them with any meaningful advice.

This video shows a demonstration interview by a guidance counselor.

The Problems with the Current High School Guidance System

Lack of Personal Attention

In its response to the

The homeschooling ranks have continued to grow in the United States. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 5.2% of children ages 5 to 17 received academic instruction at home during the 2022-23 school year, compared with lower pre-pandemic levels. More recent tracking from Johns Hopkins University's Homeschool Hub found that homeschooling continued to grow in 2024-25, increasing at an average rate of 4.9% across reporting states.

Students who are homeschooled are usually taught many of the same subjects as their peers who attend public schools. Homeschooled students struggle with algebra, write book reports, study science, and learn foreign languages, just like their public-schooled friends.

However, one aspect of the public school experience that homeschooled students may not always be able to enjoy is participating in team sports. In recent years, parents of homeschooled children in several states have continued pushing to change school district and athletic association rules, advocating for their children to be part of local public school sports teams. The movement has sparked debate on both sides of the issue, proving that not all parents or school districts are “team” players.

This video explains how to put your homeschooler in the public school's sports program.

Why Some School Boards Are Reluctant to Allow Homeschoolers on Their Teams

Homeschooled Students May Not Meet the Same Academic Eligibility Requirements

One of the primary objections raised by public school officials involves academic

Children and adolescents arrive at today’s public schools with a wide range of special needs. Some students struggle with depression and anxiety, while others face the difficult task of living with parents who are not financially or emotionally stable. Schoolyard bullies may plague children or may be upset by their parent’s divorce or remarriage.

A recently released national poll aims to examine how well public schools provide support to students with emotional, behavioral, or family problems. Recognizing that in an era of large-scale budget cuts, programs that provide emotional support to students are in danger of being cut, the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health set out to examine how many of our nation’s public schools currently make the grade when it comes to emotionally supporting their students.

In this video, Aukeem Ballard, a teacher at Summit Preparatory Charter High School in Redwood City, CA, discusses the power of mentors in his life and career, comparing having a mentor to standing on the shoulders of giants.

The Study’s Findings

The study asked parents of students from both primary and secondary public schools to give their students’ schools a grade of A through F on three different criteria:

• Providing a Good Education – 83% of parents of primary school students and 75% of parents of secondary school students gave their children’s schools a grade of “A” or

As the United States takes its first steps into a new decade, public education is being scrutinized from every angle. Some advocate eliminating teachers’ unions and tenure, making instructors directly accountable for their students’ progress on standardized tests. Others maintain that the K-12 public education system is suffering from a critical shortage of qualified teachers, and improved salaries and working conditions are needed to recruit the best talent.

While policy-makers debate the feasibility of such large-scale changes, some school districts are trying to improve the educational outcomes of their public high school students by making a small, simple, but potentially powerful change. These school districts are considering changing school start times from the traditional 8:00 am to a later 8:30 am. What is their reasoning? Well-rested students learn better.

The Benefits of Later School Start Times

From improved learning to better health, there is a myriad of reasons public schools are considering starting school at 8:30 am.

Works with Teenagers’ Natural Sleep Rhythms

According to the National Sleep Foundation, children undergo a shift in sleep patterns when they enter puberty which causes them to remain alert later into the evening and to remain sleepy later in the morning. In other words, teenagers are naturally inclined to stay up later at night and wake up later in the morning.

Advocates argue that an 8:30 am start time improves students’ chances of success. In the early morning, when their brains are not fully awake, students are