MORE ABOUT SLEEP

A recent Johns Hopkins study says that adding an hour of sleep cuts your child's risk of becoming overweight by 9%.  We've always known that adequate sleep was important, but now it has been linked to childhood obesity.  Some researchers recommend that children under 5 get 11 hours of sleep, 5-10 year olds should get 10 or more hours and those older than 10 should get at least 9 hours.  If you would like to read about the study click on the following link.  http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/press_releases/2008/wang_sleep_obesity.html

The National Academy of Science Says Only Evolution Should be Taught in Science Classes

The National Academy of Science recently published a report stating that only evolution should be taught in public school science classes.  Quoting from their news release. "NAS and IOM strongly maintain that only scientifically based explanations and evidence for the diversity of life should be included in public school science courses.  'Teaching creationist ideas in science class confuses students about what constitutes science and what does not,' the committee stated"  You can read the complete news release by clicking on the following link.  http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=11876  

One of the most important reasons for the existence of Seventh-day Adventist schools is to provide a curriculum that honors the God of creation.  While we would not want public schools to teach religion, an evolutionary based curriculum ignores a vital dimension for the Christian.   A curriculum, which teaches that each individual is only an evolutionary accident, dramatically devalues the individual.  It ignores a loving God who created humankind in His own image, and when man fell, the Creator himself died to save His lost creation.  Our goal is for each of our students to have an encounter with that loving God.  The curriculum in the public school does not allow it.    

Adventist Students' Achievement Above National Average 

The first data from CognitiveGenesis, a nationwide study of student achievement for students in Seventh-day Adventist schools, is in.  It shows that students in Adventist schools K-12 across North America are achieving above the national average.  What makes this study so important is that it surveyed more than 30,000 students attending Seventh-day Adventist schools in 2006.  One of the problems that arises when looking at the achievement scores from an individual Adventist school is the relatively small number of students.  One student who achieves very high scores or one who achieves very low scores skews the class results, making the average scores either deceptively high or deceptively low.  The large sample size of the Cognitive Genesis study allow us to look at the Seventh-day Adventist curriculum and see that it is indeed producing excellence in our students.  If you are interested in learning more about Cognitive Genesis click on this link:  http://www.adventistreview.org/article.php?id=1507 .

Sleep, Sleep, Sleep

Does your child get enough sleep?  Researchers who study sleep say that the amount of sleep a young person gets can have a major impact in many areas of life.  Do you want your child to make better grades?  In a study of more than 7,000 Minnesota high school students, Dr. Kyla Wahlstrom of the University of Minnesota discovered that teens who received A’s averaged about fifteen more minutes sleep than the B students, who in turn averaged eleven more minutes than the C’s, and the C’s had ten more minutes than the D’s.  This information and a host of other research on how sleep effects our children is found in an article that crossed my desk recently.  The article's web address is as follows:  http://nymag.com/news/features/38951/  I would encourage you to look it over.  If you find that your child isn't getting enough sleep, why not make some changes in your schedule. You will find that it pays great dividends in your child's success both in school and at home.