Your Child Needs these Vital Skills

Our fast-paced society demands advanced knowledge and skills. How can you build a foundation of success for your child to perform well in school, while they develop transferable life and work skills to live a successful life? The framework of ALOHA Mind Math’s educational enrichment programs are designed to prepare grade school and middle school students with the vital knowledge and skills necessary to excel in school, plus gain an advantage over their peers.

Sixteen percent of hiring managers claim a lack of soft skills in applicants is the reason they have difficulties filling jobs, according to ManpowerGroup, the leader in innovative workforce solutions specializing in temporary and permanent recruitment, career management and Human Resources consulting.1 bit.ly/1eJ4jHk

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The career of the next generation could be hinged on their management of specific employee behavior, which they first picked up in grade school. A portion of our proven learning programs include 5 vital skills.

1. Creativity
2. Collaboration
3. Problem Solving
4. Communication
5. Critical Thinking Skills

Many school districts do not teach these skills. But, ask a teacher the characteristics of a high-achieving student and their answer will likely include these. If you, ask a human resources director in charge of the hiring and selection process their ideal hire characteristics and their answer will include a variation of these, which employers call soft skills.

Are these vital soft skills transferable to the workplace after students graduate? Our novel and holistic whole brain development program develops a strong academic foundation for school and life.

“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.” Edward de Bono

Within our ALOHA Mind Math curriculum we include memory, cognitive reasoning, intra-personal skills, motivation, goal setting, and interpersonal skills, involving communicating ideas, interpreting and responding to others views.

A 2012 report by the National Research Council supports our mission and programs, “that young people who both apply and develop intertwined cognitive intra-personal and interpersonal competencies in the process of deeper learning are better prepared for adult success.”2

The five vital skills we teach in our proven educational enrichment programs help children stand out among their peers. Creativity and problem solving are the basis of discoveries, innovation, invention, and re-engineering. This is behind every great organization which trail blazes a new path. Creativity involves imagination, thinking beyond the possible. Almost every tangible product is a result of creative thinking. Needless to say the modern marvel inventions of electricity, robotic surgery, internet, anesthetics, and the telephone impact our lives. These great discoveries were either born out of frustration to solve a problem or came to fruition from ingenuity. Children are naturally curious and creative. Developing and enriching their creativity and problem solving skills will allow them to flourish throughout their education, in extracurricular activities, and later in life.

Collaboration and critical thinking skills go hand-in-hand to work as team. These advanced skills are difficult for young children because their brain is still developing and they need to be taught to work together. Just a few of collaborative and critical thinking skill competencies necessary in the classroom and workplace include the following.

•     Patience
•     Respect
•     Evaluate a disagreement
•     Provide support for your ideas
•     Critical reading
•     Keeping an open mind to others ideas and opinions
•     Analytical
•     Ask relevant inquisitive questions

Great leaders have excellent communication skills. In the classroom this means a child is able to get their message across clearly and succinctly. This often involves reading an assignment, writing a summary or analysis, then presenting the report.

To communicate effectively they also must understand the other person’s point of view. It does not mean they agree with them, but they understand their opinion or their message. The advanced skills of conflict resolution are necessary in the classroom, out of the classroom, in social settings, workplace and at home.

ALOHA Mind Math provides the source for what students must learn to outperform their peers and later become the candidates employers seek. Our curriculum teaches vital transferable 21st century competencies and knowledge. We see amazing things from students and it is exciting to see them outperform their peers in school. Students overcome their fear of failure or success, develop an inner strength to challenge themselves, and persevere in the face of adversity, to go beyond what they ever thought were possible. It has always been ALOHA Mind Math’s mission to enrich their reading, math, and language arts, plus teach them the crucial skills they need now which will carry them throughout college, career, and their entire life to lead happy and successful lives. Discover the genius in your child.

1.    Manpower Group (2013) “Talent Shortage Survey”

2.    National Research Council (2012) Education for life and work: developing transferable knowledge and skills in the 21st century. The National Academies Press, Washington