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ROOTZ NEWS: April Issue

MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

Welcome Readers to Issue #2 of Rootz News. It is hoped that moving on from Issue #1 minds have been unlocked, opened, and exposed to truths that are able to set us free for our continued journey on liberation's path. Trying to navigate down a normal path is hard enough, trying to dodge people, spit and...... hmmmmm you know what would have come next. Life! Did it come with an instruction manual? If so let me know. I can tell you what it did come with though: tools. If we are able to get the right tools I'm sure we can create something really beautiful to the eye. However, there is one tool I have noticed having been let out of the toolbox and that is: Love. Self-Love to be precise. And this folks is the theme for this month. Now I do love me a bit of #SelfieLove. As you grow in mind, body and spirit you soon start to fall in love with self that little bit more and feel liberated to 'just do you'

without a care in the world or so I thought. I was on FB the other day and came across this status from a guy that was talking about 'girls' like they were the basic value pack of biscuits that you would find in the name brand stores of today. Ok so everyone is entitled to their opinions, however, the posts that followed just showed the lack of selflove within this generation. We, as a community, need to work triple hard to really bring love home, as within many there are boys and girls growing up with a false perception of how we should look, feel and think. We need to stop allowing media to dictate and pollute our minds and start owning and valuing ourselves more than is done. Before I leave you to get comfy, let me introduce you to a woman whose smile held a story, painful but true for many, growing up in a time when life dealt you cards you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. When you think you have had it bad, pick up one of her books or read a poem and then have a conversation with self. The lady I am speaking of goes by the name of Maya Angelou. Today would of being her birthday and to mark the occasion I have dedicated a few little touches within the pages of which I do hope you enjoy. Next Issue: OUT JULY 4th

Meet the team

ROOTZ NEWS: April Issue

Many parents worry about helping their children with homework or other study at home and this can be for a range of reasons. Thinking one is behind the times and no longer understands the subject can stop parents. Sometimes, parents are concerned they may confuse the child because they will be using out of date methods for the subject. Some parents were not themselves confident learners and may have taken this into adulthood so find it difficult to even start helping. If the child is quite confident or strongwilled, as a parent you might be nervous about offering help in case the child gets cross and then you feel you have made the situation worse. If your child does not enjoy reading, this will be a barrier to the child in accessing any information on any subject being studied and can be central to any help a parent needs to give. There can be as many and as varied reasons as there are children in families for being worried about helping with study at home. Studying is doing focused research on a subject so that understanding and then learning takes place. This is true for you and for your child. As a parent, if you feel you might be behind the times on the subject, the obvious thing is to learn what you can, to be able to give the necessary help. Websites such as www.theschoolrun.com have an affordable annual membership. They also offer a £1 for one month trial. In that time, you can get familiar with a range of materials on any subject within our National Curriculum. You can download sample worksheets. These will teach you how to put together simple materials and show how they can be used. Crucially, you will get information on what a child is studying at a particular age / stage / level in the subject, and the relevant materials for that period of the child's study. If at some point, you want to try test papers, there are a number of online sources that allow you to print. Our own government at www.gov.uk publishes free phonics and other early years assessments at https://www.gov.uk/government/.../national-curriculum-assess-

ROOTZ NEWS: April Issue

ments. You can also get practice materials for all the Key Stages at https:// www.gov.uk/government/publications. Research is easy in today's world. The more you know, the greater chance of feeling competent and then gaining in confidence. If your child is in primary school, one of the important areas to consider is reading ability. If you can help your child to be a confident reader, this will help in all subjects to be studied. Phonics, mentioned earlier, is the method used within our schools to teach children to read. Based on a child's ability to learn and reproduce sounds, this knowledge is then built upon so that the child blends sounds together to make words. Some children will have learned the 'Alphabet Song' but have diﬀiculty in then telling you the names of the letters, or even recognising them when written. Typically, young children struggle with the letters from H to P. If your child has diﬀiculty with reading, you may even have to re-visit the alphabet. This is quite common. A single child happily singing the 'Alphabet Song' in a large class of learners, is simply that. Singing the song well does not equate with knowing. To support your young child with reading, start by showing your own enjoyment of reading. That means, read a lot. Read a variety of materials: comic books, magazines, journals, hardcover books, paperbacks, printouts of others' work, all contribute to messages about information retrieval and reading being normal activities. You really want your child to see reading in that way. So, show your own enjoyment of whatever you are reading. At home, give the child its own bookcase or book section but close to the adults' so that their books are at a physical level easily reached but part of the family's. Be enthusiastic when your child reads to you. Hopefully, you know the importance of reading with your child and having the child read to you. Make time, ideally, every day, for a few minutes to read together. Read and tell

stories at bedtime. Make sure your child - however young - is a member of the local library and accompany them on regular visits. Create stories together. If the child has diﬀiculty, support them in making their own corrections before you jump in. Of course, if the child is lost, give the correction so that you help them to keep track of the sentence meaning. Ask the child's opinions on the book, the story, the characters, the reasons for their opinions. Help the child to link between the story and life. Encourage your child to read to a younger sibling, family member or friend. Enable your child to choose books on diﬀerent topics that they are interested in. Help your child to read a variety of suitable materials e.g. magazines, newspapers, flyers and other materials found at the library, road and shop signs, notices and food packaging. Confident readers become able learners and therefore have a higher chance of success when studying.

Try to stay calm if you notice that your child is getting confused by the help you are trying to give. You will find you have a lot of company in other parents. The website www.mytutor.co.uk asked 1,000 parents across the UK about the time they spent learning with their children, and found: • 47% of parents feel they couldn't help their children with their maths homework • 22% of parents couldn't help their children with their English homework • 64% of parents think the way English and maths are taught has changed since they were at school • 27% of parents couldn't explain maths and English to their children in the same way they had been taught • 39% of parents spend less time learning with their children than their parents did with them

ROOTZ NEWS: April Issue

• 58% of parents spend less than 10 minutes a day - or an hour a week - helping their children learn. So, what can you do? As well as others already mentioned, to understand more on how teachers are working with children in primary schools, http://www.primarycurriculum.me.uk/ year1 is an excellent source. You can of course find a private tutor, but you need to know what you want from extra-curricular support. www.personaltutors.co.uk is one of the best tutor websites for finding quality tutors. Some local authorities such www.walthamforest.gov.uk oﬀer classes in providing Maths and English support, just for parents on 'Keeping up with the Children'. If you are part of a community centre and you have at least eight people committed to attending this kind of course, you can approach the local college or adult education service and propose this. You will be listened to, favourably. Parents may feel unconfident about helping their children because they did not enjoy school or did not excel or otherwise meet expectations. Now, as adults, it can be a natural step for some, to think that you are not good enough or bright enough to help the children. In such situations, parents of-

ten leave it to the schools because they are the experts. Sometimes, parents say, "It is their job, it is what they are paid for." All of that is true. However, how oten have you heard from other parents that they didn't know their children were failing until it was too late? How oten have you heard such parents say, "Why didn't the school let me know before? They don't care about us. It is because we are ________" When we leave it to the school, for whatever reason, we leave ourselves out of the school. We leave ourselves out of our children's education. Unconfidence becomes a self-indulgence. As parents, we might have to get out of our own way, to go to the school, to speak to the teacher, to raise our concerns, to discuss how we might help, to find out what else the school can do and to ask for what we want. It is not optional. It is necessary. That might mean having an advocate or companion when you make the visit but we must start somewhere. Parents talk to others such as their child's teacher because we know that all children are diﬀerent: they learn at diﬀerent speeds, have likes and dislikes that are unique. This includes strong-willed children. These though, benefit from clear boundaries, straight communication with regular reinforcement of boundaries. They also enjoy

the opportunity to choose and to 'teach'. When organising study within the home, do the following. • Agree a designated homework area, with a flat surface area, good lighting and the right materials including dictionary and a clock. • Create a homework timetable together. Agree it. • Include an agreement about the regularity and timing of breaks • Before any homework or study session, make sure the child has had some nutritional refreshment • Give 5-10 minutes to planning for the session • Discuss the specific home study tasks and the links with school work • Make sure to limit distractions and background noise • Allow the child to teach what s/ he understands. • Find ways of making homework fun - get the child's own ideas Above all, keep in mind the need to do your own homework so that you are well-prepared to help your child. Preparation will guide you to decide what research to do, whether to use a private tutor or not and when or how to talk with your child's teacher. What-

ever your decisions, there will always be opportunities to help your child with their studies at home. Having some knowledge will tell you what actions to take rather than being worried about helping.

ROOTZ NEWS: April Issue

motility). In fact, some children with recurring tummy trouble or inflammatory bowel disease have been found to have low levels of oxytocin in their bloodstream. Oxytocin has even been linked with IBS. 5. It can speed up wound healing Oxytocin also helps wound healing. It plays a key role in 'angiogenesis', which is the growth of blood vessels or regrowth of them ater an injury.

I recently came across a book that I am reading as part of my work and I suppose self-studies, called: 'I Heart Me: The Science of Self-Love.' When I read books I like to research the author and while looking up David R Hamilton, I found a really good article on the net which I shall share with you as it goes with this Issue's theme of Self-Love. Enjoy!

6 Reasons Why the Love Hormone Is Good for You by: David R.Hamilton P.H.D

I've written quite a lot about oxytocin, which also goes by the name of "love h o r m o n e ," " c u d d l e c h e m i c a l ," "molecule of kindness," or any other aﬀectionate term that implies something about bonding and connecting. If you ever wondered about those names, it's because we produce oxytocin when we're feeling love or connection (with a human, animal, tree, spiritual diety) and also when we hug.

Here's a little summary of some of the healthy things that happen in our bodies when we produce oxytocin. 1. It can make people seem more attractive One study gave people a dose of oxytocin and then showed them photographs of men and women, asking them to rate their attractiveness. A different group were given saline instead of oxytocin, as a control. The oxytocin group gave the men and women higher attractiveness ratings than did those who got the saline. 2. It can make us more generous A study in the field of "neuroeconomics" - where scientists study the

brain while people make economic decisions - found that when people were given a squirt of oxytocin before they made an economic decision, where they had to decide on how they were going to share a sum of money, they were around 80 percent more generous than others who received a saline placebo.

Research shows that wounds take longer to heal when people are under stress or amid an emotional conflict, which is associated with lower oxytocin levels. In one study of couples, physical wounds of those who showed the most conflict behaviour healed 40 percent slower than wounds in those who weren't in conflict.

3. It can make us more trusting In an economics game known as the "Trust Game," participants given a squirt of oxytocin were found to be significantly more trusting than those given saline. Of those in the saline group, 21 percent showed the maximal trust level, yet 45 percent of those who received oxytocin showed the maximal trust level.

Other studies show that skin wounds may potentially heal faster when we enjoy positive social interaction.

4. It can improve digestion A little-known fact is that oxytocin and oxytocin receptors are found all throughout the GI tract. It plays an important role in the digestion of food (gastric motility and gastric emptyping). Research shows that in the absence of adequate levels of oxytocin, the whole digestive process slows down (known as gastric dys-

6. It can be good for the heart It can be very good for the heart. Oxytocin is a cardioprotective hormone, in that it protects the cardiovascular system. Oxytocin dilates the blood vessels, thereby lowering blood pressure and also helps sweep free radicals and inflammation out of the arteries. FYI, free radicals and inflammation can cause cardiovascular disease. How to produce oxytocin We produce oxytocin every day. It flows when you show empathy or compassion, when you are kind or genuinely pleasant, when you show aﬀection, when you hug. Love is not the only

thing we make in the intimate act. We also make oxytocin. I find it amazing that this simple hormone, that we generate through really any heart-centred display of gentleness or aﬀection, produces all of the above eﬀects.

ROOTZ NEWS: April Issue