Exquisite Minds: Creative and Gifted Children

Exquisite Minds believes in the importance of cultivating creativity in bright and gifted children. We believe creativity can solve almost any problem; rather than why something can’t be done, it’s how it can be done. Exquisite Minds offers support to parents and educators who want to challenge children to find new and constructive ways to look at the world.

Questions to Ask at Parent Teacher Conferences

Bringing your own questions to parent teacher conferences ensures that the issues foremost on your mind are discussed. If you are not proactive about organizing your thoughts prior to the conference, your concerns may be neglected.
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Teaching Gifted Children Through Independent Studies

Independent studies or self-directed learning can be an excellent strategy for challenging gifted children, as long as teachers do not rely too heavily on this teaching method. However, how much independence is too much?
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Motivating the Gifted Child

Motivating the Unmotivated Child Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try. As Zig Ziglar stated, “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” Throughout my teaching career, I often heard this …
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Parenting Styles: Choosing Your Child’s Activities

A parent’s approach determines how much time their child spends in extracurricular activities. Some of the more common parenting styles are:
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Explaining Protests to Children

Children see many kinds of protests on television and online. Currently, there are several ongoing protests in the US, such as, Black Lives Matter, Police Brutality Protests, and Coronavirus/mask protests. During these protests kids may even hear their Hollywood idol …
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Why Children Feel Guilty When Parents Divorce

Why do children feel guilty when parents divorce? Children are not born knowing the rules they must live by. Early on they learn the rules from the adults in their life. It is not always a pleasant process for the …
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Creative Ideas for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day

It helps kids to be reminded Mother's and Father's Day are not just for celebrating but are also for honoring their parent. Creative ideas for Mother's Day...
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Why Nurturing Creativity in Kids is so Important

By Ben Michaelis, Ph.D. Recent academic studies have shown that American kids are no longer as creative as they once were.  This should not come as a shock to anyone, as we live in an era obsessed with numbers, data, …
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Parents Letting Go of College Students

How Involved Should Parents Be When Their Child Goes Off to College? Having a child leave for college is bittersweet for many parents. Parents look forward to seeing their child grow into a responsible, secure adult. Yet, parents, especially mothers, …
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Murderer of Gifted Child Executed

Elissa Self-Braun was an 11 year-old gifted student who attended a school for the gifted in St. Louis, Missouri. Elissa was raped and murdered after she was kidnapped while walking to her bus. This crime happened in 1991 and this …
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