Save on Back to School Supplies

 Liz Latham

It’s almost time to send your children back to school and this can pose a financial burden on most families as you pay school fees, buy new clothing and tick off the back to school supply list. If you start early, you can avail yourself of a number of apps and sites that have specials and coupons that can really help ease the financial strain.

Only get what you need

Start with the list that your school has issued and tick off any items you already have. Check drawers and cupboards and see what items you can reuse from last year. 

Don’t buy items that aren’t on the list.

Shop online

You can buy most of the items you need online and you can compare prices that way too. Be sure that the shipping costs are lower than traveling costs to go to the store yourself. When you compare items online, you can find the stores which sell them at the lowest price. Of course you don’t want to make a special trip to each store or the gas money will negate any savings, but keep the list handy so that if you happen to be in the area, you can pop in and get a few things. Combining your back to school shopping with other errands will also save you gas money.

Swap Meets

You can organize to swap all your school supplies with neighbors and friends. This way you can maximize on bulk buys and you can swap out items which you don’t need. You can also work with other families to take advantage of ‘Buy one get one free’ offers or bulk purchase discounts.

Coupons

Coupons are a wonderful way to save and you can really reduce your costs by visiting the following sites to find coupons that you can utilize:

Coupon Divas

The Crazy Coupon Lady

Target

Bargain Briana

Common Sense with Money

Coupon Cravings

Deal Catcher

Retail Me Not

Money-saving apps

If you want to save money on the go, there are smartphone apps that help you to find bargains on your back to school supplies. You can also use these apps in stores that offer price matches. Simply find items cheaper elsewhere and show the cashier the ad on your phone so that they can match the price. This will really save on time and travel expenses as you don’t have to go to more than one shop.

Here are some of the apps you can use:

Rodger’s alerts

Checkout 51 (iOS or Android)

Red Flag Deals (iOS or Android)

CartSmart

The Coupons App (Android, iOS)

RetailMeNot (Android, iOS)

Cartwheel by Target (Android, iOS)

ShopSavvy (Android, iOS) / RedLaser (Android, iOS)

Foursquare (Android, iOS)

Swarm (Android, iOS)

Help your Child to Adjust to a New School

courtesy of Avalore

If you are relocating this semester, you can help your children to settle into a new home and school. Moving is a traumatic experience as children have to get accustomed to a different home, a strange town and new friends. They may also be missing old friends and familiar places. There are some ways you can make the transition to a new school seamless. The most important approach is to understand and acknowledge their fears and anxieties and address as many as you can.

Get orientated

Contact your new school and ask for a tour. If you can get a copy of your child’s schedule, you can trace their daily route from home to school and then around school to all their classes. Knowing where they need to go will help to reduce anxiety. If there are summer holiday activities where your child could meet prospective new school mates, then get details from the school office.

Ask your new school about the buddy system. Many schools assign ‘buddies’ to new students who help them to settle in and find their way around.

Know your new school

Look online and ask the school for brochures or information on activities and clubs. Knowing all the fun things they can do may help kids to foster a positive image of their new school. Getting involved in activities, sports and clubs from day one is a great way for your kids to make new friends.

The website can also provide information about dress codes, teachers, school rules and supplies needed so your child can be prepared.

Talk it out

Ask your child what they are most afraid of or what they worry about when they think about their new school. For example, if they are concerned about getting lost on their bike ride or walk to school, offer to drop them off for the first week or take the route together a couple of times before school starts so that they feel confident. Getting them to talk about possible problems and helping to address their concerns will alleviate anxiety.

Get organized

No one knows your child like you and so you are able to pre-empt any possible issues. For example, shop for and plan clothing choices for the first week. Make sure that they have their back-to-school supplies, get them back into a routine so that they aren’t late on their first day and make sure that they have all your contact details at the new school.

It’s a celebration!

Give them something to look forward to for their first week at school. Celebrate their first day with a cupcake party or take them somewhere special on the weekend after their first week. Having something positive to focus on will help to motivate them.

Reducing Stress for Adult Students

Pic courtesy of Abdallah Foteih

Thinking of going back to school but worried that you won’t have the time? We understand that families, jobs and time pressures make adult education a daunting task. That’s why our adult tutors help you to prioritize, organize and manage your time so that you have the opportunity for personal development and career advancement.

Causes of Stress

The job market is tough and more people are seeing the benefits of retooling. Getting a secondary education may mean a better job or a whole new career for you. Of course your life is busy and complicated and going back to school places an enormous amount of stress and pressure on the mature student.

There are a number of factors which contribute to the stress that students experience:

·         Work on a full or part-time basis.

·         Family responsibilities.

·         Lagging behind with technological advancements.

·         Haven’t kept up with advancements in the field.

·         Dated study techniques don’t fit with modern teaching methods.

·         Gaps in knowledge base.

·         Pressure to be the perfect student.

These concerns lead many adult learners to delay the start of their education while others feel pressured and overwhelmed by their new school environment.

The solution

When stress and pressure threaten to derail your academic aspirations, it’s time to get a tutor. Tutors understand that you are busy, that’s why they come to you so that they can teach you in the comfort of your home and fit in with your schedule.

One-on-one tutoring means that the tutor can find the gaps in your knowledge base and help you to fill in your foundation. This will help you to catch up and keep up with the rest of the class.

The tutor will assess your learning style and help you to record information in a way that you can use while helping you to organize and prioritize tasks so that you have enough time for everything. This means you are working smarter, not harder.

Tutors help you set realistic academic goals and formulate a game plan on how to achieve them. Tutors help you to complete your homework assignments and work with your curriculum rather than adding on additional tasks for you to complete.

If you have gaps in your communication and language skills, tutors can help you to effectively communicate your answers. Many students really do understand the course materials, but if they are not able to effectively communicate their understanding or they answer questions in the wrong way, they won’t get the marks they deserve.

Being an adult student and trying to balance life, work, family and studies is a very difficult task – we get that and that is why our adult tutors are trained to help with all aspects of academics from filling in missing gaps in your knowledge base to helping you with study skills, their holistic approach will help you to catch up and get ahead.

Preparing for High School

courtesy of: Library and Archives Canada 

The move to high school is a big one and most students (and parents) may be feeling a little anxious about the change. One way to help alleviate your child’s nervousness and prepare them for their new life as a high school student is to be prepared. Knowing what to expect will help to bolster their confidence and makes for a smooth and easy transition to their new environment.

Doing Research

Start by browsing the school website with your student. You can look at the news sections to read more about events at the school, you can also learn more about the teachers, councillors and other staff members. Read the school newspaper or magazine and the yearbook to help orient yourselves. This will give you and your student an idea of what to expect and how you can get involved.

Orientation

Attend the high school orientation to learn about school rules and to see what facilities the school has. If possible, take this opportunity to meet your child’s teachers and introduce them to your child. Let your child explore the school so that they won’t get lost on their first day.  One good practice is to find all of the classrooms your child will be attending and navigating to them from different parts of the school so that they always feel like they know where they are going.

After school activities

Encourage your student to investigate clubs and sports that they can get involved in. This is a great way to meet new friends and to make your child feel like they are part of the school community. If they are trying something new, they have the summer to practice which will boost their confidence too.

Routines

One of the biggest changes when moving to high school is the amount of work your child has to do in a week. You can help them transition by teaching effective organizational, time-management and task prioritization skills. You can also encourage them to do some of the requisite reading, or provide in-home tutoring over the summer months.

If your child struggles academically, you can really give them a jump start by filling in the missing building blocks in their academic knowledge over the summer. Just one or two sessions a week is all they need to catch up and even move ahead so that they can start the new academic year without adding academic woes to their list of challenges.

Start getting your child up at the right time for school a couple of weeks prior to the start of the school year so that they get accustomed to a morning routine. If they have to get themselves to school, you may need a practice run or two to ensure that they have the route and timing under control.

Ensure that your child has ‘emergency’ fare for a taxi or bus should they lose their transport pass or miss the school bus. Discuss emergency plans for worst case scenarios, put all relevant numbers onto their phones and make sure they have your number memorized in case their phone isn’t working. 

What to Do About Bad Grades

courtesy of Leland Francisco 

It’s that time of the year again when some families have to deal with the reality of bad grades. Poor academic performance can put strain on your family. Your student may experience a drop in self-esteem and confidence which will only compound the problem. We believe that every student can learn, but each student learns differently. You have to find the learning style that suits your student’s ability and then provide them with the tools they need to succeed in academics.

Start at the beginning

Speak with your child and their teachers to ascertain the root of the problem. Perhaps social or behavioral issues are influencing academics, or perhaps your child is missing some important building blocks in their knowledge.

Teachers have full classes and very little time, so they assume that students have the foundations from previous grades that they will add onto. If your child has some gaps in their knowledge base, they will fall further behind each year.

Study Skills

Each child has a learning style and, while most teachers try to present information in a number of different ways, they may not be speaking the academic language your child understands. There are many tests available online which will help you to find out what kind of a learner your child is. Then you can help them to convert information into a format that is easy for them to understand.

Some students need to learn organizational and study skills. While most teachers do impart these skills in the lower grades, if your child doesn’t know how to organize their time, how to study effectively, how to write a good essay or how to summarize texts, their marks will not be a true reflection of their abilities.

Language skills

If your child does not excel in language arts, they may be underperforming on all their test. The ability to read and comprehend texts in a timely manner and then communicate effectively through writing are essential skills for students to succeed. Encouraging reading and working on writing skills may improve your child’s overall academic performance.

Consider a tutor

Tutors are a great way to get your child the help they need. Tutors can test your child to see what their learning style is. They can go back and find what building blocks are missing in your child’s knowledge and help them to understand the fundamentals.

 

Tutors should liaise with teachers to find the best solutions for your student. Working one-on-one with a tutor will avoid all the embarrassment or anxiety they feel in a classroom environment and their self-confidence will improve too.

Tutors can teach students the study and organizational skills they need to be great independent learners.

 

The summer vacation presents a unique opportunity to give your child a jump start on the new academic year. Summer tutoring need not take up much of their time, but it will help them to catch up and build confidence to face a new academic year without the anxiety that they usually associate with academics.

 

7 Great Summer Reads for High School Students

From relevant to hilarious, this reading list contains a wealth of interesting books for high school students.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

This book, written in 1932, looks at Huxley’s vision of the future. Thanks to psychological engineering, people have been genetically bred to be passive and therefore useful to the ruling class. This book presents not only a wonderful world of imaginative genius, it also sheds a poignant light on the present. This is considered to be Huxley’s masterpiece and a great read for the curious mind.

The Cider House Rules by John Irving

Dr. Wilbur Larch is the director at St. Cloud’s orphanage in Maine. When his protégé, Homer Wells, takes the reins from the physician, the harsh realities of life in the 1920s and 30s takes its toll on the young doctor. This is a very touching novel and a story about love and loss that examines the grander themes of life.

Swords for Hire, Two of the Most Unlikely Heroes you’ll ever Meet by Will Allen

16 year old Sam Hatcher and his friend, en eccentric royal guard, aren’t exactly what you would call conventional heroes. But when the king is captured by his evil brother and imprisoned in a dungeon, they are the only ones who can rescue him.

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

When she is just sixteen, Mattie Gokey has to take a job at the Glenmore Hotel where a guest, Grace Brown, asks her to burn a stack of secret letters. But when Grace’s body is pulled from the lake, Mattie discovers that the letters hold the clues that could reveal who committed the murder.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Government agencies are genetically engineering a race of child geniuses in order to develop ways to protect the earth from invasion by a hostile alien race. Andrew ‘Ender’ Wiggin is one of these children who is taken from his parents and drafted into military training at a very young age. Beset with sibling rivalry, isolation and pressure from adult teachers, Ender must overcome his fears to help save the world.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Arthur Dent is having a very bad day. When he wakes up to discover that his house is about to be demolished to make way for a new highway he thinks his world is coming to an end. He couldn’t be more right as his friend, Ford Prefect explains that Earth is about to be blown to smithereens by a battle cruiser. Ford manages to hitch a ride moments before earth is destroyed and he and Arthur begin an epic hitchhiking adventure to the end of the universe.

The Exploding Toilet by David Holt and Bill Mooney

This interesting book explores the best modern day urban legends. These juicy tales aren’t only scintillating, they also teach an important lesson on how to think critically about the stories people tell. A great book for the reluctant reader.