Editorial: Help students, both mind and body

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With school back in full swing, it’s time to be thinking about how to help students, both mind and body. Going easy on the pocketbook at the same time wouldn’t hurt, either.

If finding a tutor for the student is on the to-do list, the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau (BBB) has advice on working with a tutor to best meet a child’s needs. Many students rely on a tutor to help them overcome a learning disability, tackle a tough subject in school or just get ahead of the curve.

Private tutors can be expensive—$30 to $70 an hour—but they do offer the most tailored approach to helping a child learn. A commercial learning center, such as Sylvan or Huntington, typically costs around $150 per week, paid weekly or monthly. A learning center provides a more social atmosphere for the child; usually, a tutor assists several children at a time. For the computer-savvy child, online tutoring usually carries a monthly fee of $35 to $130. Tutors are often available online 24 hours for kids to chat about their homework.

The BBB recommends:

—For information on tutoring services or commercial learning centers, start the search at www.bbb.org for free BBB Reliability Reports to help make informed decisions.

—Ask for recommendations. Start with the child’s teacher; other parents and friends can be a good resource as well.

—Check the tutor’s credentials and make sure he or she is qualified in the subject area with which the child needs help.

—Meet with the tutor and discuss measurable, specific goals to be achieved, and don’t be afraid to hold the tutor and the child accountable if goals aren’t met.

—Ideally, get a tutor who can coordinate with the child’s teacher to help identify problem areas and address any specific subjects where the child needs help.

—If using a personal tutor, feel free to sit in now and then, and observe how the tutor and the child are working together.

—Ask the tutor for advice on what a parent can do to help the child learn more effectively.

Moving from the brain to the stomach, it seems everyone is so busy that preparing school lunches is liable to push a typical mother over the edge. When choosing between making school lunches or spending an extra 15 minutes in bed, it seems like buying ready-made lunches at the store is the way to go, but the family budget doesn’t agree.

The average mom packs $2 worth of pre-packaged goodies into each lunch she sends to school with her kids. What mother hasn’t wondered if those lunches are even getting eaten? Here are some tips from LivingOnADime.com for things to be done in 30 minutes or less on the weekend to make those school lunches a snap.

—Those snack bags of munchies cost a lot! Pre-package chips, pretzels, animal crackers and other snack items into sandwich bags on the weekends. (Have the kids help!) Store them in a big container or basket and just throw them in the lunch box in the morning.

—Let the kids create their own pizza lunch kits. Toast bread and cutout little circles with a biscuit cutter. Add small containers of pizza sauce, cheese and other toppings.

—Make fruit gelatin and pudding, and put in small plastic containers for the week. Make a large batch of granola bars, cookies, pumpkin bread, banana bread or muffins. Divide them into zip top sandwich bags and freeze to enable grabbing one or two when needed.

—Brownie bites are simple to make. Bake brownie mix in mini-muffin pans and put three brownie bites in a sandwich bag for each child’s lunch. They freeze well, too!

—Fill thermos (not glass) half full with juice the night before and freeze. In the morning, remove from freezer and fill the rest of the way. The juice will be cold when the kids are ready to drink it and it keeps their food cold too.

—Clean vegetables, slice into pieces and bag. Preparing a week’s worth of veggies at a time for lunches and snacks saves money and time.

—Purchase cheese in blocks. Cut it into pieces and put in sandwich bags.

—Save napkins, catsup and mustard packets gotten from take-outs. Use in lunches.

Before making another peanut butter and jelly sandwich, check out www.LivingOnADime.com

for more recipe ideas.

Tags: opinion, editorials, school