Category: School Days

1. Should I get a tutor for my child?

   Posted on 12:00pm Saturday 4th May 2019

   This is a leading question and I am sure one that many parents will have debated over the years. I make no secret of the fact that I am actually a big fan of tutoring and have done this for both of my girls at different points in their education journey.

    

   My reasoning behind this is simple. If I send my daughter to gymnastics classes, she doesn’t expect me to know how to safely or knowledgably do a back hand spring, so why should I be expected convey the best ways to handle quadratic equations. Making sure that my girls have the best possible teachers available to them is both important and much less stressful for me.

   So I asked my youngest daughter if she wanted to try some online maths tutoring (with her Year 2 SATS coming up, I thought this would be good practice) and as she is a home bird, this appealed to her. Matr gives primary school-aged children in the UK online one-to-one maths tuition. Their tutors are maths experts trained to teach KS2 national curriculum to 7 to 11 year-olds, so it was a perfect partnership for us.

    

   Prior to the agreed set lessons, children are encouraged to do some “test” sets to establish their ability levels. I don’t think we took full advantage of this as our first lesson was quite basic but this also gave us a chance to get used to the system and how it worked. 

   Unfortunately in our case, my daughter didn’t connect well with the tutor and found them difficult to understand during the session however Matr were keen to react to this and swiftly arranged another tutor for our next session.

    

   Because of this initial “blip” I did question with Matr as to how they recruit their tutors and it is interesting to note they have a global network of tutors which enables them to hire maths specialists and provide the best support possible for each child. All tutors are maths specialists by degree or training, and many are STEM graduates … so definitely qualified. 

   Our next session had a new tutor who was extremely encouraging and adds little smiley face stickers on the screen when they are rewarding good work. My daughter loved this feature and ended up awarding the tutor some smiley face stickers of her own!

   The next question is always cost and as parents we have so much to budget for each month so having an affordable solution is necessary. Matr have easy, affordable, monthly or weekly payments from as low as £9.25 per week. The additional benefit is that you are not tied into a long term agreement and you can cancel anytime.

   So I started this post with the title saying “Should I get a tutor for my child” and for me, there are 5 good reasons to!

   1. One to One Learning
   2. Builds Confidence
   3. Test / Exam Revision
   4.  You can maintain over the holidays
   5. No more homework wars!!

    Maths tuition is no longer just the privilege of the wealthy. Online tuition companies like Matr now make maths fun and affordable for all primary aged kids. 

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2. How much does school uniform cost?

   Posted on 12:00pm Friday 3rd May 2019

   I read this week that following a recent survey carried out by Citizens Advice, findings have shown that more than a quarter of parents are having to borrow the money needed for school uniforms due to rising costs. This is crazy!!

   

   The average cost of a school uniform now exceeds £300 per year per child and many families on low incomes or with more than one child are finding it a real struggle to finance the items that their child need to comply with the rules of the school they attend.

   My eldest daughters school already has a strict uniform policy and we have had further notification that there are new restrictions from September on footwear, due to the financial pressures that parents are feeling over "branded footwear".

   

   So how do you save money on the rising cost of school uniforms? Here are our top tips!

   • Buy big and hope that it lasts for a couple of years 

   • Don't think that buying cheaper is more cost effective. Sometimes buying a slightly more expensive (and better quality) will last much longer.

   • Shop out of season. Shop the sales. Buy quality for less at any opportunity.

   • Label EVERYTHING so that less gets lost! Trust me we have lost a lot of uniform over the years.

   • Keep an eye out for the pre term deals. Marks and Spencers and the supermarket chains often have 10-20% off weekends

   You can't put a price on eductation but saving money on uniform is possible with a little planning.

   Good luck!

    

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3. Fingerlings Narwharl Review & Giveaway

   Posted on 12:00pm Friday 19th Apr 2019

   If you have a child of school age, you have undoubtedly heard about Fingerlings. No? Well if not, let us tell you ALL about them.

   Fingerlings were created by WowWee and they are essentially an adorable creature that is designed to be wrapped around your finger. The toy can be a monkey, unicorn, panda, dragon, or sloth that clings to your fingers and react to touch and sound by blinking and blowing kisses. 

   My daughter has had a Fingerlings monkey for some time but was delighted to have the opportunity to try out the new Narwharl that WowWee have launched. There are 4 Narwharls to collect and we were lucky enough to get Nikki the Narwharl, who according to their website, loves to “splish and splash”.

    

   The key features of the Narhwarl are: 

   • The horn lights up to show how they feel.
   • They have cute sounds that react to motion
   • Put them to your cheek to get an adorable “mwah” kiss (I can’t tell you how many kisses I have had from the Narwharl … it is a little addictive)

    

   The more you love the Narwharl, the more it interacts and loves you back, so when you lovingly pet them they’ll actually flap their tail and then blink their eyes so you know exactly how they’re feeling.

    

   The Narwharls retail for £14.99 and are available at most leading toy stores such as Smyths, Argos, The Entertainer and Argos. However we are delighted to give the Lilypad readers the chance to win one of your very own. All you need to do is enter below.

   Good luck

    Fingerlings Narwharl

    

   The Prize: Fingerlings Narwharl
   The winners will be chosen at random by the random winner generator on Gleam and notified within 7 working days by email
   There is no monetary equivalent.
   Little Lilypad Co take no /responsibility for loss or damage in the despatch of prizes
   If the prize is unclaimed within 7 days we reserve the right to redraw the winner.

   UK Entrants Only

   End Date 05/05/2019 at 12am

   This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram or Facebook. 

4. How much sleep do children need?

   Posted on 9:00pm Monday 15th Apr 2019

   It is no secret that I love my bed and my girls are very similiar but what time should a child go to bed? Parenting experts and grandmas might have differing opinions, but the best bedtime for a child is one that allows her to wake up on time feeling rested and happy. 

   

   How Much Sleep do Children Need?

   Children need more sleep the younger they are, with newborns sleeping on and off throughout the day and night. According to The Baby Sleep Book [Little, Brown & Co, 2005] by Dr. Sears, children need the different amounts of sleep at different ages. Dr. Sears recommends:

   Age 0-3 months, 14-18 hours of sleep
   Age 3-6 months, 14-16 hours
   Age 6 months-2 years, 12-14 hours,
   Age 2-5 years, 10-12 hours.

   Of course, there is a wide natural variation between individual children, but these figures can act as a guideline along with an individual child’s behavior. If a child is hard to wake in the morning or has frequent tantrums at the end of the day these behaviors might be caused by lack of sleep.

   What Time Should My Child Go to Bed?

   From the amount of sleep an individual child needs based on her behavior and age, the most appropriate bedtime can be worked out next. If mornings involve waking up to an alarm clock and getting out of the house to get to school or daycare on time, then work out first how much time is needed for the morning routine to go smoothly. Then, count backwards the number of hours a child needs to be well rested to find out the best bedtime for that child.

   Family Routines Can Affect Bedtimes

   Bedtimes can be pushed earlier or later to suit family needs, although the more a parent relies on the child’s natural sleep cues the easier bedtime will be. If children are allowed to stay up late to play with mom or dad who works long hours and returns home late in the evening, they will need to sleep later in the morning to make up for the lost time. Likewise, if a child sleeps late in the morning he will tend to remain wakeful until later at night as well. The key to finding a bedtime that suits the entire family is searching for the balance where the child is well rested and also has time together with the family, whether that is early in the morning or in the evening.

   Children need different amounts of sleep, but ensuring that a child has an age-appropriate bedtime will help her feel better during the day, pay more attention in school and avoid behavior problems related to sleep deprivation. Whether a family is early to bed or night owls, agreeing on an age-appropriate bedtime requires cooperation from the whole family.

   As for parents, get as much sleep as you can! 

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