Back-to-school special

4:46 p.m., Aug. 17, 2005--Just in time for parents getting ready for the new school year, UD experts offer their perspectives on school-related issues, ranging from packing a healthy lunch to what to do when your child is struggling in school.

Reinventing the 21st-Century child: Whatever happened to play?
The quest for intellectual excellence through rigorous tutoring and testing routines has eroded the value of creativity and play to children and compromised America's future, two authors argue in a new book, Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Our Children Really Learn and Why they Need to Play More and Memorize Less.

15 tips for a great school year
Last school year, your kid routinely skipped breakfast, missed the school bus at least once a week and put off that big social studies project until the night before it was due. This year doesn't have to be a re-run of old bad habits. September means a new classroom, new teachers and a fresh start. Help your child start out the school year right with tips from experts at the University of Delaware.

Beating the high cost of back-to-school
Notebooks. Backpacks. Three-ring binders. Lunchboxes. And, the latest, greatest fashion trends in pants, shirts, jackets and shoes. Maybe even a cell phone, laptop or PDA. Every year, kids seem to need (or want) more at back-to-school time. Last year, the average American family spent $450 on back-to-school shopping, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation. What's a family on a budget to do?

Packing a healthy lunch
It's back to school time, which means back to the routine of preparing school lunches. Some parents get creative, using cookie cutters to make whimsically shaped sandwiches and writing love messages on the skin of bananas. Others slap together peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Although there's nothing wrong with peanut butter and jelly, there are ways to mix up the brown-bag routine that don't take much time or effort.

How to smooth friction with the teacher
The beginning of a new school year often comes with anxiety and pressures that can sometimes create a rift between a student and a teacher, but parents should approach such cases cautiously to avoid making things worse, Charles MacArthur, professor of education, says.

How to support your child's school transitions
Some school years loom larger than others. Kindergarten, first grade, the first year of middle school, high school and college are all milestones. They're a time of great change, with new surroundings, new expectations and new challenges.

What to do when your kid is struggling in school
If your child is having problems in school, listen to your child's teacher and listen to your child. That's the advice from Jeanne Geddes-Key, Emily L. Phelps Director of The College School at the University of Delaware. “Some parents feel that when a teacher reports a child is struggling with class work or has behavior or attention problems, that the teacher doesn't like the child. That is rarely the case,” Geddes-Key says. “An experienced teacher usually can spot when a child is having long-term problems.”

How to choose an after-school program
Finding the right place to send a child for after-school care can be a difficult task, Martha Buell, professor of individual and family studies, says. But, she says, resource and referral agencies can help parents find and evaluate after-school programs. In Delaware and nearby parts of Pennsylvania and Maryland, Family and Workplace Connection links parents with after-school programs in their areas. And, word-of-mouth referrals from other parents can be useful, too.

Join the club, or not?
Parents often wonder if they are giving their children enough extracurricular activities - or too many. A University of Delaware professor says balance is the key.

Distance learning helps adults juggle multiple roles
In 2001, Barbara Alston, a divorced mother of three, juggled three jobs to give her kids the “good life.” With the goal of being able to support her family on one job, she began taking UD's distance learning web-based courses, working toward a degree in consumer economics. For the past several years, Alston has taken online courses at her desk at lunchtime and burned the midnight oil doing her homework after the kids went to bed.

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