Susan Cumberland
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Susan is the owner of School is Easy - Greater Vancouver and School is Easy California. She has a Masters of Education in Educational Leadership and Counselling and has won many entrepreneurial awards including 'Entrepreneur of the Year' by the Douglas College Self Employment Program and the Better Business Bureau Marketplace Excellence and 2nd place for People’s Pick. Her company, School is Easy, provides tutors in Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, North Vancouver, Surrey and the rest of the Lower Mainland (Greater Vancouver region). School is Easy has Math tutors, Science tutors, English tutors, French tutors and Special Education tutors.

Tips for Studying for Exams and Getting Through Finals

Tips for Studying for Exams

We’ve already discussed why cramming for a test isn’t the best way to prepare for exams; now, we want to give you some tools to help prepare you for your final exams.

1. Don’t procrastinate!

Don’t wait till the day before a test to start studying. Set aside time every day for at least one week to study for exams. If you are studying multiple subjects, break up your studying time so that you spend a little time researching for each test every day. Going over the information every day leading up to the test allows your brain to store the information and new skills in your long-term memory. Also, give yourself some breaks between studying for your exams with these tips for blowing off steam.

2. Munch on healthy snacks during study.

Some foods like nuts, berries and salmon have memory-boosting properties. Regardless of whether those foods actually increase your memory, they are not magical, so you still need to study your material. This doesn’t mean you can’t snack while you study.

One tip for keeping your brain alert is avoiding processed sugary foods. Sugar may give you some energy, but after overeating sugar, you may experience a sugar crash or a nasty headache. To prevent the adverse effects of snacking, eat healthy snacks while studying.

3. Try group study.

For some students, studying in a group can be very beneficial. Part of the reason is that study groups get you talking about your learning. Talking through the class material helps the information become engrained in your memory.

If you missed a day of class or had a day where you couldn’t understand a lesson, then the other students could help you review the main points from those days. An excellent activity if you are part of a study group is to write practice tests for one another and then review them all together. This will give you a well-rounded overview of all the material that must be covered and help prevent you from accidentally skipping over important information.

4. Get a good night’s sleep.

Another reason staying up all night cramming for a test is detrimental is that you need a good night’s sleep. Sleeping at least 8 hours will ensure that your body is well rested and that your brain is ready to function when it is test-taking time.

There’s always a crucial test just around the corner, so use these tips for studying for exams to help you prepare. Try to stay calm, keep your test-taking anxiety to a minimum, and before you know it, school will be out. And remember to contact School is Easy for any extra help you need!

How To Use a Fall and Winter Bake Sale To Teach Kids Business Lessons

cookies decorated with candy - article featured image for teaching kids entrepreneurship with a bake sale

If you think kids can’t be successful entrepreneurs, think again! An article on Addicted 2 Success lists some young people who made it big in the business world and proves that kids (yes, kids) can be entrepreneurs, too. The founder of Miss O And Friends was only 16 – still in high school – when she started her online business, which is now worth millions.

Cameron Herald, the chief officer of 1-800-Got-Junk for seven years, recommended that we ‘raise kids to be entrepreneurs’ in his 2010 TED Talk. We’ve touched on work experience previously on our blog and recommend you check it out if you haven’t already. That said, winter is almost here, which means many kids will be interested in holding fall and winter bake sales. Need proof? Think of the countless pastry stands at churches, community centers and schools, and you’ll get the idea. A fall and winter bake sale is a great way to teach kids business lessons. What kinds of lessons? Well, let’s delve into some!

Customers want customization!

A bake sale is an excellent opportunity to teach children business lessons about market capture. That is, figuring out what kinds of customers your kids can access and what they want to eat. For example, if your kids are involved in the local church, you could ask your children what kinds of cookie designs would be most appealing to the parish. Christmas trees, angels and stars might be some suggestions.

This will change depending on the customer base. If your kids want to start selling baked goods near a synagogue during Chanukah (also known as Hanukkah), it would be wise to teach them to adapt their products.

Use a kids’ winter bake sale as an opportunity to teach social media marketing to children.

In this day and age, every business needs to be Internet savvy. Show your children how to use social media to market their business. For example, help children create a Facebook page for their company. Facebook may require that you (the adult) be the account holder. However, you can make the page and then allow kids to develop and maintain the page, so long as you keep your children under close supervision. Show them the rudiments of taking pictures of products — such as a famous cookie — and posting them. Be sure to teach your children how to post the time and date of each bake sale in advance and during business days. The same applies to X, Instagram, blogging platforms and so forth.

Keeping track of money matters when teaching kids business lessons.

Teaching kids simple accounting throughout the bake sale would be a great idea. If your kids haven’t been introduced to spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel, now would be a fantastic time to do so! Show them how to keep track of business expenses such as paper plates, baking ingredients and food packaging. Then, they will be shown how to ‘balance the books’ by adjusting the prices of goods to cover costs and make a profit. You might have to help them set up the formulas first, though! If you have extra time, try to keep an inventory of the best-selling goods. This will help inform which pastries you and your kids will make more of. Tracking sales could be used as a guide for creating new products!

Big business starts small!

Remember, the lessons you teach your kids through something as small as a bake sale will remain helpful if they decide to become entrepreneurs. Lessons such as managing money, market capture, and marketing are all skills applicable to any business, whether big or small.

With that said, you may also find these related articles on our blog helpful:

8 Fall Math Activities to do with Pumpkins

8 Fall Math Activities to do with Pumpkins

Fall math activities for carving pumpkins
Photo Credit: Craig Damlo

Pumpkins are everywhere you go this time of year, so why not use them to do fall math activities with your kids? There are plenty of pumpkin shapes and sizes to choose from, as there are piles of pumpkins stationed in front of most grocery stores just waiting for people to take them home.  You can also go on a fun outing to the pumpkin patch to select the perfect pumpkins for these fall math activities.

Fall math activities for young children:

Regardless of what you plan to do with your pumpkin, the first step for most pumpkin projects is to remove the slimy seeds. This messy sensory activity can also create some fall math activities for your family’s young children.

Activity #1- Practice Estimating:

Each family member can estimate (or guess) how many pumpkin seeds will be inside the pumpkin. If your family has chosen more than one pumpkin, you can guess which pumpkin will have more or fewer seeds.

Activity #2- Count the Pumpkin Seeds:

Once everyone has guessed how many pumpkin seeds there are, everyone can help remove them. As you clean the seeds, have the younger kids in your family count how many seeds are inside the pumpkin. If each family member has their own pumpkin, you can count your own seeds and compare whose estimates were the most accurate.

Fall math activities related to Geometry:

Activity #3- Simple Geometry and Shapes:

Pumpkins are great for teaching kids about geometric shapes. You can talk with your kids about the shape of the pumpkin. Help them understand that it is not just round but more like a ball or a sphere. If you are going to carve faces out of the pumpkin, talk about the different shapes that make up the face, like triangles for the eyes or an oval for the nose.

(The following are geometry-related fall math activities for the older children in your family)

Activity #4- Measure the Circumference of the Pumpkin:

This activity can be done simultaneously as the younger children in your family are counting their pumpkin seeds. They can use a soft measuring tape or a string to determine the circumference of their pumpkin.  Once they measure with the string, they can measure the length of the string with a ruler.

Activity #5- Find the Radius and Diameter of the Pumpkin:

Once you have the pumpkin’s circumference, you can use the formula C= 2 x pi x r to find the radius. Or divide the circumference by 2 x pi to find the radius. The diameter is just two times the radius. If you cut the pumpkin open for baking, you can also measure its radius and diameter with string or measuring tape.

Activity #6- Find the Volume of the Pumpkin:

Once your child has found the Circumference and the radius of their pumpkin, they can use those measurements to determine the approximate volume of the pumpkin by using the formula V= (4/3) x pi x radius3.

Note: These measurements will not be perfectly accurate because the pumpkin is not a perfect sphere, but it is an excellent activity to get children to grasp the concepts of these measurements more physically than just looking at drawings on a piece of paper.

Making a pumpkin pie and learning about fractions:

Baking a pumpkin pie is not only a yummy fall dessert, but it can also be one of the fall math activities that can teach your kids about fractions.

Activity #7- Make a Pumpkin Pie:

Baking is a great way for kids to use math as they measure the ingredients or adjust the recipe. For example, if you are making two pies, you can have your children double the measurements for each ingredient.

Activity #8- Pumpkin Pie Fractions:

You can ask your child to figure out how many pieces of pie you will need to cut so that each family member can have one slice. Then after serving one slice of pie you can ask them to figure out what fraction of the pie has been served and what fraction of the pie remains.

These are just a few pumpkin related fall math activities you can do with your kids. If you haven’t gone to the pumpkin patch to pick out your pumpkins there is still time! Take advantage of pumpkin season and do some pumpkin related fall math activities with your family.

How To Pick the Right Summer Camp for Kids

Summer Camp for Kids

We’re in the middle of summertime, so it’s probably your last chance to sign up your children for a camp. Determining the best summer camp for your children can be a challenging task. There are many to choose from, and it’s only natural for a parent to want the best experience for their children.

In this article, we give you our favorite tips on how to pick the right summer camp for kids.

Pick the Right Summer Camp for Kids by Observing Their Interests

Determining the right summer camps for your children often requires you to examine what they like. A soccer camp may be a good fit for kids who like athletics but may not be the best choice for children more inclined towards art and vice versa. At the same time, summer camps can be a great way to get your children to explore new things.

Nowadays, summer camps are more than just heading to a generic cabin and lush, green forest where counsellors do crafts and activities with kids, culminating in a final performance for the parents. Summer camps can be one-day events or last several weeks, and they can focus on robotics, martial arts, music, sciences and even entrepreneurialism.

Use Your Children’s Interests To Help Them Grow Over the Summer

One possible way to get your children interested in summer camp and stretch their boundaries is to look for camps with both qualities.

For example, if your kids are interested in science but uncomfortable with athletics, you can enroll them in an exciting STEM summer camp like this one. Your kids will learn all about their favorite Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math subjects like building robots, programming, and cool engineering concepts.

There are likely several themed summer camps you can find locally and abroad if your child is old enough and brave enough to travel independently.

Should we ‘force’ children to go to camp?

It can be difficult to know when we as parents are pushing too hard. Growth doesn’t happen by staying in the comfort zone; however, if you stretch too far, an experience can be quite negative for a child. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula to determine if a child should or shouldn’t go to summer camp. Every child is different. Perhaps the best way is to observe and see if your children have attachment issues when you part with them for shorter periods, like at school or places like after care. Or possibly when a babysitter takes care of them for a few hours before bedtime (when they know they won’t see you until morning).

Check in with camp counsellors to ask them if your kids are exhibiting any symptoms of attachment problems. If it seems like they are getting overwhelmed, don’t be afraid to pull your children out.

Understanding your child can help you make the right decision

But remember, you need to know your child well enough to determine if they are experiencing either discomfort or trauma when attending camp. The discomfort is often necessary for growth, but trauma can be damaging. It’s the latter that you don’t want. Keep this in mind when trying to decide which — or if — summer camp is the right thing for your child.

One final note – if your kids are a bit older, see if they can go to camps as counsellors instead of registrants. It can mean a lot to the younger ones to know they have a ‘big sis’ or ‘big bro’ to be there for them when parents aren’t around. It’ll also teach the teens some great responsibility skills.

Focus On Kid’s Health: Kids Staring at a Screen While Studying in the Dark Can Be Harmful

Focus On Kid’s Health

In this era of technology, it’s becoming increasingly common for children to spend a significant amount of time on devices like computers, iPads, and phones. They even use technology for educational purposes, both in school and at home. While there are numerous educational websites and apps that can enhance your child’s learning, it’s crucial to remember that excessive screen time, particularly in the evening, can have adverse effects on your child’s health. As a parent, your involvement in managing your child’s screen time is key to ensuring their well-being.

Pay attention to your child’s screen time.

A common myth is that if a child spends too much time in front of a screen, their eyes will be damaged, and they will need glasses eventually. This is false! As explained in a video by DNews, computers and other screens cannot permanently damage the eyes. However, staring at a screen can cause eyestrain, headaches, and a few other minor symptoms. Encourage your children to take a break from studying on a screen every twenty minutes or so. One good thing to do is to try focusing on something far away (30 feet or more), as it will give your kid’s eyes a break. Plus, taking a study break can improve your child’s creativity, so it’s a win-win situation.

Kids staring at a screen can lead to trouble sleeping.

Many students have late-night tendencies and trouble waking up in the morning. But is this just because they can focus better on their studies at night and stay up late because of it? According to Harvard Health, although teenagers naturally feel more awake later at night, staring at a screen before bedtime will push off their sleepiness even later. This is because teenagers are susceptible to what is called blue light. The blue light in screens mimics sunlight and causes low melatonin levels. This is why many teenagers might not get a very good sleep or have trouble waking up in the morning. They are on their phones right up until they go to sleep!

How to avoid blue light.

Sometimes, studying at night is unavoidable. If your child needs to use the computer before bed, try having them use a sleeping app like F.lux. This app is meant to reduce the color of blue light on screens after the sun goes down, helping your child’s body know when to go to bed.

Taking breaks from staring at a screen, limiting blue light, and limiting screen time after dark will all help your child’s eye health. Plus, it will help them get a better sleep at night! So follow these tips to study still bright but keep track of health.

Great Tips for Motivating Kids To Complete Their Summer Reading List

Complete Their Summer Reading List
Many kids have a summer reading list to complete before returning to school in the fall, with different books assigned based on their grade level. This summer reading helps keep their brains active and engaged during the break. Here are some ideas to motivate kids to keep up with their reading assignments while actually enjoy books!

1. Get out of the House for Reading Time

Make reading time fun by turning it into an outing! There are plenty of places to read with your kids, and exploring new reading spots can be a great adventure. Bring a blanket to the park and read under the trees, or visit a public library for a quiet environment that helps kids concentrate. High school students might enjoy reading on a university campus to get a feel for college life. Once your kids finish their allotted reading, they can enjoy some free time on the outing. By turning reading time something pleasant, you help them associate reading with fun activities.

2. Use Incentives as Motivation

Some children may need incentives or rewards to motivate them to read. You can create guidelines that include small prizes for short-term goals and a bigger prize for completing the entire reading list. One idea is to match their reading time with an equal amount of TV time. For a final reward, consider a trip to a theme park or a special activity chosen together. This approach can make reading more engaging and rewarding.

3. Set a Good Example by Reading With Your Kids

Want to inspire your kids to love reading? Lead by example! Instead of just telling them to read, grab a book yourself and make it a family affair. Reading together sets a positive tone wile turning it into a fun family activity. Plus, there are tons of awesome adult reading lists out there, so you can enjoy your own book while they dive into theirs. It’s a win-win for everyone!

4. Encourage Thoughtful Reading by Using Reading Journals

Looking to make reading more enjoyable for your kids? Encourage them to dive deeper into their books! Whether it’s discussing the story together or jotting down their thoughts in a summer reading journal, engaging with the material can make all the difference. Why not have them create their own reading response journal? They can write in it after each reading session, helping them remember key details and stay excited about the story!

5. Don’t Stop Once Your Kids Are Finished With Their Summer Reading List

Finished with the summer reading list? Don’t stop there! Let your kids keep the reading momentum going by picking out their own books. Knowing they have the freedom to choose can also be a great incentive to finish the assigned books. Who knows what new adventures they’ll discover next?