Public vs Private Schools

Should you enroll your child in a public or private elementary school?  Let’s investigate our nation’s schools, the US schools, to help you with your decision.  Enrolling your child will, of course, cost you.  However, the real question before us at this time is the cost you will have to pay worth it. 


If your children attend a private school, their classes will be smaller than those of a public school.  The facilities of private schools are also much nicer.  However, private schools also have additional advantages. 

Advantages a Private School Offers

·      

    Private schools have a lower student to teacher ratio.  A lower student to teacher ratio means your child will get more attention than he or she would receive in a public school.  

·      Students have fewer problems with discipline in a private school.  One reason for this is that students attending a private school usually have a strong desire to learn.  In addition, a private school frequently has a code of conduct.  Knowing a consistent code of conduct guarantees that the student will always behave properly.

·      Parent involvement is always welcome in private schools.  In preschool and the early elementary grades, parent involvement in the form of suggestions for the classroom is taken very seriously.  After all, if parents don’t like the way classes are run, they will bring their children to another school.

   

·      Teachers in private schools don’t have to be certified.  If they aren’t certified, are they required to be college graduates?  No, they aren’t.  Are they trained to teach students that learn differently?  No, they aren’t. 

·      Private schools don’t have to teach students to prepare for government tests.  Therefore, your child’s teacher won’t be required to teach him or her what is on the test.  Instead, your child will be given experiences that will prepare him or her to think independently instead.

·      The academic standards are higher in private schools than those of public schools.

·      Culture including both the arts and music has a greater emphasis in private schools.

·      Options to board are offered at some private schools.

U.S. Department of Education Predictions 

In spite of the above advantages of private schools, the predictions are that by 2021 there will be fewer students enrolled in private schools.  Over the past 15 years, 12 percent of students in Kindergarten to grade 12 has reduced to 10 percent.  Furthermore, the prediction of the U.S. Department of Education is that the Kindergarten to grade 12 student enrollments in private schools will decrease further to 9 percent by 2021. 

In Conclusion

Let’s look at the facts.  The National Center for Education Statistics reports that as many as 50 million students are currently enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in the United States. 

Private schools offer so much more to their students.  The classes of private schools are smaller assuring you that your child will have more individualized attention.  In private schools, you may believe your child will be offered more cultural courses in art and music.

However, the biggest advantage of public schools is that they are totally free.  In addition, some public schools such as charter schools also offer some of the same advantages as private schools.  They are exempt from the regulations usually required of public schools and their curriculum is more varied as well.  All of this is possible without their charging tuition. 

If high academic standards are what you seek for your children, perhaps you should consider magnet schools, but they do charge competitive admissions like private schools.  The class sizes of magnet schools are larger than those of private schools.  Likewise, their curriculums are lacking flexibility.  They must also follow the rules and regulations required by the bureaucratic red tape demanded by the government.

However, remember public schools are totally free since they don’t charge any tuition.  Also, public schools offer special education programs for students with learning disabilities, and the teachers in public schools are state-certified.  Remember, in spite of the advantages of private schools, the enrollment of students attending them is predicted to decline.

Should your children attend private or public schools?  The choice is yours.  It may depend on your income.  You may prefer they are educated with students with a more diverse background.

Things You Can Do When Your Child Has a Meltdown

Observe, Observe, Observe

Is your child having a meltdown or is he or she having a tantrum?  The two may look the same, but there are differences.  When your child is upset, you don’t know which it is.  Look for clues and observe your child, and you’ll know whether it is a meltdown or a tantrum.

What is a tantrum?  

Does your child want or need something?  If so, he or she is having a

tantrum.  The child is demonstrating to get the item he or she wants.  

This type of behavior is common for toddlers and preschoolers. 

Because they lack the language to express themselves, they  

demonstrate.  Once they have developed their language, their tantrums

become less often.

However, some children get frustrated easily beyond the toddler stage. 

It is difficult for them to control their emotions.  There are many

reasons they will demonstrate with a tantrum.  Perhaps, he or she is

angry because you’re giving his or her sister more attention.  If he or

she can’t score in a baseball game, he or she may demonstrate with a

tantrum. 

Toddlers can control their emotions if they want to.  Sometimes, a child

may suddenly stop demonstrating long enough to check that he or she

has your attention.

The child’s tantrum may stop if one of the following happens.  When

the child realizes he’s not going to get his or her way, the tantrum may

suddenly stop.  Two other possibilities might be that the child gets what

he was demonstrating about or he or she may realize that acting out

won’t get him or her what he or she wants.

What is a Meltdown?  

The little girl above is in a classroom, but she’s suffering from sensory

overload.  In other words, she’s suffering from sensory overload.  When

a child has too much information from their senses, sights such as a

bright light, loud sound such as loud music, various textures around

them, or sour tastes, they will be overwhelmed by his or her senses.  A

meltdown is surely going to occur.  The cause of a meltdown of a small

child is usually a sensory overload. 

A meltdown may be confused with a tantrum.  A tantrum of a toddler is

caused by the toddler wanting something.  Whereas, a meltdown may

appear to be a tantrum, but it isn’t.  The toddler just can’t deal with too

much sensory input, and the result is a meltdown.

Special Needs Children

“Why?”, you might ask yourself.  Why does my child have so many

meltdowns?  If you understand your child’s special needs, you most

likely know the answer.  A special needs child’s life is more difficult than

that of the average child.  Understanding his or her special needs will

help.

·      Autism:  Autism causes a child to learn differently.  Sometimes, an autistic child can’t communicate due to his or her language difficulty.  An autistic child finds it hard to interact with people.  Often, an autistic child will react with a meltdown due to his or her not being able to communicate his or her feelings.

·      Asperger’s Syndrome: Asperger’s syndrome is a form of autism.  However, a child diagnosed having Asperger’s syndrome has difficulty with social skills, but he or she is said to be high functioning in intelligence.  He or she may perform some behaviors over and over again due to his or her having an obsessive focus.  He or she may also find writing and talking difficult.

·      Dyslexia: Dyslexia is a learning disability.  Children suffering with this learning disability have problems with language and communication.  Most parents don’t recognize this problem until the child enters school.

·      Tourette’s Syndrome: Tourette’s syndrome hinders a child’s ability to communicate.  It is difficult for a child to communicate because his or her nervous system causes sudden little movements called tics.  The child can’t control the tics. 

Notice all these conditions make it difficult for a child to communicate.  Therefore, it’s easy to understand that any of the above conditions would make communication difficult for a child.  No wonder, a child must become frustrated when he or she can’t communicate.  Not being able to communicate problems certainly must make a child’s life unbearable.

 

5 First Aid Tips for Care Givers or Nannies

If you work as a nanny or a caregiver, remember you are responsible for the safety of the person you are taking care of.  There are times you should call 911 for help, of course.  But the following tips will help you in circumstances you can control.

          Bloody Nose  

If the person in your care is a nose-picker, a bloody nose may be the result.  Since the care of this person is your responsibility, you should try the following at first.

·      Stop the Bleeding by:

1.    Instructing the person to sit up straight.  He or she should lean a little forward.  You should never have the person lie down.  Avoid having the person lean his or her head back.

2.    Using your thumb and index finger, pinch the person’s nose.  You should pinch the face below the nose and also apply pressure for five minutes.

3.    Repeat this action until the bleeding stops.  If the bleeding doesn’t stop in ten minutes, call for medical help.

Call for medical help:

1.    If the person is elderly and taking a blood thinner or aspirin

2.    If the person is having difficulty breathing due to the amount of bleeding

3.    If the nosebleed occurred right after he or she hit their head

   

    All Care Givers Should Know CPR

This is true especially if you’re taking care of a baby.  You should know how to either apply CPR or have a reference for how.  Of course, any time a child stops breathing, you should call 911.  For a good reference for how to apply CPR to a child, click here.  Print the reference and have it available at all times.



Know What to do If an Infant or Small Child is Choking  

When babysitting, you should know what to do when an infant or baby is choking.  For information, click here.  Print the reference and always have it available.


   
Always Have Medical Information of the Person 

When there is an emergency, the response personnel will expect you to have the medical information of the person you’re taking care of.  Don’t wait for an emergency.  Always have the medical information of the person you’re taking care of available.


Medical jewelry listing acute conditions may be a good idea for some persons you are caring for.  

      Keep Communication Open with Family Members  

Whether you’re babysitting or taking care of an adult, it’s always a good idea to communicate with family members.  If you can’t find something or the person you are taking care of is upset, family members can help.  If you are concerned about a possible problem, communicate your concerns with family members.  By communicating concerns, the family members will know you care.

Profit First by Mike Michalowicz

Are you a member of the construction industry?  If so, this is a book you must read.  Actually, if you're an owner of any kind of small business, this book has many tips that will help you to make a profit.  The tips will help you make your business a money-making monster. 

Most people today believe if you deduct your expenses from your sales, you have a profit.  However, Mike Michalowicz points out in his book that thinking that will only lead to a smaller profit.  If you want a large profit, you must use the profit first method.     

Reduce Your Operating Costs

All too often, we think our expenses such as salaries, materials, and utilities are unavoidable.  However, that kind of thinking will only lead to a smaller profit.  If we set aside a percentage of our profit first and limit our expenses, our profit will automatically be larger. 

If you reduce your operating costs, your goal of a bigger profit will become possible.  By reducing your operating costs, you will accumulate more money.  The idea is to earn more money every year than you spend.  

How to Reduce Your Operating Costs

·       Shop for the best price for materials.

·       If you can buy something cheaper by buying used, buy used.

·       Negotiate prices whenever possible.

·       Avoid major purchases whenever possible.

·       Seek free options when possible.

·       Market on the internet.

·       Limit landline phone use.

·       Take advantage of tax write-offs.

·       Save electricity when possible.

·       Go paperless.

·       Outsource some business necessities.

·       Use technology to be more efficient.

Earn Six-Figures with These Three Side Hustles

So many of us need a side-hustle.  Why?
Sure, our full-time job allows us to feed our family, buy those every-day necessities, and pay the rent.  However, there are long-term objectives we must fund such as having children, college tuition for our children, buying a house, and yearly vacations.

Where do we get the money for those? It would be nice to get a promotion or increase our yearly income with a new higher-paying job.

These opportunities for raising our incomes aren’t easy to find.  Perhaps, a side-hustle is what you need.  What is a side-hustle?  Simply put, a side-hustle is a second job.  They will give you a second income, but they need to be more than a second job.  Let’s look at three side-hustles that will give you the extra cash to get rid of some of your debt or save more for your future.

Online Side-Hustles 

Do you have a computer?  If so, going online is the place to go.  Here are several suggestions for online side-hustles.

#1: Crafts
I, for one, love to crochet.   In the past, I’ve crocheted ponchos, hats, scarves, and toilet paper covers.  You may prefer knitting, sewing, or making jewelry.  Whatever is your fancy, you can sell it online.
One way to get started is to look online for free or low-cost patterns.  For example, I’ve crocheted ponchos and other items that I’ve gotten instructions for online for free.

According to Entrepreneur, you can sell your product on Etsy.  For a cost of only 20 cents, you can list your product on this site with five photos for as long as four months.  However, Etsy does require a 2.5 percent commission when you sell your product.  Therefore, you should work that into your price for the item.

#2: Be an Online Tutor
To be qualified for this opportunity, you should have a college degree. The subjects you can teach maybe English, social studies, science, or math. 
· A site you might try is Tutor.com.  At Tutor.com, you will earn approximately $10 to $14 per hour. The amount you earn will depend upon the subject you tutor and the number of hours.
· Another online site to look into is Smart Thinking.  At the Smart Thinking site, you simply click on “See job opportunities” and you will see a list of jobs you can apply to.
· At VIPKid, you can earn $22 an hour teaching English online.
· If you would like to earn money tutoring math students for subjects such as Calculus, Algebra, Trigonometry, or Geometry, you should try the Skooli site. When you get to the Skooli site, go down to the end of the page and click on “For tutors” under “ONLINE TUTORING”. You will find all the information needed to apply for tutoring at that site.

#3: Write Online
Many sites hire people to write online. 
Sometimes, you write articles as a ghostwriter such as the Textbroker site. When you write as a ghostwriter, the person buying your article usually publishes it and your name is not used as a byline for the article.
A site you might write for is Demand Media Studios . The assignment rate of pay at this site ranges from $15 to $100. After going to the Demand site, you will see a list of topics to choose under “Freelance Writing Section”. You can choose a topic to write about. However, you must first be approved by the Demand Studios site. 

Conclusion
Since a side-hustle is usually done by someone who has a full-time job besides the hustle, online job types are perfect. That is because you can make your hours based on your availability.

Understanding Next Generation RPO

Whether you’re looking to staff your own small business or a human resource worker at a major corporation, should you try RPO, recruitment process outsourcing?  What is RPO?  To understand this hiring process, consider the meaning of the word “outsourcing”.  With RPO, you would use outside experts to do your hiring.  Acting as a service provider, they would assume the plan, management, and responsibility of your recruitment. 

If you want to recruit the right people for the right position at the right time, you should consider using an RPO.

How is RPO Different? 

A company may outsource the job of filling one or more positions.  Recruiting to fill a position requires the company providing the service to thoroughly investigate the turnover rate of the position and the amount of time it has taken to fill the position in the past.

Usually, once an RPO company has filled a position, the company requiring help in filling the position will continue to be a client for years.  They will need continued assistance to both fill positions and evaluate the performance of employees.  Recruitment for one position is rarely done with just the one position.  Improving recruiting processes may be needed by a company.  

Advantages of Using an RPO for Hiring 

• Cost reduced. – RPO can decrease the cost of each hire by over 50 percent.  This is the result of an outside agency using its resources.  They will also streamline the methods and share the risk.   
• Time to hire reduced. – Open vacancies can be filled in about 40 percent less time limiting your organization’s productivity less.  According to Outsourcing Insights, delays will be eliminated and there will be no duplication of tasks.   
• Fewer suppliers need to be managed. – By supplementing hiring, you can reduce costs and raise both efficiency and quality.
• The quality of hires improved. – Higher quality of hires will improve your organization’s productivity. 
• Improve your organization’s ability to meet its changing needs.  A company’s hiring can go up or down to meet its changing needs. 
• Make more informed hiring decisions and forecast future hiring needs better.
• Outsourcing recruitment allows a company to access to additional candidates.
• You can extend your team with RPO’s experienced recruiters.

RPO Models

• End-to-end solution – This type of RPO solution’s focus may be on one specific business division, a family role such as sales, or it may cover all an enterprise’s hiring.  It may be used across the globe, in a region, country, or single market.
• Project RPO solution – With this type of RPO, a company may fill a certain position within a specific time frame.  The company would hire a team of professionals with expert talent.  Examples might include a new sales team, a recruitment to fill back-logs, an unexpected demand for hiring, sourcing, or pooling of talent.
• On-demand Recruiter solution – This type is a lot like the Project RPO because it fills a need for a special project or a specific time.  Instead, a small number of outsourced recruiters will join your team based on their talent.
• Outsourced provider – In order to build a high-quality talent pool when needed, you can use an outsourced provider.

The Difference Between Business Process Outsourcing and RPO 

With BPO, a third-party expert is used to save in cost, raise products’ quality, make a company more efficient, and improve the services of a company and its scalability as well.  This is done by outsourcing the management of the business functions to the third party.  The third party is also responsible for the performance, output, and hiring of the company.

Outsourcing examples include:

• Accounts Receivable and Payable
• Support of a Help Desk
• Information Technology’s Development of Applications
• Information Technology’s Support of Infrastructure

The RPO’s third party places people into a company’s organization, but the performance of the people is not managed by them.

Human Resource Outsourcing and RPO Differences

Similar to Business Process Outsources, the cost is less, and the quality, efficiency, and scalability are better with HRO.

HRO Examples:

• Payroll is Outsourced
• Training
• There is an Employee Assistance Program
• Recruitment Process is Outsourced (RPO)

As you can see above, RPO is within HRO, and it is responsible for a specific service category, unlike BPO.

Conclusion

You may now be thinking, “Why spend additional money to hire workers?  Yes, hiring an RPO company may seem like an unnecessary expense.  However, if you look at the advantages of using an RPO company, you will realize that a one time expense will be worth the savings you will realize.  In the long run, you will both save money and the people you hire will be better qualified to perform.

SEO Content Writing Service

Don’t you want lots of people to visit your website on the internet?  Sure, you do.  This is important if your website’s purpose is to sell or get leads to sell.  So how can you accomplish this?  By writing with SEO, known as Search Engine Optimization content, is the way to go.  If the content of your website is optimized properly, your website will rank high on search engines such as Google and, as a result, attract lots of search engine traffic.

Approaches to Apply SEO Content to Your Website

• Keywords: If you’re marketing items, you certainly want one of the search engines such as Google to lead prospective customers to your website.  Therefore, it’s a good idea for you to use a keyword in your writing.  However, you should research possible keywords before you write.

You may want to find additional keywords.  One reason to find additional keywords is it may help you to rank better in search engines.  First, through research, you may find a niche keyword.  After finding a niche keyword, you may be able to find similar keywords to your niche keyword.  You should use keyword suggestion tools such as Google Ads Keyword Planner to find keyword suggestions of words that are similar.  Another approach you can try is to use Google Autocomplete.  The Google Autocomplete website uses an algorithm to predict search queries related to your keyword.  The site offers words and phrases related to your keyword in a drop-down list.

• Optimize Keywords for SEO: Many people still believe their keyword should be placed in certain locations on their marketing website.  They’re not aware of it, but they’re behind the times.  They think that every blog or article they write should have their keyword in the title or the first subhead.  However, where they put their keywords is still important to their page’s SEO.  When writing your website’s content, you should consider following these guidelines:
  • Your Title Tag: Your title tag should include a keyword because search engines use the title tags to evaluate your website.  If your title tag is both captivating and effective, it will send traffic to your website.  Your title tag also acts as a link to your website.
  • Subheads Create SEO Value: Readers of your website are scanners for the most part.  Your website’s title will get your traffic, but how long will they stay?  According to the Nielson Norman Group, they will only stay for about 10 to 20 seconds.  That’s not very long.  Include a keyword that fits and you may get them to stay longer.
  • Your Opening Paragraph: Your primary keyword should be included early.  It doesn’t have to be in the opening paragraph, but you can put it there if you wish.

• Organize Your Content: 

When visitors arrive at your website, they expect to quickly find what they’re looking for by reading your site.  Your navigation being clear will certainly make it easy for them to do this.   Besides that, they will be thrilled if your theme matches up with their search phrase.  Visitors will spend lots of time on your website if you logically group your information.  

Another way to organize your content to rank high on search engines such as Google is to use the silo method.  The silo method is a method that you use to group related content according to the keyword-based topics or your website’s themes.  

• Your URL: Your address on the internet is the URL of your website.   To get started, you must write your URL.  The standard structure of a URL for your website is as follows: https://www.yourwebsitename.com.
  • If your website is made up of several pages, each page must have its individual URL.  However, each page’s URL should indicate what’s the topic of that page.  For instance, the URL for an individual page should indicate what the website's page is about.  
• Images Can Boost Your SEO:  Besides adding to the overall experience of users, you can boost your SEO with images by including keywords in the image file name.  Also, the alternate text of the image should also include keywords.