Early Childhood Education Planning Tips

While no child is alike and each family is unique, a common tread run deep in the heart of every home - the desire of parent is to give their children the BEST education possible and see them grow into their full potential. However, life is full of unplanned surprise and the path to achieving this desire may be a convoluted one. That's where a sound investment strategy comes in. With flexible planning and a suite of investment options that are available, you may help put your child on the journey to a valuable college degree. Here are a few TIPS that may help kick-start you planning:

1. CREATE A FINANCIAL PLAN WITH AN END IN MIND.

First, make an estimate of the costs that will go into your child's education. Your cost should take into account inflation over the investment or saving period. With the estimate as a guide, start piecing together your investment plan. There are many education planning option, each with its own risks and benefits, which you may use alone or simultaneously to achieve your goals:

a. AN EDUCATION SAVING PLAN is a good place to start as it aims to offer payout when your child enters college. Some education savings plan may also provide protection benefits to the child and or parent.

b. PROPERTY may provide rental yields and capital appreciation to fund your child's tertiary education. Rental yields may be used to top up your child's education fund savings or pay for your child's tuition. Should the value of your properties appreciate, it may be sold to obtain capital gains. Investing in property has its risks too as the property market may fluctuate in the future and you may not be able to get the selling price you hope for.

c. UNIT TRUSTS and STRUCTURED INVESTMENTS can be added to your investment plan, if they fit your risk profile, time frame and target goal for your child's education.

d. AN INVESTMENT LINKED PLAN can be tailor-made to grow your wealth with the flexibility to choose the type of funds suitable to your risk profile and goals. Your child may be nominated to receive protection benefits, should the unforeseen happen to you. Usually, you would have the option to make regular contribution or a single contribution in line with your financial standing.

Tips to Help You Choose the Right Education Portal

Joining an education portal is the newest way of studying in modern Indian cities and even in many small towns and rural regions. These are online educational resources that offer the promise of easy accessibility with the help of the Internet, and large databases of educational materials for students of different standards. But like in the case of all other service providers, there are both good and bad education portals out there. You need to choose an education portal with caution, as it can make all the difference to your academic performance.

But how do you decide which education website is useful and which not? Don't worry, as we will list a few tips below to help you find the right portal. Here they are:

Check the question bank: This is a very important criterion for deciding the worth of an education portal. A good website will have a large database of questions and sample papers. It ought to have an extensive question bank for different educational boards in the country, including the CBSE, the ICSE and the State Boards. It should also include questions and sample papers for different medical and engineering tests, like the AIEEE and CBSE- PMT, for instance. The advantage of having a large question bank is that it allows you to practice using the different concepts you have been taught in school. It helps you become thoroughly conversant with all the aspects of a particular academic topic. Moreover, it helps you become aware of your exam taking abilities, which can differ quantitatively from your learning abilities.

Educational Toy

Toys that have some educational value are very popular right now. An educational toy can teach kids many necessary skills. Kids can learn anything from cooperation to cause and effect to memory building by using educational toys. Though educational toys are a popular trend, they are not a new invention. The idea of learning through play has been around for centuries and is one that remains popular today.

For many years, toys have been used both for fun and for education. Very early toys had the purpose of both entertaining kids and preparing them for adulthood. Things like blocks would teach kids to cooperate and develop fine motor skills. Whereas games like tag and swimming built up strength so that kids could better do their chores and other strength activities.

Since ancient times, kids have played with simple playthings made from natural objects. They might play with rocks, grass, wood scraps or just games with each other to keep themselves busy. Sticks or rocks could represent soldiers or castles. Or a trinket could be fashioned from them. Historically, parents would create playthings for their kids like dolls, play guns, or rocking horses.

In the late 19th century, companies began making toys from new materials in mass. Many were made from plastic and metal as well as the traditional wood. Rather than playing with home made toys, kids started buying them from a store.

Tips on Using Educational Aquariums In The Classroom

How an Aquarium Will Make Kids Smarter

First a teaching aquarium in the classroom energizes learning, it prods learners to get involved because the tank is not an inanimate object it is a living, breathing organism, full of fellow creatures who just by their very existence teach learners about life in an ecosystem covered by water. It is easy to engage a human being in caring about the welfare of their fellow creatures, their life cycles, what they eat, how they protect themselves and even how they pass away. All of this will engage learners in a real way that a computer or online game can only dream of. Once you have observed the "life under the sea", you are invested in its well-being and it's ultimate successful survival.

Math and The Aquarium

The educational aquarium is also good for teaching math skills. From the little

learners who are just learning how to count. to the older learners who are learning about algebra, geometry or physics, all can be accommodated and engaged by using an educational aquarium. Lessons to learn simple math can be devised to count the "creatures" in the tank, or to group them together into similar groups, or to add and subtract them from the tank, or to learn the percentages of the population of your tank, from what percentage of the total population consists of sea stars. The applications are as limitless as the imaginations of our brightest educators. As for older learners, you can determine how much water is best for the tank, the percentage of salt in the water, the life span of certain sea creatures, how they function outside and inside. How to measure angles and recognize geometric shapes in nature. All of this can be developed by using an educational aquarium in the classroom to enhance and teach math skills.