Pancakes are a family favourite, and I try to do them as healthy as I can, and with a wide variety.

Ingredients

This is a game, I made up to help my KG1 son remember his letter sounds and words. It was really fun to play with his grade 1 sister, and very easy to make it suitable for both ages.

Things you’ll need

This is a really quick fix breakfast, when I don’t have time and need something to warm the kids up in the morning.

Soy milk is very expensive in Egypt, Vita is the most appropriate priced but it contains so much sugar. That’s why I found it ideal to be used with ... more]]>

This is a really quick fix breakfast, when I don’t have time and need something to warm the kids up in the morning.

Soy milk is very expensive in Egypt, Vita is the most appropriate priced but it contains so much sugar. That’s why I found it ideal to be used with oats without adding any more sweetener.

Ingredients:

• 1+1/2 cups sweetened soy milk
• 1/3 cups quick cooking oats

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, simmer the oats in the milk for 5 minutes.

If you would rather use regular cow’s milk, use the same quantities, and sweeten with 1 tbsp molasses. You can also add chopped dates, raisins, or ground nuts ….  Serve warm and enjoy!

If like me, you do not like tuna, you have got to try this. It doesn’t taste like tuna at all, yet has all the nutritional benefit with no fats at all. This is actually the only way my kids would eat tuna.

Ingredients:

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زز

It’s a big dilemma when you start thinking about looking for a school for your child. You have to think about many aspects. Some people have very high expectations from their dream school, others think that it’s impossible to find the right school.

When it comes to ... more]]> .

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It’s a big dilemma when you start thinking about looking for a school for your child. You have to think about many aspects. Some people have very high expectations from their dream school, others think that it’s impossible to find the right school.

When it comes to choosing a school for your children, its not about choosing the best school, but about choosing what works for you and your whole family. In this case, the best way to start your search, is by planning. List all the aspects that you would evaluate the school according to, then prioritize them.

Now before getting into how to start comparing between schools; first let’s see how are we going to evaluate some of the most important points in a school. Some of the points are obvious, and the information can easily be obtained by phone or through the school’s website. For other points, you’ll have to work a little more, like attend open days, and ask parents from the school.

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Distance

It seems pretty obvious, but you’ll have to take into consideration, the route and the actual time taken to travel it – since time, is the real issue here. Time taken to travel to and from the school is very important to be minimized, especially with young children. You might not feel it right now, but when your child comes home at 5:00 pm, still has his homework to do and has to sleep at 8:00 pm, then you’ll get to feel the problem.

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Fees

Another obvious point, but then I’d like to add, that some parents believe that they could squeeze out some extra money for the sake of enrolling their child into a better school. There lies a consequence to this:

If you are paying all your money to get your child in school with kids who’s parent are financially more able than you are; you’ll be faced with the fact that

1- Your child will have higher demands and expectations in his social life, in order to stay on a peer level with his colleagues.

2- There will be allot of other hidden costs throughout the year, that you might have not calculated.

3- Due to the possible difference in social standard, you will find it harder to mingle and socialize with other parents, which is a very important issue and will be discussed in another article.

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Education system

Well there are so many educational systems right now in Egypt, and talking about them is not in this article’s scope. But you should choose one or two first, before starting to look for a school.

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Social standard of the parents

This is a consequence to point number 2, but then the fees could be the same in two schools, having different social standards. This would normally be because one school will accept any parents as long as they’re paying the fees, while the other one is picky about who they accept. You can easily find that out by asking whether the school interviews the parents or not.

This point in my opinion is one of the most important – and for some people like me, might be even more important than the academic level for the school. This is because my child will be immersed in the social lives of the children of these people. Learning from them, partying with them and working with them. I wouldn’t want her neither to pick up ubdesirable social habits, nor looking at a standard of life that we cannot provide her .

As I mentioned earlier, it is very important that parents form a community,  socialize together, to be able to discuss the common school problems and work on solving them. This is another reason why you should pick a school, with parents having a close social standard.

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School history/reputation

Always ask lots of people, don’t depend on a couple of opinions, and don’t settle for ‘its a great school’. You have to ask about the details.

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School owners’ reputation and vision (If a new school)

New schools can look very promising, and start very promising; but they can deteriorate. Most new school managements tend to change within the first few years. What matters here is the owners’ vision of what the school should be.

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Level of religious education

Ask the school about how they enforce religious education in their routine. Ask parents to see if the school had been honest about what they said. Talking to allot of parents will give you a feel about what type of religious culture exists in the school.

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School hours

Don’t forget to ask about how many break-times the children get, their duration, and the number of activity lessons per day or week. Ask also about the time the buses arrive and time they leave, and the maximum round-trip defined for the buses. This will let you know how much time, the children spend at school working, how much they could be staying out of the house, and how much recreational time they’re getting.

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Extracurricular activities

Look around the school when you visit for displayed artwork. Check the school’s calendar and see how many trips and events, the school is organising. Ask about the P.E. and music classes, and how they are conducted. Ask both the school administration, and the parents.

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Level of ICT education

Ask at what year do the children  start ICT classes and whether it is used as an educational tool for other subjects as well. Do they have a computer in class or not. Do the children get to sit each on a computer in the lab or not.  Do older children use their computers for homework or not. Again, ask parents.

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Ethical/Character building

Ask what type of program are they implementing for ethical upbringing, independence and character building. They might not have a definite program, so the parents feedback is the most important in this point.

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Experience and professionalism of the academic staff

A very very important issue, since allot of schools lack the ability to properly evaluate who they’re hiring. Ask about the experience and education they require in their candidates. Look at the vacancies section on the school’s website and look for listed jobs and their requirements. Ask parents about their experience with the teachers, and ask them from different grades.

It is very important to ask about the educational level, and experience for the co-teachers and staff assistants for the KG stages.

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Teacher to student ratio

This is a well know piece of information worldwide, that is used as an indicator for the efficiency of the school. It is obtained by dividing the total number of students by the number of teachers in the school. The smaller the result, the better.

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Administrative staff

Some schools, tend to cut back on costs by hiring one person to do the job for two, or even more. This is not bad, as long as it is not affecting the quality of service, but it usually does. Evaluating this point, requires a separate article to come ISA.

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Clarity and abundance of information

Some schools fail to provide you with a clear curriculum outline for instance. The less information the school is willing to provide you, the more it either is hiding, or lacking. Lots of new schools are emerging, and most of them start up and go on for years before being able to establish a rigid system. Some never do. The first place to look for that kind of information, is the school’s website. If not available, or incomplete, ask for written handouts from the school. Make sure to ask about and attend any orientation sessions or open days.

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There are lots of ways to communicate to parents from different schools. The easiest, and most effective, is finding parent communities on Facebook. There are allot of parents out there who are willing to give their feedback about their experiences.