Keeping Healthy Habits Top of Mind this Summer

July 18, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Help Protect Your Children from Germs during the Summer Months with Healthy Habits

(Sponsored Post)

With summer vacation full steam ahead, help your children stay healthy and enjoy all that summer has to offer! Whether your family is soaking up the sun on the beach or running through the sprinklers at home, as part of the Healthy Habits Program, Lysol wants to spread the word on the importance of healthy habits by sharing easy and effective tips to help protect your children from spreading illness during the summer months. Some simple ways to do so include:

  • Wash Up: Getting sweaty and a bit dirty is inevitable for any summertime activity, so proper and frequent handwashing is a must! Use warm water and an adequate amount of soap to create a nice lather – scrubbing for at least 20 seconds!
  • Support Your School: To help protect your children from the spread of harmful germs during summer, purchase Lysol Disinfecting Wipes and Lysol Disinfectant Spray to kill 99.9% of bacteria and viruses on hard surfaces in the home, while earning cash for your school! All Lysol products are eligible for Box Tops for Education redemption to help you support your school one clean surface at a time!
  • Bug Off: For time spent playing outside, it’s important for you to remind your children to wear insect repellent to prevent bug bites and diseases! The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also encourages parents to check children and pets for ticks regularly![1]

Visit Lysol.com for more information and tips to help keep your family healthy.

Rory Tait is the Marketing Director at Lysol. He drives the Lysol Healthy Habits campaign, a program focused on educating parents across the country on the importance of healthy habits and good hygiene practices.

Box Tops for Education and associated words and designs are trademarks of General Mills, used under license. ©General Mills

[1] CDC.gov. “Make Summer Safe for Kids” (May 23, 2016)

Filed Under: Money Matters Tagged With: , ,

Summer Means Sun, Fun, and … The Smart Talk?

June 1, 2017 By Leave a Comment

[Sponsored Post] As kids eagerly anticipate the start of summer break with relaxed schedules and no homework, parents face the decision whether or not to relax rules around screen time and digital devices. To deal with this transition from school to summer, one PTA dad has decided it’s time for his family to have ‘The Smart Talk’ … again.

When Alvin Gainey’s oldest daughter—who is now 16—started first grade, she got a cell phone.

“She was in aftercare and this was a way to communicate in the event of an emergency or if we were running late,” recalls Gainey. “Of course, back then people weren’t using their phones for everything like we do now. We basically just handed her the phone; we didn’t talk with her about digital safety or our family ground rules or screen time. I wasn’t worried one bit about her ‘digital life’ back then.”

Gainey admits he worries now. “Times have changed. Kids put everything online. And I mean, everything.”

As the Miami-Dade PTA Council President and highly involved dad of three school-age kids (his younger children are 9 and 11), Gainey jumped at the chance earlier this year to receive one of 20 grants awarded from National PTA and LifeLock to host a community event on digital parenting as an extension of Safer Internet Day.

The Miami event featured a digital safety expert who helped families better understand the many upsides of modern technology as well as the potential risks. A major focus of the event was on ‘The Smart Talk’ which is a free online tool created by National PTA and LifeLock that guides parents and kids together in an exercise that allows them to set customized technology ground rules for their household.

When Gainey completed The Smart Talk with his kids, he came to the startling realization that a lot of what he was doing in his own digital life maybe wasn’t so smart. “I am a big believer in practicing what I preach,” said Gainey. “All of a sudden we’re going through the prompts online in The Smart Talk, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh no, I have to change some of this for myself if I expect my daughter to change what she’s doing too.’ It was very, very eye-opening.”

He also acknowledged that The Smart Talk helped him and his wife tackle an “awkward” conversation with one of their children about some recent questionable online behavior. Gainey noted, “Even though The Smart Talk was primarily intended for parents giving younger kids a device for the first time, I definitely found it helpful with my kids who have had devices for a while. Like a reset button.”

With summer approaching, Gainey admits his household will relax some of the rules they previously established using The Smart Talk. “We have to do the whole exercise over again because some of our technology rules for the summer break are going to be different than what we have now for the school year. I guess we’ll have a summer Smart Talk!” he noted with a laugh.

In summer, Gainey’s kids “self-manage” their own time a lot more especially during the day and that often equates to more screen time with less oversight. Gainey plans to praise his kids for making good decisions like turning off their phone at the dinner table and encouraging a balance between device time and having fun in other ways. Since the kids will have more digital access during the day, he said they are likely to institute device-free hours in the evening which will be a major change from their original Smart Talk contract which allowed for devices in the evening.

When asked what advice Gainey has for other parents grappling with the transition from school to summer, he replied enthusiastically, “Honestly, have The Smart Talk as a family. Seriously. If you’ve had it before, have it again. The rules you set in September probably don’t make sense in June, and everything changes so rapidly with your kids and technology anyway that you can’t ever just set it and forget it.”

To have The Smart Talk with your household, visit TheSmartTalk.org.

Pro Tip: Before gathering your kids to complete this exercise with you, consider reviewing the website and talking privately with your co-parent to make sure you are on the same page. This “pre-talk” helps ensure a smoother Smart Talk experience with your kids. 

LifeLock, a modern identity theft protection company, is a longstanding Proud National PTA Sponsor and co-creator with National PTA of The Smart Talk.

National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product, or service. No endorsement of LifeLock is implied.

Filed Under: Money Matters Tagged With:

Fundraising for This Year and Next

May 4, 2017 By Leave a Comment

(Sponsored Post) At this point in the school year, PTA groups often experience turnover with members moving on and new members coming on board.  It’s a time of transition that does not always go as smoothly as planned.  The last thing PTA groups want is their support of the school to pause as a result of such transition.  After all, the reason we get involved in PTA is to give back to the kids.

Whether or not your PTA group is in a time of transition, it can be difficult maintain your fundraising efforts from year to year to continually support new curriculum and programs.

One program that has found a way to help schools maintain their fundraising needs year after year is the Schwan’s Cares™ fundraising program.  The Schwan’s Cares program is an online fundraising program in which a group can easily share their campaign with PTA supporters and easily shop for groceries from Schwan’s Home Service, Inc for delicious foods they are likely already buying.  The digital element of this program allows for an easy transition amongst school groups to maintain a certain level of funding each year.

A Wisconsin school recognizes Schwan’s Cares as a solution to fundraising, “As a middle school teacher, time is of the essence and the focus of middle school students is typically not on fundraising, which means that Schwan’s Cares fundraising is the perfect solution for our district.”

As the school year winds down, the focus of students and teachers is on finishing the school year strong and preparing for the next school year ahead.  However, we all know that funding is still needed at all points of the year to support programs.

“The Schwan’s Cares program is easy to set up and navigate for busy people.  Students are able to create their own personal accounts linked with mine.  They then have the opportunity to ask friends and family from all over the U.S. to support them.  The students love to see how much money they have earned each day as the sales are tracked.  Parents are excited that they do not need to pick-up or deliver orders for this fundraiser.  Schwan’s takes care of it all!” –Wisconsin Middle School

Whether you need to raise funds for the remainder of the school year or would like to get a jump start on next year, the ease of the Schwan’s Cares fundraising program could help provide a needed solution for your school.

To learn more about the Schwan’s Cares program – please visit www.Schwans-Cares.com.

 Robb Kaufenberg is the Manager of Fundraising Operations for the Schwan’s Home Service, Inc. fundraising program Schwan’s Cares.

Filed Under: Money Matters Tagged With: , ,

The Rewards of Spring: Fundraising

April 13, 2017 By 1 Comment

(Sponsored Post)  For many PTAs, Spring is a time of finishing the school year strong by continuing to support the school and its students so the students are well prepared for the next grade.  PTA plays such a critical role in that by helping to provide programs, curriculum and other opportunities that would not otherwise be available to many students.  With school budgets continuing to tighten across the country, the question is typically not “what programs should we provide our students”, but rather “how will we fund them?”

Schools earn funding from a number of sources throughout the year.  Once source that can make an even larger impact beyond the funding the school may expect is fundraising.  Now, you may be thinking to yourself “Our families are burnt out on fundraising and cannot support another one”.  This is where Schwan’s Home Service, Inc. can step in and help.

Back in 2012, Schwan’s Home Service, Inc. set out find an effective way to further give back to communities.  What they built is a cutting edge fundraising program call Schwan’s Cares that is revolutionizing the way schools raise funds and reinventing the perception volunteers have about fundraising.

A school in Illinois had this to say:

“The Schwan’s Cares™ fundraising program was a huge success for our school.  As a small-town school, it can often be difficult to raise money to keep the curriculum current.  Through the generosity of our school families and community, we were able to raise over $7700 this past year.  Schwan’s, along with other fundraisers, allowed us to purchase a new English/Language Arts curriculum for our students.”

The Schwan’s Cares program is an online fundraising program in which your PTA supporters shop from the over 300 delicious foods from Schwan’s Home Service, Inc with up to 40% of each purchase going back to the group.  Schwan’s takes fundraising a step further by also taking the orders, delivering the orders to each supporter and handling the cash.  The foundation this program was built on was to give back to communities by providing a seamless, effective program that eliminates the hassles associated with more traditional forms of fundraising. As a result, the Schwan’s Cares program has hosted over 14,000 campaigns and have helped give back over $11M to communities.

You know your PTA and school families better than anyone. If now is not the appropriate time to run a new fundraising campaign then there is no need to push it.  However, if your PTA or school could still use funding for end of year celebrations, additional program or curriculum – the Schwan’s Cares program might just be the perfect solution at this point in the year.

To learn more about the Schwan’s Cares program – please visit www.Schwans-Cares.com.

Robb Kaufenberg is the Manager of Fundraising Operations for the Schwan’s Home Service, Inc. fundraising program Schwan’s Cares.

 

 

Filed Under: Membership, Money Matters Tagged With: , ,

Unite for a Better Internet: Have the Smart Talk

March 1, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Navigating life online

(Sponsored Post) My boys are nine and eleven-years-old. This means that we’ve had “the talk” — yes, that one about the “birds and the bees.” But in our fast-moving, digital world, where children are engaging more and more on social media, playing online games and reading news online, we need to have a different kind of talk — one that teaches them the rules of the road for navigating life online.

According to a 2015 Pew Research Center survey, 50% of children receive their first smartphone by age 11, and 74% have access to laptops and desktops as early as six-years-old. There’s no doubt technology is playing a huge role in our children’s development. It just doesn’t make sense to ignore this enormous part of their lives. Having open and ongoing conversations about online safety and responsibility is essential to the well-being and overall safety of children.

However, when I chat with other parents about having a digital safety talk with our kids, I get the sense they find it overwhelming because they don’t know what topics to cover. And that’s understandable. How can we possibly know how to approach talking about everything our kids see online when we didn’t grow up with the same devices, sites and apps they use today? Not to mention the fact that parents often tell me that they also feel pressured to buy their kids new devices that their peers and classmates are using, regardless of whether or not their kids are ready for that kind of responsibility.

Fortunately, there’s a free, online tool to help families navigate these issues and talk about digital safety. It’s called The Smart Talk. National PTA and LifeLock developed it for families who want their digitally savvy kids to learn and have fun through technology, but also make sure that they are building positive habits to stay safe and be responsible online. The Smart Talk gives families an opportunity to talk about the issues that can come up as kids use smartphones, social media and apps — while they’re still developing emotional intelligence skills.

Since the tool is online, you can have The Smart Talk as a family whenever it works best for you. After developing an agreement together, you can print a copy of the agreement, hang it where you’ll see it (like on your fridge) and revisit as needed.

I’ve had The Smart Talk with my each of my boys — and they even enjoyed it (at least more than they enjoyed having that other talk)!  We plan on regularly checking in on our digital safety agreements. When that happens, I’m sure they’ll teach me a new thing or two, and we’ll have to evolve our agreements accordingly.

Join me in partnering up with your kids as we try to make the internet better and safer — have The Smart Talk tonight.

Kim Allman is the Vice President of Government Affairs and Corporate Social Responsibility at Lifelock.

Filed Under: Money Matters Tagged With: , , , ,

A New Year for Family and School Health

January 26, 2017 By Leave a Comment


(Sponsored Post) It’s a new year, and for many of us it’s a time to assess our health and resolve to shed a few pounds, add more fruits and vegetables to our diets, get more exercise and generally do what we can to make ourselves and our families healthier.

It’s also a good time to take stock of the health of your child’s school. After all, that’s where they spend most of their time outside of your home—nearly 1,200 hours each year. Start with a simple quiz to see what you know about your child’s school. Does the school:

  • Allow adequate time for kids to have recess?
  • Provide active indoor recess to ensure kids get physical activity during inclement weather?
  • Ask parents to bring healthy snacks instead of sweet treats for birthdays and celebrations?
  • Incorporate active games and non-food rewards as part of classroom celebrations?
  • Provide opportunities for physical activity during the school day, such as brain breaks in the classroom?
  • Adhere to Smart Snacks standards for school meals and foods sold in school?
  • Host healthy fundraisers involving nutritious foods or physical activity?

If you answered “no” or “I don’t know” to any of these questions, don’t despair. Join your school’s or PTA’s wellness team and find out! Then pick an area where you can make a difference. Get inspired by others like Tara Fisher-Munoz, a parent in Austin, Texas who took her passion and expertise in gardening to form the Go Green Team PTA with other volunteers and start the school’s garden program. Or Dana Dougherty, a parent and substitute teacher in Arlington, Virginia, who worked with her PTA to set up the 2FIT2QUIT team, that organized 5Ks and family fitness fairs and secured pedal desks to keep kids active while learning.

These parents started with big ideas but small steps. They and many others will attest that once you get started, it’s hard to stop, because just one program can spur a culture of health at school. By getting involved in school wellness, you can also help reinforce those healthy habits your kids are learning at home – and likely learn something new for a healthier you, too.

Learn more about how to get involved in school health at ActionforHealthyKids.org and celebrate your school’s health and wellness during Every Kid Healthy Week.

Amy Moyer, MPH, RD, is the VP Field Operations with Action for Healthy Kids and mother of two girls.

Action for Healthy Kids is a National PTA sponsor and has been invited to submit a blog post as part of their engagement with PTA.

Filed Under: Health and Safety, Money Matters, Slider Tagged With: , , ,

Is Using a Mobile Wallet a Smart Idea for Your Teen?

January 12, 2017 By 2 Comments

(Sponsored Post) So, your teen has a new smartphone and, in true teenager fashion, wants to set up a mobile wallet—now! Not so fast. Make sure you know the advantages and disadvantages of Apple Pay®, Samsung Pay or Android Pay.

With the rise in iPhone® usage among teens (69% of American teens use an iPhone*), and smartphones in general, Apple Pay®, Samsung Pay® and Android Pay™ can help them learn to manage the funds they earn. But is it always a good idea to give teens—or even younger children—so much power over their finances?

Before we answer that, let’s consider the qualifications for using a mobile wallet system: 1) a debit or credit card and 2) a compatible smartphone or smartwatch.

Debit card. It’s a common misconception that any of these services must be linked to a credit card—it turns out that a debit card works just as well. If your teen doesn’t have a debit card linked to their personal savings account, look into a Mountain America Teen Savings Account. As the parent, you’ll have the option to add a debit card to the account for your teen.

Smartphone. If your teen already has a compatible device, you’re ready to get started. But if he or she doesn’t—and your teen is interested in the benefits of a mobile wallet—you may encourage your teen to save for one. Learning to set financial goals at this age can be a great way to instill lifelong saving habits.

Why Using a Mobile Wallet Is a Good Idea for Your Teen

Convenience, accessibility and security are what makes mobile wallet systems so appealing. Consider this scenario: Your daughter keeps losing her wallet. Every time she’s about to leave the house, the entire family has to help her search for it. Or she calls from the movies when she realizes she has no way to pay for her ticket.

Sound familiar? Most likely, your daughter always has her phone in tow. In fact, an IDC research report revealed that 79% of smartphone users have their phone on or near them for all but two hours of the waking day.

With fingerprint authentication required to login, mobile wallet systems are secure, convenient and can help your child learn how to manage their money in the way they will likely use it in their financial future—with your supervision, of course.

Things to Consider Before You and Your Teen Decide on a Mobile Wallet System

Turning the reigns of a bank account over to your teen requires a little trust, a little education and a lot of patience! Like anything else, they are going to have to learn how this digital system works. There might be a few hiccups along the way.

If you are concerned that signing up for a mobile wallet system will give your teen too much access, here are a couple of things you can do to minimize any damage they might do.

  1. Start them out with a limited weekly or monthly allowance in the account that is connected to the mobile wallet. That way, if they go through all their allotted money, they won’t be able to access additional money until the account is reloaded.
  2. Get a joint account and set up notifications. Both you and your teen will be notified of each purchase as well as the current balance.

A Chance to Learn and the Right Time to Do It

Youth is all about learning and growing. This may be one of the very best reasons to use a mobile wallet. Built-in security features often make these systems safer than carrying cash. And if your teen overspends, the lesson learned—that they’re accountable for every single dollar—can quickly turn into a lifelong educational opportunity. Most parents will agree that learning this lesson when the teen lives at home and spends money on movie tickets or a pizza, is more beneficial than when the teen moves out and rent is due on an apartment.

Money management is an important skill to master. Setting limits and creating goals are ways parents can work with teens to help them learn the ins and outs of their finances. Using tools like a mobile wallet system can help take the lessons one step further. Talk to your teen and make sure you both understand your decision. And remember that regardless of the method you and your teen decide to use for money management, self-control and long-term planning are always part of the solution.

For more information on mobile wallet systems or other financial questions, contact Mountain America Credit Union.

Bryan Packer is the AVP Public Relations at Mountain America Credit Union.

Mountain America Credit Union is a financial sponsor of National PTA and has been invited to submit a blog post as part of their engagement with PTA. National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product or service, and no endorsement is implied by this content.

Filed Under: Money Matters Tagged With: , , ,

The Latest Tech Gadget Requires a Safety Talk with Your Kids

December 20, 2016 By 1 Comment

A LifeLock security expert and dad discusses why a conversation about tech safety with your kids is a must when gifting them the latest tech gadgets. He offers The Smart Talk as a fun, free, online tool to help facilitate the conversation.  

The holidays are here and most of us are busy looking for gifts. In fact 42 percent of parents with children under 18 plan to give their child a smart device as a holiday gift this year, according to a survey by Harris Poll conducted on behalf of LifeLock. Maybe it’s finally time for a smartphone or to purchase a new family computer or some other kind of connected device. There are a lot of things to choose from, and these days more and more of them involve having your kids online.

As you gift your child such a device, consider having a conversation about security with them. It’s important to your child’s safety, and while it may sound like a chore, it doesn’t have to be. The Smart Talk is a free, online tool to that’s here to help you facilitate a conversation.

The Smart Talk covers a range of topics, including:

Safety

Whether it’s texting with friends (or strangers), engaging in a video game chat room, or uploading pictures to servers halfway around the word, online safety should always be top of mind. It’s critical for your children to understand that it can be very hard to tell the difference between good people and bad. In fact, anyone can pretend to be anything on the Internet.

Kids need to realize that online “friends” that they’ve never met are still strangers—strangers that may want to know more about their personal lives and habits. Predators may pretend to be a kid, and ask your child for photos of themselves. Kids should be in the habit of treating online “friends” the same as they would a stranger walking up to them on the street, for the same reasons.

Privacy

Your kid is in her room, the door is closed, everyone else in the house is asleep. She shares personal thoughts on social media or she’s texting with friends, possibly sharing pictures. It feels private to them. The harsh reality is that what they are sharing is anything but private. Once something is available on the Internet, it’s pretty much staying there. As the saying goes, “the Internet never forgets”.

Maybe your kid wants to share a silly “selfie” with someone who promises to delete it. The supposed friend doesn’t delete it. In fact, they share it. Maybe someone gets ahold of your child’s smartphone (or her friend’s) while it’s unlocked, and starts going through the photos.

Help your kids understand the privacy isn’t something you can count on when sharing data online.

Bullying

Online bullying through social media is a constant problem. It’s important to help your kids understand that it’s not okay to fully or be bullied. By having those conversations with your kids, they’ll feel more comfortable telling you about when something comes up. This includes videogame chats, where your child may be exposed to all kinds of angry taunts and verbal abuse. If this is seen as “the norm,” it can be tempting for your child to join in or start their own attack later.

Another topic that goes beyond the trend of holiday gift giving, but that relates to connected devices your kids use is the Internet of Things.

More and more household devices and toys can connect to the internet. Toys want to download content from the internet—stories, new game modules, sounds, pictures. They also want to collect your kid’s name, maybe have your child take a picture of themselves with a built-in camera and display it as part of their online account. Some kids’ toys even have built-in Web browsers. They claim to have “child-safe filtering”, but earlier this month a security researcher demonstrated how to bypass the filtering on one toy tablet to access adult material. Frankly, it’s a mess.

Think twice about giving your child a toy that wants to go online. If you decide it’s worth it, spend time with your kids while they play with the toys and be alert for anything the device is doing (or asking your kids to do) that just doesn’t feel right.

Connected devices can open a whole new world for our kids. As parents, it’s our job to help them explore that world safely.

To have The Smart Talk with your kids, visit TheSmartTalk.org

Joe Gervais is a LifeLock cybersecurity expert.

Filed Under: General, Health and Safety, Money Matters Tagged With: , , , ,

Is Your PTA in Compliance with the IRS?

November 9, 2016 By Leave a Comment

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Are you looking to support your PTA by becoming a better leader? One way you can help your Local Unit PTA excel is by making sure it is in compliance with the IRS!

Many local and state leaders don’t realize that every PTA, due to being a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, must file some type of paperwork with the IRS every year. To help support our local and state PTAs with this issue, National PTA is developing a series of e-Learning courses on how to maintain your 501(c)(3) status regardless of your PTA size or income!

The first of these courses, Maintaining Your PTA’s 501(c)(3) Status, is set to be released Nov. 14. This course looks at the issue of revocation through the eyes of a Local PTA leader and walks you through the process of maintaining your Local PTA’s 501(c)(3) status.

In just 10 minutes, this e-Learning course will help you will identify the last time your PTA filed paperwork with the IRS and learn how to properly fill out your IRS paperwork for filing on time each year.

Have more questions about managing your PTA’s IRS paperwork? No problem! Maintaining Your PTA’s 501(c)(3) Status will be only the first in a series of finance courses based on this subject that will be released over the next few months!

Have general questions about managing your PTA’s finances? We can help with that, too! Over the past few months we have released other finance-related e-Learning courses to help local PTA leaders with some other areas of interest:

  • Quick Guide to Budget Basics
  • Quick Guide to 501(c)(3) Status
  • Quick Guide to Taking & Approving Meeting Minutes

All three of the above e-Learning courses cover a specific topic in under 10 minutes or less! These “micro-courses” are different from normal full length courses in that a specific topic is covered in depth over a short period of time, rather than covering many different topics over 30-45 minutes.

We believe that these new micro-courses give our members the flexibility to learn about a subject they are interested in or need help with over a very short amount of time, which fits better into all of their busy lives.

To access the PTA eLearning courses, visit PTA.org/eLearning. You will find our entire e-Learning library of 17 full-length courses, three micro-courses and four of our most popular e-Learning courses in Spanish!

Make sure to be on the lookout for more updates on National PTA eLearning courses in the future via National PTA’s Twitter and Facebook pages!

Jonathan Baker is the e-learning manager at National PTA.

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Mathnasium + PTA: Helping Your Child Succeed

November 4, 2016 By Leave a Comment

 becky-mcdaniels-image-with-a

(Sponsored Post) 

Across the nation, Mathnasium’s neighborhood math experts are working with PTA’s parent leaders toward a common goal—building stronger communities through quality education! Becky McDaniels, owner of Mathnasium of Brandon, Fla.—and a dedicated PTA member for over two decades—is a great example of this collaboration.

“PTA does so much for teachers and schools, and I wanted to be a part of it and make a difference,” Becky recalled.

As a mom and former teacher at public, private and charter schools, Becky’s worn many a PTA hat. She’s served on her local unit’s board, penned newsletters, driven fundraising initiatives from the ground level, bridged the gap between parents and educators as teacher liaison and served on event committees.

Mathnasium’s collaboration with National PTA through the STEM + Families initiative provided yet another avenue for Becky to show support once her children left school and she transitioned out of classroom teaching.

Now a business owner and STEM advocate, Becky’s math expertise takes center stage. Whether she’s presenting at PTA meetings, engaging families through fun in-school math nights or contributing to fundraising efforts, Becky’s clearly in her element. Many years after her first PTA meeting, she still finds it incredibly fulfilling to see a large scale project come to fruition and glows happily with every “thank you” she receives.

Colleen Horan Green, PTSA vice president at Randall Middle School, offered one such “thank you” to Becky. “Mathnasium of Brandon sought us out and became actively involved in supporting our events,” Colleen recalled.

“Now we are working together to create a seminar to help parents like me support our children in seventh-grade math. As a PTSA member, I’m looking at our common goals and filling the needs with Mathnasium.”

“The fact that Mathnasium exists is wonderful,” Colleen added. “They provide so many resources at any level, work in tandem with the curriculum, reach out to teachers and help us better serve our students. It’s more than just a partnership; they really do go above and beyond to understand needs at every school.”

For Becky and her team, the future brings more school sponsorships and fundraising as they host the Mathnasium TriMathlon the weekend of November 5 and 6. Mathnasium donates money to schools for every student who participates in this fun, free math competition. Find the event nearest you and help raise funds for your PTA!

Damaris Candano-Hodas is the Marketing Communications Coordinator at Mathnasium Learning Centers.

Mathnasium is a Proud National Sponsor of PTA and was invited to contribute a blog post as a benefit of this relationship. National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product or service. No endorsement of Mathnasium is implied. Learn more at PTA.org/Sponsors.

Filed Under: General, Money Matters Tagged With: , ,
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