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Help them get in the zone. Providing your high schooler with a quiet, distraction-free study area is one of the best indirect ways to help with homework. Maybe you set aside a time and place in the house where all members of the family observe “library rules,”minimizing all noise and outside distraction. If this isn’t possible in your home, taking your student to an actual library can be just as effective, especially during exam season. Most importantly, have a hard-and-fast rule about cellphone use. These devices can prove extremely distracting, regardless of setting. Sometimes students can feel frustrated or embarrassed when they struggle with an assignment. If you worry your high schooler is beating themselves up over a subject, it’s important to be understanding and let them know support is available. If you can guide them through an assignment (without doing the actual work for them), great! Otherwise, you can reach out to teachers and the administration to see if tutoring options are available. Let them know it’s okay to ask for help.
Be their study buddy. When midterm papers and tests roll around, students have a lot on their plates. While you can’t take a chemistry exam for them or write their report on the Battle of Waterloo, you can play an active role in the preparation. For test prep, making flashcards and using them to quiz your student on the subject matter can be a great way for them to learn and for both of you to spend quality time together. For essays, ask your high schooler to explain their thesis to you. Act as a sounding board for their ideas and help them outline the structure of their essay before they start writing. Ultimately, these tips boil down to being supportive of your young adult. Giving them the independence to learn positive habits while holding them accountable to their studies can be a difficult balancing act. But so long as you’re able to have an open dialogue about their homework load and you make clear that you’re there to help them, you can be a great ally in your child’s education.
enough time in the beginning, or they may realize they work more efficiently at a different time of day, but these mistakes will teach them how they study best. Stay in the loop. While it can be a good idea to hand over the reins and let your high schooler decide the details of their study schedule, you should still keep yourself abreast of what projects they have going on and when they are due. As behavioral therapist and certified school psychologist Natascha Santos says, “Parents are the ultimate prompt.” This doesn’t mean that you have to track every assignment your high schooler is given, but it does require an open dialogue with them about their school work. Asking questions like, “Do you have any big tests coming up?” or “When did you say that paper was due?” can be a gentle but effective reminder to your student to keep an eye on their due dates, regardless of whether they feel like going over the details of every assignment with you.
START USING GHEE IN YOUR COOKING
Butter makes it better, but ghee makes it grand.
vegetable and canola oil in recipes. You can even use it in place of coconut oil.
a kitchen staple in the U.S. The reasons for that are simple: It’s delicious and better for you than regular butter. In fact, for a food that’s almost entirely fat — ghee is 99.5 percent fat, and 60 percent of that is saturated fat — it boasts quite a few health benefits. Ghee is packed with healthy fat to help your body utilize fat-soluble vitamins and minerals more effectively. It’s also a great source of vitamins A, E, and K2. And ghee is a source of HDL cholesterol, often called the “good” cholesterol. In the kitchen, ghee is exceptionally versatile in all kinds of dishes. It has a high smoke point at 485 degrees (ordinary butter has a smoke point of 350 degrees), making it perfect for sautéing and frying. It makes an ideal replacement for
For hundreds of years, cooks throughout the Middle East and India have known about the magic of ghee. They cook with it, spread it over bread, and use it as a sauce. Ghee is a type of clarified butter. The butter is simmered for a longer period of time than standard clarified butter in order to render out as much water as possible. Then the remaining milk solids are strained away. The resulting ghee has a rich, nutty flavor. Even better, ghee is shelf-stable, doesn’t need refrigeration, and can last a long time — though once you start using it, it’s unlikely to sit around for very long.
You can find ghee at most grocery stores, though it’s most readily available at specialty grocers. You can also make it right at home. All you need is a pound of high-quality butter (organic, grass-fed is best) and a saucepan. Bring the butter to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat and let it simmer. The butter should foam and bubble, and then the foam should disappear. Continue simmering the butter until it foams a second time. This means it’s done! The butter will be a golden color, and brown milk solids will sink to the bottom of the pan. Pour it through a fine wire-mesh strainer or cheesecloth into a heatproof and airtight container.
While ghee hasn’t quite entered the mainstream yet, it’s on the verge of becoming
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