Take the Guilt out of Volunteering!
By: Karen Bantuveris is the founder & CEO of VolunteerSpot
Being a classroom volunteer shouldn’t be overwhelming—start by NOT overscheduling yourself and take a few simple steps to get organized.
Parental involvement builds great schools and has been shown to benefit children. According to recent research cited by the Parent Teacher Association— “Parental engagement in a child’s education increases student achievement, improves attendance and reduces the dropout rate”.
Five easy ways to pitch in—without losing your sanity!
1. Volunteer to do something that fits into your schedule.
For example, parents who work—or those with young kids— might choose to help once a term by chaperoning a field trip or helping with a field day or a holiday performance. Parents with more flexible schedules are needed as classroom assistants and cafeteria and library helpers.
2. Share your talents.
Do you have expertise in art, music, woodworking, computers, gardening, etc? Many of these “extras” are the first things cut in a budget crisis, and community members can bridge gaps and help inspire kids’ creativity.
3. Save time with online resources.
Skip “Reply-All” e-mail chains and clipboards this year; VolunteerSpot is a free website that makes it easy for anyone to coordinate parent volunteers with simple online sign-up sheets. The parent, teacher or leader sets the schedule of needs and invites parents to sign up with a link. Parents click to choose when and how to help— even from their smartphones. The site keeps everything up to date in real time, and sends automated confirmation and reminder messages to help parents keep their commitments. You can use it to organize classroom readers and parties, recess and library volunteers, snack schedules and fundraisers like carnivals, walkathons and book fairs. (It’s great for teams and Scouts, too.)
4. Got a little extra time?
Step up and be the Room Mom or Room Dad. These special parents help coordinate parent volunteers and plan celebrations in their children’s elementary school classrooms.
5. Buy products that benefit your child’s school.
Save education-incentive box tops and labels from products and cut coupons from office supply stores to share with teachers.
P.S.- there’s a HUGE giveaway right now on VolunteerSpot.com’s Facebook page: $500 in free classroom supplies for your favorite school!
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