Health: Hiring a Dietician for Home School Students
By Mimi Rothschild
Just like other students, home school students need to benefit from a nutritious diet. If you are considering hiring a dietician for your home school needs, there are some important factors to consider. First of all, if your home school student is a vegetarian, this can pose a problem. Most dieticians are trained to suggest diets that include a variety of choices from the four food groups, and unfortunately this includes meat. There are dieticians that specialize in vegetarianism, but you will probably have to do a bit of searching before locating one.
When choosing a dietician, you will want to make sure that he or she is fully qualified. There is a big difference between a registered dietician and a person who has a certified nutrition degree. Registered dieticians are required to take an exam given to all dieticians on a national level to test their skills and knowledge. A person with a certificate in nutrition most likely has not completed the extensive course load required for a registered dietician. They are not required to take a test before opening up a dietary practice or seeking employment as a dietician. It is difficult to judge a certified dietician's skills and knowledge.
There are a number of ways to locate a dietician for your home school needs. The most obvious way is to check your local phone book listings. Depending on the size of the city you live in, this may be a good way to find a qualified dietician. However, if there are few or no dieticians listed, you can try contacting the American Dietetic Association for further assistance. They can help by suggesting or referring your to dieticians who specialize in vegetarianism or special needs diets. Be sure to explain to them that this is for a home school student, not a public school facility. Another factor to consider is cost. As a home school parent, you will be required to pay the costs of the dietician. Before choosing a dietician, be sure you can afford the required costs.
Once you have chosen a dietician for your home school student, he or she will probably ask you to keep a list of all the foods consumed during a week's time frame. Although this may seem a bit of a hassle, it will allow the dietician to both assess food habits and suggest changes to improve the diet. By writing down everything that you and your home school child eat, you will become more conscious of your food choices. This can help to promote better eating habits.
After the problem areas in the diet have been identified, the dietician can recommend diet changes and menu planning for your home school student. If you are making drastic changes to your diet, you may need to schedule follow up nutrition counseling for some time. By doing so, you can increase the chances that your home school student will adopt healthy eating habits to last a lifetime.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, children's rights activist, author, and Founder and C.E.O. of online education company Learning by Grace, Inc. Rothschild and her husband of twenty-eight years reside in suburban Philadelphia with their eight children.
Feeling that “our current system of education has broken its promise,” Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. to provide families with Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children all over the world.
In addition to her twenty years of experience as a homeschool mother, Rothschild has written a number of books dealing with education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Home Education Websites Blog consists of helpful online content and activities for Christian homeschooling families.
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