By Tawra Kellam
http://www.LivingOnaDime.com/
It’s that time of year when all that “free” money starts rolling in. I’m talking about the bonus money, you know — the fun money (otherwise known as our tax refund)! That is the way so many of us think of a tax refund and five minutes after we spend this year’s refund we are already thinking about what we are going to do with next years money. Read more »
The Perfect Trap – Why the Perfect Home Isn’t Perfect, It’s Comfortable!
Martha Stewart can go for a walk in the woods and find inspiration in pinecones. She would collect them, spray paint them, stick white parchment with guests’ names in golden calligraphy on them, and bravo, have brand new place settings. Had you or I been in the woods, we would have been too busy listening to the birds to notice the hidden potential in pines. That’s our problem, you see. We’re too busy living to be good housekeepers. Read more »
Kids and Personality – Teaching Kids Real Life “Life Lessons”
My oldest daughter had horrible temper tantrums when she was 2 and 3. She’d start crying and she’d be unable to stop, even if she wanted to. She wouldn’t even remember what she was crying about.
When she was older, and had friends over, if something bad happened she’d start to cry once again. And once again, just like the tantrums, she’d be unable to stop the sobs, even when she wanted to.
My daughter does not really have a character issue. She has a personality one, but like most personality issues, there are two sides to it. The reason she has difficulty controlling her emotions is because she does feel deeply. And this can be a positive thing, not just a negative thing. When she makes a decision that she is going to believe something, she does with all her heart. She doesn’t do anything halfway. Read more »
Marriage drift can happen to any couple. You start out in love, blissfully excited to be together. And then real life kicks in. You get lazy. Jobs and kids demand your time and attention. And soon the relationship that was once so central in your life has drifted. You’ve grown apart.
Here’s how it happened with one couple: Read more »
How to Transform Bad Behavior Into Good Behavior in Kids
We all want our children to grow up to be outstanding adults, but what can we do as parents to make that happen? Read more »
By Carol Josel
1. Load your child’s binder with dividers–one for each minor subject and four for each major subject, so that notes, tests/quizzes, and returned homework can be easily filed.
2. Purchase a specially designed hole puncher that fits on a binder’s three rings. Since teachers don’t always have time to punch holes, this eliminates loose papers.
3. Make sure your child uses a 2-pocket homework folder. Assignments collected in the left pocket throughout the day are then transferred to the right one upon completion, so that no work is ever lost or forgotten.
4. A good assignment book is also essential. Your best bet is a teacher’s lesson plan book, providing plenty of space for recording homework in every subject.
5. Request that the appropriate teachers sign your child’s assignment book every day if the work is not getting done. This eliminates guessing games and goes a long way toward ensuring that the work will be completed.
6. Insist that your child get the phone numbers of classmates to call for missed work whenever absent. The collected work can either be left in the main office for you to pick up at the end of the day or brought home by a neighbor.
7. Display an over-sized calendar for recording long-term assignments, such as projects and reports. These can then be broken down into manageable steps along the way and avoids last minute work.
8. Store such school supplies as index cards, ink cartridges, poster board, and notebook paper in a box, basket, shelf, or drawer, so that everything is on hand. Replace items as needed.
9. Help sort and correctly file papers on a weekly, if not daily basis, thus eliminating messy binders and misplaced work.
10. Maintain an oversized notebook or box with labeled file folders for storing completed units of study. These can then be easily retrieved for future assignments and exam prep.
11. Establish a “Drop Spot” for gathering all school materials at day’s end. A bedtime reading book and the lunch that’s waiting in the refrigerator are the exceptions. This way, everything is hassle-free and ready to go in the morning.
Carol is a learning specialist who worked with middle school children and their parents at the Methacton School District in Pennsylvania for more than 25 years and now supervises student teachers at Gwynedd-Mercy College. Along with the booklet, 149 Parenting School-Wise Tips: Intermediate Grades & Up, and numerous articles in such publications as Teaching Pre-K-8 and Curious Parents, she has authored three successful learning guidebooks: Getting School-Wise: A Student Guidebook, Other-Wise and School-Wise: A Parent Guidebook, and ESL Activities for Every Month of the School Year.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carol_Josel
http://EzineArticles.com/?Top-11-Tips-For-Keeping-Your-Child-Organized-and-Ready-For-School-Every-Day&id=3381831
Moms are their own worst enemy, I think. We are graced with such a valuable role, we have such privilege to be so influential on those around us – and yet we are constantly trying to achieve a higher standard. Not that having a high standard is a bad thing, but it’s self-defeating if that high standard continues to go higher because reaching it is never good enough.
I think our problem stems from the fact that we compare ourselves. We think we have to have things a certain way, live a certain way, do things in a certain way. We fail to take into account our own personality, lifestyle, gifts, or circumstances. Read more »
By Carol Josel
Through the determined efforts of a woman named Marian McQuade, the mother of fifteen children, we’ve been celebrating grandparents for thirty-one years. Because of her, West Virginia Governor Arch Moore finally set aside a day especially for grandparents back in 1973. Word spread quickly across the country, and, five years later, then President Jimmy Carter made Grandparents Day a national holiday. And with good reason.
As Roots author Alex Haley once observed, “Nobody can do for little children what grandparents can do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.”
And they have stories to tell that must be heard and recorded, lest what they have to say dies with them. So take the time now to document their history–which is yours, too–and have your children do the same. Then move on to aunts and uncles. Read more »
By Carol Josel
When it comes to writing, start your youngsters early, so that they’re no stranger to this essential skill when they head to school, and then help them hone their ability to craft stories, essays, and research papers as they move through the grades.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Literacy Framework says, “Writing is an essential skill in most places, where it serves as a means of posing and solving problems, of making reports, and of persuading others to take a particular action.”
Need some convincing? Consider this response be a recent college grad to a question on a teacher job application: Read more »
Every year before my birthday I get hopeful as to what will transpire. Will I get a great, unexpected gift? Will there be a huge surprise awaiting me? I have hidden hopes of great anticipation hoping that others will go out of their way to make me feel special and celebrate me. Normally, my hopes are dashed. My birthday is usually just a normal day. Oh, my family gives me gifts and tries to make me feel loved – but my thoughts of big celebrations and grandeur are just that – thoughts. Read more »
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