Search Results for: blog planning for the next school year

Save Money by Planning Ahead

Dear overachiever mom who attached stuffed animals to the Valentine’s Day cards your kid passed out at school last week:  I don’t hate you.  Never mind, that all my 8-year-old Scotch-taped to her Snoopy Love Day cards were small packages of Skittles.  Not six-inch plush puppies.  I’m sure you never intended to make the rest of us parents feel like inadequate, uninspired, cheap losers. Listen, I considered flexing my creative muscle and having my kid attach snack-sized bags of peanuts to the cards.  Get it?  Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy… the Peanuts gang?  Of course, sending nuts to school in this … Continue reading →

Getting Ready for Back to School: Family Calendar

Next week my teens go back to school. Although this school year will be a bit easier to manage (now that our oldest has moved out), I know I still need to make sure I am planning and preparing for a successful year. Now when I say successful, I mean organized and flowing. My goal is to reduce the number of chaotic mornings we have and make sure everyone knows what is going on each day. One of the systems I implemented last year and have faithfully continued is our color-coded family calendar. It is a dry erase calendar, hung … Continue reading →

Too Cool for School

My 7 going on 17-year-old daughter thinks she’s too cool for just about everything these days, including third grade. Fortunately, I am not letting her attitude affect my tradition of documenting each and every detail associated with the first day of school. Classes resume next week. Yes, summer is almost officially over in our neck of the woods. My digital camera is as ready as my daughter’s new backpack and individual labeled No.2 pencils. I am planning to capture the day live as it unfolds in front of my lens. Then, as I have done for the past three years, … Continue reading →

My High School Graduate

I am now officially the mother of a high school graduate. It is hard to describe that feeling of watching your son walk across the stage to accept their diploma. A chapter in his life has closed and a new one begins. The past few days I have been doing a lot of reminiscing in my mind. I can still clearly remember the day we brought him home from the hospital. My husband and I couldn’t get enough of him. We took hundreds of pictures and videos. Try to explain to your third child why there are so few of … Continue reading →

Making Party Planning Fun

My friend’s son graduates from high school next week. Two days later, her home will be filled with no less than 175 of her son’s nearest and dearest pals, thanks in large part to the fact that he created a Facebook page dedicated solely to informing his peeps about his grad party. The ingenious teen is having a blast planning his commencement shindig, including constantly updating his online party page. His mom, not so much. While she is thrilled to commemorate her son’s milestone, trying to figure out how she is going to keep 175 teens and their parents entertained—outside, … Continue reading →

Preschool Picks: Ten Games in One

It is around the time when planning for the next preschool year begins. I love to choose items and curriculum for my preschooler. Perhaps it is because I am such a kid at heart. Preschool is a wonderful time of exploration and teaching through games. One of the questions I receive most is about products, curriculum, and games that I recommend for the preschool years. In this next series on Preschool Picks, I will share the best I have used and come across. The first item I want to share is My Very First Educational Play Zoo by HABA. Last … Continue reading →

End of the Year Fun

My daughter recently came home with a list of end-of-the-year activities that she and her classmates will be participating in before school lets out for the summer. I still marvel at the rate at which this academic year flew by. Soon I will be back in charge of entertaining my 6-year-old on a daily basis. Of course, there’s still a month or so left of school, and my daughter is thrilled that she will be participating in the following fun (and educational) activities: Letter Writing Doesn’t seem too exciting, right? Fortunately, my daughter’s teacher is extremely creative and loves to … Continue reading →

Marriage and the New Year

I don’t know what makes me so popular today, but here it is, only nine thirty in the morning, and I’ve already received e-mails from two young people who are getting married, one next week and the other in March. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, my conversation with each had to do with goal setting and how to incorporate their new spouse in to their goals. I remember when I was contemplating marriage—how hard it was for me to get used to the idea that I wasn’t going to be an individual anymore, but part of a team—and how I had … Continue reading →

Planning the Toddler’s Birthday Party

My daughter’s birthday is coming up. I have been thinking about this for months now. I want to do something different and fun because she’s getting bigger. Jessie’s birthday is in the middle of November and there’s no telling what the Texas weather will do. Last year it wasn’t cold, but it was raining. We’re in the middle of October now and the temps are still in the 80s. In the next month the weather can stay this way or plummet completely. I have to take the weather into consideration when thinking about what to do for Jessie’s big day. … Continue reading →

Reasons to Love Having an Only Child: The Preschool Years

When I was growing up, only children were perceived as very negative little human beings. My mother told me that only children were spoiled and lonely. They didn’t know how to socialize. I grew up pitying only children and vowed to have at least four children of my own. I had two siblings and loved being the big sister. Then came my daughter, and then came a host of medical challenges that made it difficult for me to have more children. I found myself in an interesting position: I needed to confront my stereotypes about only children, because I was … Continue reading →