Search Results for: blog year round school on the rise

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 →

Plenty of Special Needs Proms Happening This Year

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Last year, at around this time, I noticed that there were a lot of high schools that were holding special needs proms. This year, this lovely trend is continuing. In addition to proms that are specifically for teenagers and young adults who have special needs, there seems to be more acceptance of high schoolers with special needs attending the official school prom. Here are a few stories about proms from this year. In Houston, Texas, eighteen year old Amber House did not think she would be going to her prom. Amber has Down Syndrome, and plenty of friends. Her parents … Continue reading →

Special Needs Blog Week in Review – April 1 – 7, 2012

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Every week, the Special Needs Blog Week in Review gives you a brief description of all of the blogs that appeared there in the past seven days. This is a good way to find the blogs that you missed, but perhaps would have liked to read when they first appeared. The Special Needs Podcast Roundup went up on April 2, 2012. This time, I’d like to point out an episode of NPR’s “All Things Considered”. The episode is called “N.Y. Preschool Starts DNA Testing for Admission”. If something in the child’s DNA makes the school think that he or she … Continue reading →

Are Autism Rates on the Rise?

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Some new federal data shows that there has been an increase in the number of children who have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. These new figures were released on March 30, 2012. There have been some questions about how the original data that was used in this research was collected. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have released new figures that appear to say that autism is on the rise. Their data shows that, in 2008, 1 out of 88 kids in the United States had autism, or an autism spectrum disorder. In 2006, the number was 1 … Continue reading →

Insurance Podcast Roundup – Week of November 29, 2011

The weekly Insurance Podcast Roundup helps keep you informed about new changes to insurance that can affect you. You can also listen to podcasts that advise about certain types of insurance, and keep up with the latest news regarding health insurance. NPR has an episode of “Talk of the Nation” that was released on November 22, 2011. This episode is called “ADHD Sufferers Fear an Adderall Shortage”. Host Neal Conan points out that the Drug Enforcement Administration thinks that the problem is not really a shortage, but is actually a problem with distribution. He interviews several adults who have been … Continue reading →

Prepping For the Back-to-School Blitz

Still haven’t found a Scooby-Doo backpack… C’mon people; help me out here. Time is not on my side. Where did the summer go? Year-round students in the Chicago Public School system return to class tomorrow. Meanwhile, kids in Hawaii, Seattle, Atlanta and parts of North Carolina already started the new school year. Thankfully, my daughter has two more weeks of summer vacation before reality crashes in on our blissful routine-less mornings. Oh, how I dread school day mornings. Getting back into the groove of laying out uniforms, packing lunches, filling backpacks, making breakfast (then forcing half-asleep kids to eat the … Continue reading →

Back-to-School Broke

Just as my bank account was recovering from funding summer camps, soccer lessons, new swimsuits, pool fees, daily DQ runs and July jaunts to major theme parks, I’m being buried by back-to-school bills. I am officially back-to-school broke and classes around here don’t start for another two weeks. I kvetched when I saw Target and Wal-Mart employees replacing Fourth of July displays with school supplies, but then I realized that many kids are forced to head back to class at the end of July. Thousands of year-round students that attend Chicago Public Schools start the new academic year on Monday. … Continue reading →

Home School Blogger Spotlight: Homegrown Mosaic

I recently read in a homeschool magazine that the number one reason for homeschooling was for religion. As a Christian and member of on and offline homeschool communities I see that all around me. Every now and then a secular homeschooler would flutter in yet soon flutter out feeling out of place. It has also been said that the number of black homeschoolers is on the rise yet still a minority in the world of homeschooling. Again, I see that in my own experience as well. Secular homeschoolers often feel out of place as do minority homeschoolers. So what if … Continue reading →

School Enriches Creative Play

The other day, we spent some time talking about two of the world’s smallest animals – the bumblebee bat and the bee hummingbird. We discussed the larger varieties of both species as well, and how a hummingbird can hover unlike other birds, and how a bat has extraordinary sensing powers. We covered the topic pretty thoroughly, and then moved on. I thought the kids might retain some of the information, maybe just in time to appear on an episode of Jeopardy! down the road, but my six-year-old surprised me. He went and found the kitty cat ears he’d been given … Continue reading →

Back-to-School Reading

Hallmark has been selling Halloween cards and decorations since July (they’re hawking Christmas tree ornaments too), so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Barnes and Noble has an entire display of back-to-school themed books set up in the middle of their kids’ section. Fortunately, my 6-year-old loves school, so she didn’t hightail it out of the store screaming like a banchee upon seeing the sky-high display heralding the end of summer vacation. Instead, my little bookworm made a beeline for her favorite book series, many of which feature back-to-school editions, including: Pinkalicious: School Rules by Victoria Kann Victoria Kann’s … Continue reading →