Electronic Organization for Car Pools and Busy Moms

We were elated to make it through our first soccer season with a crazy amount of practices and games each week (14).  We wouldn’t have been able to do it on our own, but luckily car pools came together after a month for the two club soccer teams my girls joined. Still, there were challenges in setting up a car pool. Luckily a friend turned me on to Jooners, an …

Teaching Kids How To Save Money

It's great that schools are now emphasizing the need to teach financial literacy in the classroom but the issue is training teachers. The problem is that most adults don't understand the basics of financial investing, yet they overestimate their knowledge. Here's a way to test your financial investment acumen from…

My Mom Friend Nathalie is my guest author with ideas on how to throw a great Olympics party for kids. Use these ideas for a birthday party, a half-birthday party, or just as a way to experience the Olympics as a really great large play date!

------------------------

Olympics Games Party Theme for Kids

A reader asked me to help her round out her list of books for incoming Preschoolers.  I searched, and there are not tons of them.  I decided to combine this with entering Kindergarten because in September, my youngest child will start Kindergarten. I feel that you can use the books…

My post is here.

The cobbler’s children have no shoes and the architect’s wife has no mud room! Actually, in the case of Peter and Tracy Sachs, the architect’s wife has no mudroom now but is about the get the mudroom of her dreams. What is a dream mudroom? For Tracy, visiting the glorious mudrooms of Peter’s clients has helped her define her dream mudroom.

1) It must be spacious enough to contain all the sports equipment of three active kids.

2) It must have hooks for…

How to Avoid Getting Skin Cancer

I want to thank my dermatologist and Mom Friend, Dr. Madeleine Krauss of Krauss Dermatology, for giving me stern and consistent warnings on the importance of wearing SPF 30 sunscreen and a hat daily. I think about her on those days when I thought I'd be outside at school pickup for 5 minutes but end up at the playground for a hour…

How to Avoid Getting Skin Cancer

I want to thank my dermatologist and Mom Friend, Dr. Madeleine Krauss of Krauss Dermatology, for giving me stern and consistent warnings on the importance of wearing SPF 30 sunscreen and a hat daily. I think about her on those days when I thought I'd be outside at school pickup for 5 minutes but end up at the playground for a hour…

The entire Top 10 List ishere. 

Here are 3 of the picks:

3. Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta

Welcome to Moundville, where it’s been raining for longer than Roy McGuire has been alive. Most people say the town is cursed—right in the middle of their big baseball game against rival town…

What if There Were No Bees?: A Book about the Grassland Ecosystem (Food Chain Reactions) by Suzanne Slade

Grassland ecosystems can be found on nearly every continent. Countless animals and plants live in them. So what difference could the loss of one animal species make? Follow the chain reaction, and discover how important honey bees are.…

New Books to Read This Summer

In reviewing new picture books, I am finding that I can shorthand a review to a friend by just matching it up to a older, well known book.…

Kindergarten teachers do an incredible job with students during the first year of formal education, however, once the last school bell rings, it is the job of the parents and guardians to reinforce the skills that were acquired during the…

Misconception 1: Definitions do the trick.

Misconception 2: Weekly vocabulary lists are effective.

Misconception 3: Teachers should teach all hard words, especially those printed in bold or italics.

Misconception 4: The study of Latin and Greek roots is too hard for young learners.

Misconception 5: Word learning can’t be fun.

Let’s focus on Misconception #5: Word Learning Can’t Be Fun. Let’s spin that on it’s head and declare: Word Learning Should…

David McCullough Jr., an English teacher at Wellesley High School, gave this funny and provocative high school graduation speech. It's one town over from where I live. In fact, I live on the side that borders Wellesley. Except for Wellesley being more homogeneous, our kids are growing up in a very similar way.

My soccer mom friend who runs soccer camps…

Best Books For Beginning Readers at Camp Mom

When Music Lovers went away to sleep away camp last summer, it was just for 5 days. She got off a long wait list as well, so it was sudden and we all had to scramble to get her ready. Hence, there was not need for that sleep away camp requisite Mommy-Loves-You care package. Whew! I got off…

Best Middle School Books for Summer Reading

Please click on any title heading to see the complete post that includes book reviews. You can also click on any book to purchase at Amazon. I compiled all the book listsI have made on for Middle School. I hope this helps you find some great books to keep your middle school child reading happily this summer.…

My neighbor sent me an email with this poem that is supposed from a girl dying of cancer. It turns out to be hoax though all the email asks is that the poem be forwarded so that the American Cancer Society will donate to her. None of this is true but it's still a lovely poem about slowing down to smell the flowers. Enjoy!

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever

watched

kids

On a merry-go-round?

Or listened…

Today was a tough day. My 4th grade daughter, PickyKidPix, has been on pins and needles all week waiting to find out if she made the new Club Soccer Team for our town. She didn’t. She made the wait list which is not bad because strangely, her…

I am firing up the Caught in the Act ... of Reading! posts for the summer to do my part in getting kids to read. If you send me a photo of your child reading, I'll send you a book.

If I can discern what your child is reading in the picture, or better yet, you tell me, then I'll even try to match up a book that I think your child will enjoy.

Thank you to everyone who sent me…