When my son was in preschool, I created this free Kindergarten readiness book for him. I printed it out, bound it into a 3 ring paper folder, and made a copy for each child in his class and the teachers had the kids work on it for a few months before preschool ended. It is …
For the last day of April and National Poetry Month, I am so excited to welcome my guest author, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater of poetry picture book Forest Has a Song. She has inspired me, a poetry-phobe to explore poetry with her gentle coaxing so I asked her to please write a post on teaching poetry …
I am starting to buy into this idea of teaching and really connecting material through games and apps. I was sort of on board with this concept, but since playing around with The Elements (a Harry Potter version of the Periodic Table) that my brother-in-law turned me on to, I am now a believer as I saw, with my own eyes, how captivated my kids were with the Periodic Table, an otherwise dull chart.
Simple Skip Counting Songs to Learn Multiplication and Division. Fun free multiplication games to play on the computer.
Tips, Tricks, Do’s and Don’ts to Getting an Athletic Scholarship.
Dragons and aliens and dinosaurs, oh my! And for girls, there are interesting slightly mischieveous girls to meet as well as cousins who are really sweet. Short chapter book series can often have repetitive plot lines about nothing or language that is neither rich nor interesting. There is something special about each of these book series for the child AND the adult reading along.
Every summer I stress out about what books to get for my kids that they will like but are also exposing them — as only books can do — to the wide world all around them both past, present and future. This summer, we are going to take a trip around the world by reading these multi-cultural books. What is great about this list is that it covers all the ages of my kids: from preschool through elementary school. I will be sneaky and check out these books for them and leave them strewn about the house for them to examine when they are bored. I will keep you posted on what books my kids actually liked because that is a whole ‘nother list! See you at the library!
I find that The Univ. of Chicago’s Everyday Math needs home supplementation, especially in math facts. She recommends Daily Word Problems and Singapore Math.
How to detect and remove lice and nits. Two effective methods for killing lice: Robi Comb (an electronic zapper comb) and the Olive Oil Treatment. Pragmatic Mom does not recommend lice shampoo because it’s not 100% effective due to lice resistence, and has harmful chemicals.
Reading Lists for 2nd -5th graders of books that deserve a Newbery Award plus Newbery Award winners that are appropriate for elementary school children.
Please welcome my guest author, Elizabeth Leonard, founder of Blue Bridge Project. Her organization helps high school students get placed in international hands-on service projects to help them with future endeavors like getting into the college of their dreams. Read more…
Travel and Leisure came out with a list for best family resorts and though we think the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa the best family resort EVER, we’ve only been to a handful on that list including DisneyWorld and Atlantis. We didn’t consult the list either when we booked out trip but we were excited to find that it made the #17 spot!
We first visited the Grand Hyatt Kauai nearly 20 years ago. My husband’s post-college roommate used to be the Head Pro at Grand Hyatt Kauai’s golf course, Poipu Bay. Read more…
I remember reading Island of the Blue Dolphins when I was in 5th or 6th grade and really loving it but it was a kind of quiet book. I didn’t notice kids at school reading it either, and I assumed too old-fashioned and had fallen out of favor. When it arrived on our door step for PickyKidPix’s 5th grade book club, I was delighted! She hasn’t it read it yet though. Read more…
Our elementary school PTO pays for our school’s playground including a replacement for an older structure that we’ve been saving for as well as maintenance. A new playground is EXPENSIVE! We’ve been saving for a few years and will save for a few more years before we have the money for a new playground. Read more…
This fall has been absolutely crazy for us. My kids decide that they wanted to play A LOT of soccer and so my two oldest, both girls, added club soccer to their town travel team. My son in 2nd grade, dropped karate for extra soccer skills training as well. The result: 14 soccer events a week. Yep, 14! Not only is it a crazy amount of driving but: Read more…
My oldest, nearly 13-years-old, is a creative, arty kid who wants to go to RISD (Rhode Island School of Design). She decided this when she turned ten after visiting the RISD museum. I think it was the gift store that did it for her; all the items are created by students, alumni or professors. It really blew her away and we ended up buying a small pile of gifts. Read more…
It’s interesting that we view Johnny Appleseed as an American hero bringing apples to the people. Did you think Johnny Appleseed went around planting Red Delicious, Granny Smith, and Rome apples? I did. Read more…
September was a blur of soccer, back-to-school events and more soccer. For the first time, my two girls decided to double their soccer by adding a club team to their town travel team. My son also decided that he was done with karate and replaced those slots with more soccer. Read more…
I went to a Boston bloggers event last week to get a preview of the new Container Store with Capability: Mom and Random Recycling. We saw Mommy Niri there too, and made a new friend, Evan and Lauren’s Cool Blog. The new store is gorgeous but what was even more inspiring was the story behind the family-owned private company that is a constant fixture on Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For. Read more…
