Electronic organization for you and your volunteer efforts: Google Calendar, gmail, Jooners (volunteers), VolunteerSpot, TeamSnap (kids’ sports), eVites for pot lucks, Bidding for Good for online auctions.
Author: Pragmatic Mom
I am a mom with three kids and a husband living in Newton, MA. I graduated from Harvard University with a degree in HIstory and Science. I went to The Anderson School of Management at UCLA for my M.B.A.My background is entrepreneurial. I started several companies and currently serve on three boards including for my elementary school and preschool. I was a SAHM for nearly 8 years, and went back to work part-time just recently. Now I work almost full time as a WAHM for a consumer electronics start-up in Boston.My blog is my outlet to read children's literature which is my great secret pleasure, and to document any interesting and/or useful information that I acquire as I parent. My kids are quite active and pursue many interests collectively including soccer, gymnastics, rhythm gymnastics, karate (Chung Kook Doh), ice skating, Chinese, Spanish, flute, piano, T-ball, book clubs, and art. In my free time, I have been doing kickboxing, vinyasa yoga, zoomba, and I am trying to learn Spanish as well.Learning about SEO and how to blog has been a really fun enterprise albeit very time consuming. I started a bloggers group that meets weekly called www.coffeeshopbloggers.com. The S.O.S. on SEO. We share our collective frustrations and knowledge from blogging.Now you understand the Type A parent I am...hence the tagline my blogger friends came up for me for my blog:Type A Parenting for the Modern World
How To: Support Your Child Academically
Whew! The kids are back in school! The first month of school is typically a time to assess and review from last year. What does this mean for math?
Turn Your Child Into a Reader
Did you know the number one determiner of success when a child enters formal schooling is the number of hours he has been read aloud to by someone close to him? The simple act of reading to your child will make all the difference in the world!
Best Easy Readers for Kids
I found this from Books and Stuff which is the blog for Westerville Library and they give their perspective on the winners at the bottom of this post. Benny and Penny in the Big No-No by Jeffrey Hayes is the 2010 Winner. The information on the Geisel 2010 winners is from the ALSC (The Association for Library Service to Children):
7 Ideas for Social/Emotional Learning
From a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) point of view, the most important consideration at the start of the new school year is to create positive feelings and optimism about school. This has many practical implications for both educators and parents.
Fun Math App for Kids: Math Ninja
My five-year-old son has been hogging my iPhone and the family iPad all last week while we were on vacation. He loaded tons of “free” games which ended up costing us $10 — (my husband: “Does he know how to read ‘free’?” Me: “Yes, he reads it as ‘fee.’ Hence the charges!) — and we had to yell at him to turn off the screens. Except when we noticed he was playing Math Ninja. True, he’d try to cheat and slyly ask us what 9 + 6 is but we were on to him. It turns out to be a fun game for all my kids including my 10-year-old and 8-year-0ld, both girls. And, I turn out to be bad at it.
Ugly Colors board book — edgy but cute!
I have to hand it to Random House because it’s a brilliant play to take the Uglydolls and convert them into books — isn’t it usually the other way around — with an edgy attitude which I can only describe as slightly gross (to appeal to boys) and slightly sweet (to appeal to girls).