Are you always scrambling to find lunch money for your child in the morning? End the stress by making a habit of asking for twenty one-dollar bills and roll of quarters (or whatever denominations are appropriate) every time you cash a paycheck. Keep the dollar bills and quarters in a special jar or container that is only used for lunch money. If your paycheck is directly deposited into your bank account each pay period, then write a check to yourself every two weeks on the day you get paid and cash it in order to accomplish the same task.

Happy lunch money finding!

Simple organization of school snacks can save time and stress for you and your child. Whether you have boxes of raisins, packages of cheese and crackers, pouches of fruit gummies or granola bars, toss them all into one clear shoebox size container. This eliminates pulling out oodles of boxes of snacks. Now when it is time for your child to make a selection for his lunch or school snack time, let him select from the container. Hopefully the selection is quick and easy as all the choices are right before your child.

Additionally, by removing snacks from cardboard boxes you’ll be able to see how many snacks are remaining as the box will no longer be a visual barrier. With a quick glance in the container you’ll know when to add “school snacks” to your grocery shopping list.
This “snack” organizing also works well for adults. You don’t need to have young children in your house to simplify your snacks.

Happy snack finding!

Currently there are almost 40 studies that show the decline in tests scores of children from the beginning to the end of summer vacation. The set back can vary from one month to up to one grade level of learning. And the more a child struggles during the school year, the greater the setback. Certain case studies show that math, reading, and spelling are the subjects most significantly affected by summer vacation.

Summer Bridge workbooks are designed to both keep your child’s mind stimulated and prevent academic setback over the summer. The workbooks are available for the different grade levels Pre-K thru 8th grade.

The layout of the book provides for the completion of one workbook page per day, 5 days a week for 10 weeks during the summer vacation months. The workbook covers various subjects, and provides an answer key in the back for parents as well as certificates of accomplishment that serve as incentive for your child. The workbooks are $13.95. Each book also includes a special code for more activities online at SummerBridgeActivities.com

This summer keep your children reading and their minds stimulated. If you are in search of the Summer Bridge series call your local bookstore before making the trip as not all bookstores carry it. The series can be found at Barnes and Noble.

Have a fun and safe summer!

Do you find at the end of each summer you didn’t do all that you thought you would? Maybe you didn’t go on a picnic with your child, or didn’t take your son to a baseball game. Or perhaps you never made the road trip to visit mom and dad, or the trip to a historical site, or even the beach. Your intended plans just never seemed to fit into your schedule.

This year, before summer begins, ask each member of your family to write down what they would like to do the most this summer. Typically “big” ideas will come to mind, but you might be surprised that your kids will suggest the simple ones. Maybe your family is interested in a hike up a mountain, fishing, or a backyard water balloon fight.

Once you have a list, you may need to cross off a few hard-to-do ideas due to the cost or length of time required. Provide each family member the new pared down list and have them circle the three options that are most important to them. Keep a tally of the votes. Make a new list in order of the number of votes received, and begin to make plans to schedule your special moments and activities. Remember to schedule the activities with the highest number of votes first. And, if you find your family’s summer schedule has room for even more family fun, have each family member create a new wish list of summer “must dos” and begin the voting process once again!

You’re summer will be sure to end on a peaceful note with many fond memories to look back on.

Happy summer memories!