How to Get your Kids Ready for Back-to-School

 If you're like most moms I know, you probably let your kids sleep in every day until they woke up.  While this is good for the summer, it's horrible to get them on a schedule for back to school.  Not to mention, that by the end of summer, both you and kids are usually ready to go back to school.  So, how exactly do you get the kiddos ready to abandon those lazy days of summer?  Well, let's look at several different things you can do:

1. First, you need to start getting kiddo back on a sleeping schedule.  The night before back to school IS NOT the best time to start this schedule!  I started about a month before school started.The reason I say this is because, you can't just say to your kid, "OK time to get back on a sleeping schedule you're going to bed at 8:00."  Yeah, that just doesn't work, because the kid has probably slept in late and won't be tired.  The best way is to start with a bedtime 2 hours after "school" bedtime.  That way, as each week progresses, they will be more tired. 
2. Second, you want to start waking little one up on a schedule.  Along with the going to bed early, comes the getting up early.  Again, start with 2 hours after "school" wake up time.  Yeah, that first week is gonna be really hard, as all of you will want to go to bed after you wake up.  Then, you have the problem that brings us to number 3.
3. You have to now figure out what to do with kiddo, now that they're up early and crabby from no sleep.   Well, you need to feed them a healthy breakfast and get them used to breakfast again.  Because, if your kids are anything like I was growing up in the summer time, I didn't eat breakfast...I always woke up too late for it.  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!
4. Next, (and this is especially true if it's a first time at a new school) you need to start getting kiddo ready to "get ready" for school in the mornings.  That means, no more lounging around in PJ's until noon and showers at 3:00 PM.  Just like a sleep schedule, you need to have a "getting ready" routine. 
5. Now, this brings me to getting to school.  About a week before school starts, it's always a good idea to pick a route to go to school.  If you drive kiddo to school, map out the route you're gonna take and start making the trip daily so you know what kind of traffic and roads you're dealing with.  It's a bad idea to just say, "I will take this route" and then there's construction on a certain street or road.  Not to mention, the horror that kiddo will feel at being late on the first day of school. 
6. This one ties in with the getting to school routine.  You should make sure that kiddo knows WHAT they need to take with them every day so that they can get used to carrying it out the door with them.  There's nothing more embarrassing than getting to school only to realize that you forgot your lunch or homework.
7. Some school districts have a meet and greet before school starts, so that you and little can meet the teacher, etc.  I would definitely go meet the teacher, especially if little doesn't like strangers, like Monster. 

So, here's some big tips for getting you (and little one) ready for back to school.  Do you have any other ideas that I've forgotten?  If so, I would love to hear them!!

I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms blogging program to be eligible to get a HarperCollins book set. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Ten Tips for Ensuring a Healthy, Safe and Successful School Year

Yep, it's that time!  School is right around the corner.  The stores have put school supplies on sale, school supply lists are at the front of said stores and, if your child needs booster shots, the school has already sent you a notice!  But, there is one thing that many parents don't think about until there's a note sent home from the teacher or school nurse...your child's eyes!  It is important to get your child's eyes checked every year, sometimes even twice a year.  Children do most of their learning for the first 12 years through their eyes, and if they can't see well, they aren't learning well. 

Now, because my son was a preemie, I know that he is susceptible to eye problems, and was on the lookout for Strabismus, or lazy eye when he was younger.  I noticed that he was having one eye turn in and IMMEDIATELY took him to the eye doctor, and yes, eye doctors can tell if your child needs glasses at such a young age.  We caught Monster's eye problem early enough, that with glasses it was corrected.  But can you imagine the frustration, and the learning delays if we hadn't caught it.  Here's a picture of little one shortly after he got his glasses:

You can see he was cross-eyed in this picture.  Since I caught it early enough, he no longer needs glasses! And I'm grateful. 

So, now that you know that children as young as six months can get glasses, what kind would you get?  Well, there's a type of lenses called Airware, and you can learn about them here.  And, luckily enough, they are having an essay contest right now!  You can write an essay on how you are going to provide a healthy, safe, and successful school year.  But, here's my tips:

1. Of course, get your child's eyes examined. 
2. Start each day with a good breakfast, a child won't pay attention to the teacher if they're hungry.
3. Make sure you know your child's friends and parents.
4. If you live close enough, walk your little one to school, or watch them walk to school, or to the bus stop.  What some people have even done is start a "walk to school" coop where one parent does it for one day a week.
5. If your child rides a bike to school, please make sure they wear safety equipment!
6. Make sure your little one gets plenty of sleep.
7. Have a routine, it avoids being late and it's less stressful for you and your child/ren.
8. Make sure homework is done, sit down with your child, or spend time with them while they're doing homework.
9. Give your children some "ALONE" time, most often you're worrying about your child so much that you don't realize, they need time to themselves just like you do.
10. Always encourage your child.  If they want to be a soldier one week and a doctor the next, there's NOTHING wrong with that.  It's the process of learning that they're exploring. 

These are just a few of the many, many tips that are out there.  Please, connect with other parents.  And, always pay attention to your child. 

I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Airwear blogging program, making me eligible to get a $25 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, visit http://airwear.twittermoms.com/about

AgChat Foundation Agvocacy Training Conference

 This week I got some fantastic news via email.

I mean FANTASTIC!

I had applied to the AgChat Foundation 2.0 Agvocacy Training Conference a couple weeks ago.  I didn't really think I would get accepted because:

1.) We are a very small farm.

2.) It was a day after the deadline to apply.

3.) I just didn't think I would qualify.

Well, not only did they accept my application, but I was accepted for the Training Conference.

So, now I have a problem.  I need to have the money for this conference by August 1, 2010.  Yep, that's two weeks for me to come up with approximately $1000 for registration, air fare, hotel, and child care for Monster while his dad is in school. 

So, this is what I'm asking.  I'm asking for donations to help a farmer get to Chicago for a once in a lifetime opportunity.  I'm not going to just sit here and wait for someone to sponsor me either.  Starting tomorrow (I had to wait for a business day) I'm going to all of the area stores and shops and asking for sponsorships.  In return for those sponsorships, I'm willing to provide these businesses with a social media campaign using the tool that I learn at this conference. 

And.

I.

AM.

PRAYING.

FOR.

A.

MIRACLE!

How can you help, you ask.  Well, it's very easy.  I'm putting up a donate button on the side of this blog and you can just click there to donate.  I will account for every penny that is donated and I will report to you guys, my friends and readers, with what I have learned.

P.S. If you are willing to donate at least $100, I will run a social media campaign for you for a month.

How To Get Your Kids To Embrace Summer Reading

When I was growing up, the schools did not really suggest summer reading.  But, reading has never been a problem for me.  I LOVE to read!  So much so, that I used to beg my parents to take me to the library all the time.  Of course, I didn't really have supportive parents, and they never did.  Still, I found other ways to enjoy summer reading.  My parents had a set of encyclopedias, and I would inevitably get bored enough during the summer that I would start on any given letter and start flipping through the book and reading what interested me.  Needless to say, now I know a bunch of useless facts..hehehe. 

When I was pregnant with my first son, who will be sixteen next week, I promised myself that I would listen to him and read to him as often as I could.  I started young, and by the time he was five, I couldn't get away with reading less than four books to him every night.  This was good, because he learned to read at an early age, by following along.  Back then, we did not have the Internet, and blogs and groups like Twitter Moms to give us ideas, and to support us. 

So, how do you get your kids to embrace summer reading even when there's so many more other things to do, especially video games.  The biggest thing is to make a game out of it.  You can do it during the hottest part of the day, when all the kids want to do is sit around anyway. (And here in TEXAS, that happens every year!)  You can challenge your child to read so many pages in a certain amount of time and of course being kids, they love challenges...which is why video games are so important. 

There are many, many programs that encourage summer reading now.  Harper Collins has one that I especially like for beginning readers called "I Can Read".  It has five different levels for every reader, and I found out about this wonderful set through this post from Twitter Moms.  This post wanted us to share with you, our readers, tips on how to get your child to read during the summer.

Another thing, is to reward them for what reading they do.  Say every five or ten pages equals a dime or some other reward that they look forward to.  Then at the end of the week or month, you can plan a special day, where you can take them out to eat and go to the store to buy something with the money they earn from reading.  Yes, this may sound like bribery...but soon it will get to the point where the books are more interesting and the reward is secondary. 

Last of all, make sure you spend time with your child while reading.  To send them to their room to read may feel like a punishment, and we certainly don't want that.  You can make it you and them time, or especially cuddle time.  How many kiddos would turn down special time with their parents during the day?  But, you should make sure that it is something that the child wants...if they don't exactly want to spend time with because they are daddy's little one, then encourage daddy to have that special time. 

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms blogging program to be eligible to get an "I Can Read!" book. For more information on how you can participate, click here.