What Everybody Ought to Know About Sending Their Child To Preschool, Charter School, etc.

I’m going to get right to the point here – fill out that application when they are about 3 months old.  I’m not kidding.  If you want to enroll your child in preschool at age 3 you need to take into consideration that there is often a 2 year plus waiting list to get into many schools.  After moving I decided to “look into” the charter schools in our area.  Oh, I found a good one and went to interview the school.  My son is on the list but “there are more children on our list for elementary school, than there are students in the school.”  He might get admitted in 7th grade!

But seriously, when you’re in nesting instinct mode and you start looking at schools, put your name on the list.

I was reminded of all this when talking with friends in West LA.  They were looking at preschools for their son who is 18 months old and they’re worried about the 2 year waiting list.  All I could say was “Oh yea, that’s something I should have pointed out to you at his birth.”So I’m pointing it out now to anyone who is listening.  Just get on the list.  And if you’re having twins get on the list even sooner.

Bring the magic of Bedtime Stories into your house

Bring the magic of the movie Bedtime Stories into your house with “The DreamStarter Book.”  I took my boys to see this movie and we laughed all the way through.  But what really struck me was that this was what the author of The DreamStarter book was trying to create.  With her book of 50 different story beginnings your child can weave their own magical world.  Jennifer Karin Sidford has written the beginning of fifty tales, each crafted to whet children’s interest and encourage creative thinking. Simply read a story starter to a child and watch the magic as he or she shapes a whole world of possibilities. Kids can either finish the story orally, or they can write their stories down.  Try this book to let your own magical journeys begin.  Psst, if you go to the website you can download a free DreamStarters game by clicking here.

Enter to win Christmas Gift Basket during National Game and Puzzle Week

Do you like websites where you can enter to win something? In honor of National Game and Puzzle Week, I’d like to mention a site that is offering a chance to win some cool gaming toys, a Nintendo DS Lite with 2 games, a Deluxe Anniversary Scrabble and a Cranium Family Edition. You have to go to JoJo’s Place to enter to win the Savvy Mom’s Christmas Gift Basket. The winner will be chosen on December 2.

National Game and Puzzle Week is November 23- November 29 so get out those games for fun family memories.

A New Christmas Tradition to start in 2008

This is a wonderful family tradition to start this December first.  In the spirit of the advent calendar and the count down to Christmas why not wrap all of your Christmas stories in gift paper and have your child open one a day.  The family can read a Christmas story every night for the countdown to Christmas.  Your tree will look great with wrapped gifts sitting under it and your kids will be excited to open a “gift” every day.   You may not even get the usual request, “Can I open just one BEFORE Christmas?”

I went through our book shelves and found 9 books of Christmas stories.  A quick trip to the used book store and  I was able to come up with 13 more. Just a couple left to find. My kids have to read for a half an hour every day as part of their “homework”.  This gives us a set of stories to read for the month of Christmas and a new family tradition that gets us in the Christmas spirit.

New School Year, New Year’s Resolutions

We all make New Year’s Resolutions right? It seems like the beginning of the new year at our house is the beginning of the school year.  Now would be the perfect time to start a resolution to do something exciting. Here are some ideas to get you and your kids started. We really like #’s 1, and 4 at our house.

1. Attempt a world record. Remember the Brady Bunch where Bobby and Cindy decided to break the teeter totter record? Well, they didn’t last much past their bedtime. But good ‘ole Mike pointed out that they probably did set a record for kids their age! Every year my son wants to buy the Guiness Book of World Records.

2.  Plan a family day trip (or week long vacation). Pick a place that is within an hour of your house. Have the kids use the internet to research things to do and see and places to eat.  Let them plan the day and figure out what it will cost. Include gas, meals, snacks, entry fees, etc.

3.  Set a goal for the year and write it down. See how fun and rewarding it can be to accomplish your goal. Here are a few ideas.

Become a school officer. Find out what it takes and get on that path.

Vow to be on time every day. Set your alarm and make it happen.

Keep a neat desk. Or locker. Find a place for everything and put it back in it’s place.

Learn a foreign language. Do you know what language this is or what it means? xie xie.

Play on the school sports team. Michael Jordan of basketball fame didn’t make the cut for the team his sophmore year of high school. Keep practicing and stay focused. He didn’t give up and he made it the following year.  And you know the rest of he story.

Volunteer to help others. Visit a nursing home decked out in Halloween costumes to hand out treats to seniors. OR get a group together to visit and sing for the holidays.

Organize a cleanup program in your neighborhood.

Play an online game at http://freerice.com and feed the hungry while you learn new words. For each definition you answer correctly in Free Rice’s vocabulary game, 20 grains of rice will be donated to the UN World Food Program to help end hunger

4.  Make a time capsule with your family or your class. Decide when you will dig it up. Will you come back after college? Sooner, later? Some things you can include: A photo of yourself or your group. A written list of things that are important to you NOW – favorite songs, TV shows, favorite hobbies and a picture of you doing them. Items that represent what is going on in the world now. Such as a newspaper. A copy of your report card.

How to Get Your Kid to Keep his Room Clean

My preteen son had definite ideas about how he wanted his new bedroom to look.  He wanted a skateboarding theme and red and black walls.  One wall red, one black, and oh yes some stripes too!  That sounded like a lot of work and paint.  Quick I had to think of something that would pull all this together. LUCKILY on an outing to Bed, Bath and Beyond we came across Quicksilver bedding in grey, black and red! I couldn’t believe the sticker price on the collection that included the comforter, sham,  throw pillows and sheets.  One look at his face and I knew he really wanted this bedding. So just like a Mom, I said, “I will buy you this bedding if you promise to make your bed every day.” It was the perfect deal. He got his bedding and that bed has been made every day for the past 3 months.  We then went on to paint the walls – all of them- grey.  But he kept insisting on stripes.  Thankfully I found this really cool product at Lowe’s. It’s called Wall POPS!  It was a 16 1/2 foot by 6.5 inch wide stripe.  Also found online at walldecorshops. You pull the backing off as you unroll the sticker across the wall.  He now has a red stripe and a black stripe. And because he basically has large “sticker” stripes he is allowed to put all his collected skateboarding and skiing stickers on top of these stripes.  He takes pride in putting them up neatly.  As a matter of fact, he takes pride in taking care of his room.  It’s his room.  He decorated it the way he wanted.  I, Mom, win because it is one less room in the house that I have to worry about!