parents
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Preparing for Conference Conversations
Some people have a real skill for making challenging conversations feel comfortable and productive – I am not one of those people. I will worry about these kinds of conversations for weeks and avoid them at all costs, but I have found a few tricks for making them feel more natural and truly helpful. Here’s what works for me: Shifting mindset. I really work to look at these types of conversations as an opportunity to HELP. It’s my job to support children’s development. If I don’t share what I’m observing and offer resources, interventions, and support then I’m not doing my job. I’m not trying to make families lives more…
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Summer Camp Supplies
A couple of my favorite kids are going to summer camp for the first time in a few weeks and let me tell you, I am so jealous! I loved camp as a kid, and I’ve been eyeing all of the amazing supplies that I would definitely take with me this time around. I’ve put together some cute little care packages to send along with them, and I thought I would share some of the best finds that I stumbled across while putting these together. All links are affiliates. Tie Dye Laundry Bags – The laundry bag is the one item that gets the most abuse. As a kid I…
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Cheap Summer Activities for Kids
Keeping kids busy all summer can get expensive really fast – but it doesn’t have to! There are so many creative ways to encourage children to use their bodies and brains without spending a ton of money. Here are some of my favorites: Parks – Make a list of all of your local parks and visit a different playground each week. Explore nature preserves and walk every trail that you possibly can. Pack a picnic to really make a day of it (then you can challenge children to come up with new picnic foods AND help prep the lunches too) Play dates – connect with other families and schedule times…
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Materials that make summer learning easier (and more fun)!
Part of preparing for summer is collecting the materials that will support all of our learning plans. Here’s what I’ve already gathered for this summer – and why (all links are affiliate links). Stencil set – My girl loves stencils and these are an excellent way to support handwriting. This set has so many different options that I know she love and use, plus it’s an activity that she can do completely independently. Supply box – Keeping everything in one spot is key, I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to stop what we’re doing and go find a pencil, or a glue stick, or a pair of scissors.…
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Planning for Summer with Elementary School Kids
I’ve been hard at work at planning for our summer fun (and learning), but before I share what this year’s plans look like, I wanted to share how I put everything together last year. Here’s the post on how I organized all of it! If someone asked me to choose ONE word to describe myself it would definitely be the word “planner.” I truly love to organize my thoughts, lay them out on paper and fill in any missing pieces. It helps me feel in control and gives me the structure that I need. When it came to figuring out what our summer will look like, I started with daily…
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Tips for a Disney Road Trip
Our family always does road trips when we vacation, and over the years I’ve come across a huge variety of tips (some hits, and some misses) for road-tripping with very young children. I’ve shared a lot of my favorites in these posts: Kids Road Trip Activities Road Trip Organization Hacks Travel Products for Kids Tips for Traveling with Preschoolers Every time that we’ve taken a trip I’ve tried something a little different and that’s true for our upcoming Disney Cruise trip too. We’re driving to the port, it’ll be the longest road trip that we’ve taken so far, so I wanted to make sure that my daughter stays entertained on…
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Practical Easter Baskets for Kids
As a mom, my goal for this year is to incorporate more gifts that are practical or that meet multiple needs. For Easter, that means the bunny is bringing things that can be used this spring and summer. I’m really trying to stay away from the little trinkets that get played with one time and then lay around the house, but I still want my girl to be excited about what she finds in her Easter basket. Here’s what I’ve picked out for her this year (all affiliate links) We usually keep our Easter baskets pretty small, which means they fill up fast (smart parenting hack right there). If you’re…
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Parenting Products on Amazon
I’ve been sharing my picks for the classroom as I think about Amazon’s upcoming Big Deal Days. Today I’m going to shift things a bit and highlight the products that have truly made a difference for me, and my family. These parenting products are a bit random, but all of them have made my life easier! Here’s what’s on my list (all links are affiliates, your support is TRULY appreciated!). I’ve been a huge fan of Sistema products, and these bento boxes are the ones that we use for school lunches every day (you can read even more about them here). We also used them all summer long to take…
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Learning activities for when you’re REALLY BUSY
Summer can feel like a whirlwind – how do these months seem to go so much faster than the rest of the year?! That can make it really hard to be intentional about making time for learning, there’s just so many other things happening! There are still some really great ways to incorporate basic educational skills into even your busiest summer days. Here are some of my favorite easy summer learning activities. This post does contain affiliate links. Workbooks. I know there are tons of opinions on workbooks, but I’ll throw mine in here and say that I think there are ways that these can be used effectively and appropriately.…
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Summer Plans!
This summer is going to look very different for our family – it’ll be the first summer that my girl and I will be home together all summer long. The idea of giving her a fun summer while I’m still working stresses me out a bit, so I took some time to do the one thing that always puts my mind at ease, some serious planning! If someone asked me to choose ONE word to describe myself it would definitely be the word “planner.” I truly love to organize my thoughts, lay them out on paper and fill in any missing pieces. It helps me feel in control and gives…
