Category: Family Matters

Posted on

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

So far, our Advent plan has been working beautifully. The planned out rings have helped me pace things out a bit, and the kids are excited to pull down a new ring each day. And since all of the activities are in my google calendar, when things need to change, I can deftly switch out the ring and replace it with an updated one.

Nearly two weeks ago (this post has sat in drafts for awhile) trekked out to a Christmas tree farm to get our tree. It should have been idyllic and picturesque. It was snowing, and well, we were at a Christmas tree farm for heaven’s sake. It wasn’t, however, cold enough for the ground to be frozen. So while the snow was covering the ground, the ground was actually very soft and mucky. It also turned out that Jr is not a fan of walking in the snow. And we couldn’t find the wagon that was transporting groups to their desired tree patch. Nor did we know to grab a map to figure out which tree patch we wanted to explore to begin with.

In the end though, we came home with a tree.

And it’s perfect.

Is your tree real or artifical??

Posted on

Kaplan Test Drive Wrap-Up

Back in October I told you about the Kaplan SmartTrack Online tutoring program MaM was beginning to use. Through Mom Central, she was offered the reading and math programs for several weeks for free. Of course while she’s supposed to use the computer a few times a week for a product trial is when our DSL would go on the fritz, but she did get into the habit of logging on  a few days a week after school.

The reason  I wanted her to try this program wasn’t because I felt she needed tutoring. I really wanted to see how she would do with more traditional instruction. Turns out, she did just fine.

It’s amazing to me how quickly children learn how to navigate websites. After logging in and selecting “math” or “reading”, she was able to immediately follow the instructions and get right to answering questions. Each session features kids building a clubhouse, and as she progresses through the session, the clubhouse would become completed.

The instructions were easy for her to follow, and she was able to navigate choosing and submitting her answer. Because she was working at the kindergarten and first grade levels, all of the instructions and questions were read aloud as well as written on the screen. There’s a button to repeat directions, and the answers are read as the arrow slides over each possibility.

In my other, pre-mom life, I worked at a private tutoring center in the evenings. This online program was similar in its approach, in that there is an assessment to start the program, and the work in each session builds upon developing skills. Unlike the tutoring center, however, parents can log into Kaplan and see their child’s progress at any time. Parents can see what skills have been mastered, what’s currently being presented and what’s to come.

One thing that was always challenging at the tutoring center is scheduling and rescheduling children for their sessions. This is where the Kaplan’s Tutoring program really makes sense– it’s at your family’s convenience. As motivation, children earn points every session, and after a few weeks, the points are redeemable for prizes.

MaM progressed nicely through the both programs, especially the math program. She was introduced to a lot of encouraging words, as she got answers corrected, the program offered the words,”Outstanding!” and “You’ve mastered this skill”. Once she knew what those words meant, she was thrilled. MaM got to the point where the program introduced a completely new concept, the concept of money. It was a good introduction to the topic, but she definitely needed to manipulate coins and have the some human interaction to really grasp the concept.

I think the Kaplan Tutoring would be a great tool to use for children who did need some practice in a certain area. It’s an economical way to measure what your child knows and how he’s progressing. I can definitely see it being useful in the long weeks of summer to keep your child engaged and continue to keep skills fresh.

Interested in trying this out for your own child? How does one month free sound? Follow this link: http://bit.ly/1mFREE to get a thirty day free trial.

Kaplan is also hosting a Make-A-Wish Charity “Like” Drive, where every time someone new likes a Kaplan Test Prep page, they donate a dollar to theMake-A-Wish Foundation (up to $50,000). To like the page and get a donation made, visit:  http://www.kaptest.com/oneoff/make-a-wish-charity-drive.jhtml.

Thanks to Kaplan and to Mom Central for this opportunity — it was great to give MaM this opportunity, and I really liked being able to log in and see how she did!

(Disclosure: this is the second of two posts sponsored by The Kaplan Test Drive Mom program and Mom Central. I am receiving access to the Kaplan Tutoring site and a gift card in exchange for this review.)

Posted on

Tis the Season

Suddenly, it seems, December is upon us. Yesterday, we woke up to snowflakes and MaM exclaimed, as only she can,”This is the best day ever! God made it snow!” It was really pretty, and there is nothing better than watching kids catch the first snowflakes of the season on their tongues. Junior even wore his boots, which is a big deal because he typically only wears his Cars shoes.

Last Wednesday, I wrote the post on how we were approaching Advent, and so far, it’s going really well. The kids are getting ready a whole lot faster in the morning so we can get the next ring down before we walk out the door. It’s been great doing a short project every day, and it’s inspiring me to make a little bit more of a monthly plan to enjoy knowing that we will get to fun things every month with some planning. (Check out this idea from Heather, I love it)

Today’s activity was supposed to be write a letter to Santa. MaM was kind of intrigued, but got distracted and never brought it up again. If she’s ok with that, I’m ok with that. We did have an interesting conversation about it.

“Mom, I know what I can write to Santa!”

“You do?”

“Yes. I will say, ‘Don’t worry mom and dad, I’m out helping Santa,’ ”

“Oh that would be a letter to us, do you think you’d like to ask Santa for something?”

“Well, I’ll see presents when I help him.”

“True. Is there a present you’d like to ask him for?”

“I’ve already asked him for a pogo stick.”

“Would you like to ask him for anything else, in case he can’t find a pogo stick for you? Maybe some books?”

“Books are too boring. I need something else. Maybe a Barbie bath toy.” (last year’s gift)

And with that, she busied herself with something or other.

So here’s the thing. Actually, two things.

1) She’s kind of obsessed this year with “helping Santa”. As in, Santa is going to pick her up on his sled and she’ll go riding with him Christmas night. And that’s why she’d leave us a note so we don’t worry about her. Of course, every time she brings it up, I take the opportunity to tell her it’s not ok to leave with any Santa Claus who approaches her, anywhere, anytime. And if Santa comes knocking on her window, she must come wake us up. Strange, but I wanted to make sure all of our bases were covered. (Last year, she was obsessed with him visiting her on Christmas Eve)

2) She’s also obsessed with getting a pogo stick for Christmas. Here’s the thing, it snowed yesterday. If she were to get a pogo stick, it would sit in the garage for months before she could really use it. Also, her present this year is a Fisher-Price iXL. Have you seen these? I hadn’t even heard of them, until I went to BlogHer. There I spent some time in the Fisher Price booth, and came out a winner of an iXL. I’m hopeful that she’s as excited about it as I am for her. She absolutely loves using our iPhones, but she’ll have more flexibility with this device. There are games and a drawing program, it can play MP3’s and more. There can also be more than one user profile, so theoretically, the kids can share (we’ll see about that). I need to carefully pull it out of the box and get it ready to go for Christmas morning sometime soon. (disclosure: I won the iXL at Blogher. Just like I said. I am not under obligation to mention this fact, but OMG, this thing is cool.)

So that’s what the first week of Advent in our house. How’s yours going?

P.S. Indy friends, if you’re reading this and it’s not 5pm on Friday (12/3) yet, and you need a Christmas tree, check out this Savvy Savings deal for 50% off a live tree!

P.P.S. There are three huge gift guides over at Grown in My Heart, one for donations, one for goods, and one specifically for fair-trade. There are some amazing organizations you can support this holiday season.

P.P.P.S. I’ve got a few gift guides listed over at Persephone, arranged by age. There’s Baby’s First Christmas, Toddlers, Preschoolers and School-Agers, along with some ideas for large families/copious numbers of small children.