How to Make Your Homework Box

To create your family’s homework box, start with a lidded plastic shoe box or discarded cigar box. (You can purchase cigar boxes rather cheaply at local cigar stores). I recommend a wooden box over a plastic shoe box, as cigar boxes have attached lids that make them difficult to misplace and they holds up against the heavy use this box will get. A lid is needed to discourage use of the box as a dumping ground for...

Creating Bucket Binders: A Home for All the Important School Papers

In the Rockies, school has started.  The reams of class disclosures, class schedules, snack schedules, and school newsletter have started to roll in.  There are pass codes to remember to access textbooks, teacher websites, and grade records.  Their are school schedules and extra-curricular calendars to keep handy.  While many of these paper items have gone electronic or are simply managed on a school website,...

6 Clicks to Summer Safety Guidelines

It’s Memorial Day Weekend.  In the minds of most Americans, summer has officially arrived. Take a look at these sites for refreshers on sun and water safety, travel and amusement park safety, firework and grilling safety.  My personal favorite, take your 10 minute hike in the back yard and assess potential dangers with your children. American Academy of Pediatrics Summer 2011 Safety Tips Includes pool,...

10 Ways to Simplify That You Can DO This Weekend

          Tell the people you love, “I love you.” Say what you mean, mean what you say.  Don’t expect people to read your mind. Smile at strangers and friends. It will increase your own happiness. Learn a shortcut that you can use often in daily life.  Try these blogs for help: Lifehacker, Marc & Angel Hack Life, Parent Hacks Take a nap.  Sleep lowers stress...

Child Creations: What To Do With Them, Before You Get Crazy

I’m on a kick these days- clutter makes me crazy.  My ADHD becomes unbearable in the chaos of paper, random bits of Calico Critters, Barbie fashion creations, school dioramas, class papers, lego creations- the list goes on.  My first inclination is to toss the lot, (I am a tosser to a fault- I call it “impulsive cleaning.”) My cleaning is almost a compulsion, I need to restore order to think and...