Getting Organized for the Craziness of Summer Activities

Summer time is so much fun with kids! But it can also be very busy; which can cause some hectic schedules. I only have 2 of the children really involved in extra curricular activities, but they are involved in so much stuff! The worst part is that 90% of the activities take place in June. There are some mornings that I will have run kids to 4 different places and back home before noon.

Kaylee just started her softball practices this past week. Now she has practice for 2 hours, 2 different evenings a week. Then the schedule will change to 2 different evenings for 2 hours at the end of May. They start playing games and stop having practices at that time. 


Starting May 29th, Kaylee and Julianna have Band and Orchestra lessons 3 days a week for 30 minutes day through June 20th. This will be Kaylee's first year in the Orchestra and she will be playing the violin. Her lessons are at 9am. Julianna decided to join the Band this year and she will be taking lessons on the Clarinet at 10am the same days that Kaylee has lessons.


Julianna is going to top off our schedule starting June 1st when practice starts for the Waverly Area Swim Club. She will be practice 5 mornings a week from 8:30 to 9:30am. Then she has meets every couple of weeks all summer long. Needless to say, our end of May and all of June are going to be hectic.


I haven't even mentioned Girl Scouts or the Tri-T organization's camping trips for the girls this summer. And guess what, all the trips are in May and June. Nice, huh! Kaylee and Julianna are heading off in less than 2 weeks on their first weekend Girl Scout adventure. Kaylee gets to spend 5 days in Clear Lake with the Tri-T organization and several other girls her age.

For my own sanity, I decided to make an activities map and print it out. There is no room on our 2 regular calendars for all the activity times each day. Once I got the entire end of May and June schedule entered into the calendar, I must say, I was a bit overwhelmed. I have had the calendar on the wall for a couple of days now. Every day I have a little more confidence that this can be done.

 

Behavior Bucks

This whole school year we have been having behavioral issues with my 1st grader. For a good portion of the year, the school did not see the amount of behavioral issues that were happening at home. However, in the last month, she has gotten in trouble for hitting and hiding under the desk. She has just plain refused to do her work.

So the school counselor and I have sat down and visited several times this year. He showed me this system that takes the blame away when it comes to behavior and discipline. The system is all about choices. It is called the Behavior Bucks system. The goal of this system is to help children learn to make good choices. Also, it helps them to understand the value of money; which can be so hard in today's plastic and direct deposit society.

Basically, you create a Behavior Plan for each child. The behavior plan does not have each chore or little thing listed separately; it only covers the main things that children need to work on. I also implemented earning bucks per chore they complete, but the chore list is separate from the behavior plan. Each day your children can earn Bucks by following the behavior plan. If they choose not to follow the plan they will not earn bucks for that behavior or action.

My 1st grader is a good example of what needs to be included in the behavior plan. She can earn 25 bucks twice a day just for being respectful to others all day long. She has the opportunity to earn 20 bucks each morning by getting up and dressed within a certain amount of time. All of the children earn 10 Bucks per chore they complete daily and an additional 5 Bucks if they follow all basic house rules for the day.

Now that they have started earning Bucks, it is time to start 'buying' things with those Bucks. This system helps you set up a cash in system for the Bucks. Things like playing video games and on the computer, having TV time, going to friend's houses, and sleepovers. For 25 bucks they can play a game for 30 minutes or watch one television show of their choosing.

Free Online Tutoring for your Child!

As of the last parent teacher conferences, I have been at a loss. I have been talking to teachers, counselors, friends, and even strangers trying to find a way to help a couple of my kiddos with their math. Sylvan and all the other tutoring programs I had heard about were all way out of our price range. Plus, there are no summer school programs available through the school district.

Then one day we were driving up to Madison, Wisconsin and I heard about the Khan Academy online. The advertisement emphasized that this program was free for everyone. As soon as we got back home that night, I logged on to KhanAcademy.com to find out if free really meant free. And for once, free really does mean free.

This website has over 3100 tutoring videos available covering Math from K-12, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Finance, History, and SAT Prep. Each of the videos is short and segmented to one particular part of the subject. Math has videos that cover basic addition and subtraction all the way through videos explaining Calculus.

Your children can each have an account and keep track of their progress through the website. It is completely self paced and your child earns points and badges along the way to measure their progress. Along with the tutorial videos, there are an abundance of interactive challenges and assessments available. 

The second best part of this website is that even as a parent, I can create and account and keep learning. I personally love to learn something new everyday. When you are a homemaker who really is home all the time, learning something meaningful each day can be a challenge sometimes.

ChildrenView.com

I was so intrigued to find out that Daycare's across the country are integrating systems that allowing parent's to remotely view their children live at any point during the day. I decided that I wanted to do some more research and find other websites that offer the same type of programs. Wow, was I surprised at how many other websites offer some variation or another of this program.

  

At ChildrenView.com, parents have the peace of mind knowing that they can log on anytime and see their child(ren)interacting with classmates and teachers. Also, Children View manages the entire system, from installing and maintaining cameras to creating usernames and passwords for Daycare customers. It makes me feel good to know that the Daycare providers do not have my log on information. It is just  a matter of security, the less people who have access the less chance of problems.

For Child care centers, Children View sounds like a wonderful opportunity as well. They install, maintain, create a website , and provide technical support for your center at low monthly cost. Best of all, they offer a video recording option so that Center leaders can record and view their care providers. This can be critical for reviews and maintaining a safe environment for both employees and children. 

Feel free to call Children View for more information at 866-343-3656.