Okay....she is posing for this picture I admit it!

I have talked to several mothers lately who express that they want their kids to be readers, but confess that they themselves are not readers.  Though I don’t consider myself an expert on getting your kids to read, I do have a few ideas and am very proud of the fact that all of my kids are often found with a book in their face.

As with all the values we want our kids to learn we must demonstrate those same values. Your kids have to see you reading.  It can be fiction or non-fiction books, newspapers or magazines but they must see you reading for enjoyment on a regular basis.  If they see you reading a book for a collage class you cannot complain about having to read it. If you read a book you don’t like, explain why you don’t like it. It is okay not to like a book or  a particular subject and expressing this is a great way for your kids to learn.

I firmly believe that Meg would have been a reader without this, but Hubby reading aloud to her made a huge impact on how she enjoys books.  He started reading the Harry Potter series to her in the first grade and five years later she is obsessed with creative, imaginative books that have dragons in them!  Read out-loud to your older kids.  I think we tend to stop reading to them when they start reading themselves. Reading out-loud helps them learn more vocabulary, gives them time to imagine about what you are reading and is great for bonding and cuddling with your kiddos.

Mita was a reluctant reader when she first came home with us and is now reading up a storm.  We have to find out what they like to read.  I worked hard at finding what she liked and then made sure she always had access to them.  She is fond of biographies and non-fiction and also graphic novels.  It was a bit difficult to find graphic novels that were girl-oriented and age appropriate, but I did find several.  I think that the fact she was able to finish the entire book, and yet still be entertained by the pictures built her confidence that she could read well, and taught her that finishing a book is fun.

Enu is the child I am working at hardest right now finding her something to read.  She has attention issues.  Meaning she cannot pay attention.  She will read one chapter of a book, deem it dumb and not finish it.  The only books that she seems to enjoy are the Junie B. Jones books.  She will finish these books with encouragement, but if I am not paying attention to her she will read several of them all at once, meaning she will read a chapter of one and put it down then pick up another one and read it.  While I’m happy she is reading, I don’t think this does much for her comprehension or her enjoyment level. I have found that Books on CD are an easy way to get her into a story. It helps her vocabulary and takes some stress away.

Then there is Elle. My baby. My girl who tends to get the short end of the stick when it comes to one on one time now.  She loves to read big books with hard words. She insists she is reading them.  I struggle with this as I want her to read books at her reading level, but I want her to be happy and proud of herself as well.  So as she reads these books I try and fit in a few fun  first grader ones that will interest her. Foster confidence in your kids.   She has such an imagination I know that once she starts reading independently she will be a lot like Meg and read a lot.  I still need to spend more time with her and books those.

Reading is so important for our kids. It teaches language and communication skills, but more importantly it fosters imagination and possibility in our kids.I would love to hear your advice and suggestions for getting our kids to read more and enjoy what they are reading.  I will soon write a post with some book suggestions for kids.

Then open house for Mita was last Monday.  Fifth grade.  Same school, same principle, same PE teacher, same art teacher…different classroom teachers.  Three different classroom teachers.  Three different teachers to say “Hi, I’m Mita’s mom.”  Then the double take.  Oh. I forgot. We don’t match.

I forget.  Mita and Enu can never forget for they are on the other end. They are the ones who stick out in every room they walk into.  I did that to them. I knowingly brought them home into a 99.99% white community.  I thought love would conquer all, that we would travel for diversity, move eventually to a more diverse community.  We could do all of those things and love like no other, but we will never match and they will always get the double take.

How do they handle it?  Like kids do.  A smirk to me or a covert rolling of the eyes, sometimes a glare (to me, not the teacher).  We talk about it.  They shrug it off, I know it still bothers them.

The double take is a reflex, it will always happen.  If you find yourself doing the double take with a multi-racial family, it’s okay. Just don’t stare and ask if they have any real children!  Please and thank  you!

Homeschool Girl

First Grade Girl

 

Sixth grader?!

Keep Wearing the Flip-Flops! It's Still Summer!

I’m not sure why, but I am not ready for school to start yet.  The girls are at each-other a lot lately, a sure sign that they are ready for the distraction of school.  Elle just beams when you mention the first grade. Meg is so ready for middle school. Mita is happy to have her entire school to herself for a while and Enu is ready for a semester of home schooling.

I will miss the girls as usual, but that is not the reservation I am feeling. I cannot place this feeling, but my chest feels heavy.  Maybe it is the prospect of having three different schools to juggle or the two different time schedules?  I’m not sure.

Are you ready for school to start? Will you be doing the hula dance and drinking margaritas or crying your eyes out?

photo credit

Yes, we have another topic to cover in order to parent our kids correctly.  Not only are we having to talk about sex, alcohol and drugs, but we must talk about sexting and texting while driving.  The check list just keeps getting longer. The good news is that we no longer have to talk to our kids about pulling out the ribbons on cassette tapes or wasting film by opening up the backs of camera.

Let’s look at some statistics shall we:

•  45% of teens admit to texting and driving but only 4 percent of parents believe their teens have ever texted while driving. (LG Stats)
• Drivers who type or read text messages contribute to at least 100,000 crashes each year, leading to thousands of preventable deaths. (FocusDriven.org)

Numbers don’t lie and we mustn’t lie to ourselves.   Our kids learn best by example. We have to make sure we are not texting while driving and using our cell phones carefully when we are behind the wheel.  We can tell them a million times not to text and drive, but if they see us do it: Our words don’t mean anything!

In San Diego , MomOutnumbered and I got to go to a fun cocktail party hosted by LG with spokesperson Jane Lynch.  On top of being a party with amazing food and drinks, we got the 411 (do kids still say that?) on texting and driving as well as what some of the letters that our kids use frequently mean.  4COL I learned a lot.  The LG site  is not only a great resource on texting and driving but it goes into sexting, bullying and also on how we as parents can use the texting technology to help us in our parenting. It is an easy site to navigate and is worth a few minutes to read I promise!

MomOutnumbered

On a personal note: Jane autographed a picture for Mita and read the letter Mita had written her and given to me to give to Jane. (Mita is in love with Jane, I don’t know why, I don’t let her watch Glee  (story lines are a bit racey for an eleven year old) but Mita is celebrity obsessed so…) Mita is head over heels happy and I thank Jane for being so kind, I almost WMPL I was so happy.

So, tell the truth. Do you still text and drive?  Have your kids called me on it?  Mita has insisted she saw me do it once, I don’t remember honestly, but never again!

2G2B4G = To good to be forgotten

4COL = For crying out loud

WMPL = Wet my pants laughing

(Disclosure:  I was not asked to write about LG or this event, but the subject matter is important for all of us and I was happy to share what I had learned. I did not receive any compensation for this post, but the party really did have great coconut shrimp!)

Adopted Ed is a children’s book written by Darren Maddern and illustrated by Erin Fusco.  Maddern himself is an adoptee and this book is very personal to him as such.  His adoption was a closed adoption with reunification as an adult. This story reflects a closed infant adoption situation.

There are many positives with this book that can help young children understand their adoption story as well as help all children understand how adoption works.  My favorite part of the book is at the very beginning:

“But while in his mother, a decision was made. He was to be adopted and by new parents be raised”

I like how his mother is mentioned as mother at that time and not birth mother as she was still pregnant and very much a mother making decisions for her child.  This is very important to remember,  birth moms are moms.

I also appreciate that the mother in the story has a darker skin shade than the father and Ed.  It is good to get cross-cultural images in books. The other children in the book are also colorful.  The illustrations are colorful and fun and make is easy for younger kids to follow the story.

The end of the book shows several world leaders and celebrities who were adopted. This is a nice touch as well.

The adoption language in this book did rub me the wrong way. I know that the wording is kept simple for children to understand, but I also believe that adoption books teach adults as well.  I wish that when Ed asked about his “real mom and dad” that Maddern would have put in an explanation that his adoptive parents are his “real” parents.  Also the term “I’m adopted” is very labeling.  I like referring to adoptees with phrases like “were adopted” or “was adopted”.  I could be a bit on the picky side with this critic, but as an adoptive mom that is who I am!

 Adopted Ed  is  a handy book to have in your home whether you are an adoptive family or not. Also a book that would do well in your pre-school or grade school. In fact after my kiddos are done with the book I will be donating it to Elle’s Kindergarten class.

(I received this book to review from the author through the One2One Network.  My opinions and review are honest and were not monitored by either source. )

Notice there is no drink. My daugher cannot drink straight milk and the school will only let her have juice with a doctors note!

Yes I’m going to talk about this again.  The tiresome school lunch saga continues.  It is National School Lunch Week.I hate to participate in this week, yet my four daughters want me to come eat with them of course (except the fifth grader, but I went anyway!). I like spending time with my kids and their friends at school. It is fun to get to put faces with the names I hear at home and to meet more teachers.  I totally agree with encouraging parents to  eat at school with their kids. I disagree that there is a week to celebrate school lunches when the majority of school lunch programs are substandard in nutrition. 

 I’m not expecting gourmet meals with all organic ingredients, I just want some carrot sticks and whole wheat bread. Maybe some meat that is not breaded and deep fried and less High Fructose Corn Syrup (corn sugar?!).

We are raising the most obese generation that ever was.  Diabetic children (type 2) and high cholesterol is running rampant in our young ones bodies, and they are malnourished. Not starving, but lacking in essential vitamins, minerals and fiber. What are the school districts doing about it? Not much.  There hands are tied because it all comes down to money. As long as the government subsidies for school lunches agree that french fries qualify as a vegetable, we are stuck with what we have.  Schools are sponsored by companies (Cola machines in the lunch room, Milk posters) to make ends meet and our kids are the ones who suffer.  Of course we know that  preventing desease and encouraging healthy living will save us all money in the long run, but the schools, companies and government have not caught on to that fact yet.

A new face needs to be put on the school lunch. We need more raw foods and whole wheats offered and less sugary products.  We have to give them the chance to learn how to eat and the options to choose well.  Kids will eat healthier foods in time.

In my children’s school district they have taken a few steps in the six years I have had a child in school.  They switched the whole milk to 1% milk and they do not offer extras (aka dessert) to Kindergarteners. Also for a short period last year they offered a half of slice of wheat bread with a half a slice of white bread. 

Every year I have offered to help revamp the school lunches and no one has taken me up on my offer. I am an RN and will do it for free… Let me help!

My suggestions to schools. 

1. Offer fresh veggies with low-fat dips…try some hummus if you are really motivated.
2. Only offer chocolate milk on Fridays. Or get non-sugar chocolate milk.
3. Whole wheat bread makes a difference, believe me. These kids need fiber!
4. Don’t cut the apples offer small ones. The kids won’t eat browned fruit.

Very simple ways to start.

As I talked about last year, a big argument in changing the kids’ lunches is that they will not eat the new lunches and their parents will pack them junk any way.  I say, let them pack the junk.  Let the parents make the kids mal-nourished, not the publicly funded schools. 

Tater tots were the veggie of the day.The apple is browned and uneaten because of it.The pizza is amazingly horrible!

So my goal is to be more verbal this year and to talk to some heads of the school district. No more mrs-nice-mom. I’m going to kick some butt.  Politely of course!

Answer my question about school lunches on SkinnyScoop.com!

So what about math do I hate the most? Memories.  Memories of sitting out at recess over and over again watching my friends play when I was supposed to be studying.  I did not get much studying done, I just thought about how I hated math and hated that my peers knew I was not great at math.  I hate the memories of my dad trying to help me with my homework and me crying because I just did not get it.

I have somewhat come to terms with my math hatred. I can add, subtract and even multiply and divide as needed in my everyday life. Now my kids are going through math trials.  They have the same math quizzes I had, only they have computer sites to help quiz them and they get points for getting things right instead of having to sit on the play ground when they do poorly.

My girls are encouraged to do their best in everything, including math. I don’t think they know of my hatred of the subject as I try to hide it. I try to help them with their homework and so far I have been able to keep up. Of course Meg is in the fifth grade now, it will soon be time for Hubby to take over with the homework help in the mathematical realm.  I’ll have to come up with a spin on why daddy is helping now…maybe he misses math or he needs more practice himself!  We will see what works.

I hate math. I hope my girls kick it’s butt!

Some sites my kids use to “play” with math:

MathMagician

Multiplication

MathUSee

What sites do your kids like to use for math help? Please share. I may take a peek myself!

Art Credit

(For more Wordless Wednesday check out Five Minutes For Moms.  Don’t forget to visit my giveaway post to tell me your favorite back to school moment and possible win a free membership to ThredUP!)

Elle is ready for school!

Thinking about sending the kids back to school while watching them swim at the local pool just isn’t right.  Shouldn’t there be leaves turning orange or something? I sound my age I guess.  Here we are mid-August and my living room is currently filled with four bags of school supplies that still need labeling! Elle’s Kindergarten night is on Wednesday and I have to have her things ready to go. The other three don’t drop off their supplies (or should I say household goods? Anyone else have to by a ton of cleaning and paper products?) on Monday.

We are going camping this weekend and I really don’t want to be labeling the day after I get back from the lake. After all we  know that the day after camping is laundry day! I would hate to double book myself and my two hands.  That is right. I only have two hands believe it or not (my kids don’t believe it, they think I have extra arms as well as the extra eyes behind my back.)

On top of the school supplies, cleaning supplies, water bottles, sandwhich bags (reusable of course), lunch boxes and book bags  we have clothes. School clothes as some call it. I call it the changing of the seasons clothes switcharoo and guess what? The seasons have not changed yet. Why then,  have I bought long sleeves, pants and sweaters now? The kids want to wear them now.  So I have bags of clothing hidden in an undisclosed place until the weather actually  turns fall-like.  I am such a mean, mean mom. 

The hand-me-down routine with four kids is a full time job. The Good-Will lady sees me at least twice a week as I go through all of our clothes to decide what gets passed down, traded, given away, ripped into rags or tossed.  I went through ten tubs of clothes last Saturday.  TEN!  I whittled it down to 4 and am very proud of myself!

Enu is happy to be going into the big-kid-school!

Of course the kids are already asking about the allowance that I stop in the summer (the summer activities are very costly, if you haven’t noticed), our fall schedule, when the first slumber party will be and of course HALLOWEEN costumes.

Am I ready for back to school. Partly yes and partly no.  What is my biggest school wish right now?  UNIFORMS.  I’ve talked about that before and it is secretly my biggest school wish. My number two school wish is for healthy lunches, but I know that is asking for the moon!

What is your favorite school wish?  Go ahead and tell me. I promise not to tattle on you are tell your kid!

Here are a couple links you may enjoy for your own back to school rush!

ThredUp.com A kids clothing trade site (I’ve just started using it)

Fillthebackpack.com A current contest going on right now.

Etsy.com Where I got my re-usable bags and labeling stickers

(Disclosure:  I have not recieved any compensation for the links above. They are places I use and have found to be fun with good customer service!)

Photo Credit Mandy W. 2010