Parenting 101 – How to Raise a Reader
In 2021, over 21% of adult Americans cannot read. Over half of them cannot read above a 6th grade level.
Tag: Mom
Reconnecting with Friends After the Kids Return to School
For many people, today’s world is starting to feel like it was pre-pandemic. But that’s not the case for everyone. Have you lost touch with some of your favorite people in the last two years? Do you miss the conversation, the laughs, the connection with other humans?
If the answer is yes, it’s time to reconnect with your pre-pandemic people.
Planning Your End of Summer Yard Sale
Summer is quickly coming to an end, and for many families, that means it’s time to start thinking about hosting a yard sale. Whether you’re trying to declutter your home or make some extra cash, a yard sale is a great way to get rid of unwanted items and connect with your community. As someone who has hosted many successful yard sales over the years, I have some tips to help you plan your end of summer yard sale.
Planning the Perfect Family Picnic
As the weather gets warmer, it’s the perfect time to plan a fun family picnic. Whether you’re going to a local park or setting up in your own backyard, a picnic is a great way to spend quality time with your loved ones and enjoy the great outdoors.
Encouraging Your Children to Be Brave & Try New Things
It is important to encourage children to be brave and try new things. It can be easy for kids to stick to what they know and avoid new experiences out of fear of the unknown. However, trying new things and facing challenges is essential for growth and development.
Creating a Summer Bucket List for Your Family
Summer is the ultimate right of passage for children. It’s the perfect time of year to get outside, get active, and make memories with your kids. While naturally occurring fun in the sun is bound to happen, if you’d like to make this summer one remember, create a list!
Celebrating Teacher’s Appreciation Week
Life becomes hectic for families in May as children reach the end zone of the school year. There are concerts, plays, projects, and award ceremonies. As your child, and the entire school, go full force towards completing all their objectives for the year, it can be easy to overlook the positive impact teachers have made in our lives.
Celebrating Halloween During a Pandemic
For some of us, our fondest childhood memories of autumn have always been the memories of trick-or-treating and celebrating Halloween. And as parents, we want to share those experiences with our children so that they can form great memories as well.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine have pretty much destroyed some of those opportunities this year. But parents shouldn’t just throw in the towel and cancel Halloween just yet. Instead, you should plan for some pandemic-friendly activities for your little ones this fall.
Try some of these great Halloween activities with your family:
- Go Trick-or-Treating (From a Distance) — First, Halloween and trick-or-treating may not be safe in all areas, particularly where COVID has flared up heavily. However, you may be able to have a “socially distanced” trick-or-treat experience by wearing surgical masks with your Halloween costume and going to neighbors who are leaving the treats out on the lawn in separate packs for the kids to pick up. Also, be sure to include lots of hand sanitizer to use in between homes.
- Have a Zoom Costume Contest — If you are stuck at home and have lots of friends and family that you miss, one way to get in touch on Halloween is with Zoom. You can have an online party with all of your friends and their children and have the kids model their Halloween costumes for the adults. You can also get others to be impartial judges and pick the best or scariest costumes. During your modeling, be sure to throw on a Halloween soundtrack like “Monster Mash” or “Thriller.”
- Have a Scary Movie Double Feature — There are lots of streaming options out there that have plenty of scary movies you can watch no matter what age you are. For the little kids, you might want to choose a tame film like Hocus Pocus or The Addams Family. But for the older kids (or the adults when the little ones go to sleep) you can try classic horror films like Night of the Living Dead or Friday the 13th.
- Carve a Jack-O-Lantern — This is an activity that is always a Halloween winner but is also possible to do during quarantine. There are hundreds of different jack-o-lantern patterns available online or for purchase. Just be sure to get a good carving tool kit that can make it easier. And, for the little ones, consider getting glow-in-the-dark paint and other craft materials that you can glue onto the pumpkins without having to carve them.
This Halloween, you don’t have to let the pandemic ruin your plans to make lasting memories with your family. Instead, just do some careful planning and enjoy some of these safe activities with your friends and kids.
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Whether you’re buying, selling, refinancing, or building your dream home, I’m here to help you explore the many financing options available. Ensuring that you make the right choice for you and your family is my ultimate goal. I am committed to providing my customers with mortgage services that exceed their expectations. Find out more by visiting my website.
Fall Break Staycation Ideas for Families
Think back to some of your most cherished childhood memories. I’m going to bet that a lot of them are centered around summer vacations with trips to visit family, hitting the beach, or enjoying amusement parks. And chances are you’ve been trying to recreate those kinds of memories with your own family. But now that the summer is over, it may seem like those opportunities are fading with the heat.
If you want to do something fun with your family this fall but don’t have the time to go on a long trip, consider these staycation ideas in your area:
- Fall Festivals & Pumpkin Patches — During the fall, there are plenty of local fall festivals and pumpkin patches that can provide you with plenty of opportunities for family fun. Many of these don’t just have the opportunity to buy or carve pumpkins. They also feature cornfield mazes, games, arts and crafts, and great snacks like funnel cake and hot apple cider.
- Haunted Houses — For those with older kids, you might want to check out the local area for a haunted house. Many of these attractions are enlarging over the years from a simple house to outdoor trails through mazes or the woods complete with scary characters ready to give you the chills.
- County Fairs — Another great activity during this time of year is annual county fairs that pop up in locations across the country. These fairs, complete with kiddie rides and more exciting activities for the adventurous, are really popular. And you might even want to try one of the scary fried concoctions that appear every year like fried Oreos or even fried bubble gum. (Yes, that’s really a thing.)
- Camping Trip — Once the summer heat dips, then fall is a great chance to get outside and do some camping. Whether it’s in a cabin in a state park or just a tent in the backyard, all of these activities let you get back to nature. This is also the perfect time of year for this so that you can enjoy the fall foliage and watch the leaves change colors.
- Get Outdoors — Even if camping isn’t your thing, this is also a good time to enjoy outdoor activities. Try hiking a trail or taking a kayak for a short trip around a lake.
All of these activities are great opportunities to build memories and bond as a family. The fall also presents you with staycations that you don’t get to try during the rest of the year.
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Whether you’re buying, selling, refinancing, or building your dream home, I’m here to help you explore the many financing options available. Ensuring that you make the right choice for you and your family is my ultimate goal. I am committed to providing my customers with mortgage services that exceed their expectations. Find out more by visiting my website.
Backyard Summer Camp for Kids
Summer is coming and for those of us who have been tucked away in quarantine, it may seem like we’ve already been on one continuous break with the kids. But, now that distance learning is taking a break, there may be fewer activities for you to keep the kids active. But you don’t want to let them become couch potatoes and video game zombies.
Here are ways to recreate the summer camp experience in your own backyard.
These activities are guaranteed to help you keep the kids from being bored and help you maintain your sanity this summer.
- Sprinkler Fun — Let’s start with a tried-and-true favorite from everyone’s childhood: playing in the water sprinkler. This is the perfect way to get cool on a hot summer day.
A DIY idea for this is to make your own sprinkler. Get a 2-liter soda bottle (empty) and poke holes in the plastic with a knife or scissors. Then, attach the garden hose to the bottle and affix it with duct tape. Once you crank up the water, it will come shooting out of the holes and your kids can have fun jumping through the stream.
- Soda Bottle Rocket — While you’ve got those empty soda bottles, try this little science project. First, tape pencils to the sides of the bottle so that the bottle can be placed opening down without covering the neck of the bottle.
Then, fill the bottle with vinegar, add baking soda, and then quickly cover the bottle opening with a cork. Flip the rocket upside down so it rests on the pencils and wait for the chemical reaction to shoot the rocket into the air.
- Make a Shaving Cream Painting — This one may sound bizarre but hold on a minute. It’s actually a great way to get artistic expression and fun sensory play combined.
Get several cans of shaving cream from your local dollar store. Then, use food coloring to dye the shaving cream into different colors. Set up a tarp in the backyard and let your kids use the colored shaving cream to create pictures from rainbows to sky scenes to whatever their imagination can conjure up.
It’s messy fun, and the tarp can be easily hosed down and reused later if the kids want to try this again.
- Tightrope Walking — If you want to help your kids train for a career in the circus (or at least work with their motor skills), do a tightrope play area. If you have two sturdy trees, run two soft ropes between them. It doesn’t have to be high—just a couple of inches.
Then place the second rope high enough for your child to use as a handhold as they walk across the lower rope. If you don’t have a pair of trees, you can also use fence posts or poles in a pinch.
This year, we may still be dealing with a quarantine lockdown in our homes. But that doesn’t mean you can’t let your child explore their backyard and turn it into a home summer camp with these activities.
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Whether you’re buying, selling, refinancing, or building your dream home, I’m here to help you explore the many financing options available. Ensuring that you make the right choice for you and your family is my ultimate goal. I am committed to providing my customers with mortgage services that exceed their expectations. Find out more by visiting my website.