I was a little apprehensive when my daughter signed up for a “parenting” class at her high school. I could tell she was going into this thinking it was a “cute” way to see what being a parent is like. One of the things she was most excited about was bringing home a fake baby. It is one of those really expensive “dolls” that can be tracked. The teacher will know if you took care of the baby’s needs, how often you responded to crying, and so on. She is scheduled to bring her baby home this coming weekend. We … Continue reading →

Ahhh…it’s that time of the year. Homework. Class work. Grades. What is your family’s philosophy on making good grades? Should a child be rewarded for this? I can’t help but feel a little sorry for my daughter who is in 10th grade this year. She is following in the footsteps of her older brother who had a well-known reputation for his schoolwork…he never turned it in. Or if he did, it was very last minute. Smart as a whip, he never once studied for a test or exam but always got A’s and B’s. However his grades would reflect his … Continue reading →

If there is one thing I dread about the start of a new school year, it is the mornings. I’m hoping other moms of teens can relate to the sometimes frustrating task of trying to wake a sleepy child. Although I may not be able to do much about that, I do know that I can help us get ready for the new school year by at least planning for a smooth morning. The key to this is preparing the night before. It used to be that most of the preparations fell on me. But in the past few years … Continue reading →

Next week my teens go back to school. Although this school year will be a bit easier to manage (now that our oldest has moved out), I know I still need to make sure I am planning and preparing for a successful year. Now when I say successful, I mean organized and flowing. My goal is to reduce the number of chaotic mornings we have and make sure everyone knows what is going on each day. One of the systems I implemented last year and have faithfully continued is our color-coded family calendar. It is a dry erase calendar, hung … Continue reading →

Now that school year is over with, you may have seen Facebook posts from friends about how fast the year has gone by. Many parents will proudly declare that their child is now in such-and-such a grade. My own children were excited on that last day of school to announce they were now officially in the next grade…10th and 8th grade. And of course, there is the joy of my oldest son finishing high school. Every year it feels the exact same way…as a parent, you can’t help but ask, “Where did the time go?” I can still remember that … Continue reading →

I mentioned in a previous blog receiving an email that directed me to an article, “Pressure from parents: Do students need more of it?” I addressed the question of whether or not more pressure needs to be put on students. But in this blog I am going to look at some other interesting findings from the article, regarding homework and sleep. The article cites that students average 3.07 hours of homework every night, which totals to 552.6 hours a year. That is a lot of homework, especially when you combine it with the class work they do in school. Now … Continue reading →