Search Results for: blog staying focused for the end of the school year

Sleep and Your Preschooler

I have a guilty secret. My daughter sometimes – dare I say, often – goes to bed late. She also sleeps in. With the onset of kindergarten next year and its earlier arrival times, we’re going to have to change this. However, in a family with two parents who are working outside the home, I find it to be a struggle to get her in bed by 8 pm. After all, my husband arrives home at dinner time, we eat, and then it would be bed time. On the days when I work outside the home, dinner tends to be … Continue reading →

All the STUFF That Comes Home at the End of School Year

One of my main end-of-the-school-year complaints has always been the incredible amount of STUFF that gets sent home as the year comes to a close. I know that teachers try to spread the export out over the last week or so and it is definitely NOT entirely their fault. They can not be blamed for all the coats, bags, hats, scarves and other items my children have taken to school and left over the past 9 months. But, it always seems like not only do I have to adjust to having all these bodies back in my house every day, … Continue reading →

What About NEXT School Year?

Ah, the school year is ending and everyone’s thoughts of anticipation are on the seemingly long stretch of summer laid out before us. I know for a fact that the focus is on just getting this school year finished—but, in only three short months another school year will be starting up and it can be helpful to put a little thought into that now—before the realities of summer take over. Many parents choose to move or change schools over the summer. If this is your plan, or you are considering it—it is a good idea to get all the paperwork … Continue reading →

End of the Year Ideas for Teachers

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This time of year, many teachers and school staff members are planning special programs for the students and their parents. Many teachers have a special end of the year memoir for their students. This article is directed more toward those teachers or the room moms that help those teachers. In this article, I would like to share some ideas that I have seen or used in the past. Some ideas will require pictures from the entire year. If you do not have pictures this year, remember to start making lots of pictures next school year! Month Picture Book Create a … Continue reading →

Staying Focused For the End of the School Year

Things have a tendency to fall apart in our household around the first week of May. The weather has warmed up enough that even if we do have some more rain and clouds, enough of the “nice” weather has shown its face to make the inevitability of summer obvious. The end of the school year is well within sight, and social and extracurricular activities shift to spring/summer things, which makes it very challenging for the teenagers to keep their minds in school. It gets harder and harder to get the kids out of bed and out the door on week … Continue reading →

Massage Therapy Could Help Children Who Have Autism

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It seems counterintuitive to suggest that massage therapy, something that requires a lot of physical touch, could be beneficial for children who have autism. However, an interesting study reveals that massage therapy could be helpful for at least some children who have autism. It requires a well trained massage therapist, who has a good understanding about what kinds of physical contact children who are the autism spectrum tend to be adverse to. Massage therapy is something that seems to be becoming more and more acceptable as a form of healing, or as a means to ease certain kinds of pain, … Continue reading →

Sleep Deficit Very Disruptive for Kids with ADHD

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Researchers have discovered that even a moderate sleep deficit has a big affect on the neurobehavioral functioning of children who have ADHD. This appears to have a direct, and negative, impact on how kids with ADHD are able to function in school. The implication is that if extra efforts are made to ensure that the child gets enough sleep every night, that this will improve his or her school experience. I think everyone knows what it feels like to have to go through a day after not getting enough sleep. This tends to make people feel lethargic, and unmotivated, and … Continue reading →

Already Tired of Resolutions? Give Yourself a Rest

You may think it’s a bit late for New Year’s resolutions, but I always give myself some slack the first two weeks of January. I want to enjoy the full 12 Days of Christmas, and then I want to get back into the work/school routine again so that I can really see where we want to make changes. I have made suggested resolutions for adoptive parents before, and made others just for myself before. Upcoming blogs will have my reflections on those resolutions, as well as information on events in 2008 that affect the world of adoption, such as the … Continue reading →

Can Dramatic Weight Loss Be Maintained?

I’ve seen countless talk shows and TV commercials showing various different celebrity-types who have lost twenty, thirty, fifty pounds . . . and just months later, seen their pictures in the tabloids, having put the weight back on. This phenomenon holds true for us regular folk, too—it’s just that more attention is paid to celebrities who “fail” at their diets because they’ve got the eyes of the paparazzi on them. For those who have lost a hundred pounds or more, the tendency is the same—they lose the weight and then for some reason, put the weight back on. Why is … Continue reading →

What Pulls You Away and Sucks You In?

Staying focused and motivated is a challenge for many of us—not just single parents—but I find that as a single parent, “staying the course” can be much easier on some days than others. Whether it is sticking to a budget or staying focused on the goals and things that I think really matter, there are things that pull me away or suck me in and then I find that I am off track! Identifying those things that are likely to suck you in and pull you away from your goals and such is an important step. Is it a friend … Continue reading →