{Flower and Ribbon Wand Tutorial}

I made this Ribbon and Flower wand to match my daughters Halloween costume. She is a Monarch butterfly so i knew it had to be beautiful and full of color! It was really easy to make and can also be made to match with any color you need. I also think this would be great for a fairy costume or just for fun. You can embellish them with anything. I chose to embellish mine with black hand tied bows. It matches perfectly and came out wonderful!

{Homework Help - Developing Independent Learners}

In the kindergarten and first grade years, there is a lot of parent help needed for homework.  As they get older, they need less and less help. Developing good study habits is important for kids for later in school when they won’t ask or when you can’t help them -- I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember my high school geometry! lol

I have gotten a few bits of advice from teachers on helping kids with homework in a way that helps them become self-sufficient and independent.  Here's what I learned:

{Bing’s Our School Needs Contest}

If you have school aged kids, you’ll want to hear about this!  It's a chance to win some money for your school.  With all of the budget cuts that  are affecting our schools, now more than ever our schools have needs that are getting pushed aside because of lack of funding -- everything from major improvements to smaller things like tools and supplies. 

At our school, they have had to cut back on teachers so class size has increased significantly this year.  I volunteer in the classrooms frequently and have already seen how that increase in class size is stretching the science kits and art tools and other supplies to their limits. To cope with limited budgets, we are very fortunate that our school has a very active Parent Teacher Organization that raises a lot of money through various fund raisers.  But even with those funds, there always seems to be more things that the school needs.

{Green Works Walk to School Challenge}

This month my kids and I are participating in the Walk To School Challenge.  This is perfect for our family.  I’ve always loved walking the kids to school ever since my oldest started kindergarten and happily skipped along with me to school wearing her cute little backpack.  Unfortunately in my family, we just haven’t been making the time for walking lately.  Which is too bad because it's a great way to get more physical activity in your day, become more “green,”  and spend some time with the kids talking, laughing, and  letting the kids wake up :-) before they start their school day.