School Shopping

It seems like school is only just ending for the year, but that means next years supply list is going to be coming to your door soon. So with that in mind I'm making a recommendation concerning school shopping. Start now.

I know that sounds presumptuous, but right now some of the little stores have some wonderful deals on items kids are going to be scrambling for come September. Dollar Tree has some amazing character themed pencils, Five Below has a variety of art kits and smaller journals. The bigger box stores even have some amazing clearance deals as they work on moving old stock to create room for the new.

Does this mean you should buy everything now? By all means no. But what I'm suggesting is go through and pick up some of the smaller items that help your child feel treated now, even if you have to put them away as a surprise for a few months until school shopping formally commences.

I also recommend reusing as many school supplies that they currently have as possible. Scissors and pencils don't have to be repurchased if they're saved, but new ones are nice to have. Yet by keeping the old ones you reduce waste.Besides scissors aren't really a telling point for most people. A little wipe down and they usually look good as new. Unless you cut live wires with them, but that's a whole different problem.

Backpacks are on sale currently as again, they're trying to move out old stock. New packs can be found reasonably if you look through those available. The other day I was at Best Buy and they had a Spider-Man backpack for just under $14.00. Hot Topic even had some neat packs, FallOut and Steven universe backpacks were $15.00. These prices are reasonable as the quality is really nice.  But you miss out on deals if you don't look. We all know that come September supplies seem to be a daunting thing to purchase as the expense seems never ending.

A unique collection of both new and used items can be achieved, if you save things from this year and combine them with new purchases to meet the demands of your students new teachers. Good Luck, and please remind your children to keep their pencils off the floor.

School is starting soon!

So it's time to look at a topic that is a bit uncomfortable for some people. But it's been brought up and rehashed a lot in the media, as well in schools. Today we're going to look at bullying. I know that many of you aren't worried about it. But here's the thing. Being aware of how something works and havig the knowledge of how to react to a situation is very important.

To start we should look at what the basic definition of the problem is. By knowing how something is defined we become more aware and our ability to identify it in action improves. Bullying is defined by StopBullying.gov as follows.

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.

Which isn't necessarily clear about what can be percieved as bullying by various individuals. This isn't necessarily science, as each of us are unique individuals and have our own quirks. But the site also gives a clear break down of 3 specific types of bullies that people may have the bad luck to encounter. Verbal, social, and physical bullying are the three kinds that they give rather extensive elaborations on.

What they don't look at though, which has become a real problem since so many kids are spending so much time attached to technology, is cyber bullying. Of course you can argue that cyber bullying is a combination of two out of the three offered types. Verbal and social. This is something to think about when you're posting on facebook or other social media.

So really when you go to interact online you should think about what you're writing or making available indefinetly. Things that go out into the digital world are never completely gone. So be aware that something you may say off handedly, without thinking about it, could come back to have negative repercussions. Yes you have the freedom of speech, but what you say and do should not be done with the intention of hurting someone.


Poster a resource from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/

Now I know that most of you aren't going to find this interesting or useful. But in truth there's specific people that this is intended for. I'm really hoping that they find the time to read and look this over. But for those of you that might be interested in looking further into the topic, or have a strong opinion on the matter I'd like you to think about the following.

HeyUgly.org looks at various ways to prevent bullying, as well as looks at the topic of suicide prevention. They offer a variety of perspectives and resources for both students and adults for raising awareness as well as how to campaining against both societal problems.

HeyUgly.org also runs various contests that can help youth to think about the topics. By participating, it helps to make them think deeply about the ideas, as well offers them the opportunity to win a prize. Currently they have contests running for the following: acronym, essay, photo, poetry, songwriting, and video. If you want more information go to their site. It's the thirteenth year that they're running the contests. So if you're between the ages of 7-17, you may want to look into them.

If you have another resource that you use or find interesting, please feel free to share it with us in the comment section below. I'm always interested in learning about new programs. Being informed, after all, is half the battle.

Studies : Child Nutrition and Cooking

So today is Saturday. This week was the second week of the online course I'm participating in on cooking and child nutrition. I know that there is a lot of different ideas about how to cook for kids, and what they will enjoy. The idea of this specific course is to bring families back to the table together. As well as open peoples eyes to what they're eating.

Why is this something that I'm interested in? Well for one thing what you feed a kid isn't really any different than what you'll feed yourself. You want your food to look good, taste good, and be good for you as well. This course intends to help us learn how to prepare a meal that is nutritious as well as balanced.

The course has gone over a few different topics so far. The teacher posts videos and explains how different things can be used to improve taste as well as create a healthier meal. She advises that it's better to use some butter rather than use an excessive amount of margarine. Another thing that was interesting to learn was how fresh garlic and onion can be used in small amounts to add a nice flavor to the food.

Some of the topics this course has gone over include: Egg, Six Ingredients, Vegetable Stir fry, Smoothie, Balanced Meal, Oatmeal, Pasta, and Almond Cake. How is the material presented? It's presented in a series of short videos in this course. What kind of work do you need to do for this course? You take small quizzes, and you are asked to complete one meal during the week following some specifications from class. (I made a salad and french toast to meet these so far.) So it isn't really all that difficult.

There are a number of free courses to be taken in Coursera I definitely recommend having a look. It doesn't hurt to see what is available. Educating yourself, whether for college credit or not is still good. Many of the free online courses offer a certificate stating that you completed it. So give it a look, maybe you will learn something new.