Vacation Together - Read Together. #FamiliesRead

Join the PTA Family Reading Challenge!

We’ve followed a boy who lives within the gears of a train station clock.  Run with a  boy turned superhero when struck by lightning. Solved puzzling cases with kids in a mysterious society. Cheered on a would-be prince restored to his throne. Cried through a first-love trip to Amsterdam. Looked for the lost class guinea pig with twin sisters.

All from the blanket in the yard, cuddled up in bed, and riding in the car on cross-state roadtrips.

Of course, it’s all through the magic of books.

Since the kids were babies, I’ve read to and with them. I want my kids to share my love of reading, obviously for all the academic reasons – its necessary requirement for school, it makes one a better student, there’s a bunch of reading tests in school – but also because it’s great entertainment. Books are available on every subject imaginable and about all kinds of people doing all kinds of things. They can make you laugh or cry or think or wonder. And they’re portable!  Especially now with all the e-reader options on iPads, tablets, phones - there's really no excuse to not have a book with you.

And summer is a great season to get the kids reading. The long days, hours by the pool, enjoying an ice cream – they all go well with a good book.

As we pack our suitcases for vacation, everyone has two book tasks.

• Select a book to read, whether a paper book or e-book for downtime.  The books have to be long enough to last past us pulling out of the driveway; other than that, there’s little rules.  Reading is the perfect end-of-the-day, calming activity. Parents can read aloud, or give the kids a turn to do so. Or everyone can read quietly, together.  I always end up packing more books than I can finish in how many ever days we'll be gone, but hey - you've gotta have goals.

• Select an audio-book for travel time. When we do road-trips, we like a story to pass the hours and miles in the car.  The book has to be something everyone will enjoy, so this causes the most discussion and negotiations.  It also results in us driving around an extra block before parking, just to get to the end of the chapter and chit-chat waiting for dinner as we talk about what character we like (or didn’t) and what we think will happen next.

Selecting a book for family reading, as kids get older and with different age kids, can be a challenge. Here's a few that we've enjoyed together.  Note that with the audiobooks, one of the kids has usually read the "real" book first, then wants to share it with everyone else.

• The Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee Stewart - book, audiobook
• The False Prince (series) - book, audiobook
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret - Brian Selznick - book (but not the movie)
• Scumble; Savvy - Ingrid Law - book, audiobook

The girls and I are traveling and listening to The Selection. This story about a girl who is selected, along with 34 others, to vie for the position of princess is a mixture of The Bachelor, Hunger Games, and The False Prince. I am just waiting for the Prince to send them all into the woods, looking for weapons as an archer shoots at them, only to discover one of them is the lost princess. Though my daughter assures me this is not going to happen.

Summer may not seem like the time for academics, but reading is the perfect lazy day activity. And reading together makes it even more fun.  So grab a book, gather the kids and enjoy.

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I’m proud to be taking part in the National PTA’s FamilyReading Experience Powered by Kindle and the Family Reading Challenge.  I’ve always loved reading and am excited that our largest parent advocacy organization is giving parents the incentives and encouragement to get engaged in their child’s education by reading.  

How to Raise a Reader - tips & stats from the National PTA #FamiliesRead

Check out the website - www.ptareadingchallenge.org - for more information on the challenge – including how to win prizes for your family!  Share your families summer reading selections and experiences on social media with #FamiliesRead.

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Currently: Reading, Crocheting & Enjoying Snowballs

We have arrived to my favorite season of the year! Sure, the spring breezes and rain showers are nice, and fall crispy cool air is refreshing relief from the heat of summer, and a daily excuse for hot chocolate is great in the winter but give me the season of soaking in the sun, sipping on iced sweet tea, long days of nothing, a pile of books to read, and ice cream.

The longest day of the year, also known as the summer solstice, officially begins summer.  I celebrated with an ice-cold, delicious Baltimore snowball (chocolate covered strawberry, if you were wondering.) I have been derelict in my parenting duties and my kids were under the mistaken belief that the concoction of ice and watery flavor sold on the truck that comes to school picnics was a “good” snowball. I had to rectify that. It only took one sugary flavorful spoonful of a real snowball to make them (well, three out of four) converts.

Borrowing on the idea of The Longest Day, the AlzheimersAssociation used this day to increase awareness this disease, and fundraising for research of and support for those suffering from it and their caregivers.  Participants in the day were encouraged to pick an activity to participate in all day, to “symbolize the challenging journey of those living with the disease and their caregivers.”  I chose to crochet, one of my favorite hobbies and since handcrafts are reported to help stimulate the brain, I thought was a good fit.  Continuing in the idea of charity, I made hats for women going through chemotherapy who may lose their hair. I made three during the day, taking my yarn to the kids’ swim meet, stitching in between making dinner, and while hanging out with the family celebrating Father’s Day. They were so easy, I’m thinking of making some more. Any ideas of where to donate them to – leave in the comments.

In book-nerd fashion, I have anticipated the opening of the new library in my area.  I know – it’s going to have books just like all the other ones, but I’ve still got going to check it out on my list of things to do. And I heard they have a coffee shop!

On a related note, we have signed up for the National PTA Family Reading Challenge. This new initiative encourages families to read together. Okay - we do have a fun, vested interest in the program – we were one of the families selected to be in the “Inspiration” videos. My daughter and I talk about family reading traditions.  We’ve signed up for the summer challenge because I love reading and think its very important for children to not only be literate but to enjoy reading for their own entertainment and education.  I’ve mentioned many times on here about getting kids reading, especially in the summer so their minds don’t turn to mush in the sun.  As the kids get older, the reading together thing gets harder, it doesn’t seem as cool, but in a previous post, I shared some ideas.  Another note on the family challenge –(and my kids favorite part) there’s prizes from Amazon and Kindle.

I’m making good progress in my tidying and decluttering effort. As recommended in the book I’m using as my guide for now, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, I’m committing huge chunks of time – cleaning out the kids’ closets and drawers for now. We packed up bags to donate to the local clothes exchange and another pile of bags of trash. At the same time, a friend was looking for donations of old t-shirts and yarn for a summer camp – yay!! We had a pile of all those logo/camp/event t-shirts that I didn’t know what to do with and I had a bag of yarn scraps. Perfect.  I love when I can donate my old things, it seems like such a waste to throw them away. The house is feeling so much lighter, now.

Here’s to summer! Pass the sweet tea and share how you are starting off your summer!

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The Family That Reads Together

As our children get older – and more literate - we generally feel like we can let go of family reading, the nightly story at bedtime thing.  But educators keep telling us that family reading, even after kids can read on their own, makes kids better readers, which of course, is a pretty important lifelong skill.

Last week, our school hosted a Family Reading Experience with the National PTA.  There were reading and word games that parents could play with their kids that were easy to do and didn’t require a whole lot of prep or equipment (good things for a busy parent.)  For instance, one game focused on compound words: select a letter at random and write all the compound words you can think of in one minute. Easy. Anybody can play. No special equipment; in fact, this could be a car game where everyone calls out words while driving to [fill-in your own kid activity].

The guest author, Kwame Alexander, demonstrated reading picture books – particularly those that rhyme – with your little ones. Read the sentence and pause at the words that rhyme and let them guess.  “Would you eat them in a box, would you eat them with a ____?” You get it. Yes, this counts as helping your kid with literacy skills!

Now, the early readers, that’s easy because we know we’re supposed to help them read. But what about the older ones?  Here’s a few ideas that might help you out.

Read a book together. This could go two ways. One - sit down and read the same book at the same time.  Something like Wonderstruck with its story both in prose and beautiful pencil drawings is a great reading and conversation book.  Or two - read the same books on your own time and talk about it, like a book club. This might work better for longer books and older kids.

Have your kids read to you. Little kids get a kick out of their new reading skills and like to show them off. Let them.  This could be at home or while riding in the car.  Busy mom tip – you can enjoy listening to Because of Winn-Dixie while folding clothes or prepping dinner.   You might even consider taking turns reading to each other.

Listen to audio books together. Pick a family-friendly book (depending on the ages of your kids) and pop in the CD, download to your iPad or whatever and listen while riding around or even while hanging out at home.  Hearing a story, like reading one, requires imagination – what does the character look like, where are they, what’s going on in the story – much more than watching a movie.  Listening as a family gives you a common activity to discuss and talk about.  It might even spur your kid to read other books by the same author or in the same genre.

Let your kids see you read. In your spare time, instead of checking Facebook, let your kid witness you reading a book, magazine, the newspaper.  You could even set aside a family reading time, like they do in school, where everyone finds a quiet corner and reads. (This worked well on those stuck in the house snow days.)

Go to the library. You’ve got to have books to read them, right? Get to the library on a regular basis, or if you prefer the bookstore, bricks and mortar or online, so they can select books they want to read.

I know – getting kids to read is sometime hard, especially with all the other non-reading distractions. But hopefully these tips will help a little bit.

Any other family reading tips you use to get your kids to read more?

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Currently... A Status Update on My 2015 Plans

Hello February!  It's the day we wait for the Groundhog to see or not see it's shadow; I've never been able to keep straight which means there will be more winter, but looking out of my own window, I'm going with "more winter."

It's also day after the SuperBowl. Oh, we're not talking about that? Okay. Agreed.

We've cleared the first month of the year and did well, or not so well, on those new year's resolutions/ goals/ hopes/ dreams/ targets/ visions - whatever we are calling them this year. How'd you do? 

I'm not much of a resolution kind of person, but I do have some plans and intentions and still have some work to do.  A few I'm currently working on?

Working out.  I admit it, I passed by the treadmill and my sneakers many of times in January. Although, I didn't eat as much cake and pie as in December.  I'm getting back to my marathon/month, plan.  Started today with 2 miles, only 24 more to go in 26 days.

Reading.  According to my Goodreads list, I did not read that much last year! Maybe I've been bad at recording my books, I'm not sure, but I'll do better this year. Right now, I'm reading The Girl Your Left Behind.  Totally picked this up because JoJo Moyes' Me Before You was so popular last year and it was not on the shelf at the library.  I had no idea what it was about, and I do like opening the pages of a book without any idea where its going - this one is in WW1 France, a small town that has been taken over by the German Army.

Book I'm Carrying Around right now

Crocheting.  This is always on my to-do list, but particularly I'm working on baby blankets! I seemed to have gone through a lull of no new friend babies, and then all of a sudden, I've got a bunch of friends with brand new babies!  I've working on blanket number 1 (pink!) during this weekend's swim meet and SuperBowl, and, at current count, I've got three more to go (1 pink, 2 blue.)

Baby blanket in PINK!

Volunteering.  I'm pretty active in PTA and my sorority, and gearing up for the year ahead in both of them.  I hold a leadership role in both, which I enjoy, however I often have to remind myself to make time for the actual hands-on work of the organization, not get weighed down by the administration aspects. That's one thing that I do want to work on this year.

Piddlin'. Of course!

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Pack Your Bags: Conferences

There's a conference/convention for everything isn't there?  Sorority, civic and social organizations, PTA, moms, bloggers, yarn, scrapbooking, food, comic books, music - you name it, there's a large gathering of interested folks.

For your next conference, for whatever reason, don't forget to pack these important items that I have found to make it all a little bit more manageable and enjoyable.

Shoes, shoes, comfortable shoes!  I admit, picking out a good pair of shoes could top any list I happen to write (what to take on vacation, what to consider first in an outfit, how to spend your tax refund), but for a conference, this is an important one.  Conference center floors are hard - they are concrete and no, despite what you think you remember, they may not have been carpeted - and the centers themselves are huge.  Even if you insist that you've got to wear cute shoes during the conference sessions (understood), be sure to carry comfortable walking shoes for when those heels have had it.  You don't have to go straight to the sneakers that will mess up your look, go with a nice ballet slipper or loafer, depending on your outfits.  A tangential note: if you are not staying at the conference hotel, stay somewhere in walking distance so you don't have to rely on the conference shuttle, which can often have a long wait.

Shoes to match the outfit and shoes to actually walk around in

Business cards and/or address labels.  Make sure you have business cards, you don't want to be the person jotting down your name and number on a program cover or scrap of paper that's going to get lost in someone's conference bag.  Especially when there are several low-cost, easy options to get your own set of cards.

• Use an online printer, like VistaPrint, or local office supply store, like Staples or Kinko's, to get  calling cards printed - pretty designs, all the basic info.  (At home, I also tuck them into my kids backpacks when they go to school or on a field trip.)
• Purchase blank cards at the office supply store and print your own if you don't need a lot or are creative like that.

When you receive a card, be sure to jot a note on the back about the person - why would you contact them again?  I also keep the cards I collect together with a binder clip or in an envelope so they don't get lost in my conference bag.

And the address labels?  For those mailing list sign-up sheets at various vendors because I'm lazy in writing my contact info.  It's also useful for sticking on your various items that you would like to have returned if you lose it.  Use those free sheets you get in the mail from charities or make custom ones on your home printer.

Luggage tag.  If your conference is giving out bags, as most do, you will then be carrying the same bag as the other hundred or thousands of folks there with you.  And someone will invariably pick up the wrong bag.  Identify your bag with a unique luggage tag, a keychain, a strap cover, or something.  Forgot to bring one?  Pick up a give-away from a vendor, paperclip some doo-dad to the handle.  When I've forgotten something,  I end up tying some yarn (which I always have) onto one of my handles.

My sorority conference bag, personalized with paper-clipped on flower and tied-on ribbon

A shawl or cardigan.  You've been there - movie theatre, restaurant, meeting, friend's house - and the air condition is all the sudden on blast and you're freezing.  Throw a light cover in your bag so you're ready for the change in temperature.  Carry a neutral color to match everything, or your bright favorite color just because it makes you happy.

E-devices & apps.  We're all so digital and electronic now - cameras, phones, tablets, iPods - you can't imagine a conference without them.

• Bring your chargers - Don't we all hate seeing that red battery or "low battery" signal while we're away from home.  You can always find somewhere to charge back up and some meeting places even have lounges specifically for that purpose.
• Charge and carry your portable charger for when I'm in the middle of the business sessions and can't get to a plug. This is helpful, too, when I'm working at a vendor event for my book, Life in Spades, as the vendor booths often are not supplied with an electrical cord.
• Download the conference app. The first time I went to conference with an app, I wasn't really sure it would be that useful. But then I realized how much easier it is to pull out my phone and check my schedule to figure out what room I needed to go to next, rather than my program, flip to the right page, read through all the sessions - all while balancing my coffee and not getting jostled by the crowd.

All my chargers and electronics in one easy-to-find place

Snacks.  I am a snacker, check my bag any day and you are likely to find a bag of trailmix or nuts or an energy bar in there.  For conferences, this is a definite, because when I'm hungry, I get really impatient if there's a long line at the snack bar or if they've run out of what I want by the time I get to the counter.  And the long lines are inevitable - hundreds of folks on the same schedule, hungry at the same time.

Coffee.  Ahhh, caffeine.  I carry instant coffee, not my favorite option at home, or bottled, pre-made Starbucks. You have to have a plan when you are among thousands of folks, all trying to get a cup of coffee within the same 10 minutes before the meeting session starts.  It's a back-up to the coffee that should've been in my room or hotel lobby and if I can't get to the coffee shop a block from the conference, which is most likely emptier then the counter near the meeting space.  I've also found liquid creamer in the stay-fresh cartons! Wonderful, because I don't like powdered creamer. This and a coffee pot in my room and I can get my day started.

Lipgloss.  I'm amazed at the difference a swipe of gloss will make on your otherwise, tired, make-up-less face.  So I've got one in my make-up bag, one in my purse, and throw one in a conference bag, just to be sure.

Gather these must-haves for your next conference.  And if I've left off any must-haves, let me know.

 (This post was originally written in 2012, but I've updated a few items, particularly the tech-y notes.)

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