July 4th Fireworks
How will you light up the sky on July 4th? July 4th is a day on every calendar, but is everyone celebrating life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness with fireworks? America’s first birthday celebration was July 1777, during the Revolutionary War. They were fighting for the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Bombs bursting in air do not usually give the same delight as fireworks yet both are a celebration of independence. Both types of fire light have lit up the sky for years as people fight for freedoms. Fireworks have been a common method of celebration across the world for centuries celebrating weddings, wealth, holidays, and patriotism. Fun fact: more than $300 million in fireworks are imported into the U.S. annually. Celebrating July 4 with fireworks and cookouts is a way of practicing happiness. It’s celebrating the finding and fighting for joy in everyday life. It’s about birthdays and dreams. The preamble to the American constitution says “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The pursuit of…
Summer Tutoring Openings 2022
What is on your summer schedule to promote academic growth in your children? Shocking but not surprising are the gaps in the reading development of US children in the past 2 years. Now is the time to sign up for summer tutoring! Summer tutoring clients will participate in literacy lessons, vocabulary practice, oral reading fluency, reading comprehension practice, and writing exercises geared towards the four building blocks of literacy (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). We hope to see significant improvement in multiple reading outcomes to bridge some of these gaps over the summer and avoid the summer slide which happens when students do not practice their skills over breaks. Getting a jump start on future reading progress will also help build confidence in children and set them up for success in the new school year. This summer at Tailor Joy, I am only offering reading tutoring as that seems to be the biggest educational need this year. The 2022 summer reading program is for confident and reluctant readers alike. Everyone has room for improvement and repeated practice. Summer READING Tutoring June 13 – August 26, 2022 What the summer sessions will look like: Oral fluency practice Vocabulary practice with a…
Be Your Own Boss
What would it look like to be your own boss? Being your own boss means you work for yourself. You carry all the heavy responsibilities, but you also celebrate all the personal and professional wins. It’s a roller coaster that many people are trying to decide if it’s worth getting in line for. Some of you have been on this ride. You know the ups and downs. Six percent of US employed people are self-employed and the average of self-employed workers worldwide is about 46% with variances across countries. For me, going into business for myself means that I have the freedom to set my own hours, and I can be available for my family whenever they need me. My former jobs have not been so flexible, and, when my aging parents needed my help, I ended up quitting my teaching job to help them out. Being my own boss provides me flexibility in my hours and my location. Since starting my own business I have worked at home, in coffee shops, at relatives’ houses, and across the globe. The COVID pandemic gave many people the opportunity to try working at home, but that still did not offer the flexibility…
Welcome Note for Guests
What makes you feel at home when you are a guest in someone’s house? Make your guests feel at home by leaving a framed welcome note for guests with helpful information on the dresser. Why do I say a framed note? That way you don’t have to rewrite it each time! Let’s get you started in making a note for your home. It’s quite easy. First, think about what guests might want to know when they visit you. WIFI password? Extra towels? Where the snacks are? Make a list of helpful things for guests. Next, add anything particular to your house. Maybe where to locate the ironing board, thermostat, tv, fuse box, and washing machine. Possibly add notes about the fitness options. Also, consider adding your contact information and location address. If a guest needs you or emergency services, having it on a note is quicker than looking it up. Lastly, what do you want guests to do upon departure? My guest note asks them to please put the sheets and towels on the bathroom floor before they leave and push “run” on the thermostat to return it to its usual settings. Whether or not I’m home when the guests…
Sprinkle Joy Like Confetti
What do you think about when you hear the quote “sprinkle joy like confetti”? “Sprinkle joy like confetti” is an interesting quote. Does it make you think of a celebration? A cupcake with sprinkles? One of those party poppers? I think of glitter! You know, the glitter that gets all over you and you can’t wipe it off because it just spreads more? I think about little flower girls in twirly glittery tule skirts at a friend’s wedding. Everyone who held one of those girls had glitter on them, their clothes, and their cheeks. The father of the bride said he even had glitter in the back of his pickup truck after hauling around wedding supplies! Pretty sure the sewing room was never again glitter-free! But you know what? That glitter spread joy! Today it brought back pleasant memories of a wedding, love, flower girls, food trucks, and family fun on a beautiful October afternoon. I want to sprinkle around that kind of joy with my words and deeds. I want to do things that make people smile in the moment and in the memory. May starts the busy summer season of parties and celebrations. Don’t wait for an invite…
Digital Escape Rooms
Looking for some new rainy day activities for your kids? While spring is popping up in most gardens, rainy days and Mondays still can get us down. Looking for some new rainy day activities for your kids? Try a digital escape room from the comfort of your own couch! Many free and educational digital escape rooms exist. I’ll list a few here but you can do your own search for more using the Tailored Search Terms listed below. There are even a few you can print and use if you want a pencil and paper version. Typically escape rooms involve solving puzzles to get a key or code to unlock the room. Most digital escape rooms have several puzzles and several locks. Some have a storyline woven throughout the game and some just stick to a theme. Some puzzles are visual and others rely on knowledge. In our house, we have solved puzzles together or assigned a certain one to each kid to attempt before the rest join in and help. Some are short with just a few puzzles and can be completed in less than a half hour. Others are more complex or have longer puzzles that take time.…
Product Review: Bankroll Coffee
Can drinking coffee make you a millionaire? I self identify as a coffee snob. No doubt about that. For Christmas my kids got me a coffee bundle from Bankroll Coffee, and it was the perfect gift! Good coffee, catchy packaging, and amazing prices per cup. Names like Double Down, Morning Drip, and Diamond Hands grace the bags. I can’t even pick a favorite, but maybe Hodl, the espresso roast. Eventually, I’d like to try the decaf, Buy the Drip. If you read my earlier post, you’ll know that I make cold brew coffee at home. I always have some regular and some decaf in my fridge. Check out my cold brew coffee review here. Graham Stephan, with his interest in personal finance, real estate, and investing, has an interesting recipe for brewing coffee at home and saving money to invest so you can be a millionaire when you retire. According to Stephan, millennials spend more on coffee than they do on retirement! He says in his video that he wants to create a business that will continue to grow on its own without him having to be constantly involved as the influencer. I resonate with that business goal. That’s what…
Agendas
How can you have more time in your day? Using an agenda (paper or digital) to schedule your week will help you have more time for the things that matter. It really is a magic trick and an insomnia cure! It just takes a few steps, and you’ll be on your way to increased productivity and less mental stress. I’m a big fan of Google Calendar and Asana for my scheduling. (Read this blog post for details.) Write a list of weekly routines, fixed appointments, and regular errands Write a list of weekly and monthly home projects Write a list of habits or hobbies you wish you had time for Write a long term goal or two, and break it down into small tasks Prioritize the events and lists Add them to the weekly and monthly calendar Regularly go over your agenda and make adjustments Rediscover and reclaim pockets of time First, write out a list of your weekly routines, fixed appointments, home projects, and regular errands. Continue the list with a few habits or hobbies you wish you had time for (book reading, exercise class, coffee with a friend, photography class, etc.). Then add a long term goal or…
Table Talk 2
What goes on the bread first, peanut butter or jelly? Last year I shared Table Talk 1, a set of 30 conversation starter questions, perfect for the dinner table or break room. I love to get people talking. I also love to equip people to start their own conversations. Each week I start my tutoring sessions with a question like this. I hope my students will reuse the questions at their dinner or lunch tables. The launching years are especially tricky when it comes to starting conversations with others. I’ve witnessed painfully quiet car rides and lunch tables because kids didn’t know how to start a conversation and just waited for someone else to do it. Table Talk 2 is now available. Purchase this new card set and get more questions to launch conversations. Print up a copy and let your tweens or table mates select a question to ask the group. Answers don’t have to be long, but they should give a reason to support their answer. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate times of silence on car trips or with my morning coffee. But I also don’t want to miss out on natural opportunities to deepen relationships. This…
Healthy Heart
How’s your heart health? February is heart health month in the US. It’s a time to raise awareness about cardiovascular disease, which is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Now is a great time to take a look at your physical heart health. Do you cook heart healthy recipes on a regular basis? Do you know what your blood pressure is and should be? Can you recognize the signs of a stroke and get help FAST? Is there a heart health walk in your town? Our figurative heart, or soul, is also in need of a check up. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our heart for it is the wellspring of our life. Our mental wellness plays a role in our physical wellness, including our heart health. Read more in this article from the American Red Cross. Many resources are available to help raise awareness about heart health. The CDC has published a toolkit for healthy heart month. You can even talk to your kids and teens about heart health habits using this article. It’s never too late to model healthy habits to your family. Make time this week to schedule a heart check up, mentally and…
