Product Review: Neso Tents
What type of beach shade do you use? After years of dragging the big heavy beach canopy bag down to the shore and hoping we could get it set up and down by ourselves if my husband wasn’t on the trip, I found a new easier beach shade that weighs considerably less! Neso beach tents are a breeze to use and store. These lycra/nylon tents provide water resistant sunshade with different configurations depending on where you put the poles. There is a slight learning curve to setting them up on a windy day but tutorial videos helped. This Neso beach tent was great for our multigenerational beach trip so the great grandmas, the tired surfers, and the baby could have shade. We did have our tent blow down once but the winds were over 20 mph and changing directions. I was quite impressed with how well it did on other windy days and much less worried than usual about the umbrella flying down the beach or the whole canopy tent overturning and hurting someone. This beach tent can also be used in the backyard or sidelines. Instead of filling the bags with sand, you can use rocks, other weights,…
10 reading questions to ask your child
How can parents ask good questions without reading the book? Every parent wants to ask good questions to help their child stretch their reading comprehension but who has time to pre read all the books and come up with good questions? This list of 10 reading questions will help you support your child’s literacy development and start critical thinking discussions. Whenever I ask critical thinking reading comprehension questions of students, I always expect them to tell why they think that. Teach your child to answer the question and tell why. I reassure students that there may be more than one right answer and telling why or giving proof from the text will help their answer to be understood better. Here are 10 reading questions you can personalize and use to ask your child about what they are reading regardless of the book or their school grade level. Ask one or two of these at a time and give plenty of thinking time if needed. What made you select this book? What character are you most/least like? Would you be friends with the main character if they lived next door? What is the crisis in the story and how…
Reset the house
How long does it take you to unpack after a trip? I’m halfway through my own Clean the Chaos course and highly motivated to keep my rooms clean and reset the house. (Yes, I’m taking my OWN course!) We recently came home from a beach trip and would have normally had time to unpack, do laundry, grocery shop, etc. But instead, we went to the airport to pick up international friends whose flight was delayed 2 days. Unexpected houseguest on top of regular house guests and unpacking from a trip was delightful chaos, of which we are quite accustomed to. We survived pretty easily on pantry supplies, popsicles, air mattresses, and board games. However, once everyone left I was itching to get my closet back together. I had emptied my suitcase on the floor, piled in some clean laundry, and tried to sort out travel supplies in one corner. My previously clean closet motivated me to not wait very long before taking the time to return it to order after my trip. Same with the rest of my house. Now that my linen closet and guest rooms have been decluttered, it makes me want to quickly do laundry and reset…
10 tips for using Google Tasks and Google Calendar as a student agenda
How can you effectively use Google Calendar as a student agenda? Time management is a life skill that is important to teach students, and I love a good organizational system! Over the years, I have traded my paper calendars and agendas for digital ones. It is helpful to see what events I have have and where I have time in my schedule for tasks. Many of my tutoring clients tell me they do not need an agenda because they can just look at the list of assignments in Google Classroom, but this does not teach them time management skills nor does it help them chunk large projects into manageable pieces. (Nor are most of them capable of keeping all that info “in my head” as their main strategy for remembering all their homework assignments but I do hear that option quite a bit!) This school year when I teach study skills to my middle and high school tutoring clients, I will include how to use an agenda whether it’s a paper one or a digital one. For a simple digital system for students who have Gmail accounts, I recommend Google Calendar and Google Tasks. Use the calendar events to block time…
10 Tasks to Clean Your Digital Spaces
How full is your email inbox? When I teach my course “Clean the Chaos,” I not only want my clients to clean their physical spaces but also their digital spaces, too. Here’s a short segment right out of a recent email to my clients on cleaning out home office spaces. These 10 tasks will help you clean the chaos in your digital life and lighten the junk mail and unnecessary files that burden your devices. Set aside some time this month and work through these 10 tasks. You will be so glad you did! Delete junk emails Unsubscribe to email lists Create folders or filters for important emails Create folders on your device for important files with names that work for you (home, personal, health, auto, receipts/orders, pet, manuals, etc.) including a folder for each person in your household Delete unnecessary photos and files Delete apps and subscriptions you do not use Delete trash files periodically Use digital bookkeeping and bill pay to manage bills and minimize paper use Use a financial app to monitor your credit scores, find and manage subscriptions, and cancel recurring charges Back up your files Bonus tip? Delete junk mail once a day to keep…
New Gray
What does new gray mean? Recently a friend and I coined the phrase “new gray” during a discussion about the percentage of people in an audience. New gray is my age group, 50’s and 60’s. Old gray is my mom’s age group, 70’s and 80’s and beyond. Obviously, people gray at different ages, but the demographics of new gray and old gray are different. My hair is streaked with gray and I do not mind it. So many people seem discouraged about graying. I think it’s just the next stage of life. In a previous post on going gray gracefully, I gave advice this advice: “Live life each day to its fullest, with joy, no matter what the weather or your hair status. While it’s nice to look good on the outside, your beauty and heart attitude shines through from the inside. That’s the sparkle that others see.” Being “new gray” is more than okay! I have adult kids, a grandchild, and more freedom in my schedule. I am growing old with the husband of my youth and still enjoying new adventures together. New gray will eventually become old gray and that will bring another season to explore and enjoy,…
Back to School for you – for free
What do you wish you could go back to school to learn? Everyone can teach or tutor something. What skill or hobby are you good at? What academic subject do you enjoy talking about? What do your kids or neighbors ask you for advice about? Being a subject expert will help you grow your confidence in tutoring, but honestly, tutoring is just coming alongside someone to help with their academic or skill learning. Almost anyone can do that, especially with a free tutoring workshop. Here’s a little free vocabulary lesson. Teaching is a subject matter expert giving instruction. Tutoring is helping students with academic learning and study skills. It is remediating or enriching a particular subject or school year. Coaching is helping students with problem-solving strategies to improve productivity or effectiveness both now and in the future. Now is the perfect time to get set up to start tutoring this fall. My short free workshop Tutor Toolkit will give you the tools needed to design tutoring sessions no matter what you want to tutor. It’s perfect for anyone who wants to tutor, teach lessons, or coach clients. What’s in the FREE workshop Tutor Toolkit? In this workshop, I lay…
Best Back to School Traditions
What are your back to school traditions? The start of a new school year can be a hard transition from the freedom of summer break for some parents and kids. Having some back-to-school traditions can ease this transition. Ice cream night was our favorite and best back-to-school tradition. On the first day of school (and the last) we went out to ice cream for dinner. We asked good questions and the kids actually gave answers between bites. It was casual but meaningful. Other families have a special breakfast on the first day of school or a school supply shopping day. Some families prioritize the first day of school photo shoot on the front porch. It all comes down to being intentional and building traditions. Maybe it did not start out at first as something that would become a tradition or ease the transition, but eventually, families repeat special moments, and traditions are begun. As a teacher and tutor, I have the opportunity to talk with students at the start of the school year. One of my traditions is asking students to tell me what they character traits hope their new teacher will see in them. With some praise and encouragement…
Parenting Podcast Review: M is for Mama
What is your favorite parenting podcast? Podcasts are all the rage these days, but honestly, I’m not one who listens to many. A recent car trip found me downloading a few podcasts and audiobooks. I almost forget how nice it is to listen to music, podcasts, or audiobooks! After reading this review, I hope you will give this parenting podcast, M is for Mama, a try whether you are a regular podcast listener or an infrequent one like me. I have been following Abbie Halberstadt for a while on Instagram and am looking forward to her upcoming book Hard is Not the Same Thing as Bad. She often posts about the miraculous and messy world of motherhood. She and her husband have 10 children (including 2 sets of twins) and their story can be found on her parenting podcast. I especially liked the first episode about how she came to buy a necklace with an “m” on it and it sparked the title of her blog, first book, and podcast “M is for Mama.” Another episode that resonated with me was episode 13 where Abbie interviews her mom and talks about leaving a legacy for your kids and grandkids. The…
Quick Cleaning Tips
What do you clean if you just have 10 minutes? Here are a few easy tips from my Clean the Chaos workshop for doing some quick cleaning or organizing if you just have a few minutes. For most of us, we have some extra minutes during the summer where we can actually do a quick project indoors to avoid the outside heat or to get ourselves off the couch. Got a few extra minutes? Choose a room and a task from the quick cleaning suggestions below. Bedrooms: 2 min Tidy: pick up dirty clothes, set out tomorrow’s outfit, spot treat a garment 5 min Freshen: start a load of laundry, fold a load of laundry 10 min Tackle: declutter a dresser drawer, mend clothes Bathrooms: 2 min Tidy: tidy up a drawer or counter, wipe the toilet seat, wipe the mirror, take stock of the supplies 5 min Freshen: wipe down all the surfaces and polish the faucets, clean shower curtain or door, dust the fan 10 min Tackle: clean the faucets and shower heads, dust or wash the light fixtures, use one of those beauty masks then hop in the shower and scrub down the tile while you wait…