Radio Show: Study Habits and Setting Goals

Listen to our recent radio show when we talked with Dr. John Mayer and Tara Kennedy-Kline about cultivating good study habits and teaching our kids to set goals.  You can listen to the replay by using the player below, downloading the mp3, or via iTunes.

Setting up a Homework Zone

Mandi Ehman of Organizing Your Way

Do you have a homework zone set up in your home?

It doesn’t have to be a dedicated room, but having a dedicated space for homework time with easily accessible supplies helps children focus on their homework and complete it without being distracted by clutter or chaos.

For older kids and teens, this might be a corner of their bedroom with a desk and computer. For younger kids, it may just be the kitchen table or a corner of the counter.

The keys are having a space that is clear of surface clutter and keeping the basic supplies they need in a convenient location. If you’re not using a desk for the homework zone, you could fill a basket with extra lined paper and pencils as well as a ruler and any other supplies they need on a regular basis, or you could use a drawer in your kitchen or coffee table.

Help kids set up a system for completed school work. A lot of it will need to go in their binder  or a folder to take back to school. However, some of it can be filed away, and some may need to be kept in file trays or organizers on the desk for easy reference.

It’s important to consider the atmosphere of the area as well. While having kids do homework in the main area of your home may be convenient and seem like a good idea, it could also lead to a lot of distractions if your home is a busy one.  You might consider playing soft music or using aromatherapy to help them focus.

As with everything, it’s important to be flexible. You may find that your first setup isn’t working well for everyone and that you need to move things around to find a homework zone that will work. Don’t be afraid to try a few different things!

Do you have a dedicated homework zone for your kids? What’s the biggest challenge in setting one up? What’s the best thing you’ve included as part as your homework zone?

Mandi Ehman is a work-at-home mom to four spunky little girls. She believes that organizing only lasts if you do it your way – to fit your needs, your preferences and your lifestyle – and she shares organizing and time management tips at Organizing Your Way.

Helping Your Child Be On Time

By Susan Heid of The Confident Mom

Do you have one or more children in your home that seems to repeatedly run late?  Perhaps they run around looking for their shoes, coat or homework?  Maybe forgetting where they placed their back pack the afternoon before.  Does it raise the stress level for your entire family?  It isn’t a very good way to start your day, is it?  Think of this…..Do you run late?  Do you often forget where your keys are?  How about finding your purse or shopping list?  Do you see the correlation?  Maybe not if in fact you are a mom who is fairly organized and then it frustrates you even more that you have a child that seems to be in disarray!

If running late is a key component to your mornings it is time for a change.  You can help your child gain tremendous pride in their accomplishment of being prepared for their day and getting out the door on time in the morning.  You have heard it time and time again; learning by example will get someone much further than just being told what to do.

I find that some busy moms I work with find it just plain easier to continue yelling 3 or more times trying to address the issue rather than changing their response.  Why do we fall into those habits?  Because – it is easier to stay the same than change.  Face it, we are creatures of habit, and yet even when a pattern of behavior is NOT producing what we want, we seldom see another method to reach the outcome we desire.  So stop and think about how your morning runs and how you could in fact be enabling your child to continue their pattern of running late and being forgetful.

Helping your child develop new habits starts with YOU.  Plain and simple.  You can certainly be the example he/she needs in order to come up with a plan that works.  As we venture into a new school year, it is the perfect time to develop some new habits, both for your child and for you!  I will focus on how you can help your child, but it doesn’t take a lot of thinking to see how you can adapt these simple tools into your life too.

Being Prepared

What can you do in advance to make things easier?  Thinking ahead can certainly help make a difference and calm things down.  Does your child have an activity the next day?  Is his/her backpack placed in a spot where it is accustomed to being?  You can even lay clothes out for the next day if that is a battle that ends up producing anxiety for anyone!

Remembering Tasks

I started using check lists when my kids were very young.  These are all items that need to be accomplished by a certain time, normally before leaving in the morning. (making their bed, teeth brushed, pajamas put away, etc.). This helped me out because I didn’t have to be the drill sergeant and it also gave my child a great sense of pride as he/she accomplished these tasks on their own!  In addition, once the checklist was finished they can spend the remaining time before leaving doing an activity they enjoy.  I find too many parents let their kids watch TV or play video games before the work is done and then wonder why it is such a battle.  Work before play is a standard principle in our home.

Decide what type of system is going to work for you and your child.

Work on it together and brainstorm about what will help them.  You may be surprised at what they come up with.

Staying on Task

This one can be completely aggravating for many parents – because you have a dilly dallier!  You know, the one who looks up from one task and is completely distracted by something else.  We have used different things at different times, but a few that work well are using a kitchen timer to keep a child on task, having a one task at a time policy – where they cannot move on from one thing until one is completed.  Also having them check in with you during their progress is helpful too.

Listening

Truly making sure your child hears you and understands the instruction can be half of the frustration.  So, have your child repeat back instructions and then verify he understands.  We also found giving too many instructions at once was not a good combination.  Give one task at a time and wait until that is completed.

Set a Schedule

We set up a schedule for one of our boys that helped him use his time in the morning.  He knew what time he was getting up, what time he could be lazy and “wake-up”, what time he had to start eating breakfast, cleaning up, getting dressed, all of that.  It was spelled out for him so he did not lose track of time and then be scrambling 10 minutes before we needed to get out the door  Slowly we began letting him try to use his time his way in the morning, and after a few mis-steps, he has managed to budget his time.  This is much more effective than for us to continue to manage his time, and they way we set the schedule for him also gave him an idea and something to go from to learn how to budget his time.  A great lesson all around.

Celebrate

If getting out the door in the morning has been a thorn in your side, sit everyone down and discuss how different the mornings are when things go smoothly.  How much happier everyone is, how enjoyable the ride to school is or the walk to the bus stop is.  Then think together what you could in fact do on the days that everyone cooperates and takes care of their own business to help the family out.  Have a special after school treat – it doesn’t have to be big, just something little, like a certain favorite cookie or ice cream, or playing a game together or maybe this – you do one of your child’s chores that afternoon since they helped you out?  Get creative, you can have fun finding ways to motivate you child to step up to the plate and be more responsible.

Susan Heid helps moms get the BIG picture on how their home is functioning and then helps them gain relief with a personalized plan of action to give life changing results. Susan’s training as a PCI Certified Parent Coach. a Certified Family Manager Coach and a ScreamFree Certified Leader gives her a unique combination to encourage and support busy moms in the art of Home and Family Management. Empowering Moms and Strengthening Families is her passion. Are you ready to make positive changes that will impact your family for generations? You can start by visiting The Confident Mom and requesting her FREE ebook, “Getting Kids to Cooperate and Become Team Players – 10 Essential Strategies and Solutions“.

School Success: Planning Matters

Laura Rolands of My Attention Coach

With school around the corner or already started in some areas, families need to make their plans this week.  Especially if your kids have a lot of activities planned or have challenges such as Learning Disabilities or ADHD.  Help prepare your child with my tips below.  When you decide what you will do, decide when to do it and honor your commitment to yourself.

The following ideas and suggestions are at the top of my list:

• Talk to your child and ask how they would like to get ready for the school year. Involving them in the decision making process will build better success throughout the school year. Sometimes it may seem easier to make all of the decisions, but in the long run it is much easier on you to include them.
• Talk with your child’s doctor, therapist, coach, tutor and/or any other support person in their lives. Ask what they recommend to help your child start the school year successfully. Because they see your child from a different and specialized view, they will all have valuable recommendations.
• Ensure that your child has a planner that will work for them. View my Choosing The Right Planner article for some great tips and a handy checklist. Schools often provide planners, but I recommend that you make sure it will work for your child and with their learning style. If the planner provided by the school doesn’t work, use something that does.
• Look into a family calendar to help keep everyone’s schedules straight once the school year gets in swing. I love all of the options at Families With Purpose. I have recently started using Googles’ calendar application. If you are on your computer regularly, this could be a great option. To work best, I think you need to get everyone in the house using it. I’m still working on that at my house though. They do offer a print option if you need it.
• Develop a communication plan with your child’s school. Especially if your child has challenges at school with ADHD or learning, it is critical to have an open line of communication with teachers. You may want to write a letter to your child’s teacher, send an email or schedule a meeting.

I hope these ideas provide you with a great starting point for a successful school year.  Which of these ideas sounds good to you?  What will you implement?  Share your ideas in our comments and let me know if you have any questions.

Laura Rolands is the founder of LSR Coaching and Consulting, LLC. She is a coach whose passion is to support, lead and inspire independence and success for people who have either been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD or who are facing other attention-related challenges. Her clients include individuals with attention-related challenges and/or their parents. If you have any questions or more suggestions to add, please visit her website at www.MyAttentionCoach.com.

Radio Show: Organizing The Kids’ Stuff and Meal Planning Made Easy

Listen to our recent radio show when we talked with Jennifer Ascher or Organizing Without Limits and Lisa Raygoza & Rachael Beede of Hot By 6.  We talked about organizing all of our kids’ stuff and making healthy easy meals.  You can listen to the show by using the player below, downloading the mp3, or via iTunes.

Using the Excitement of a New School Year

Use the excitement and energy of the new school year to check-in, reevaluate, and celebrate your family life.  Here are three ideas to help you.

Check-in on Your Family Goals

Early in our Fresh Start series we talked about writing family goals.   Use the excitement of a new school year to check-in on your progress.  Families can use this opportunity to add new goals, celebrate your successes, and tackle obstacles that are getting in your way.  Remember to keep your family goals simple, age appropriate, and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound).

Pick Something to Improve

Pick something about your family life, schedule, or routines that didn’t work so well last year and make a plan to improve it this year.  For me, I plan on getting better at making my kids healthier breakfasts and making the mornings less rushed.  Don’t beat yourself up over this, just acknowledge the problem and work together as a family to fix it.  No mom needs anymore mom guilt.

Celebrate Your Successes

Too many times we obsess about the things we do wrong or the mistakes we make and take too little time to celebrate our successes or the things we do well.  Now is a great time to pick one or two things your family does well and celebrate them.  Talk about your successes at your next family meeting or at your next family meal, and think about having a special toast with plastic champagne glasses filled with grape juice.

Back to School Fun

By Jenna Riggs
Mommy on a Shoestring

Help your kids ease back into “school mode” with these family fun games and activities.

1. Go on an Alphabet Nature Hunt

Have you ever found a rock that looked like the letter U or perhaps noticed a cloud that resembled the letter S?  Put the power of observation to work by going on an alphabet nature hunt.  Grab the kids and a camera and walk around your neighborhood, park, or forest preserve looking for letters that appear in nature. You’ll be surprised how many letters you can find in flowers, rocks, twigs and grass.  Be sure to snap pictures of each letter until you have all 26, which can then be turned into a nature alphabet book and enjoyed all year long!

1. Play Delicious Dominoes

Review numbers and counting with a game that is extra sweet!

You will need:

• “Bean Sprouts Healthy Flour blend“ (½ cup whole wheat flour, ½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour, ¼ cup wheat germ, 1 tablespoon of ground flax meal)
• ¼ cup cocoa powdered
• ½ cup, plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of ground cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• White icing
• White chocolate chip cookies

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
• Add butter and stir until well combined.
• Add honey, water and vanilla and mix until dough is sticky.
• Press the dough on cookie sheet and place in the freezer for 5 minutes.
• Roll out dough to ¼ inch thick.
• Use a butter knife to make 1 x 2 inch rectangles.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.  Allow time to cool.
• Once the cookies have cooled make your dominoes.  Use white icing to make a vertical line through the halfway point of each cookie.  Then add dots first with icing then with white chocolate chips.
• Let the games and eating begin!

This recipe comes courtesy of Shannon Seip and Kelly Parthen of Bean Sprouts Café.  To learn more about Bean Sprouts visit www.beansproutscafe.com

1. Make Edible Crayons

This recipe puts the old saying, “don’t eat the crayons” to rest.

Edible Crayons

You will need:

Pretzel rods

Colored Candy Melts (available at most craft stores and large grocery stores)

Crayon Paper Labels

Directions:

• Break pretzel rods in half.
• Melt candy melts (one color at a time) in the microwave on medium heat for about 1 minute. Stir and continue cooking at 15-second intervals until melted.
• Stir melted candy well and place in a small bowl.
• Working quickly, dip both ends of the pretzels in the melted candy and allow them to dry on waxed paper for a few hours.
• Print out crayon labels on colorful paper.
• Secure label around each crayon with double stick tape.

Thank you to Mandy at www.gourmetmomonthego.com for this wonderful recipe idea!

Jenna Riggs is a native Northwesterner, who went to sunny California to study graphic design at the University of the Pacific, spent some time in sunny Colorado, and eventually missed the rain and moved back. Jenna’s design and illustration work has been in almost every category of visual materials from children’s books to marketing pieces, identities to advertising, websites to annual reports, and children’s themed home products.

Jenna is also part of Mommy on a Shoestring with Beth Engelman, their website and weekly radio show are chocked full of ideas on how families can live creatively and large on a small budget.

Radio Show: Mom Guilt

Listen to our recent radio show when we talked with Lori Radun of  Momnificent! about mom guilt, balance, and living a Momnificent! life.  You can listen to the show by using the player below, downloading the mp3, or via iTunes.

Radio Show: Giving Experiences & the Simple Life

Listen to our recent radio show when I talked with Lisa Novick of YesKidzCan! and Shara Lawrence-Weiss of Mommy Perks about creating “giving experiences” for our kids and making the transition to a simpler life.  You can listen to the show on our radio show page, by downloading the mp3, or via iTunes.