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 are the snacks? 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 tulle 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 spreads 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…
Vocabulary Courses Now Open
What do you do with the list of science vocabulary words your child brings home from school? Building vocabulary knowledge helps you become a better reader, writer, and test taker, yet most students do not take the time to learn vocabulary beyond being able to pass the weekly matching quiz, let alone take a vocabulary course. According to the Northwest Education Association, vocabulary can be defined as “all the knowledge a person has about a word, which includes knowing what it means, when it is used, how to say it, and how to use it in a sentence.” Do any of these sound familiar to you or your children? You just Google the definitions for vocabulary word homework. You don’t study for vocabulary tests. You just guess using the word bank. You don’t really have a good plan for how to study, but you read the word list a few times. After the vocabulary test, you do not often remember the definitions anymore. Imagine what a difference it would make if you knew some easy ways to learn and study vocabulary. You could confidently study vocabulary words. You could expand your reading and writing by making word connections. You could…
Book Review: How to Read Books Like a Professor: For Kids
How does seeing figurative language help you be a more thoughtful reader? You can read a book and think it’s a good story, or you can learn how to read books like a professor. You can read a book and notice the symbols, setting, and figurative language and understand the meaning of the story on a whole different level. This book is for the reluctant reader and the avid reader, the young and the old, but especially for the middle schoolers. Written by New York bestseller author and professor Thomas Foster, How to Read Books Like a Professor: for Kids teaches the reader some secrets to understanding books and points out helpful examples and connections along the way. Through humor and insight, the Foster teaches how to read books using familiar books, stories, and movies as examples. With chapter titles like “Nice to Eat You” and “Where Have I Seen You Before,” readers learn about the skills needed to find meaning and make connections. Not only will they read better, but their summaries and conversations about literature will also be much richer. This book is so good I suggest you get a copy this summer and read it aloud to…
Suicide Awareness
Why don’t we talk about suicide? We don’t talk about Bruno and we don’t talk about mental health issues or suicide awareness. Do we really wish to hide it or is it simply because we don’t know what to do about it? Why don’t we talk about suicide? Recently, my family was hit by the shock and grief of death by suicide. It had a ripple effect on families, workplaces, schools, and communities. It also opened the door of the church and community for help and healing for the survivors. How can we help prevent death by suicide? Our hearts break for all those with heavy pain, those who struggle with depression and mental health issues and those who love them. Warning signs can be despair, self-focus, hopelessness, isolation, and destructive behavior. Ways to help can be removing a person from danger, not leaving them alone, removing dangerous objects, and talking about the goodness of the Lord. Psalm 27:13 reminds us of our hope and reason to live. God is our light and our salvation. Hope and help from just one person may be just what it takes to save a life. Be the friend who walks in the darkness…
Disciple Your Children
How do you make discipleship a natural way of life? Whether it’s the younger years, the middle years, or the launching years, choosing to disciple your children can easily be woven into the natural rhythms of family life. It can start with simple questions about the beauty around you in creation or reading Bible stories at bedtime. You can discuss the right choices or natural consequences of bad choices. You can talk about school and life through a biblical lens. You can do a book study with your teens, host a backyard Bible club this summer for your elementary-age neighborhood kids, or read Bible stories to your little ones. It does not have to be hard or complicated, but it does have to be intentional. Talk with your children when you wake, when you walk, and when you wind down to sleep (see Deuteronomy 6). So that pretty much means disciple your children all throughout your days. Do not leave it up to the church. The church is there to partner with parents, not replace biblical teaching in the home. In order to disciple your children, you want to open the doors of communication so it is regular and natural,…
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 can still 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.…
Dual Enrollment
How do you choose dual enrollment classes? One option for saving time and money in college is to enroll in a dual enrollment program. Typically, this is where high school students can simultaneously complete high school and take some college classes during their junior and senior years. Some students even manage to complete their high school education and earn an associate’s degree at the same time. In some states, students can practically go to college for free while in high school. We really recommend a few dual enrollment courses while in high school. Because we did our homework, our youngest daughter was able to start college with enough credits to complete 4 years in 3, saving both time and money. She knew her major, and she knew what college she wanted to attend. First, we looked at a sample degree completion guide and what community college and AP/CLEP test credits the university accepted. With this information, she could choose dual enrollment courses that would benefit her not just earn her college credits. Using the sample course completion guide for her major, we mapped out her dual enrollment schedule for her last 2 years of high school. Like all things, we…
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 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 I’d love to see…
March Madness College Spreadsheet
Does March Madness bring thoughts of basketball tournaments or college tours? Without a college spreadsheet, brain overload accompanied my first college visit with my daughter, but it got easier after that. What did not get easier was the amount of information we got and how to keep track of it all. We ended up creating a shared spreadsheet of information. This useful college spreadsheet planner tool helped us track the information, prioritize colleges for application, and organize the application process and products required for each one. We chose to make it a shared document which was also super helpful as we could both add information or check due dates. Having gone through this process several times with my kids and clients, I find myself suggesting a collaborative spreadsheet to others time and time again. While the decision is highly personal, the process is quite standard. Now available for sale, is my College Planner Spreadsheet tool. This College Spreadsheet Planner tool will help organize all the information you gather, even suggesting categories you may not have thought about. You can edit the form to fit your needs. This information will be helpful when visiting colleges, narrowing down which ones to apply…