Yesterday was a last day of summer break. I and my daughter decided to celebrate. I invited my daughter’s friend over to our house so they would have a last chance to catch up before the schools starts. We went to the park, had a JamboJuce and organic hamburgers. It was fun!

Today is a first day of school. Yea! New teacher, a few new classmates and the happiness of seeing her old friends. While my daughter was setting up in the new classroom I was having some coffee and bagels in the lobby and talking to the parents. After that we all went to the assembly.

I love the assemblies in Kristina’s school. They are always sweet, entertaining, and very interactive. Everybody has a chance to talk and share: the staff, the teachers and of course the students. Today’s topic of sharing was “goals for the next year”. These are few of them; maybe your child can use them too. I love them all!

•    Read more
•    Write more
•    Make more friends
•    Be a better friend
•    Recycle
•    Train the attention muscle
•    Have more fun
•    Exercise more
•    Listen better
•    Pay more attention to the teacher

Have a great school year!

 It’s been a long, fun summer break, but the real summer heat has finally kicked in, camp is over, and boredom is rearing its loathsome head! We did a lot of fun stuff this year. Event after event was planned for the first few giddy school free months, but once August arrives you are just marking time.

With the majority of the summer gone, you don’t want to fall prey to anxiety about the new school year or fall into lazy habits that will be hard to break! The best way to avoid the end of summer blues is to make sure the last few school free weeks are something to remember! 

First, make sure that you have all your supplies in order for the first day of school. If you are smart and hit the sales early, you can get this chore out of the way in record time. I make a gala day out of the collection process, letting my kids pick out different colored supplies and their own backpacks, then letting them label everything with a permanent marker.

Then we plan one last great adventure before school starts. Usually we drive into town and pick out a special outfit for the first day in a new grade, and laugh ourselves silly, then stop for a bite at our favorite eatery before heading home.

Sometimes we manage a trip to the zoo a week or to before then end of summer, hitting it early in the morning and taking plenty of pictures so we can scrapbook them with all the other activities we documented. Don’t let your last days of summer fall flat - make them days to remember!!