A monthly online magazine chock-full of insightful articles for busy mothers.

by Marilyn Bohn

Do you remember that commercial Staples had on a few years ago that was aired in July? It was the one where the music was the Christmas song “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year”. Every time it came on I just cracked up laughing. Along with the music a father was zipping around the store loading his cart with school supplies with the happiest smile on his face. The children were standing there watching with sad expressions.

I had five daughters; four of them were under four so I always had a busy, busy summer. It was a lot of work planning and implementing worthwhile activities, trying to keep them sharp for school and having a balance with play activities and just play. I admire mothers who can home school their children. But frankly I am just not the mother that can have my kids around me all the time. I was happy when school started again in the fall.

So whether you send your kids off to public or private school or you home school or are on year around school this is a good time of year to get the little and big ones ready for the school year.

Before you head out to the stores and grab up the great buys they are offering this time of year take stock of what you have at home. Check to see how many pens, pencils, lined paper, notebook paper, note pads, erasers, and other supplies you have. If you haven’t designated a place in your home for paper/office supplies, do so now. This will save you a lot of time and money. Label the shelves, use containers to separate items. Containers can be check book boxes, plastic baby food containers, plastic Crisco containers—you do not need to rush out and buy containers, first look around your home to see what you have that you can use. Store the extras behind the items that will be used currently.

This is the ideal time to also set up a homework area. According to the magazine Psychology Today in the September 2007 issue,”Creating a functional, organized and comfortable area for your child to do their homework can increase their productivity and give them confidence to do well in school”. Notice it doesn’t say you have to have a desk and all that goes with it; it needs to be an organized, functional and comfortable area. If that area isn’t a desk have supplies they need for home work assignments convenient for them to access.

Create a filing system where they can put their art work or home work they want to keep ‘forever’. Right now is the time to set ground rules on how many pieces of paper they will be allowed to save. Three pieces of paper a week will add up to 864 pieces pre-school through sixth grade.

Set up a designated place to manage everyday paperwork. Make this accessible for them and for you. Have baskets or sorting bins (metal kind that sit on a desk or the kind that hang on the wall) labeled with each child’s name on them and one for the parents. When they come home from school teach them the expectation is they will unload their backpack by putting their papers in their designated spot. If there is something that has to be signed by you and returned to school this goes in your slot. But don’t just rely on them putting it in the right place, check their slots also.

You could separate your slot into more specific slots such as To Do, To Pay (picture day forms, field trip fees etc) and To File.

Okay, now you can dash to the store for all of those great buys. Go alone if you can, you will probably buy less and it won’t be a hassle without little voices saying, “Buy this, buy this, can I have this?” When you get the specific list of what your child needs then they can go with you to buy those specific items.

I hope this school year will be the best ever for you and your child/children.

Marilyn is a creative organizer who helps women, seniors and their families create space and end clutter in their homes and offices by setting up custom made systems.

Marilyn invites you to visit her website http://www.marilynbohn.com where you can find solutions to your organizing needs. She offers free tips in her blogs, articles and videos for your home and office organizing solutions.

Marilyn is a creative organizer who helps women, seniors & their families to create space and end clutter in homes and offices by setting up custom made systems.
Visit her website http://www.marilynbohn.com for free organizing tips.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

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5 Important Back To School Subjects To Discuss with Your Children
by Shelly Hill

Summer is over and it’s time to get back to school. This time can be stressful for many families as they all try to adjust to new routines. You can lessen this stress and set up some guidelines by sitting down with your children for a family discussion.

Here are some important things you should be discussing with your children, before they head back to school this fall.

1. School Bus Safety – It is important to speak to your child about what kind of behavior you expect from him or her while they are at the bus stop or riding on the school bus.

2. Classroom Behavior – Let your child know what kind of behavior you expect them to exhibit while at school. All teachers expect different things from each child, remind your child to be respectful of others at all times. I think this is a good time to bring up the topic of bullying with your child. Let them know how to report this to their school officials and to you, should they know of any children who are being bullied or those who are doing the bullying.

3. Homework and Grades – If you expect your children to follow a homework routine, now is the time to outline that routine with them. I found it helpful to let our daughter know up front what the consequences would be if she did not complete homework assignments on time, or if she got unacceptable grades.

4. Stranger Danger – Your child will come into contact with many people while involved with school activities or while attending classes. It is important to go over with him or her all of the safety precautions that they need to know to protect themselves from stranger danger.

5. Family Emergency – When our daughter was young, we gave her a new family password every few months. If a family emergency would occur and we would need to send someone to the school to pick her up, they would have to provide the secret family password to her before she would even leave the school office with that particular person. Even if your child knows the person who is picking them up, it is important for that person to provide the secret family password to your child.

Heading back to school doesn’t have to be a stressful time for you and your family. Take the time out of your busy schedule and communicate with your children about what you expect from them this school year. It is important to be flexible and to have an open door policy in regards to communication.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a Manager with Tupperware. Shelly is a mother and grandmother living in South Central Pennsylvania and found that she could reduce back to school stress for her family by being prepared ahead of time. You can visit Shelly online at http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com or her recipe blog at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com for free recipes.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

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by Stephanie Martin

It’s that time of year again – BACK TO SCHOOL! Besides what seems like endless shopping for school supplies, there’s the never-ending school lunches to prepare x 3 (well x 4 counting my husband, LOL). It takes a lot to make sure that everyone gets a well-balanced meal plus something they like. My children take lunch every day instead of buying lunch. This way, I know that they have something that they like AND they’ll eat it instead of throwing it away. And most of the meals that I send with them cost me considerably less than school lunches anyway.

So, how do I get everyone’s lunches packed and out the door with them every day? I keep a bunch of plastic containers of different sizes on hand to use as portion control. They also pull double duty because I can use them to prep some things ahead of time. I can portion out fruits and veggies into these containers at the first of the week, and then they are placed in a designated area in the fridge to that I can just “grab-n-go” in the mornings. I also reuse containers as much as possible. If they are taking sandwiches, the containers will be wiped out and reused instead of washing it each and every day. If they took grapes one day and I still have some to divide out, then that container will be refilled and placed back in the fridge at the bottom of the stack. Now, if the containers are all sticky and yucky, yes, they will be washed before being used again.

Even though they normally take cloth napkins, I also keep paper napkins on hand, as well as plastic utensils for the days with soups, pasta, etc. where a utensil(s) is necessary. But, my children (and husband) know to bring them back home to be rewashed. But, mom doesn’t have to worry if they get thrown away, misplaced, or broken because it’s not my silverware, and they don’t have to wait in line to grab utensils in the cafeteria.

This year, I bought them stainless steel thermoses to instead of the generic plastic ones AND I don’t have to worry about grabbing juice pouches either. It’ll save a lot of money all around.

Another thing that I do for my family, especially during the school year, is to prep a bunch of items and place them in the freezer for a quick breakfast/lunch/snack. These items are usually muffins, sweet quick breads, cupcakes (for desserts in lunches), waffles, pancakes, breakfast burritos, burritos, crepes, etc.

These are just some of the things that I do during the school year to make my mornings go much quicker and easier.

About the Author: Stephanie Martin
Stephanie Martin, a work-at-home-mom of 2 daughters and 1 son, and the owner and publisher of Busy Moms Online, and site with information for busy moms, and My Country Haven, a blog documenting her life living on a farm and their frugal journey of remaining debt free while becoming more self-sufficient.

I guess I panic right away, because you know how easy it is to catch a cold.
I know they say wash your hands, but I still get the cold that my students might have.
If it’s airborne how can we Not get it.

So I am thinking the best defense is to eat well.
stock up on apples, oranges, any fruit,
snack on these instead of junk.
make a bag of deep green lettuce, peppers, cukes, parsley…add
tomatoes, oil, vinegar, mrs. dash and snack.
Mix some yogurt, nuts, raisins, cranberries, oats for a snack.
Make yourself a slushy, mix together plain yogurt, any fruit in a blender…add ice.
Drop the coffee and make a nice pot of green tea.

When you sign in somewhere …use your own pen.
Do not touch doorknobs…wear gloves ( a kleenex) if you can…
Wipe everything down as often as you can if you are at a public
place llike work or school.
Maybe before you have a party at home where germs can spread like crazy…
have it at a park pavillion instead.
Washing your hands is the obvious preventative, carry the little packs of hand wipes.
Don’t forget do not touch your eyes, nose and mouth.
Clean off the back packs…esp. handles, your purse and oh, I read that money is very dirty,
some businesses near Mexico are having their employees wear latex gloves to handle money.
Don’t forget a few schools have been closed because of the flu.
Just pay attention to your child’s health and perhaps notice whether any of their friends are sick.
Symptoms:
fever
cough
sore throat
body aches or headache
tiredness

Around the house:
Wipe off your door knobs,
light switches, floors, make sure
you thouroughly clean glasses, cups and silverware,
Do a little reading on the subject and pay attention to updates.

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/key_facts.htm

http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/default.htm

http://twitter.com/CDCEmergency

http://www.momlogic.com/2009/04/swine_flu_cara_natterson.php

Map the swine flu:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=32.639375,-110.390625&spn=15.738151,25.488281&z=5http://twitter.com/healthmap

http://www.healthmap.org/en

A new school year is just around the corner. Schools will be asking for classroom volunteers, lunchtime volunteers, snacks, donations, field trip drivers, and more! If you add all that to your home church wanting helpers it can be overwhelming. It is important to me to give of my time, participate, and be involved in my children’s lives. But you can sign up and volunteer to do so much that you end up stressed and overwhelmed. Trust me; I’ve learned the hard way!

It’s okay to say “no”. Find a balance where you can be involved but also have “down time” at home to rest and play with your family. The stress just isn’t worth it and then you’re no help to anyone. As you glance at those volunteer forms this year, don’t over due it. Remember that just as your children can be overscheduled…so can you!

~ Dionna Sanchez volunteers at her daughters’ school in Idaho. Visit her website: Emphasis on Moms!