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

We all know why we may be spending vacation at home. So, let’s get right to it.

You can visit a museum on your staycation
Family Activities Across the Country

On this site I checked into Pittsburgh and found The Frick Art and Historical Center Show the kids what Victorians lived like (if they were wealthy.)
You can also visit The Heinz History Center. Check out this video of The Inclines in Pittsburgh. You can stay in The Cultural District if you just want to stay close to home but go somewhere. Had to show you this retro home for rent. If you thrive on history check out this find. Stay in an original Old Economy home. As a matter of fact, if you are looking for some reasonable places to stay try this site: Airbnb.com. Incredible deals. Almost didn’t write this article because I got stuck on the site.

So let’s plan a week of Staycation together:

Day One: Visit a museum or museums in your area. Here is a list for you: Museums across the Country.

Day Two: Visit an amusement park. List of Amusement Parks. When our family goes to Kennywood we usually take a picnic lunch.  Most parks have picnic pavillions.  It’s a great area to meet at appointed times to check on everyone.

Day Three: Have a Cowboy Cookout in your back yard. Everyone dress in cowboy hats and pass out water guns. If you don’t like water guns, pass out spray water bottles.

My son playing by Allegheny River at a cabin.

Day Four: Find a swimming pool or a lake or the shore. List of Lakes.
List of beaches…scroll down to see the list for the U.S. Try Dr. Beach’s List of Beaches. Don’t forget the sunscreen!

Day Five: Go for a hike!  List of hiking trails in the U.S.  Take a back pack with snacks or bring along a picnic lunch. Pack a first aid kit as well.  Here is a special Inn in Georgia: Len Foote Hike Inn,

Note the special programs they have for hikers: Programs at Len Foote. Here are the Five Best Smoky Mountain Hikes for Children. Check with your local parks and see what they have to offer. Lots of info in this article on Kids and Hiking.

Day Six: See if your community has a festival and attend with your kids or your special someone. List of Festivals , Another List in the US, in Canada.

Day Seven:  Visit local shops, fair trade shops, farmers markets and restaurants….no chains allowed. (Buy Local in PA)

Hope you got some ideas for a wonderful staycation.  Let me know if you came up with some other ideas…please comment or email me at amomslove @ gmail.com. You can also leave a comment in the comment box below.

Book it: Stimulating summer reading ideas for all ages

(ARA) – The warm summer days with cool breezes flowing across your patio or beach chair create the perfect environment to relax with a good book. Whether it’s a list of great summer reads or a pile of books you’ve been eager to dive into, each book promises an engaging story within.

But perhaps the best part of a great read is sharing it with someone else – a friend,
co-worker, kids or grandkids. Below are tips to work reading into summer activities and to share the goodness of reading with others.

* Join or establish a book club – Book clubs can uncover authors and genres you might not normally read. Find a book club that expands your interests – for example, fiction versus nonfiction, historical versus fantasy, romance versus mystery or even poetry versus prose. Or establish a book club with a group of friends. It’s a great excuse to get together once a month and share a couple of desserts like your favorite flavors of Archway cookies. These cookies smell, look and taste so much like homemade cookies and will create a great tradition at your book club meetings.

Have children in the house? Start a children’s book club during the summer months to prevent them suffering from the “summer slide.” Studies have shown that a long summer break can cause student learning to slip anywhere from one to 2.6 months if the student doesn’t receive educational stimulation during the summer break. The summer slide often is worse for children from low-income families. Let your children lead the club, but have parents also be involved to help guide discussions or connections if needed.

* Trade books – Instead of discussing just one book, consider arranging a meeting once a month with friends to trade and recommend books. This will help uncover great books you may not have explored while also cutting down on book costs. Plan the meeting around a lunch or even an afternoon snack of Archway’s shortbread, peanut butter or triple chocolate cookies. Hold the meeting in your backyard to enjoy the summer weather.

* Plan a reading afternoon – Gather the kids or grandkids and head to a local park for an afternoon of reading. Sit in a circle and read the stories out loud, or spread out a couple of blankets so each person can comfortably immerse themselves in their own story.

* Join the local library’s summer reading program – Many programs are often geared toward children to prevent the summer slide, so make sure to bring kids, grandchildren, nieces or nephews along. No kids at home but still want to share the joy of reading? Volunteer to read at the library, or plan a program at the library involving the books the children will be reading this summer.

To help children keep up their reading during summer vacation, Archway is partnering with First Book on the Share the Goodness Literacy Campaign that promotes the goodness of reading by putting new books in the hands of children from low-income families. Archway will be donating a portion of proceeds from sales to First Book this summer, with the goal of donating 10,000 new books to children in need across the country.

src="http://www.freshairfundhost.org//images/120x90_1.jpg"/>

Summertime is here, and so are all the camps, beach visits, video games, and parties for the kids. But along with all this fun that the summer brings, it also brings the “summer slide” – a dreaded phenomenon, which parents and educators acknowledge alike, but are at a loss on how to arrest it!

According to the National Summer Learning Association, an average student loses about 2 months of learning over the summer, even more in the case of low income group families, and most if it affects reading and math. Educators realize that besides all the fun, students need to make sure they stay on top of class for next year, and for this, they need to refresh what they learnt in the previous year and take a preview of what can be expected once they get back to school. Parents realize that kids need to be better prepared and really do well in academics to secure their future.

While we all know the importance of avoiding the summer slide, we also know how busy kids are today – Given the innumerable number of activities they have scheduled, how do we strike the right balance? The key idea is not to deprive them of fun and outings, but to diminish the line between fun and learning – Plan outings such that they learn while they explore and visit places, or while they go about daily activities. Kids can keep accounts at home, or read / write up grocery lists – whatever interests your kids, and of course, applies to their grade level.
So what are the things a parent can do to make sure their kids enjoy the summer, yet learn and maintain confidence in skills and studies?

Experts suggest some ideas:

1) Visit the library, or the museum.
Parents should encourage visits to the library, the zoo, or museums of interest. Kids love the outing, and learn from it – They can relate history, science at the museum, or reading material at the library to what they’ve learnt at school.

2) Maintain a journal of summer activities.
Kids love to do creative activities. Why not have your kids maintain a journal of activities over summer? If they visit the zoo, they can click pictures, which they can print and paste into the journal, with an entry about their day. Similarly, they can write about what they did through a day, and add pictures, drawings, or trivia to make it fun.

3) Incorporate math in daily activities.
Kids today don’t like to open up books and solve problems, especially during the summer. Experts suggest that parents ‘trick’ them into doing math – Make them maintain a monthly budget for the kitchen, or calculate the bill and make change at the store. Include any ideas which may be fun and will keep them engaged.

4) Incorporate reading as a habit.
The reality is, most kids find reading a bore, as it’s something they’re taught to do as a study activity in school. Expose your kids to the joys of reading and books – Most kids love stories at bedtime, and if you create a fantasy world for them through books, they will learn to enjoy it. Let kids read books, daily digests or the newspaper, and have them find new words they don’t know the spellings or meanings of – They will love to learn, if given a challenge. Play word games, crosswords – Whatever they like.

5) Use kids’ time on the computer as a learning tool.
Kids are almost always on the computer when they’re not out. Instead of violent or action games, why not find educational games for them, which allow them to learn while they have fun? Plus, there are loads of sites for kids, which have articles, stories, and some even allow kids to create their own storylines, with characters and graphics. Direct their energy towards creative avenues – It’ll have its own reward.

6) Try an online program.
We know kids are busy, and don’t like the idea of taking time out for studies during the summer. Think of an online program, which doesn’t tie them to a schedule, but takes only some of their time for which they are already online, and allows them to learn. Several programs for math and reading are available which address this need. Kids are relatively easier to convince when it comes to learning online than from a book, and they might enjoy learning on their own rather than asking around – It’s great for their confidence. A variety of websites have specific programs designed to prepare kids for next year, and keep parents involved… try some out!

Experts feel that the key to a great summer is a delicate balance between fun and learning activities. Personally, I feel that a kid should not have to devote more than a few hours a week to dedicated learning – after all, it is the summer – But these few hours should be worth a lot more in the long run. And with all the fun activities parents can involve their kids in, it all falls in place anyway.
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com

About The Author:

Andrew Joseph – TenMarks Education Inc.

Andrew Joseph is a parent and a co founder of TenMarks Education, a company passionate about K12 education, which wishes to change the way kids learn and build a stronger future through a strong foundation in math.

TenMarks offers intelligent supplemental math education for kids (K-12), through structured, state mapped curriculums, custom assessments, worksheets, hints, video lessons, tests, and practice.

http://www.tenmarks.com/