Be their encourager!!!

Sariah on her first day of kindergarten.

Encouraging your kids is vital to how much they actually take in while learning at school. You should not leave all the teaching and rewarding up to the teacher. Yes we send our kids to school so that they get an education., but remember that is only the first steps.

When I would pick Sariah up from school everyday I always made sure to ask three questions.

1. How was school today?
2. What did you learn?
3. Did you get homework?

On our drive home she would tell me about her day and what she learned. This probably had to be the best part of the day as a parent. I loved hearing her talk. Listen parents this is key, because had I not asked Sariah how her day was I would have never known that a little boy beat her up. If the child isn't acting normal and seems timid or has their head down, chances are something happened. If they aren't willing to talk about it, you need to turn around and speak with the teacher. This happened a few times. Riri wouldn't tell me what happened, so I would go to her teacher, and she would explain what happened and why Sariah was upset. Communication is a big factor no matter who old or young they are. Once you stop talking to them about things, don't be surprised if they keep things bottled up inside and lash out. I've seen this happen before.

You may be thinking "lash out, my kid is only in kindergarten" Yes, honey it happens. Our kids aren't like the kids we were when we went to school. This generation is much more smart. They see more,

Sariah loves school.

hear more, and do more. 

When asking the question "what did you learn"? Make sure you are asking for full details. Have them explain. For an example. If they say "today we learned about the earth" your question would be "Great, now what about the earth did you learn"? So on and so fourth. I don't think I need to elaborate any more, right? Great, hopefully you got it.

Learning is so important for them at whatever age they are. When they are babies we want them to  learn how to talk, walk, grab things. So when they get older why should it be any different?

Something that my girls loved to do was head out to the library on Wednesdays to check out books. Sariah usually would find books related to what she was learning about at school. She is so smart, and I am blessed to be her mom. We would come home and Riri would tell Kamille about what she had learned. Now Mimi was learning. Your kids can help teach the younger ones. It an added bonus.

This is the most important part of your child's day. Homework time!!! Parents don't slack on this part of the day. Yes, you had a long day at work, the baby is screaming, your husband is driving you crazy, you probably just burned the dinner. I get it, I have 3 kids its not always easy. Just remember if you don't have your kids do homework you are only setting them up for failure.

Sariah would come home every Friday with two new packets of homework, due the next week on Thursday. One would be writing, reading, home connections and the second math. Depending on how many pages of homework she had, would depend on how long we took. I usually had her do 3 a day. Even on the weekend. Our favorite part about homework time, was our one on one time together. I included Kamille in the reading portion because we did it before bed.

I learned a lot about Sariah when helping her out with homework. My daughter is very self conscious about herself and is afraid that people are going to judge her if she does something wrong. This is where parents have to intervene and lift your child's spirits up. Be their encourager!

She still battles with this, but it is something I am working with her on. I see so much potential in her, and I let her know that. If they are struggling in certain areas in school, talk to their teachers. They can give them extra work, and or recommend great "free" websites to use for pintable's.

My homemade packets for Sariah.

Kamille has homemade homework packets
as well.

My favorite place to go is Barnes and Noble. I love to buy there learning activity books. I have the member ship so I get 15% off. It is a must for how often I shop there. I buy them for both girls. They have age one or grade. It just depends on what you want.

Hopefully you have learned a few key tips, school is almost here again. Remember our kids are the next Doctors, Lawyers, Nurses, Engineers and much, much more.

Must have in your kids library!!!

If you don't already know books are my favorite thing to buy, now you know. I believe that they keep children grounded. If there is one thing I remember most about my child hood it was my mom reading me books. I make it a point to read 3 books before bed, unless it is chapter night. Then ill read a whole book to them. That's another book topic for later.

Today I want to talk about the 10 books every parent should have in their children's library. Starting with my favorite. Now narrowing these down was very hard. I almost love every book just as much as the other. If I could list all of the books I would, but then we would be here forever. My kids own that many books. So here we go, get your iPhone or pen and paper. Or maybe you already have a few already. Anyways hope you enjoy the quick read, and these books will take you back down memory lane.

TOP BOOKS EVERY MOTHER SHOULD HAVE IN THEIR CHILDRENS LIBRARY!!!

1. LOVE YOU FOREVER: Written by Robert Munsch
2. GOODNIGHT MOON: Written by Margaret Wise Brown
3. CORDUROY: Written by Don Freeman
4. IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE: Written by Laura Numeroff
5. ARE YOU MY MOTHER: Written by P.D. Eastman
6. THE LITTLE RED CABOOSE: Written by Marian Potter
7. THE NAPPING HOUSE: Written by Audrey and Don wood
8. DADDY AND ME: Written by Karen Katz
9. BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR, WHAT DO YOU SEE?: Written by Bill Martin jr/ Eric Carle
10. FIVE LITTLE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED: Written by Eileen Christelow

NOW FOR A BONUS BOOK: WACKY WEDNESDAY: Written by Dr. Seuss

Hope you will enjoy these books as much as we do. I read these books to the girls as well as my little man. They all equally love them.

Kids Fun for all.

Kids are simple, they don't need $100 dollar toys and big shopping sprees. All they want is to have some fun. The girls favorite thing in this whole world, is arts and crafts. Side note: It is mine too, ever since I was little I've loved creating things.



You can pick all these items up and allow your
kids to use their imagination, or use pintrest for
Some crazy cool ideas.

 My favorite place to go and buy things from for arts and crafts is the dollar tree. I know you may be thinking "Kayleigh, they don't have much to offer". Yes they do, trust me. My children love to paint, color and decorate any and everything (even walls, LOL). Set a budget for what you want to buy. Arts and crafts can add up very fast. Just because you are shopping at the dollar store doesn't mean much, a dollar adds up eventually.

When you have kids there is a motto that I like: Stay, Play and Walk Away. It is very simple.

1. Show them a few idea for things they can make.
2. Make a few with them.
3. Then allow them to have fun and enjoy themselves and walk away.

I love pintrest for new ideas on projects for children. Type in: Ideas for home activities with kids. You will be in pintrest heaven. I promise!!!

Another thing that my girls like to do is read books. Either it be at home with the trillion that we own,

Barnes and Noble kids section.

or going to Barnes and Noble to read. A side note: All Barnes and Nobles have a day for story time, call your nearest one and find out. It is totally free and the kids will love it. My girls even love the library (just not the being quite part). I am a firm believer that books help our children to become better people. I buy books that tell stories about change, friendship, love etc.. I never buy a book before reading through it. Now a days we parents have to watch everything we let our kids do, because the content is sometimes a little to raw for them, if you know what I mean.

Today we live in a generation of video games, I pads, Kid notebooks. You name an electronic and most kids have at least one or heck all of them. Now I am not against electronics by no means. I am learning how to cut their play time back on them

ABC Mouse is worth every dollar.

though. A good place I recommend for younger children is ABC mouse. Now it isn't free, but if you can afford to get your nails and toes down then you can buy it for your children. It will help teach them how to read, and add. It also gives you free pintable's. Which I loved. You can customize them or print out the premade ones.

The girls made this for when Logan was release from Loma Linda
Hospital after being there for a week because he was so sick.
They had a blast with grandma, and they were so proud of there
craft.

Now depending on the area you live and how old your little ones are, depends on some of the activities. When I lived in Long Beach I loved taking the kids to the park, beaches and museums. We had so much fun. There is a lot of places to go all you need is handy dandy Google and you can find anywhere to take them. Remember they are simple, we parents are complicated.