<< Homework Routines… How do you deal with it? >>

Robert Enrique, as many of you know, is in a Montessori school. They give NO Homework like other schools. He is in Kindergarten. Private schools and some public are another story… What is it with our schools that they bomb our kids with homework? They barely have time to play and distract themselves from the day at school! Back in my days, we carried a huge backpack, filled with 5 subjects notebooks and books. Imagine that… in the back of a 1st grader until you graduated! I find that ridiculous. Is ok to practice some stuff at home, but I don’t find it ok to fill our kids with work, so that we parents sit down to help them out with them. Is like… why the heck I am paying the school if I find that you are giving ME WORK TO DO!!!! This time at home is supposed to be FAMILY TIME!!! AND IS YOUR FAULT THAT THIS TIME IS NON EXISTENT ANYMORE!!!!! Ok, I vented out! phew! Thanks!

Anyway. Next year he will go to a private school back in Puerto Rico. Since Robert does not have homework, I came up with the idea of creating a routine for him so when we move back and he starts school, he is familiar with the HOMEWORK concept and the change is not that drastic. It was drastic to my sister when she changed from Montessori to private school at 6th grade! We are moving to another Country, other culture, other language (although his school is bilingual but more English than Spanish). That is enough change for him to deal with! I want to make the change as subtle as possible.

So far he’s been on this routine for 2 weeks. It goes as follows:

• Homework: one paper with work on both sides that makes him practice letters, numbers, shapes, colors, etc. I take them out from workbooks. He love these since they are very varied. It usually takes him 10 minutes
• Math: he practice for just 5 minutes his addition flash cards.
• Spanish: he practice Spanish reading for 5 minutes. He already reads in Spanish and English, but this way he gets to practice something he does not do at school.
• Recorder: he practice his recorder (he takes lessons at school) for 15 minutes.
• WHEN HE IS DONE WITH ALL THIS…  HE CAN READ ANY BOOK HE WANTS (reading in English as a prize! how clever to make him do his daily reading! lol)

After doing all this he gets to check mark by a table he has as he is done with that activity. He loves to do this. Is a positive incentive for him! :)

I wonder how other moms deal with Homework time? I have no experience whatsoever, I am experimenting here and so far is working like a charm. Do homeschooled kids do homework? How are private schools here in terms of homework? Public school has a system that I really like. They give them a folder with their work and they can do it all at once or distribute it throughout the week, BUT they must finish it by Friday and turn it in. That makes more sense to me, as long as they are clear that they are KIDS and not grownups!

Halloween is here and some party ideas!!!!

“Trick or Treat, Halloween, Dame Chavos, NO mani, NO te escondas que te vi, en la casa del Coqui”

We are planning both a personal party at home with friends and a party for the community. Along with other friends we brainstormed ideas for the party and came with pretty nice ones!

Halloween Games 101  has great ideas if you want to do a party at home. I like the printable because these are great with kiddos… The games are really nice. I think we are doing the a “how many pumpkins” version of the game. Prices might be paper bags filled with candies.

Also a candy bar (where you have different candies and give them a paper bag to fill out is a great idea that I might implement in the future since in Puerto Rico trick or treating is not huge. That way the kids have their Halloween candy and still have fun in a private party!

I also found this Bone Shaped Meringues recipe that I find myself irresistible to do. I love meringues (although last time my fabulous oven burned them! yeap! not my fault, I think its temperature is like 50 degrees higher than normal). So the idea to pipe the mix in bone shapes is great! :) Can’t wait to try them! They can be dust with a pastry brush with chocolate powder and they look more real! :) Last year I loved the Peanut Butter Eyeballs, the Witches' Fingers!!! Let’s see what is served this year! I’ll post pictures…

For drinks.. potions!!!! A clear soda like Sprite or 7-up can be used and then squirt flavors inside. These flavors (that can be given potion names) can be done with KoolAid of different colors and can be premade concentrated to squirt it with syringes with no needles of course! This is so cook and kids love it since the swirl of the color in the Sprite looks so cool!

Halloween is always fun! I remember as a kid hiding under the bed when my aunt put her witch mask, that for me, at that age was plain scary! She always invented something new every year! And here in her name a song we sing in Spanish while doing pumpkins…

Cuando llega el mes de Octubre, Corro al huerto de mi casa, y busco con alegria, 3 o 4 calabazas. Las preparo, las arreglo, saco todas las semillas, le hago unos ojos bien grandes y una boca que da risa. Mucho mucho me divierto con todas mis calabazas. Y a todos mis amiguitos, invito a jugar a casa!!!!!!!!!

Have fun planning Halloween, but remember to keep in touch with your inner child!!!

<<Robert and never ending showers. Solutions… “la palangana” and water conservation numbers!!!>>

Kids go through stages in terms of bath time. But Robert takes just too long taking a shower just because he stands there, under the warm water just warming himself! There have been SEVERAL times my husband and I have to wait for water to be warm again because there is no more hot water when we get in the shower!

I have explained Robert that he cannot take that much time in there doing that… #1 because water is a limited source (not like most of us think and we don’t appreciate it… sometimes) #2 because he needs to think that mommy and daddy too want to get a warm bath… Neither have worked. Like it entered through one ear and got out through the other… That’s it! I had it!

I have a square bowl at home(alias “la palangana” in spanish), to hold enough water for him to get a bath. So this day I fill it out with warm water and told him “since I’ve been telling you not to misuse the water while you are taking a bath, from now on you’ll get a bath with that water!” then I handed him a cup. He didn’t eve blink an eye… he said, OK! I thought… I nailed it! Because is limited amount of water the more he takes to bath the more cold he’ll get so he’ll do it faster without battles!!!!

So, 5 minutes  passed, 10 minutes passed and still no sign of him coming out… Instead I heard him playing! I got into the bathroom and when I pulled the curtain…. HE WAS sitting inside the small square box that he can barely fit in!!!!!! He turned at me and said “But I like the warmth of it!” in Spanish (“Pero es que me gusta el calientito”) hahahahahaha I SO WANTED TO LAUGH!!!!! I had to bite my lips to not to! I told him that that was not the idea! Then he said his famous “OK, OK, OK”

For now, we will keep using the bowl … lets see if he GETS it! In Puerto Rico this is how we get a bath when the water is out. For example, when hurricanes or storms pass by and we get our services cut, “bañito a la palangana”, bath with big bowl!!! Warm some water in the stove and prepare the bath. Usually one gallon per person is enough!!!! If you are like me and have a water saving shower head they usually dribbles out 1.2 to 2.5 gallons per minute, but if not, that means you are using  7 gallons per minute!!!

Activity	Regular (gal/min)	Water saving fixtures (gal/min)	Other Ideas, you can save more!!!!
Shower	2.5	7	Turn it while soaping
Wash Hands	3	2.5	Turn it off while soaping
Tooth brushing	3	1.5	Use a cup of water instead
Toilet	6	1.6	Don’t flush trash or insects

Let’s think about our water conservation, is a simple step you can take that goes a long way… especially to your pocket… Meanwhile, lets see if Robert gets it!

<< 6 year old “Balloon Boy” at my town found “napping in the attic”? >>

OMG! I am just… plain mad! Yesterday this boy apparently got inside this homemade balloon air craft and the whole US looking for him and he was “napping in the attic”?

I was talking to my mom yesterday and she told me she almost fainted when she knew… For a second without second thoughts she thought this might be my son! WTH?! Boy + Fort Collins+ 6yo + meteorological balloon…. hahahahaha Hello mom… I work with RADARS! lol Then she was thinking… but where in her backyard she would have this? Anyway…

All the media covering this, everyone feeling sorry for these people and when CNN interviewed them last night… they asked the boy if he didn’t hear anyone calling him.. and he answered…"We did this for the show!” Here is the clip!

I can’t believe his parents played them and US with this hoax! All the PUBLIC authorities were mobilized (when they could’ve been saving someone’s life somewhere else!), the media made us all really worried about the boy’s safety (when we could’ve have a nice stress less afternoon) and my mom almost fainted you $#_)*#)$*#)*$)*%!!!!!!

Also, when a kid of yours get lost and specially in a situation like this…. what would you do? Call the media first or call 911??????? HELLO!!!!!!!!!! This people are so self centered and dragging your kids into it??? There is something wrong with these parents, definitely! They can have a weird hobby, they can get their kids into it, I don’t see anything wrong with that (no matter how weird it is). But tell your kids to LIE (to this magnitude) in plain National Television and to the authorities, they all sure have talent to be actors!

I am so … MAD (let me keep myself polite)… How can anyone get away with this! I wonder how the authorities will have them pay the consequences of orchestrating something like this!!!

What do you thing authorities should do??? I have no idea, but they should pay the consequences of their very very VERY immature and self oriented actions!!!!