This week (and maybe next) the Sneaky Mama is covering summer reading! How to get your kids to do more of it, what books to read, improving reading, reading games, the importance of reading out loud and don’t miss my picks for summer reading!
Have a question about motivating your kids to read? What books to pick? What books to read out loud? Leave it below and I’ll make sure and answer it!
My middle child has just about the worst case of middle child syndrome that I’ve ever seen in a kid. She’s 4 so thus far, most of her energies are drawn towards getting attention for herself in a negative way. This is, by the way, my ‘the-world-must-be-purple-today’ child.
I don’t know about you, but I find that with some of my children, misbehavior runs in cycles. We have a couple weeks of really good behavior and then a few or more days of…ahem…not so good behavior.
We always discipline unacceptable behavior. . .but I’ve found a trick that works incredibly well for curbing the desire to misbehave: positive attention.
When you find yourself in a behavioral rut with your young child, take some time out to go do something special. If you have a difficult morning with your toddler, take an extra 15 minutes in the evening to pull out a game, read an extra book, or go out for ice cream. More often than not, you’ll be surprised to find yourself out of the rut by morning!
Sneaking in hugs and kisses to my kids,
The Sneaky Mama
For the life of me, I’ll never understand why this program isn’t bursting at the seems with participants. It is seriously one of the best kept secrets among summer programs for kids in New York City. What am I talking about? The Children’s Gardening Program at the New York Botanical Gardens.
Every spring, summer and fall brings on a new year at the children’s gardening program. Children, ages 3 to 12 plant their own gardens, harvest vegetables and flowers and get to learn all sorts of cool stuff about gardening, plants, and ecology. It really is a haven in the city.
It is not overly expensive. . .but if the cost is a little prohibitive for you. . .request a scholarship. You might have to do a little calling to find out about one, but they have them and all one needs to do is apply.
So what will your kids do at a morning in the gardens? Crafts, planting, and other ‘garden chores’. This is seriously one of the my kids’ favorite activities. One of the perks is that the parent gets to wander through the gardens and get into everything for free! (The program for children ages 3 to 5 require parent participation.)
Looking forward to sneaking in more fun this summer,
The Sneaky Mama
This is the first of what I hope will be a series every Friday. If you live in New York City and you have kids–you HAVE to read this. If you don’t live in New York City–send this to an online friend who does.
American Museum of Natural History
This is the must see destination this summer. Why? Starting May 26th, the frogs are back! What am I talking about? The Chorus of Colors of course! This is an awesome, awesome exhibit. Over 200 live frogs in the Museum of Natural History. I almost guarantee–you’ve never seen anything like it. But while you’re at the AMNH, go check out Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns and Mermaids. I haven’t personally been, but I’m sure that once my kids find out there’s a whole museum wing designated for their favorite fairy tale lore–they’ll be dying to go. (Hey, what a great opportunity to ’sneak’ in some mythology!)
I am seriously convinced that the Cloisters is one of the great hidden gems of New York city. If you haven’t visited, you need to, and this weekend is a great time to go because they’re having their annual family festival. (For all of you homeschoolers, this is a great tie in to the Middle Ages.)
The ABT is hosting three very family friendly ballets between now and July 7. Check out: Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, Cinderella, Swan Lake or The Dream (based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream).
Do you have a great event in New York City (or nearby) that kids will be dying to go to or that has some redeeming educational value? Let me know!
Sneaking lots of field trips into our homeschooling schedule this month,
The Sneaky Mama
I have come to a recent conclusion: my daughter needs her own blog. She’s only 8. . .but hear me out.
Besides the fact that I like blogging (it’s kind of fun and addictive–isn’t it?), homeschoolers can use it as a nifty way to teach some necessary skills.
#1. Use blogging to teach writing skills.
This seems obvious. Kids get excited when their work is published for the world to see. Blogging gives them an immediate outlet to publish their thoughts.
#2. Blogging teaches computer skills and typing.
I don’t care what anyone says, learning things like html and typing are valuable skills to have in this day and age. To give you a little food for thought–when I was in college–e-mail was just sort of on the horizon. I remember one of my professors saying, “I have a hunch this internet thing is going to change the world as we know it.” A good knowledge of the computer is just plain common sense.
#3. Use blogging to record the years.
Letting your child have a blog, helps you keep a record of what was done during the school year. You can even use it as an electronic yearbook!
As with anything, the internet requires adult supervision. Please make a point to teach your kids how to stay safe online. Then by all means–help them get blogging!
We had an interesting discussion with our children last night as we discussed the week’s events, what plaigirism means, and other values that my husband and I hold dear. My son, the question boy supreme, asked us what integrity means.
So my husband said, “It’s who you are when no one knows what you’ve done.”
My son is a thinker. So he presses further: “Like if I do something illegal (pronounced iweego) but no one finds out?”
The answer comes: “Yes, something like that.”
We moved onto other things, leaving my son to his thoughts. . .and he suddenly pops up: “I’m glad you and mom have integrity. (Again, pronounced integwitty.)
So my husband asks how he knows that we have integrity and my son simply replies: “Because you’re never really alone. Someone can always see you. If you were unscrupulous (advanced vocabulary is one benefit of homeschooling!) I’d have seen you.
Satisfied with all explanations, my son picked up his plate, put it in the sink and went on to play some kind of cybertron/transformers/power ranger thing.
My husband and I certainly try to conduct our lives with integrity. I can’t say we’ve never done anything that we knew was clearly wrong. . .ahem. . .but we try. But our conversation drove home this point:
If you want your kids to be a certain way–YOU MUST ACT THAT WAY. You cannot set one set of standards for your children and another for yourself. If you want them to watch their language–you must watch yours. If you want them to respect authority, then you must be respectful to authority.
If you have little kids you understand what I mean when I say they are ever present. You are not alone–you may think you are–but you aren’t.
Therefore as parents, we cannot. . .we MUST NOT. . .stand around scratching our heads wondering why our children have done this or that. More often than not, the answer can be found by looking in the mirror.
Taking a long hard look in my bathroom mirror,
The Sneaky Mama
I now must publicly let everyone who supported me know that the scraped post has been removed. It is no longer there. Thank you to all who took the time out to support me.
So why am I writing that the war has just begun? It is, in essence, over. My post was removed and is no longer copied. . .at least not to that site. So what’s the problem?
I should say that the war isn’t with that individual per se. . .it’s with our culture. To sum up, this person honestly believed that he was in the right because my post came from an abstract RSS feed. He ‘took pity’ on me (for lack of a better description) because he thought I was a kid who didn’t know that stuff is supposed to get scraped from RSS feeds. I realize there are probably a lot of people who don’t have a problem with scraping from an RSS feed. It’s easy money right? Set up a blog site, monetize the blog and then scrape related RSS feeds–you don’t have to do anything really. What’s wrong with that?
The problem is that it lacks integrity. I know of no parent who would hope that their child would grow up to make a living out of scraping blogs. I don’t know of any of my fellow homeschoolers that let their kids ‘quote’ heavily from their books to finish an assignment. There is pride to be taken in doing one’s own work and rightly so.
We are quickly becoming a society that doesn’t know how to think, how to write, how to analyze, or how to be creative. And then we all sit around and wonder why! The reason is because the little things are no longer a ‘big deal.’
So to those of you who really feel like scraping from an RSS feed is perfectly acceptable, I offer this thought: one day it is highly likely that you will need a doctor. When you do, would you rather go to the one who ’scraped’ by–taking the easy way out? Or do you really want the one who did his own work diligently?
‘Sneaking’ with integrity,
The Sneaky Mama
I am sad to write this post. While I’m well aware that unethical people exist, it still saddens me. I am generally a very smiley person. You can ask just about any one who knows me. . . So what might you ask, has me saddened?
Someone plaigirized my blog. They cut, and copy and pasted my words and put it on their blog without clearly giving me the credit or even so much as a link. Some people may say it’s not that big of a deal because well, let’s be realistic–this is not a HUGE blog with TONS of traffic. Some people say that it isn’t a big deal because this is the information age and well, that’s just what happens when you have all your stuff out there. It is technically ‘free’ for the taking.
But it IS a big deal. It isn’t that my site is losing traffic or that I’m losing money. As you can see, this is not a monetized blog. (Maybe someday. . .but not yet.) This will not make anyone’s top 10 list any time soon. It’s just my ramblings and thoughts on fun, parenting, children and homeschooling. But the point is they are MY ramblings. Legally, no one has the right to take and copy your content without your permission. It is stealing–just the same as if you went into the store and took something without paying for it.
The post stolen, was Take a Stand in 2007. I had originally posted a comment on the theif’s blog asking that he (or she) open the post with a note saying that he found this post on The Sneaky Mama and to link appropriately. Why was I so nice? Because it is a post explaining how to get a free lemonade stand to raise money for charity. I am always happy to spread the word about charity.
Later that day I found my post still there, not linked, but I was added to the blog roll. I guess he figured that the blog roll link would get rid of me because as of last night, my comment pointing out that it was my blog, in addition to the link on the blog roll is now gone. I have written to Google Adsense and I’ve let the blog’s host site know that it is my work and they have not yet gotten back to me. Why? Probably because this happens all the time.
So I’m asking you for your help. The only way to stop plaigirism in the blogging community is for those of us who are ethical and intelligent to speak up and let unethical bloggers know that it’s not okay to steal content. I am now publicly asking for the post to be removed. Gone is the opportunity to keep the post on the blog with appropriate credit given. I would also ask you to visit the blog and let him know that you know the post was originally mine and that stealing words, thoughts and ideas is equivalent to being a common theif.
Here is my blog: Take a Stand in 2007 and Here is his blog.
This Sneaky Mama doesn’t tolerate all ’sneakiness’,
The Sneaky Mama
I am always on the look out for new recipes to share that sneak in good nutrition (or at least a few fruits and vegetables) AND get the thumbs up from my research and development team.
Here’s a slew of strawberry recipes that sneak in. . .strawberries of course! Rich in Vitamin C and other good-for-you-nutrients, strawberries are worth the effort! Check out the recipes and let me know how your kids liked them!
(Also see the other listing of the Sneaky Mama’s recipes.)
