What you think does matter

Let’s be honest: generic school reading logs are where summer fun goes to die. There is nothing that turns a child off from a good story faster than having to log "minutes studied" on a black-and-white grid that feels suspiciously like a tax return. If you want to keep your kids’ brains sharp without the nightly power struggle, it’s time to gamify the experience. Summer Reading BINGO turns the solitary act of reading into a high-stakes scavenger hunt. It stops being about "doing your work" and starts being about "completing the mission." How to Set Up Your BINGO Board You don't need to be a graphic designer to make this work. A piece of paper and a ruler (or a quick table in Word) will do the trick. 1. Create the 5x5 Grid Draw a standard BINGO board with 25 squares. Put a "Free Space" in the center—maybe that one represents "Reading in bed," since they’re probably doing that anyway. 2. Fill the Squares with "Situations" I...

Every parent knows the familiar summer struggle: the sun is shining, the "summer slide" is looming, and your child is locked in a power struggle over screen time. We want them to pick up a book; they want to pick up a remote. But what if the secret to getting them to read wasn't fighting the screen, but using it as the ultimate finish line? Enter the "Page-to-Screen" Premiere. This isn't just a reading assignment; it’s an event. By treating a book like a screenplay waiting to happen, you transform reading from a chore into a VIP pass to a family movie night. Here is how you can pull off the perfect premiere this summer. The Step-by-Step Guide Step 1: Pick Your "Script" Sit down with your child and browse books that have been adapted into movies or TV series. The key here is collaboration—if they don’t like the book, they won’t care about the movie. For Younger Readers: The Bad Guys , The Wild Robot , or Charlotte’s Web . For Middle Grade: Harr...

5 th Summer Day Things are getting hectic around here, but what can you expect when you have an eleven year old, a four year old and a yapping little dog running around your house. I think I’m going crazy. Today is not a good day. Last month I had a pin hole leak in the pipes and had to break part of the wall to get in there and fix it. Then the next day after that - the garage door “spring” broke. I mean broke, and it cost me almost $150 to get it replaced [ couldn’t do that on my own ]. Well, today the garage door opener broke. The gear inside apparently striped…??? First, I don’t understand why a gear that is used to raise a 200 pound or so garage door would be made of plastic - but it was. And boy did it get eaten up. I thought I could replace it, but once I opened it up - lets just say I don’t have those kinds of skills. So I had to convert the garage door back to opening and locking manually [ you know your lazy when you cringe at just of the thought of opening a door manually ]....

Day 4 of Summer I came home to find an uninvited guest. or atleast not invited by me. This guest was smelly, sad looking and of the four legged variety. Yes a dog. My daughter and wife consented to babysit a friends little pooch and now I have four children to take care of, the son, my daughter, the dog and my wife..... It's funny because this dog looks more like a rodent than he [ i think it's a he ] he does as a dog. I ofcourse put my foot down, almost stepping on the small china doll like dog. I told the family ... well, I swore that I was not going to walk it, bath it, feed it, care for it or worry about. That they would have to watch this "thing" and make sure it wasn't going to break, chew, piss or poop on anything in the house. And they said fine - not like I could kick the dog out, my friends would not like me much - it's just that I didn't get to vote. And since they underhandedly sneaked the dog into my [ our ] house with out my consent - I didn...