Need A Paw Patrol Birthday Party Fast? Just Yelp For Help
It's Paw Patrol to the rescue for all your kid party needs. Our boys have always been big fans on Paw Patrol. Those helpful dogs have been a part of…
Own The Mornings One #Spoondrop At A Time
Mornings can be tough for everyone. But when you add kids to the mix, things get really hairy. Going from slamming the snooze to getting out the door on time can rival the hardest challenges you see on Survivor. You don’t just have to worry about yourself, you have to manage a perfectly executed assault for multiple people.
If you don’t? Breakfast is not eaten, teeth are left dirty and permission sheets are once again forgotten. Let’s not even talk about having the brain power to think about what is for dinner in 9 hours. It’s controlled madness in our house. Little talking, lots of doing.
We have it down to a science for the most part, but has always the one variable that can throw it all out of whack are the kids.
All Dads & Grads Need A JumPack When On The Road
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cobra for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
I have a confession to make. I am not a car guy. I have never been that interested in cars other than driving them from point A to point B. There I said it.
I have never changed a tire or tricked out my ride in any way. When something breaks, I call someone to fix it. I did change a few light bulbs before, but that’s it.
That is why when I am driving, or my wife is out with the car, I always have a the tiniest worry of something going wrong and being stuck somewhere.
Stuck without a phone, without power or without the tools needed to get the car going again. I am the guy who chooses not to have jumper cables in the car because then one day it would be proven I don’t know to use them.
But in the age of modern technology it seems silly to have such worry.
Kumon Made A Difference For Our Son
It’s amazing when you can see a real change in your child. When they conquer something by bursting right through a wall that was frustrating them. That’s what our son Harry has done in the last few months with his reading and writing.
I am also happy to share with you that one of the contributing factors was Harry’s time spent at Kumon, an after school math and reading program. For those following the journey, you know that we were approached by Kumon to try out their service for six months in exchange for an honest review on the blog.
As I mentioned before, it was perfect timing because in October of last year, Harry was struggling and getting more and more frustrated by the day. He was falling behind in class and stressing himself out over it. Young kids should not be stressing about such things.
Before even starting Kumon, we met with Harry’s Grade One teacher and worked out a plan for him to get extra help at school and what we could do at home. TLC for reading and writing was coming from all fronts. That’s why it was perfect that Kumon came calling when it did.
Medieval Times Review & Contest
Want to experience some good times with the family? Have you visited Medieval Times in Toronto yet? Recently I had the opportunity to take my family back to a time where Knights ruled the land and you only ate food with your hands.
My first memory of Medieval Times (like many of you), came from the movie, The Cable Guy. You go and enjoy a dinner theatre of live performances like it would have been back in Medieval Times (go figure right).
While enjoying a 4-course meal, you get to watch various battles between knights using swords and other weapons you are likely to see on any Episode of Game of Thrones.
For a few hours, you are taken back to a time when Kings called the shots and glory was earned on the battle field.
For us the experience was like nothing we had seen before. Well, sorry, my wife went many years ago, but for myself and the kids it was all brand new.
From flying falcons, to beautiful stallions, the evening had something for everyone.
Kumon Has Helped Harry Feel Like A Cool Mon
You've heard it before, knowledge is power. When you are a kid, in particular, a blonde 6-year old, knowledge is confidence. It was only four months ago that Harry was…
Kumon: Work Hard and the Results Will Come
For close to three months, Harrison has been attending Kumon twice a week and doing work almost every day. It’s been a long road, a lot of hard work and this week we saw the results. Amazing results. Even the wonderful people at the center are surprised at how quickly Harrison has moved.
When he started, he was not enjoying reading and learning as much as we thought he should. It was a perfect storm of things I believe that was holding him back. It was never having the smarts, we were sure of that. Harrison I believe hit the Grade One wall. SK was all fun and games and now actual work was cramping his style.
He had to learn to do work in a specific time frame, focus on the teacher and figure out how to do it all on his own. That is quite a challenge for a kid just starting real school.
Kumon Update: Seeing Good Progress After A Few Weeks
As you may know, Harry, our oldest, is going to Kumon twice a week to accelerate his reading skills. Through the blog, I was contacted by Kumon to give the program a try and to share my thoughts on the experience.
Well, we are a few weeks in and I would say we are seeing good progress so far. As I mentioned before, it’s all about structure, routine and repetition. You don’t spend a lot of time doing it, but you do daily for 10-20 minutes.
Here is how our Kumon schedule works.
- Sunday: Harry does a booklet in the afternoon.
- Monday: Harry does a booklet after dinner.
- Tuesday: We go the Kumon centre where Harry does 30 minutes, which includes a booklet with one of the instructors. Here is work from the week is reviewed. We are given new booklets.
- Wednesday: Harry does a booklet after dinner.
- Thursday: We go the Kumon centre where Harry does 30 minutes, which includes a booklet with one of the instructors. Here is work from the week is reviewed. We are given new booklets.
- Friday: You guessed it. Harry does a booklet after dinner.
- Saturday: Harry does a booklet in the afternoon.
Each booklet takes about 10 or 15 minutes depending on Harry’s energy level. Sometimes it is hard in the week, because we are all pretty tired by 7 pm. It is certainly one of the struggles, but so far there have been no issues.
Kumon, Kumon. It’s Time To Accelerate Your Kid’s Education
Do you remember when you started to read? Or when you started to do basic math? I don’t. But as our family enters the wonderful world of public school, we are quickly learning, you are never too young to start learning about reading, writing and math. As soon as they hit JK, they are doing letters and numbers. I think it’s great.
Our oldest, Harry is in Grade 1 and he is so eager to be able to read, he gets angry that it can’t happen faster. What a great problem to have. That’s better than no interest at all.
We have been reading to him since day 1 and I am sure that is a big part of why he loves books. Even when he was in daycare, the staff always would comment at how he just loved books and would sit and look at them every chance he got.
That being said, once this guy knows how to read, look out. I look forward to his story telling, his imagination and his overall interest in the world, just exploding. As I remember, I was not that into reading until much later in life. I could never separate reading for school because you had to and reading for pleasure because you wanted to. Now, I love to read when I have time and I love to write and be creative if you could not tell.
So as parents, can we help speed up this process of Harry learning to read? Or do we just leave it to the schools and wait for it to happen?
Fortunately, in 2015, there are so many options at our disposal to supercharge our child’s learning. There is the standard home tutoring, there are computer courses and web apps and there of course is parental help.
Born To Be Wild Kratts
If you have a son (of daughter) in the age range of 4-5, I bet you know about the always caffeine-powered Kratt Brothers. The show is called Wild Kratts and…