Back To School
Back to school is both a happy and challenging time depending on what your family dynamic is. While my kids are often happy to resume their schedules and get back to seeing their friends after a long summer away, I am sometimes a bit ambivalent. Fall is not my favourite season and the summer months with their long warm days of swimming pools, cottages, camping and beaches are simply my favourite. Who can resist the pull of a beach or cottage and the relaxing long bright sunny days? But whether you like it or not back to school comes on time every single year so here's a little bit of help to get you entire family ready for that change.
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Five Reasons to Register Your Child For School Now
In the list of life’s big decisions that have to be made as a parent there can be little that is quite so weighty as the choice of school for your child. Private or public? Catholic or home school? French immersion or English language? French first language? Home school? The options, costs and geographical restrictions can have you ripping your hair out as you research and hope and then make the leap to deciding. There are benefits to each system. Whatever choice you make, it should be informed. Did you know for instance that JK is not mandatory? You are not legally obligated to have your child in school until they turn six.…
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When They Exceed Your Expectations
My children have both given me hundreds of proud moments. They both excel at something. My eldest is bright and talented and pretty much every year from the time she started school she has won awards. Student of the month. Check. A’s in every subject. Check. Friends. Check. She is a beautiful smart and creative overachiever. My youngest child is now six. She is beautiful and smart and incredibly athletic and she also has special needs. I love her madly and we agonized for years over the choice of school for her. We kept her at a great private preschool as long as possible. She did her junior and senior kindergarten…
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Activity Tax Credits, Mommies and What About Seniors too?
I am all for activity tax credits and fitness tax credits and anything that keeps kids active and fit and healthy. I can back that any day and, in fact, I would. I spend well over the $500 a year allowed by the federal fitness tax credit each year – $1,000 for a disabled child. I have some extremely active children and they need a lot of martial arts/ basketball/ swimming/ skating/ music/ drama etc. I claim every year the maximum I can and I tell every new parent I know to take advantage of the federal credit. It makes sense. A mere $500 per family to potentially improve the…
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Friday: Back To School Edition
Holy Shopping Batman! There are some incredible deals happening this weekend and some excellent freebies in and around London area too. Oh and it’s a follow Friday thing again here too.. So read on… Gap Give and Get program is on this weekend. It started Thursday and runs through until end of Sunday. 30 % off anything you buy at Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy. The bonus here is that the Gap gives 5% of what you spend to various non profits including Canadian Aids Society. Rainbow Cinemas at the Galleria has their annual birthday event this weekend and that means join Rainbow Bear at 10 a.m. on Saturday…
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Grade One and Registration Day
Today I registered my fiver for grade one. It’s a monumental occasion for many. It’s a big deal for me and for her. Everyone who has a child with special needs will get what I mean when I say that my heart is in my throat and my fingers are crossed as I tentatively prepare to ship her off to public school. I have had a big knot in my stomach since I left the school this morning. And to think there’s another six months before she starts. It’s not that I don’t have faith in our public schools – my older child attends one and does quite nicely. My…
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Valentine’s Ideas
As we rapidly approach Valentine’s Day, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the need to orchestrate your child’s Valentine’s card exchange or bake sale or various other important crafts that seem to take over this time of year. I find this time of year challenging – two kids with two class lists, various goodies and cards to buy, multiplied by lists that also come from various extracurriculars (Brownies, for instance and Original Kids). When it comes right down to it this means chaos this week as my children write Valentine’s for at least five different groups of kids while also juggling homework. It is fun – to a degree, but really few…
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Tales from the PTA – Pizza Day
So yesterday was pizza day at my darling daughter’s school. First pizza day of the new school year and naturally to show my worth as a valuable member of daughter’s school I volunteered to help hand pizza out. As an added little side bonus while I am volunteering there I get to keep tabs on her (Hah, take that!) I drove up to the school slightly before noon and spied about six cars parked out front, which made me think they had enough volunteers. But I decided to check anyways and sure enough the pizzas had just arrived, so all hell was breaking loose in the front hall near the…
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September musings for teachers and parents
Dear teacher: I need you to know a few things about my child. She came to our family though adoption and I know this may sound oddly confessional to you, even perhaps a little bit overly friendly. But I need you to know this because I am nothing if not by now an expert on my child. She will need more in your class than many of the other students. Oh she is bright alright and she loves school, but you see September for her is hard. So hard that she will come home and explode several nights before she eventually loses it and threatens to kill herself. This…
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The first day of school
Well the first day of school is here and thankfully I slept a bit last night despite stressing over which teacher my child would end up with this crucial grade three year. This year I didn’t embarrass anyone with a tearful good-bye. Payton, my eight-year-old sensitive, bright, mostly easy-going girl, bounced out of bed this morning ready to go, got all suited up in her new Hannah Montana style ensemble. She quickly determined that she was in the class she wanted with several friends she knows well and, bonus, she got the teacher she wanted too. Then she essentially waved me away. Bye Mom, ready to go now. Now don’t get me…