Illuminations: Welcome to Illuminations

Illuminations: Welcome to Illuminations

On Boxes and Oatmeal Cookies (recipe)

On Boxes and Oatmeal Cookies (recipe): "

For Muslims around the world, today marks the first day of Eid-ul-Fitr, a celebration marking the end of the fasting month or Ramadan. The girls have left for the night to celebrate the event with their father, so I’ve been blessed with some time off and as many mothers do when they are suddenly confronted by an empty house. I took a nap.

We’ve had a busy few days with visiting with friends and working on projects. The highlight of their day yesterday was making oatmeal cookies with their friend, J, and her mother. We came across an awesome recipe, and I made a few modifications with it and these cookies are just as good (if not better)!

Chewy Oatmeal-Currant-Raisin Cookies

Yummy cookies!

(makes 48)

You will need:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened


• 3/4 cup white sugar


• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar


• 2 eggs


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour


• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon


• 1/8 teaspoon salt


• 2 3/4 cups oatmeal flour (place oatmeal in blender)


• 3/4 cup raisins


• 1/2 cup dried currants

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).


2. In large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Stir together flours, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually beat into butter mixture. Stir in raisins and currants. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.


3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Cool slightly, remove from sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

"

How to Have a Successful School Year (Part 2)

How to Have a Successful School Year (Part 2): "

On Monday of this week we began discussing ten tips on how to have a successful school year. Today here are tips 6-10.

6. Set goals. Parents and students, set goals together. A higher algebra grade, a position on the soccer team, increased reading for pleasure, anything that will help you in school and increase your confidence. Goals should be a bit of a stretch to create a feeling of accomplishment. Parents, support your student as she works toward that goal. Consider a fair "reward" for success as well as a "consequence" for not making the goal.

7. Stay positive. This is true for parents and students alike. There will be good days and weeks, and there will be not-so-good ones. Keep it all in balanced perspective. What can you learn from your mistakes? Talk with one another. This is another opportunity to show you care and are positive about the possibilities of the new school year. Students, maintain friendships with those who care and support you. Stay away from those who don't. You know who they are.

8. Be prepared. If you’ve read any of my blogs, you know how much stock I put in preparation. When we’re prepared, we feel much more confident than when we’re just winging it. So, parents, give your child the confidence she needs by helping her prepare for this new adventure. If she’s going to a new school, visit it. Learn where the classrooms are, the bathrooms, the lockers, the cafeteria, and any other places where she’ll be heading. Get all the materials she’ll need for class. Review the school calendar with her and mark your own kitchen calendar – displayed where everyone can see it – with important dates like report cards, due-dates for projects, PTA meeting, and the like.

9. Review regularly. Every day, parents, review the day with your child. Ask him what he’s learning, reading, writing about. How’s he coming on that assignment due next week? What happened today that’s funny? Show him you’re interested and that you’re going to be talking about this every day. Expect conversation, not just one word answers. Be patient. It’ll work eventually.

10. Stay involved. Parents, stick with it, even when your adolescent seems he’s not interested in your help. It’s an act, required by the Adolescents’ Pact to Drive Parents Crazy, which all kids secretly sign. Students, yes, we adults know you want independence, but we care about you and want to be nearby when you need us, which you will.

For more tips on school success, routines, study buddies, and setting goals, click on Archive above. As always, we welcome comments and tips from our readers.

"

How to Set and Achieve Goals

How to Set and Achieve Goals: "

Yes, it’s happening already. A new school year is fast approaching. What does your child want to accomplish? How to teach him to set school goals and a course of action? Over the years, I’ve helped students set goals as they maneuver through the elementary-, middle-, and high-school maze. Here are some tips that have proved helpful for kids of all ages and their parents.

1. 
   
   Work as a family. Develop the goals together, encourage him to involve a trusted teacher or friend, but remember the goals are ultimately his. Help him to understand the best goals, the ones that result in real feelings of accomplishment, are the ones that require a bit of a stretch. Talk over general ideas – an improved algebra grade, better study habits, mastering clarinet in band class, making sports editor for the school paper – and help him set priorities, but let him make the final decisions. Setting his own goals increases his motivation and self-sufficiency. This teaches independence.
   
   




2. 
   
   Keep the goals simple, clear, and easy to understand. For young children, short-term goals are the best because they’re, well, short and result in higher rates of achievement. Daily goals are the best – “What shall we do today in the park?” “What book shall we check out of the library?” Older kids in late elementary and middle school can be introduced to longer-term goals. This teaches planning.
   
   




3. 
   
   Remember goals can change. As a matter of fact, sometimes they should change. Often we change our minds as we mature, learn additional facts and skills, or see a better course of action. Children discover new talents and interests all the time, which cause them to change their goals. (Intelligent, purposeful consistency is essential in learning, but remember the words of Emerson: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds . . .”) This teaches flexibility.
   
   




4. 
   
   Break goals into small steps. Just like you’ve taught her to do with important assignments. It’s much easier to achieve small, reachable goals than to face a seemingly insurmountable task. “I’ll read chapter one today, and by Friday, I’ll complete the first three chapters” is easier to reach than “I’ll read the whole book one of these days.” This teaches organization.
   
   




5. 
   
   Celebrate each completed step toward the goal. Kids love to earn our recognition and congratulations. A hearty “Well done!” accompanied by a high-five goes a long way. Kids are motivated by the praise almost as much as the feeling of accomplishment. (They can also spot an empty, unearned compliment a mile a way, so be judicious in your praise.) Some alone time with you, without siblings, can be just the motivation to keep going. This teaches persistence.
   
   




6. 
   
   Monitor progress regularly. Check up on the younger kids frequently, and let the older ones know you’re aware of their goals and deadlines. Adjust your monitoring as they show they need more or less of your checking up on them. This teaches concentration.
   
   




7. 
   
   Write the goals down. Be specific, otherwise they’re just wishes. Help your child to create a game plan or an outline that will lead to her accomplishing her goal. How long will it take? What resources will she need? Who can help? This teaches attention to detail.
   
   




8. 
   
   Anticipate setbacks. They happen. It’s okay – in fact, it’s human – to make mistakes. Sometimes we give ourselves too little time to make a goal. Or we’re not able to foresee every circumstance. Or something out of our control throws us off track. So we learn from our mistakes. This teaches perspective.
   
   




9. 
   
   Show how you make goals. Let them see that you ask advice, weigh pros and cons, occasionally change your mind, and keep yourself focused as you work on your goals. Involve kids in appropriate family goals. Be a role model. This teaches family cohesion.
   
   




10. 
    
    Stay focused. Help your child to keep her eye on the proverbial ball. Have someone who can help, a hero or heroine, a study buddy, a mentor, an admired friend. Show how athletes, for instance, fix a goal in their mind and then aim wholeheartedly for it. Michael Phelps and his famous determination come to mind. This teaches concentration.
    
    

Setting goals and determining the plans to achieve them are among the most important school skills students can have. Right up there with helpful routines, good attitudes, organization, a positive attitude, and getting help when it’s necessary. It’s never too early to show kids how to manage their learning and feel the confidence that comes with accomplishment.

We’d love to hear your comments, ideas, and success stories with your children and students. Just click on Comments below.

"

Family | Real Simple

Family | Real Simple

Wowie!!! A brand new school year......

Image by mommykoggiboo via Flickr

Welcome to our school's journal and witness to the miraculous journeys discoveries and adventures that come with a year in the life of three highly intelligent extremely inquisitive talented hilarious magnetically outgoing amazingly energetic brightly bursting with good health and cheer enthusiastically demonstrative and clever adorably precious most loving and loved sweetest and tenderly thoughtful kiddos really just beginning to blossom to the call of unraveling and mastering the universe's many mysteries with the intensity that makes formal education a necessity! We as a family are guided by our strong set of beliefs morals and values as well as the needs of our family to remain and fortify our strength as one family acting on behalf of our children with their needs emotionally physically socially academically spiritually developmentally and all else that is crucial to their functioning and thriving as healthy well rounded well adjusted well educated and trained upstanding pillars and citizens of their family, community, society, and country! We are governing our behaviors and intentions in supporting the health and all around well being of our children as God and Country asserted is our right as one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all believing that we are answering to our children's call to learn in a Montessori supported approach rather than forcing them to conform to one right way of uniform learning. Our children are individuals and all have special needs in how we help guide them, instruct them, and support their educational needs and goals We simply want to share our school's efforts and achievements and look to enjoy exploring all the different programs and materials that are out there so that we do do right by our children by expanding the resources and variety of choices and options that are available to them. We are a no conflict peaceful loving christian family and we are not looking to engage in any conflicts or battles with others for we respect our fellow neighbor and expect the same courtesy in return! So now that we have gotten that out of the way, bring on the school supplies!!! :o) I love arts and crafts and just so you know how totally nutty I am, the other day I had some Elmer's glue on my hands from an earlier project with the kids and while my oldest daughter was helping them wash their hands and get ready for snack, I caught myself peeling it off of my hands without even thinking about what I was doing, and I loved how it felt when it wound itself around my cuticles and fingernails-- so of course I had to do it again and it reminded me of this time I was in 2nd grade. One of my friends introduced me to this great project; you take the glue bottle and pour a pretty fair amount onto the vinyl pencil pouch that is from your three ring binder, spread it out to what we now as moms know is how you make homemade fruit roll-ups :o) and when it dries, you cut out fingernails. Yep, you get the scissors and shape them to say Dolly Parton nails and then you decorate them with all your little glitter goodies and markers, paints, stickers, etc. COOL OR WHAT!!! Okay, even my girls thought mommy was having a SPECIAL moment!!! I love it when I get to just hang out with the girls and be a weirdo!!! :o)I'm so not cool but they don't know it yet so it's all good!!! :o)  

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