Cozi Blog

Make the Most of Your Math Moments!

Most families have a very full schedule, and it can be hard to find time for that extra focus we want to have on math. But, unlike finding time to sit down and read to our children, it’s easy to find ways to work a little math fun into everyday family activities. Just remember to look at the world in mathematical terms, and talk about it as you go through your day.

Don’t be afraid to take on complicated problems that might be over your child’s head. Asking clarifying questions and posing a simpler version of the problem are great problem-solving tools. And not every problem has to be solved immediately. Sometimes it’s good for kids to think about unanswered questions and give their ideas time to formulate.

To get you started, here are a few ideas for math activities the next time you’re driving, doing housework, at the zoo or a sporting event, and more.

Math moments in the car

• Add up the numbers on the license plates of the other cars.
• When you see a speed limit sign, ask your child what your speed would be if you were going 5 miles slower. Or how much faster you can go on the freeway than on your own street.
• Keep track of the colors of the other cars. When you arrive at your destination, determine the most popular color.

Math moments around the house

• Folding the laundry? Give your child the socks to sort, categorize in different ways (by who they belong to or color), and fold. Count the socks. How many complete pairs do you have?
• You’ve just made a batch of 50 cookies. If each person in your family has 3 each day, how many days will they last?
• The kitchen is full of math learning opportunities! For more ideas from Dreambox Learning for Kids’ Kitchen Math.

Math moments at the zoo

• A lion can jump a distance of more than 30 feet. See how far your child can jump (using your feet to measure). How much farther can a lion jump?
• A monkey can eat up to 30 bananas a day (some eat even more)! If a banana weighs 5 ounces, how many pounds will the monkey eat each day? If bananas cost 90 cents per pound, how much will the zoo spend to feed the monkey for 1 week?
• A Burmese python can grow to a length of 18 feet. How many inches is that?

Math moments at the ballpark

• Talk about the shape of the field. Is it a diamond? A rectangle? How many sections is it divided into?
• If 1 player gets 3 hits in 9 at-bats, and another player gets 2 hits in 7 at-bats, which player has a better batting average?
• Count how many seats are in your row, and how many rows are in your section. Then look around, estimate how many sections there are, and how many seats there are in all.

Math moments at bedtime

• Set a timer and brush your teeth together for 2 minutes. How many seconds is that?
• Read a favorite book where math is integral to the story. You’ll find some good suggestions from Dreambox Learning: How Reading Together Can Bring Math to Life
• If your child is having trouble sleeping, try the old standby: counting sheep!



DreamBox Learning K-2 Math is the online math learning game kids love to play. It’s an in-depth math curriculum and completely individualized learning in an engaging adventure game. DreamBox is serious learning that's seriously fun! Recommended by Cozi

School Picture Day Snapshots

I don’t know why school picture day always whips me into a lather. Actually, that’s a total lie. I do know, and I will get to that momentarily. For now, though, let me describe a couple of scenes—snapshots, if you will—leading up to today’s big event.

SCENE I: Tuesday. The Lost Sweaters.

Me, to the kids, on Monday:  It’s fine if you wear your uniform sweaters to school, girls, but remember to bring them home. Picture day is Wednesday. WEDNESDAY.

Girls, rolling eyes: Yes, Mom.

Fast-forward to pickup Monday afternoon: Girls, where are your sweaters?

Girls, rolling eyes: In our backpacks, Mom.

Tuesday morning, as I look in their backpacks: Girls! Sweaters! Where?

Girls, shrugging: We don’t know. Are you mad? You sound mad.

Me, rolling eyes: Do not come home today without your sweaters. DO NOT.

Girls, rolling eyes: Yes, mom.

For good measure, I decided on Tuesday morning to stop by the school’s lost-and-found bucket.

Irritatingly, this is right next to the uniform donation bucket, where we have accidentally “donated” three of Lucy’s sweaters to the used-uniform sale closet. Most stuff in the used-uniform closet is fairly shabby, which is why sweaters in new condition, like the brand-new one Lucy lost last year, disappear like lobster tail at an all-you-can eat Vegas buffet.

At $32 plus tax and shipping per sweater, we’re talking about a lot of my therapy budget, people.The good news is, I did find another child’s brand-new uniform sweater in the bucket and sent his mother an e-mail. I am a sweater hero!

Even better, both girls came home on Tuesday with their cardigans. “Look, mom! We have them! We TOLD you so!” 

This brings us to...

Scene II.  Tuesday evening: the haircut

Alice desperately wants to have long hair. I understand this feeling, having suffered it for most of my childhood. She, unfortunately, is blessed with baby fine blonde hair that took forever to fully cover her scalp. I keep it fairly short so she doesn’t look like Gollum or worse, Donald Trump.

As I snipped away with the scissors, ever so gently on Tuesday evening, I recalled myself in the home-barber’s chair 30 years ago.

Scene III. The hideous flashback.

Dad: Stay still. I’m going to trim your bangs. I’ll just follow along the edge of your eyebrows...

Me, looking up at the huge, huge scissors in his hands: OK.

Dad: When you looked up like that, you raised your eyebrows. So your bangs are maybe a little short.

Me, looking into a mirror: My life is ruined.

The resulting picture does not lie. My bangs are a crooked, one-inch fringe resting on my Frankenstein-sized forehead. You know those monk haircuts that look like they’re done with a bowl? That’s not a look that flatters most 9-year-old girls. I was not one of the lucky ones. I do have the picture somewhere. No, I am not posting it to the Internet.

Scene IV. Another flashback.

Me: Mom, my neck is really stiff. I can’t turn my head.

Mom: That’s too bad. It’s school picture day. Do your best to smile.

Me: My life is ruined.

The resulting picture is perhaps even worse than the previous one. In it, I am 12, a sixth grader. Because of my neck pain, I am unable to style my hair, which is still cut in the Dorothy Hamill wedge that was briefly popular six years earlier. One shoulder is up at my ear. My grimace reveals teeth sheathed in glittering, silver braces. I have a new worst picture of my life. And no, I am not posting it to the Internet.

Scene V. Why let the fun with flashbacks end?

It is senior year of high school. My Dorothy Hamill haircut has been replaced with a huge, huge perm. It took two stylists three hours working side by side to wrap all my hair in spiral rods. It is my pride and joy. My crowning glory. If I were ever inclined to leave the school library, I could proudly sit in the groupies section of a Guns N Roses show.

I am ready for my picture. I position myself on the seat, ready to take the last photo of my student life. At the photographer’s cue, I smile, remembering 17 magazine’s advice on taking a cute picture. Think genuinely happy thoughts and your smile will look its very best.

“Cute!” the photographer said. “Wow! What a great smile.”

The next few weeks pass. Every so often, I feel the sweet prick of anticipation. I can’t wait to see my cute picture. At last, after so many years of terrible school photos, I will have something I can proudly swap with my friends.

Finally, the photos arrive in the school office. I dig through the box to find mine. There it is. I tear open the crinkly envelope. I slide out the pictures. I behold the image of me with my bouncing curls, my genuine smile...and my almost completely closed eyes. There’s no other way to say it. I look drunk.

My life is ruined.

This, I suppose, is why I try to give my kids the best possible shot at school picture day. So that they don’t have a lifetime of embarrassing memories and a drawer full of pictures they’re too humiliated to show their friends.

It’s probably wasted effort. After all, I do have some entertaining stories about school pictures gone horribly, horribly wrong. And the truth? I might have cut Alice’s bangs a little too short.

--Martha Brockenbrough

What are the New Math Basics?

Math Literacy - Why it is so Important to Our Children
As parents, we try to imagine our children in the future and we hope they will have rich and productive lives. We work hard to help them develop the tools and skills they will need to be happy, confident, productive adults. But if we consider how much the world has changed since we were kids, it's hard to imagine what it will be like when they are grown. How can we ensure they'll be equipped to thrive in that world?

In this new century, math literacy is the door to a wide range of critical jobs in science, engineering, medicine, technology — any field that's impacted by innovation and change. A survey of Fortune 500 companies conducted ten years ago found that the job skills most valued were teamwork, problem solving, interpersonal skills, and listening skills. These were more valued than basic knowledge skills such as reading and computation!

The New Math Basics
Changes in the workplace have created changes in education. Math teaching is increasingly focused on problem-solving. This doesn't mean that the old basics like memorizing math facts and learning standard methods of computation are no longer important — they are still key building blocks of math. But by themselves they aren't sufficient to prepare our students for a changing world. Our children will need to be able to adapt quickly to a dynamic environment, with the skills, flexibility, and logical thinking that will help them to compete in a global market.

When taught as problem solving, math can help children develop the critical thinking that's essential for a successful, productive life. That's because learning how to problem solve develops children's mental flexibility, independence of thought, self-esteem, and the ability to persevere. For example, when struggling to solve a problem, we'd want our child to say, "This strategy doesn't work; let me try a different way." Or "This is hard work, but I know I can solve it if I stick with it because I've solved problems before." Or "This is hard, but I'm not going to give up!" A child who has confidence in her own ideas might say, "It's okay if I don't agree with the group; there's more than one way to solve a problem."

Although mathematics is a specific area of knowledge, the kind of thinking developed in mathematics can be applied in all facets of life. Math teaching now emphasizes problem solving, developing and evaluating mathematical arguments, and being able to communicate one's ideas.¹ One might think of these as the new basics, the critical tools needed in the 21st century.

The Teachers at DreamBox Learning

1. National Council of Teacher of Mathematics. 2000. Principles and Standards for School mathematics. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

DreamBox Learning K-2 Math is the online math learning game kids love to play. It’s an in-depth math curriculum and completely individualized learning in an engaging adventure game. DreamBox is serious learning that's seriously fun! Recommended by Cozi

School Morning Checklist

SchoolFamily.com helps parents help their kids succeed in school. SchoolFamily.com provides expert insight, information, and resources for parents of school-age children in grades K-12.

Make school mornings easier with a weekly sheet to list your child's chores and needed items. Some common A.M. tasks are listed and you can customize it to suit your family.

School Morning Checklist - Get Ready for School

• Wake Up Cheerfully
• Make Your Bed
• Wash Your Face
• Get Dressed
• Morning Meal/Clear Dishes
• Clean Teeth/Fix Hairdo
• Collect Homework
• Collect Lunch or Lunch Money
• Put On Shoes and Jacket
• Say "Have a Good Day" to Loved Ones

Download the complete School Morning Checklist

Manage all your lists and access them from anywhere with Cozi's customizable lists.

Night Before School Checklist

SchoolFamily.com helps parents help their kids succeed in school. SchoolFamily.com provides expert insight, information, and resources for parents of school-age children in grades K-12.

Make school mornings easier by getting organized the night before. The complete chart allows you to list your child's nighttime chores.

• Pick Out Tomorrow's Outfit
• Make Lunch
• Gather Homework
• Clean Up and Put Things Away
• Put On Pajamas for Bedtime
• Clean Teeth and Drink Water
• Download the Night Before School Checklist

Download the complete Night Before School Checklist.

Prevent a Cluttered Backpack

The backpack's purpose is to carry study material, homework and extracurricular items to and from school. However, many people - not just students - regard the backpack as a permanent home for things. In other words, once an item is put in the backpack it is "put away." From this perspective, a backpack's design must have many sections and pockets to properly house items and be organized.

But, a backpack-as-permanent home results in a overstuffing and forgotten items. On the other hand, if you consider the backpack as a transition tool, the requirements become much simpler and there is a greater likelihood for order.

Smaller is usually better. The backpack should be just big enough to carry what is needed in the next 24 hours and not the contents of the locker.

Keep the design simple. Often, two pockets or sections are enough in a backpack. The smaller pocket holds the small stuff like the pencil case and the lunch bag, and the bigger pocket holds the books and binders. Adding more pockets than what is needed will result in items getting lost.

Empty daily. Once the contents are out of the backpack it's easy to see what needs to be done and what needs to be put away. As homework is completed, put it in the backpack. Once at school, put items in the locker and hang up the backpack. If your child has difficulty remembering what to pack in her backpack, attach a small laminated checklist to the backpack with a binder ring.

Dedicating the backpack to transporting items rather than housing them reduces clutter and lightens the load the student must carry. The student's back will thank you. Parents, as a twist read this again substituting the words  "briefcase" for "backpack" and "office" for "locker."

More Back to School Articles

Clear Spaces owner Denise Lee merges seven years of social service experience and seventeen years experience in Information Technology to bring you effective and personal organizing solutions for the home, the small business and the student. The Clear Spaces approach is holistic -- empowering you to live the life you want to live.

5 Ways to Keep Cool During school

The new school year is here. Are you beginning to feel the stress of morning madness and the craziness of the after-school juggling act? Make this school year different. Implementing simple systems that family members make part of their daily routine can bring relief. Children of all ages may benefit from a few organization systems in their life, and the home is a great place to start. Children as well as parents have a need for order and consistency in their daily routine.

Here are five ideas or strategies to help you and your children have a successful school year.

1. Plan your days and months with a calendar that is suited for your family's busy schedule and all activities.
   Whether you prefer a paper calendar, a dry-erase calendar or a computer calendar, there are many options to fit your style. Be sure that it's easy to get access to and that you look at it daily, so you can plan in advance. Involve your child with helping to keep his or her calendar up to date.
2. Establish a place for your child to unload his or her backpack.
   For papers that need to be signed and returned to school, teach children to place them in a designated area, where they will be easily spotted. Children also need a place to put completed schoolwork and artwork, once removed from the backpack. This place may be temporary until a decision has been made as to what will be kept. Provide your child with an oversize, acid-free photo album that can be used to store the most treasured pieces from each school year.
3. Establish a place to keep backpacks for the evening after they are emptied.
   A hook in an easily accessible location will help keep clutter off the floor.
4. Make sure your child knows where to find supplies for doing homework.
   I have heard stories from adults who were challenged as a child trying to do homework because they could never find the scissors, tape, glue, pencils, crayons, etc., that were needed to get assignments done.
5. When it comes to making a quick lunch, prepare what you can the evening before.
   Keep lunch-making items such as sacks, baggies, change, containers and grab-and-go foods in a place that allows you to quickly toss lunch together.

 

Laura Leist, CPO, is a speaker, productivity consultant and the best-selling author of Eliminate Chaos: The 10-Step Process to Organize Your Home & Life. She founded the Seattle-based organizing services firm Eliminate Chaos in 2000 and is the President of NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers). Laura is a frequent guest on TV, radio and has been published in several national newspapers and magazines.

Copyright Eliminate Chaos. Reprinted with permission.

Back to School Celebration

It is almost time for the new school year to start. For many of you, it already has. This means brand-new shoes, sharpened pencils, fresh school supplies, and cool book covers. As a kid, I lived for this time of year. Call me crazy, but I was happier in school than with all of that summer time on my hands. So I figure why not celebrate this new beginning? If you are thinking along the same lines and want to celebrate this time of year with your kids, check out a few of the ideas and resources below.

Hand-deliver a fresh apple with a little tag attached that gives the details of the gathering. You could also put the party details on apple- or pencil-shaped cutouts that could be easily mailed.

Make the party room look like a mock classroom, with a chalkboard or white board, a desk, books, and school supplies. Use school colors and decorate with balloons, streamers, and a school banner. Apples on the party table would also be excellent.

Play word and mind games, and hold a gym class. Play bingo, Trivial Pursuit, 20 questions, word search, etc. For gym, play Simon Says, Red Rover, dodge ball, kickball, and Twister. Hold a relay race in which the kids get ready for school by filling their backpack and lunch bag, and then racing to one end and back.

For older kids, you may want to pop in a movie such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off—a fun and easy activity for this age group.

For crafts, have the kids make bookmarks and/or book covers.

Food ideas are easy: pack school lunches. Ideas include small sandwiches, string cheese, a pack of goldfish crackers, an apple or a banana, and a little candy bar.

If you are going to hand out goodies, send them back to school in style. Fill paper gift bags with tissue, and add lots of school supplies like pencils, notebooks, erasers, locker mirrors, sticky pads, and gel pens.

--Lisa Kothari, Peppers and Pollywogs

Cut the Chaos: School Volunteering

Parenting contributor Lian Dolan imparts her hard-won wisdom.

Hi, my name is Lian and I’m a serial school volunteer. I can’t stop myself from signing my name when I see a blank space on a sheet of paper. If you are looking for a mom to run something, pick me, pick me. Look, I’m raising my hand! Book fairs, cookie-dough sales, auctions, historical recreations. (Yes, I have done square dance calling for the fourth-grade Pioneer Day despite the fact that I can’t differentiate a “do-si-do” from a “bow to your corner.”) I’ve been the Queen Bee in charge of events two years in the making, and I’ve been the Worker Bee, taking out the trash once the event is over. Here are my hard-earned tips for being a great school volunteer.

If You’re a Worker Bee
Do get involved. All the clichés about volunteer work are true — you meet great people, you connect with your community and you learn that giant pots of coffee take an hour to brew. Sign up for something, even if it’s only for a shift. We all have a skill to give back to the school.

Do the work. Sure, it’s delightful to chat with fellow moms you haven’t seen in a while, but if you are supposed to be staffing the face-painting booth, that means you’re supposed to be painting faces. Paint now, chat later. The chairperson has enough to oversee, she doesn’t want to have to keep prodding the volunteers to work.

Don’t second-guess. The decorations are lackluster and the food mediocre, but keep the criticisms to yourself. Chairing a school event is a thankless task, and everybody is a critic. Support Queen Bees with positive comments, not behind-the-scenes gossip.

If You’re the Queen Bee
Do it for the school, not your ego. Yes, it’s good of you to run the school auction, but you’re doing it to raise money for the school, not your social standing. The other volunteers are your friends and fellow parents, not your minions. The school and the kids come first. Respect the administration, teachers and traditions of the school.

Do delegate, and then let it go. I think the phrase is “control freak,” but that’s not supportive, is it? So I’ll just say that once you delegate a task, like centerpieces for the benefit, let the centerpiece mom do her job. Don’t double-check, triple-check or overrule her. Let the volunteers do what they volunteered to do. They want to be involved and respected.

Do make it fun. It’s a pizza lunch for the chess club, not the Middle East peace talks. Keep your perspective on the event.

Do follow up. Leave next year’s Queen Bee a notebook with all the lessons you’ve learned, helpful documents and lots of photos. And send thank-you notes to vendors, donors and outstanding volunteers. (They will remember and be touched.) Then take your Co-Queen Bee out for a pedicure, so the two of you can pamper your aching feet.

About the author: Lian Dolan is a writer, mother, Satellite Sister and creator of The Chaos Chronicles, a podcast, blog and website about modern motherhood.

MakingLifeBetter provides tips and smart strategies to help you feel good, look good, and get more out of life.

Is the First Day of School Your Favorite Day of Summer?

As August slips away, some parents are secretly (or not so secretly) happy to see summer come to an end and send the kids back to school.

Where do you stand? If you’re not sure, here are some thoughts to consider:

• If you’re thinking of hiring a professional referee to mediate your kids’ fights, you might be ready to have your kids head back to school.
• If your kids have had so many lemonade stands that the city wants you to get a permit, you might be ready to send your kids back to school.
• If you’ve paid your teenage babysitter more than the amount of your paycheck to take care of your kids while you work, you might be ready to send your kids back to school.
• If the number of times your kids have said, “I’m bored” exceeds the number of Otter Pops they’ve eaten over the summer, you might be ready to send your kids back to school.
• If your Xbox has developed the three red rings of death from over-use, you might be ready to send your kids back to school.
• If your kids have become as blasé about s’mores as they are about PB&J, you might be ready to send them back to school.
• If coming up with new entertainment for the kids is so hard that a trip to Costco now seems like a worthy outing, you might be ready to send the kids back to school.
• If the kids are sick of the slip ‘n slide, the beach, the park and the pool, you might be ready to send them back to school.
• If your favorite new drink at your local coffee shop is a triple-shot concoction called the Desperate Mom, you might be ready to send your kids back to school.

If you’ve answered yes to more than half of these questions, you’re probably ready to send your kids back to school. Before you feel guilty about admitting that, though, consider this: If you answered yes to more than half of these questions, your kids are probably secretly ready to head back to school, too!

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