Top 5 Reasons Parents Shouldn’t Force Kids to Go to College

October 6, 2012 by 2 Comments

Going to college is a big decision for young people today, and it is an important consideration for many parents as well. It is natural to want your children to succeed in life. For some, a college education is the best path to success and career options, however this is not necessarily the ideal path for all. There are many roads to take. Difficult as it may be, consider these top 5 reasons not to pressure your kids into going to college.

  1. The Education Sham
    Many people now live under the impression that a college degree is the key to finding a place and a career in one’s preferred industry, but this is not always the case. Many graduates with bachelor’s degrees have a difficult time finding jobs after college. Some industries are more difficult than others, but the US economy is in such shape right now that the job market is extremely rough, fiercely competitive, and often barren. To put it bluntly, a degree is not necessarily the golden ticket to a career.
  2. The Debt Burden
    Many college students now find themselves accruing debt throughout their academic years due to simply being unable to afford the rising cost of college tuition. This is something that students and parents alike are concerned about, and with good reason. It is not uncommon for students, unable to find jobs related to their studies, to continue working menial jobs just to manage living expenses and try to pay off student loans.
  3. Other Paths
    College education is certainly not the only path to success. Some of the most successful people in America, [Read more…]
Filed Under: education Tagged With:

Top 5 Tips to Prepare Your Teen for High School

October 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

It can be jarring to go from middle school to high school, and your teen might not
always be ready for such a transition. There are all sorts of new students, probably a
larger campus, and a new class structure that your child will have to familiarize him- or
herself with, and such a task can seem daunting, even to you. As a parent, there are
actually a few things to make sure your teen is properly prepared for his or her high
school experience, and most of them don’t actually cost a thing.

  • Time Management

Learning how to balance your time is an important part of being in high school.
Your teen will likely play some sports or join a club of some type, so you want to make
sure you’re instilling habits and practices around the house that will help your teenager
be familiar with good time management and understand its importance — it’ll become
especially vital as your teen starts to take on more and more responsibility.

  • Don’t Let Eighth Grade Get too Easy

One of the biggest problems with the end of middle school is that it gets way too
easy right before the transition to high school takes place. You can help avoid this by
encouraging learning-oriented activities and making sure your teen takes care of regular
responsibilities around the house.

  • Discourage an Idle Summer

With the end of middle school being as easy as it has a tendency to be, and the
uninterrupted of relative freedom and independence that follows it, the transition to a
brand new high [Read more…]

Filed Under: education Tagged With:

Watch It – Teaching Kids to Tell Time (and count money)

September 21, 2012 by 7 Comments

Time is a difficult concept to wrap your mind around. You can measure it but not with a ruler, you can lose it but will never find it. Oh, and it makes your hair grey 😛

When you are having fun it flies, but when you are not it drags on by- and of course it will continue on until…. well…. the end of time. Let’s get all the little guys and gals involved in all the ticking fun with Watch It! The elapsed time clock. This clock will help kids thinking hours and minutes instead of 5 minutes, 5 minutes. The clock itself is big and tough for little kids to play with. It is also well built and easy to use. The stopwatch in the middle tells the difference between the two clock on either side of the apparatus. Both clocks display the clock on both their faces and the numerical display below. This [Read more…]

Filed Under: education, kids, review Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Little Pim – Language Fun For Kids

September 17, 2012 by 6 Comments

With school starting up, parents and kids everywhere are looking for that slight edge to bring their kids from middle of the class to top of the class. It is a fact that children who learn foreign languages early in life have a much easier time learning new languages later on in life. With this in mind, we have Little Pim. This cute little panda helps kids learn languages like Chinese, Spanish, Italian, German, English, French, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, Hebrew, and Portuguese. Little Pim teaches children not by associated words with translations or drills, but with actions and sounds, so kids don’t have to translate to learn- they just learn.

This way, instead of memorizing one word, they memorize strings of actions, where the words are simply the building blocks to the underlying concepts. Pim is a blast for kids, it is so much fun Little Man actually asks to watch on a regular basis. If it is good enough to be requested instead of assigned, that is pretty good in our house, especially for something educational.

Little Pim is also the winner of 10 top consumer awards for his educational DVDs. Pimis now available as a digital download as well. So now Pim can be everywhere you are! Pim is even available as an app on the iPad and is the winner of the 2012 National Parenting Center Seal of Approval.

About Little Pim:

Little Pim is an award-winning foreign language learning program for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. Between birth and the age of six, the human brain is hard-wired for language learning, and Little Pim helps families take advantage of this brief window, by making language learning easy, fun [Read more…]

Filed Under: education, kids, movie, review, technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Orangutan Diaries – Saving Our Closest Relatives

September 17, 2012 by 6 Comments

Coming Soon to a TV near you- Orangutan Diaries. This 250 minute documentary is broken up into 2 discs. This movie follows a tale from the Borneo Orangutan Foundation. This establishment is a safe haven to orangutans in the Borneo region, nursing hurt or sick orangutans back to full health.

Making his Orangutang face LOL

At the time of filming there were 600 orangutans at the foundation. One of the first things you will notice is 600 orangutans are a lot of monkeys. That, and on first look, these people have the most awesome job in the world 🙂 They get to play with monkeys all day! It could be such fun to play with monkeys all day. The not so fun part, some are sick or hurt, and the reasons can [Read more…]

Filed Under: animals, education, kids, movie Tagged With: , , , ,

Tick-Tock’s Toy Clock- Learning To Tell Time

September 15, 2012 by 4 Comments

Telling time with an analog clock can be one of the more difficult activities your child could learn this year in school. Not only is this difficult for kids, but as kids become adults, they can still have a hard time with this. This is only second to splitting the bill after dinner in difficulty for adults. 😛

Whats a good way to get your children interested in keeping time? A cute play clock of course, lol. Take a look at Tick-Tock ‘s Talking Toy Clock. It is a bright, colorful clock adorned with the blue penguin. With Tick-Tock ‘s help, your child will be able to tell time before you know it. This is perfect for those kids who are always asking when to do something or what time it is or how long will this take. (So….all of them.) Within a few play/learning sessions with Tick-Tock, time will be a breeze with your little ones. Just be careful when you say, “give me five minutes”, because they will return in five minutes- unless it is five minutes until bed.

The clock itself works in a very simple manner. You can move the hands of the [Read more…]

Filed Under: education, kids, review Tagged With: , , , , ,

Safari LTD Review – Fun Kids Toys

August 9, 2012 by 15 Comments

Toobs! Little Man’s favorite 🙂

No, its not the newest Blue Man Group Show- it’s the super mega huge Jungle Mega Toob. The Mega Toob is twice as big as the regular toob, and houses 24 animals. Ranging in nature from alligators to zebras and lions, if it’s in the zoo chances are pretty good the critter is in this toob. Also, since it is a Safari Toob, the toob itself doubles as easy storage. The top opens and closes simply, making this ideal for vacations or bringing to restaurants and keeping little hands busy. He also got the Red Panda, Orangutang, Lion, and Baby leopard. Red Panda is by far his favorite toy DuJour.

What the? Are you nuts? You may be wondering why would I want to spend my vacation looking for small plastic zebras strewn about the car? Well, the answer to this is simple, don’t give the little ones the whole toob in one shot. As you notice the number of critters [Read more…]

Filed Under: education, kids, review Tagged With: , ,

5 Reasons to Encourage Your Kids to Play a Musical Instrument

August 7, 2012 by 1 Comment

Music is everywhere: you listen to it in your car and your home. It is in the elevator
at work and the department store in the mall. Chances are you often hear music without
even realizing it. Music breaks the barriers of language, race, space and time, and its
benefits for a prosperous life are innumerable. So the next time you catch your child
banging on your $500 set of pots and pans, let him bang away because your budding
drummer’s future is worth even more.

  1. The most obvious advantage of your child learning to play music is that it
    promotes creativity. Music requires using different parts of the brain than analytical
    subjects like math and science. Whether or not your child is a destined virtuoso,
    exercising the creative areas of his or her brain is healthy for your child’s development.
    This artistic outlet provides a positive channel for your children to express themselves.
    They will also find confidence in being able to communicate their emotions more
    effectively and pride in measuring their progress. With music, there are infinite
    opportunities for learning, encouraging your child to constantly strive for improvement.
  2. Just like adults, kids can experience stress. School can be overwhelming for
    a young mind, and playing music can help your child release his frustrations. Regular
    practice provides your child an outlet to relax in a routine.
  3. You will find that the concentration and coordination involved in learning a
    musical instrument will aid your children [Read more…]
Filed Under: education, kids Tagged With: , ,