Summer Soccer camps

It’s that time of year when you are realizing that school is about to end and you haven’t planned out the summer yet.  If any of you have kids interested in soccer, this binder has a list of soccer camps put together by a bunch of moms.  They’re in the San Francisco bay area and one of them even has a drop-in clinic.

Open the binder by clicking on the link or icon below and click through the tabs to see the different web pages.

Happy summer!

Summer soccer camps 2008

 

Aerial Pesticide spraying this Summer in Bay Area

If any of you live in the San Francisco Bay Area - you might want to check out these news stories concerning the Light Brown Apple Moth Pesticide spraying that will occur in the Bay Area this summer. Somehow it has gone unnoticed by the community until recently and it is causing an uproar by local residents concerned for their health. This includes a group of mothers who are lobbying to change the spraying, but it might be impossible to do at this late notice.

If you click on the binder link below - it has the latest articles, and websites that can help you find out more information on what to protect yourself if you are stuck in the area during the aerial spraying. Everything is organized by tabs and sub-tabs just click on them to view the websites.

Moth spraying in Bay Area

Fostering an orphaned elephant

Our kids received a great gift a couple of years ago - instead of the usual gift card or plastic toy - our daughters were given an orphaned elephant named Makena. Makena lives on the David Sheldrick Wild Life Reserve in Kenya, Africa. The foster donation lasts for a year and you receive monthly reports about the reserve, any new additions to the reservation and the monthly goings on concerning the elephant, or rhino you are fostering. They send you pictures from the website and a digital image of a water color of the animal you are fostering. I believe the water colors are painted by David Sheldrick’s daughter.

The stories are charming - some heart breaking - and your donations make you feel like you can make the world just a little bit better. It’s also great to engage your children - my kids would love to visit the reserve!

Take a look at the website in the binder below - I’ve included some of their photos, the monthly reports since 2007 and also some interesting stories regarding the rescue of a rhino and some recent baby elephants.

To open click on the link below!

Enjoy!

Adopting an Elephant

Funny lady on Youtube

It’s Monday and time for a little something to brighten your week.  Here are some videos that are by a video blogger known as ’Happy Slip’ who won 2nd place for ‘Best Comedy’ on Youtube.

She tells some funny stories about her wacky relatives, and she does this by acting just like them.  It is pretty funny!

Please check out her blogs by clicking on the link below.  The binder will have her video blogs organized by tabs.  Then check out the tab titled ‘home page.’ which will provide links to her latest blog videos.

 Enjoy!

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=126

Ode to Happyslip

Concerns for Tweens online

I found an interesting article about some of the ’safety’ issues to watch out for with tweens.  It is not the same issues that adults face, but can be harmful nonetheless.   If you have kids creating accounts online, it would be good to read this article and check out the websites they posted.  I’ve put those links in this binder as well. 

To open the binder and read the articles and websites, click on the link or icon below.

Tweens safety on Internet

 

Surprising events in the news

There are days when you can’t believe what goes on in the world. Some events remind you of the ancient past and you think we haven’t come very far as a species. Other events make you wonder what the future is going to look like.

 

Click on the link or icon below to view a few article I found pretty hard to believe.

 

Surprising news 1

Help for new soccer coaches and team parents

It’s soccer season again and many of you might be first time coaches, assistant coaches or team parents.  Welcome to the club! I’ve included in this blog a couple of binders that you might find very helpful.  The first is a binder on coaching tips - including useful flash and youtube videos to have the kids review on soccer skills.The other is a binder that belongs to one of the soccer teams and you might find it useful as a template for creating your own team binder.   To view the binders just click on the link below - works with latest IE, Firefox and Safari.   

Soccer Coach Binder

 

 

Olympic Marseille girls soccer team

Multiplication worksheets for kids

If you are looking to drill your kids on their multiplication tables this binder has a few sites with printable worksheets. I use flash cards but I also want to have my kids work through the problems on paper. These sites even have division problems and templates for flash cards.

To open the binder click on the link or the icon below. Then you can look at the different websites by clicking on the tabs.

If you want to save this binder onto your desktop - drag the link below to your desktop. Your browser icon will appear on the desktop along with the name of the binder - ‘Multiplication worksheets to print.’

My kids actually look forward to beating their fastest time, so it’s nice to have the binder handy so I can print the worksheets out when they get home.

Multiplication worksheets to print

Safe websites for kids

There are some really fun and educational sites on the web for kids in elementary school. If you are trying to make a few choices among hundreds start here with this very well thought out and resourceful binder.

Websites for Kids

Softball time - already?

Spring is just around the corner and that means softball season. I missed it last year! I’m so glad that my daughter signed up for it this year. I can hardly wait for

• the mad scrambles in the afternoon to find cleats and glove
• the fierce digging through email to find directions to this week’s game
• the impossible task of trying to commit to memory the snack schedule

But this year is going to be just a little easier. I’m putting everything in a binder like I did for my soccer team in the fall. I drag the binder to my desktop where it is handy and I will send it to the rest of the parents so that they too can have all the information in just one place:

Belmont Bombers

But I admit it, I love to watch them play. In “under 10″ the girl’s are just starting to get serious about the game and I love to watch their intensity. Now if some of the parents would get a little less serious, we would all have a lot more fun. I’ve included some great sites in the binder like the positive coaching site and another site that I found with “tips for parents.”

I hope it is a great season!