I just wanted to take a second to tell everyone some exciting news for me. I have been interviewed on MurrayNewlands.com an awesome Marketing Blog and I wanted to share it with my readers. If you have a spare minute or two could you please take a moment to read my Product Reviewer Interview and if you would like to comment that would be wonderful. Thank you for your continued support!

Today, I will be bringing you our interview with Victoria from Mom’s Homeroom. We asked her a few questions that we felt our readers would like to hear about.

Victoria is a third grade teacher and single mom to four kids. She was voted Teacher of the Year in 2007 and has been recognized as a mentor-teacher for the past four years. She has taught courses in diversity training, critical thinking, and human development theory in her states alternative certification program. She uses her teaching skills to help her children realize their potential and give them the skills to be well-rounded people. Read on for advice and tips from Victoria…

Being Named Teacher of the Year – In gaining this title Victoria felt very honored and validated in what she was doing and the goals that she had set not only for herself but her colleagues and teachers on her team. Not only how she did in her own classroom was taken into account but, what she did outside the classroom for the teaching community. Victoria said it was a “wonderful acknowledgment”.

How Do You Find Balance? - Victoria says she learned years ago that she needed to be easier on herself in her daily life. She had to learn when things were good enough as they were and when she needed to push to make it right. “As women we are given the impression that we have to do everything in our lives with equal priority and achievement and that can set us up to fail”, Victoria says. (You know what? That makes sense to me and it was great to hear someone say that, almost like it made it okay for me to feel and think that way too, which I do). “It can really undermine our ability to be good mothers when we have this sense of what we should be able to do and we can’t forgive ourselves if we can’t reach that goal”. Prioritizing is important and always be ready for the Frisbee to tip, which is how Victoria sees balance in her life, not by a typical scale, but how things are when a Frisbee is thrown into a pool, with all the dips and sways.

Do You See A Difference in Children Who Attend Preschool As Opposed To Those Who Don’t As Far As Academic Setting? – Unfortunately, yes there is a difference. With a lot of school districts putting curriculum into Kindergarten it seems that children really need to be more prepared, know their letters and numbers and in some cases write them all out. Now of course that is not saying that a child who stays home with a parent during the preschool years can’t catch up and learn what they need to know by the time they finish kindergarten.

What Are Your Recommendations For Getting Your Child Ready For The School Aged Years? - Victoria had great tips on things to do with your children to get them prepared to learn and be ready for school weather is be preschool or straight to kindergarten. They are:

1. Take the pressure off your child to produce results.
2. Look for interactive games to play together so they can learn concept.
3. Look for word games to play so they get use to the sounds in words

All of these tips are great tips to help your child start on the road to learning.

What Are Your Recommendations On Getting School Supplies For Your Child? – She had wonderful tips for ways to get your school supplies for your child’s school year, sometimes with great sales.

• Dollar Stores – She once stocked her classroom with clip boards for a dollar a piece, and her kids loved them and did more work on them then if their papers were on their desks.
• Yard Sales – Great place to find puzzles, books and even board games that used to be such a big part of a children’s education.
• Major Drug Store Chains – They have weekly sales, like one for erasers for a penny. Most have limits so just go in as many times in that week as you can and buy the maximum. Great way to stock up on things that you need on a regular basis.

That wraps up our interview questions for Victoria, and I know I could have stayed there all day talking with her, especially about the difference between preschool-ed kids and un-preschool-ed kids, as I wish I had someone to tell me what she did before my middle daughter started school. I have always been lucky to stay home with my kids and I never knew that the school systems were upping what the children needed to know before kindergarten and my daughter was behind. At that point I had felt like such a failure, with my daughter, but I am happy to say that she caught up and surpassed what she is supposed to know now and I couldn’t be more proud of her. Thank you Victoria for being such an awesome figure for us to look up to. In our short time chatting you really impressed me and made a difference in the way I look at myself now.

And that wraps up our interviews with the wonderful women of Mom’s Homeroom. This is definitely one experience I will never forget! Thank you all for sharing your advice, wisdom and tips with us so that we could share them with our readers. I learned so much in those few hours on the set and I appreciate all the time that you gave me.

I am working with The Motherhood as a correspondent for Kellogg’s and Mom’s Homeroom to bring you all of this great information.

Today, I will be bringing you our interview with Jillian from Mom’s Homeroom. We asked her a few questions that we felt our readers would like to hear about.

Jillian, a mother of two, is board-certified in Adolescent and Child Psychiatry as well as Psychiatry and Neurology. For the past nine years she has been helping parents and children overcome challenges like academic difficulties, learning disabilities, and emotional and social disorders. One of Jillian’s strong points is to make sure that parents listen to their children as well as talking to them, which in turn improves the parent-child relationship. Read on for Jillian’s advice and tips.

Discipline – Jillian discussed three general concepts when it comes to discipline no matter what the age of the child.

• Consistency – you must have the same rules, all the time. If you don’t want your child jumping on the couch then you must stop your child every time they attempt to do that. Mom & Dad and even Grandparents, who are taking an even bigger role than ever in helping to raise their grandchildren, all need to be on the same page with dealing with the rules. Grandma can’t let the kids do something that Mom & Dad don’t allow or the children will get confused.
• Control Your Emotions – There is not a parent around that can say that they never raised their voice to yell at their kids, but in losing control of your emotions you are showing your children that you can’t handle a situation. And it’s not just with your kids, if you lose an important document and calming search for it without losing control you will teach your kids how to rectify a situation while keeping a clear, calm level head.
• Positive Reinforcement – One thing that is so important is to not only tell your children when they do something wrong but to let them know when they do something good. This will boost their self-esteem and generally make them feel great about themselves.

Using behavioral charts and star charts are also great ways to monitor your children’s behavior, and if one doesn’t work, don’t give up completely, try a new approach and eventually you will find one that works.

School and Changes Within Your Child – Kids gearing up to go back to school are filled with anxiety as it is, but add changes going on within their bodies and tweens and teens can become a whole different animal. You, as the parent will need to adjust to their mood swings, where one minute they love you and the next they hate you. You will have to understand that during this phase their peers are more important to them then you are. It is a phase and once you understand that it will pass and it is not a direct attack on you, things will become better. One tip to ease some of this anxiety of starting school is to get them involved with the school or their peers a few weeks prior to the start, this should lessen their anxiety a bit.

Ways For Families To Get Back To Basics And Connect – Sure it is easier to have your child sitting in front of the TV so you can get something done, but when that happens you both lose out. If you start a child out early on being active within the family it will be easy and a lesson they will take with them throughout their lives, but there will be obstacles if you start out with older kids. With older children they will complain about having to partake in family activities but if you continue and not give up they will eventually come around and enjoy being with the family.

Activities like cooking and arts and crafts are great ways to bond with your children. And physical activities, like going to a park or a zoo or even riding a bike can make great impressions on them. Getting back to basics can also include playing board games or doing something that doesn’t involve technology. Doing that allows for so much more communication between you and your child and will make for one strong bond.

Economic Times and Stress – In these tough times when families are losing their savings, college funds and even their homes it has become extremely important to limit the amount of stress your children are exposed to. Try to have your conversations about these topics away from the kids. Even if they are sleeping (or supposed to be) they can still hear if conversations become heated. Because they don’t understand most of these situations yet it is best to protect them from the stress of it all.

This is however a great time to reconnect as a family in ways that don’t have you spending money. You can even include them in making a family budget so they begin to understand the importance of saving.

Jillian is a big supporter of relaxation techniques and teaches children how to release anxiety by the 3-3-3 technique (relaxation breathing). Breathe in through the nose for 3 seconds, hold for 3 seconds, exhale through mouth for 3 seconds (by the way this works for adults too, trust me I have tried it). She also uses Visual Guided Imagery, which is where some soft, quiet new age type music is played and a mans or woman’s voice comes on and give a descriptive story, like talking about how the water is bouncing off the rocks, the colors of a rainbow, etc. to help a child relax. And of course physical activity can always help burn off anxiety.

That wraps up our interview with Jillian. She is a wonderful woman and I learned so many tips and techniques from her that I will be instilling into my family life and I am so happy to have had the chance to meet her and talk to her. I hope my readers all find her advice and tips as valuable to them as I have. Thank you Jillian for a great interview! Check back soon as I introduce another Mom’s Homeroom Mom to you as well as introduce the next episode of the show.

I am working with The Motherhood as a correspondent for Kellogg’s and Mom’s Homeroom to bring you all of this great information.

Today, I will be bringing you our interview with Claire from Mom’s Homeroom. Renee and I asked her a few questions that we felt our readers would like to hear about.

Claire is a mother of two, and is very familiar with the struggle of career and family. She is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology and operates a practice that concentrates on preventative and wellness medicine. Claire is a member of the American Society for Nutrition and keeps herself in shape by running. She aims to give back to her community and is teaching her children to do the same. Read on to find out what tips we learned by talking with Claire.

Picky Eaters – One of the things we learned was that we really do need to expose our children to multiple types of foods. When we go to the grocery store we tend to only get what we like or foods we know about. We need to expand our boundaries and try new foods. And one tip that I was happy to learn is that kids sometimes get in the cycle where they only want one thing and as long as it is a healthy, nourishing item then it is okay to let them eat the same thing as they will eventually break out of that cycle. I loved to hear that as sometimes my toddler gets into that phase.

Kids Exercise – With Physical Education being cut down or taken out of schools all together it is important that our children get the exercise they need. Claire recommends encouraging your children to find an activity that keeps them active that they enjoy. It could be as simple as finding a bike trail and riding their bike, something that you can do with them, or find a sports activity that they are interested in. With baseball, soccer, football, dance, lacrosse, gymnastics and even martial arts they are bound to find something they like.

Back To School – Claire says she plans several weeks in advance for getting her kids ready to go back to school. In order to mentally prepare them for this she changes their sleeping schedule about two weeks prior. They go to bed earlier and wake up earlier a little each day to get them ready for that early morning alarm clock once school starts. Kids really do need a full nights sleep to be productive at school.

Extra Curricular Activities, At What Point Does It Become Too Much? – Kids these days are bogged down with tight schedules that have them doing homework in cars traveling from activity to activity. With this, their school work and chores, the concern that they aren’t being a child is a big one. Kids need the time to take a break and to experience childhood. Schedules really need to be relaxed a bit. Claire says that her children know that if things start sliding with their schoolwork that the extra curricular activities will be taken away. Teachers also have begun to place a big emphasis on the fact that schoolwork needs to come first.

Nutrition – Every child should start their day with a full, balanced breakfast in order to succeed in school. Nutrition does affect their attention span, information retention and test taking. If they have a good start to their morning with a great breakfast they will be able to keep up in school. If your child has sugary foods, then they are sluggish and tired and really can’t keep up. Claire says that building basic nutrition skills at an early age is something we as parents should do as it really helps them out in the long run.

That wraps up our interview with Claire. She is a great, laid back mom and is full of useful information and I am so happy to have had the chance to meet her and talk to her. I learned a lot from her in the short time I was able to spend chatting with her and I hope my readers all find her advice and tips as valuable to them as I have. Thank you Claire for a great interview! Check back soon as I introduce another Mom’s Homeroom Mom to you as well as introduce the next episode of the show.

I am working with The Motherhood as a correspondent for Kellogg’s and Mom’s Homeroom to bring you all of this great information.

Today, I will be bringing you our interview with Alba from Mom’s Homeroom. Renee and I asked her a few questions that we felt our readers would like to hear about.

Alba is a very down-to-earth mother who has a very secure grip on her love for her children as well as volunteering and teaching her children to feel valued. She is dedicated to her community and teaches her children to be the same way. Read on to see what she feels strongly about and how her homeschooling style is.

Community Involvement – Alba leads by example with her children. Between teaching her children and volunteering she works hard, saying it really is a full time job where she only gets about 6 hours of sleep a day. She is the homeschool leader of her town and has been for the last 7 years. She has started and helped run soccer leagues as well as coordinated a national cultural event at her church. Her children see her volunteering everyday and they see that there is a lot of different opportunities to help within their own community as well as others.

Homeschool Style – Alba became a stay at home mother the day she gave birth to her first child and when her children became school aged she knew in her heart that she wanted to keep them home and teach them. With advice from her sister she set out to helping her children learn with an eclectic, textbook style of homeschooling. She follows her gut in what she feels she needs to teach them, and understands when one child gets a little ahead of their peers or falls a little behind. Her greatest feat was teaching her children English and feels that the library is a wealth of information and resources.

When asked how she knows that her children have progressed to the next grade she explains that her state has three methods of testing your child, she discusses two of the  ways. One way, and the way she chooses to test her children, is to have a certified teacher evaluate them. A favorite word is commensurate, to see if the children are learning at their level, not according to peers, but of themselves. Another way of testing is letting the children take a standardized test, to which Alba’s teaching is not geared to, meaning she does not teach her children to what would be on the test.

Me, Alba and Renee from Cutie Booty Cakes

Socialization – While a homeschooling mom never stops teaching, unlike the big summer break kids have from public school, socialization is not a problem for Alba’s children. Teaching lasts around 3 hours and that allows for great socialization and interaction with their friends. They have dance classes and soccer practices as well as church activities to keep them very active, even throughout the summer months. Alba’s goal in life is to make sure her children can fit into any environment, so she know they will always be able to handle themselves.

Nurturing Self Esteem – Alba says a very important book to her is, “The Five Languages of Love”, and it helps you realize that every member of a family is valued in a different way. Alba nurtures her children with physical affection, lots of hugs. She feels it is important to “read” your child and get a feel for how they feel valued and nurture that.

That about wraps up our interview with Alba. She is a very smart, savvy woman who is a fountain of information and I am so happy to have had the chance to meet her and talk to her. I learned a lot from her in the short time I was able to spend chatting with her and I hope my readers all find her advice and tips as valuable to them as I have. Thank you Alba for a great interview! Check back soon as I introduce another Mom’s Homeroom Mom to you as well as introduce the next episode of the show.

I am working with The Motherhood as a correspondent for Kellogg’s and Mom’s Homeroom to bring you all of this great information.

I have the honor of being a featured reader at Kristen’s blog La Dolce Vita. Please check out my interview by clicking the Featured Reader button above. And please leave a comment on the post while you are there and show me some love