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Before coming to HOMER to work on the Learning Team, I spent 8 years as a preschool teacher in New York City. Let’s face it, the teacher’s desk can sometimes become a catchall place for everything under the sun. One of my main struggles was keeping my desk clean and organized. As a teacher you want to be a role model for your students, so that they keep their desks (or cubbies) clean and organized. In prep for celebrating “Clean off your desk day” here at HOMER HQ– I went to a few experts to get their perspectives. The family business is education, so I asked my sister and mother who are both teachers how they manage to keep their desks clean.

Here were the best suggestions from the three of us:

  1. Set aside time each week (either on Friday afternoon or Monday morning) to clean off your desk. As much as you try to keep things organized during the week, there will inevitably be those stray papers and other items that accumulate during the week. Start the week off right by spending the time to tidy it up! (I carried this over into my current job and try to tidy up my desk and close as many tabs and documents on my computer as possible each Friday afternoon!)
  2. Keep a small drawer organizer on your desk for things like paper clips, binder clips, rubber bands, staples, etc. so they don’t just pile up everywhere. As an extra bonus, you will know where to find them quickly when a student asks for one! 
  3. Color coordinate your files. Make sure all of your files or folders are color coordinated based on subject, for both your students and yourself! This makes things much easier to find quickly and helps your students keep their work organized as well. If space is limited, hang something around your desk to organize your folders, with one for each subject.
  4. Use binder clips so that your chords aren’t all over your desk and you can even label them! This is a game changer! 
  5. Use a file organizer to keep track of holidays. As a preschool teacher, I was always decorating the classroom based on the season or holiday we were celebrating. I kept a file folder organizer on my desk that was organized by month, with each holiday having its own file folder. With folders organized by month, I could easily access the appropriate holiday without digging through stacks of papers! 
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With the new year comes new year’s resolutions. While some people love the opportunity to get organized and set goals, some dread resolutions and get discouraged when they feel like they’re not keeping them. We spoke to some of the HOMER parents on our team to find out which camp they’re in, and what goals they have for their families for the month of January.

Here’s what they said:

 

SAM

This holiday season felt particularly frantic. I had high hopes of staying on top of my to-do list so we could spend December making precious holiday memories, but then I blinked, my family passed around a couple colds, and all of a sudden it was December 20th. Because of that, my goals for my family for January are simple.

  1. Do one thing a week that is outside. It’s cold and it gets dark early and it probably will snow, but we all seem to feel better when we’re moving around in the fresh air. Maybe we’ll go for walks, maybe we’ll head to the park, maybe we’ll just run from the house to our car on our way to the grocery store. All of those things will count.
  2. Listen to more music. This is something else that just seems to put us all in a good mood. My three-year old son has always loved initiating dance parties, and now my 8-month old loves watching her brother’s crazy moves and clapping along. P.S., does anyone else add things they KNOW they’ll be able to cross off?
  3. My last goal for January is to be kind to myself and understand that life happens. I might not get to cross everything off the list, and that’s okay.

KAYLA

I’m a full time working mom, so this year I’m trying some easier, gentler, more mindful resolutions– I’m okay with that! Instead of setting myself up to fail by February, this year I’m striving for goals that are actually doable. Join me?

  1. Walk to work: I’ve always said that convenience is absolutely worth the price, but with on-demand transportation being so readily available for us at any time of the day, I’ve gotten very used to my easy routine. Not having to worry about train delays or walking in the cold was a dream, but I really want to be better about my personal finances and health. Walking to work is an easy way to get those steps in!
  2. Be more involved in my daughter’s daily activities: I’m beginning to think that the “perfect balance” doesn’t exist, but I’m determined to figure out what works best for me and my family. I want to enjoy the moments I can with my little one and stop stressing about what I’ve “missed”, because, at the end of the day, this is what it’s really all about.
  3. Waste less food and eat together as a family: I’m not saying this needs to happen everyday. I love my TV tray dinners, but I think involving everyone in the preparation and then sitting at the table as a family at least once a week, will encourage family togetherness.

  4. Stop Over-Apologizing: “When did you become such a chronic apologizer?” My mom asked me that not too long ago and it really threw me off guard. She was right! As women, it’s easy to often feel the need to prove our self-worth and how capable we are, while avoiding being “aggressive.” As moms, even more so! I’m a human being and there are things I need to apologize for, but trying to make it in a competitive world is not one of them. My little one absorbs everything and repeats me all the time, so I want to make sure I’m leading by example. I want to reserve apologies for when they’re necessary, for when I’ve made a mistake. I will not apologize because I’m expected to.

STEFAN

None of these are new. In fact, I’ll admit I don’t like New Year’s resolutions. But I acknowledge it can be a good time to refocus on current goals and determine if there’s a better way of reaching those goals. These are the big ones for me:

  1. Create, not Consume. Even after deleting all social media apps from my phone years ago, I find myself spending too much time consuming rather than creating.  Even something as respectable as reading the NY times throughout the day is consuming vs creating. I love to draw. It refreshes me. Instead of keeping this a broad goal, I am recommitting with a small, attainable one of drawing once a week. The hope is it snowballs to more creating and less consuming in my life.
  2. Learn Another Language. I am Swedish-American, and despite my father’s occasional Swedish and living in Stockholm for a couple years, my Swedish is severely lacking. Luckily I’ve found a great language-learning app that I use on weekends or for 10-minute sprints. The real bonus is that my 7 year old loves it too. After our “lessons”, we’ll try speaking only Swedish with each other for the next half hour.  
  3. Rest. With 3 kids, true rest is hard to come by in our home. We are making an effort to do activities that provide real relaxation, like reading, drawing (two birds, one stone?!), and doing puzzles, rather than just turning on a movie. My wife is really blazing the trail on this one, so I’m confident at least this one will happen.

We want to hear from YOU! Share your #FamilyGoals with us on Instagram.

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It’s getting cold outside, which means more time indoors, earlier bedtimes (more sleep, please!), and lots of opportunities for cooking and snuggling up with a good story. And, with the holidays coming up, lots of kids will be out of school and away from their normal learning routines.

The learning experts at HOMER have put together a Winter Reading Challenge to encourage you to keep your kids excited about learning and give them some breaks from all the sweets. So find a nook to nestle in and start our challenge!

INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Update your iOS, Android, or Amazon app to the latest version and visit the menu in the HOMER Reading app.
  • Read a story. Download the full winter reading list here.
  • Cut out a snowflake (either make your own or download ours with your reading list.)
  • Write the story title on the snowflake.
  • Punch a hole in the snowflake and add it to a string you hang in your child’s room.
  • If your child completes all stories on the reading list for her age group by Jan. 12, we’ll send her a special certificate and HOMER goodie bag to celebrate her achievement.
  • Share pictures with us on Instagram, including #KidPoweredLearning, for a chance to win a Parker The Augmented Reality Bear!
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Q&A with Peggy Kaye, HOMER’s Chief Curriculum Officer

Many children feel that unless they read with the fluency of adults, then they are bad readers. Other children see classmates having an easier time learning to read and it makes them insecure. Children rarely accept the “everyone learns at a different pace” line — although it’s the truth. They don’t accept analogies like baseball players need a lot of practice before they are master athletes.

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Q&A with Peggy Kaye, HOMER’s Chief Curriculum Officer

No one knows more about children’s books than librarians who work in the children’s room of a library. The librarian at your child’s school is an equally valuable resource. There are also bookstores with excellent children’s departments and very knowledgeable clerks.

Before talking to any of these people, I recommend making a list of books your child has particularly enjoyed and consider what kinds of books are the most appealing: books about kids like them, books about magical worlds, books with lots of action, books with lots of silliness. This will help you to select stories that your child will be more interested in reading.

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