State Trivia

Following are a few questions about the fifty states in the United States of America. See how well you know your country.

1) Eight states in the United States have names that start with the letter "M". Can you name all eight of them?

2) What is the largest state?

3) What is the smallest state?

4) What was the first state?

5) What was the last state?



Answers:

1) Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana

2) Alaska

3) Rhode Island

4) Delaware on December 7, 1787

5) Hawaii on August 21, 1959

Animal Story Starters

Use the following story starters to write an animal story.

1. If I could be any animal for a day, I would be a _______. Write about what you would do during your day as an animal.

2. I wish my pet could talk to me. If my pet could talk, this is what he/she would tell me about…

3. My science teacher asked us to create a new animal. We could combine any animals together to create a new creature. I would make a ______. He would be the greatest because he would be able to ________.

4. Some dogs help blind people by becoming Seeing Eye dogs. Other dogs help police officers or firemen. I would like to train dogs to help with…

5. I would love to be a bird. I could fly anywhere I wanted. Write about your flying adventures if you were a bird. Tell the story as if you were a bird.

6. Pretend you are a zoo animal. People come and visit you every day. How do you feel about living in a zoo? What do you like about it? What do you dislike about it?

7. If animals ran the world instead of people they would…

8. I think we could save many of the world’s endangered animals. I have a plan for how we could do this.

9. Write about the most beautiful zoo or aquarium you have ever visited. Why did you love it?

10. What would your life be like if there were no animals?

11. Pretend you are a bird. Write a story about how you build your nest. How do you collect the sticks? What do you use to make the materials stick together? How large is your nest and where is it resting?

12. If I could pick any animal to be my school mascot, I would choose a _____ because…

13. I wish I could take my dog to school for the day. We would have so much fun. He could help my class in so many ways. Write about spending the day at school with your dog.

Snow Day Poem

I look outside my window
and what do I see?

Six inches of fluffy snow
waiting just for me.

School is cancelled for one day.
Buses cannot run.

That’s ok with me because
I’ll have lots of fun.

I grab my boots, coat, and hat.
I run, jump and play.

Scoop it. Toss it. Crackle. Crunch.
Snow Day! Snow Day! Yeah!

Teach Budgeting to Kids

It doesn’t take long after your first baby is born to realize one important truth about parenting. Kids are expensive! They get more and more expensive the older they get. I have an eleven year old and a fourteen year old and their financial needs seem to be greater than mine and my husbands. We have had to take drastic measures to help them understand the value of a dollar.

Most parents give their children a monthly or weekly allowance for doing chores and helping out around the house. This is an excellent idea, but I think you should take it a step further. The sooner children learn to stick to a budget, the better off they will be when they are grown up. Start when they are young and teach them how to manage their own money. Children have many monthly expenses such as presents for their friend’s birthday parties, clothes, toys, snacks, movies, books, etc. Many parents keep forking over cash without realizing how fast it adds up.

I recommend giving each of your children a set amount of money each month that will cover their expenses and leave them with spending money. They may not be mature enough to handle this until they are nine or ten years old. Let’s suppose that you give each child $25 per month for his or her allowance. Raise this amount to $75 or $100 a month and explain to them that it will cover all of their monthly expenses. I can hear you screaming already, but just hear me out. It may sound like a lot of money, but it will be less money in the long run. Before you settle on the monthly amount, take a look at your checkbook from the previous few months. Add up all of the miscellaneous expenses for each child. Find the average monthly amount that each child spends. You and your spouse can decide if you think that amount is reasonable or if you need to cut back.

Once you decide on a monthly budget, sit your children down and explain that this is all the money they will receive for the entire month for clothing, entertainment, toys, snacks, birthday presents for friends, or whatever you decide. This system is working especially well for my daughter who goes through money like it was growing in our garden. The first month she ran out of money after two or three weeks. We had to be firm and not cave in to her requests for more money.

Of course, the amount that you choose will not cover normal family expenses such as doctor visits, trips to the orthodontist, or similar expenses. It is a budgeting tool designed to teach them about discretionary income. Over the course of a few months your children will understand the value of money better. They will become experts at stretching their dollars. Instead of choosing to go to the movie theater, they may decide to rent a movie or trade movies with friends. They will think twice about blowing ten dollars on some silly trinket they see at the mall. These are exactly the type of results you are looking for.

After trying this experiment for a couple of months, you can look back at your expenses and see if this method has cut your costs. Add up a month of expenditures for your child before this system and then compare it to how much you are now giving them. I guarantee it will be lower.

Once your children become expert money managers, you can suggest that they save some of their monthly allowance or give some to charity. Your children will thank you when they are grown ups and they know how to manage their own money wisely.

Winter Trivia

Try this winter trivia quiz to see how much you know about winter.

1. Ten inches of snow will melt down to how many inches of liquid rain?


2. Can it snow when skies are clear?


3. How many times a year does the sun set in the Arctic?


4. What percent of snow is composed of air?


5. What day marks the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere?



Answers:

1. one inch of liquid rain
2. yes, when temperatures are in the single digits
3. once
4. 80%
5. winter solstice

Winter Story Starters

Use the following story starters to write a winter story.

1. I was sledding down a giant hill when suddenly I….

2. Sharp icicles hung from my garage. I had a great idea on what to do with them when I saw the neighborhood bully walking down my street. I …..

3. I made a nice fat snowman and dressed him in a top hat and scarf. When I woke up the next morning he was missing. I had a real mystery on my hands.

4. I was skating on the pond by my house when suddenly the ice cracked. I hollered and hollered for help. I panicked as I started slipping into the freezing water.

5. Describe the most beautiful sunset you have ever seen. What were you doing while you watched it?

6. In my hometown it never snows. I knew it would take a miracle to get snow on Christmas Eve. The weatherman said it might happen this year …..

7. I had never been snow skiing before. I went to ski school and you will never believe what happened to me. I started down the hill….

8. My friend dared me to stick out my tongue and touch it to the freezing cold light pole. I took her dare and it stuck. You will never believe what happened then.

9. I was worried about the animals and birds outside of my house. I thought they must get very cold in the winter. I came up with a plan for how to keep them warm this winter.

10. My goals for the New Year are….

Happy New Year!

I want to wish a Happy New Year to families everywhere. Let's make this a year to remember. I wish all of you more quality family time, less stress, and a healthy, happy 2007!

As a parent, educator, and writer, I designed my blog to provide fun family activities and tips with active families in mind. Here are a few New Year's resolutions that I intend to follow with my own family. Maybe you will find one or two that you might want to keep with your family.

1. Try to keep my family unplugged at least one night a week. That means after dinner and homework, we will entertain ourselves the old-fashioned way. We will pull out board games, cards, books, and magazines. We will unplug the tvs, computers, and video games for one night and enjoy each other's company. This rule will apply to the adults and the kids.

2. I will stay on top of my house and all of the many weekly chores that I tend to neglect when life gets busy. I have written a chore chart with one simple nightly chore for each member of the family such as taking out trash, dusting tables, etc. This way no one feels overwhelmed by having to tackle the entire house at once. There is nothing worse than coming home to a messy house on Friday afternoons after a stressful week of work/school.

3. I will resist the temptation to pick up fast food for my family. Normally I cook dinner at home, but sometimes I am tired and fast food seems like such an easy option. It's ok for a treat once in a while, but sometimes it gets out of hand. I will do a better job of including my kids in meal planning so that everyone will get one or two of their favorite meals each week.

4. Exercise is already a big part of our family life. Each member of my family, including the adults, has a favorite sport or activity. I will plan a weekly activity that we can all participate in together. We might walk the dog together, ride our bikes, or play golf. It doesn't matter what the activity is as long as we are doing it together.

5. Finally, my number one resolution for 2007 is that I will stop nagging everyone. I constantly find myself reminding children to clean their rooms, finish their homework, comb their hair, or any number of other activities. This will be a tough one, but I hope everyone will take more responsibility for themselves when I stop nagging them.

Hopefully you have found one or more ideas that you could use with your family this year. I will give you a mid-year progress report of how many resolutions I was able to keep. I hope you and your family have a Happy New Year!