Tag Archives: education

I am #GivingStyle to my Daughter and Giving Art & Music Supplies to Schools by Shopping At Schoola

October 1, 2014Fashion & Styleeducation, Fashion, GivingStyle, SchoolaAlicia

School’s in full swing and a pleasant change from last year, Madelyn is picking out her own school outfits, a few days a week at least. It’s a good thing I’m not a matchy-matchy kind of person or I’d come close to fainting every morning when she walks down stairs. You would think she is pattern blind sometimes because she loves mixing polka-dots with stripes and stripes with a pattern. She’s eight though and can pull off the funky look. My favorite of her recent outfits is when she wore a shirt over a dress. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo but it was the dress above, which she got from Schoola, with a short, loose fitting blousy shirt. She might have gotten the idea of layering a shirt over a dress from my sister because everyone knows I’m not brave enough to do that. My wardrobe consists of black pants, black shirts, a few sweaters.. mostly black, a couple of dresses, and black shoes. I’m super fashion savvy right?

While Madelyn’s not a shorts and t-shirt kind of girl, she dresses up for any occasion. She also spends a lot of time outside. Did you ever ride a bike in a dress? Madelyn has mastered it! She enjoys riding her bike, swinging, doing homework or art on the back patio, and lucky for me, she loves to water the potted plants. A few days ago she and I were about to water the plants when a package from Schoola.com arrived. You read about Schoola.com here a few weeks ago. Madelyn was super anxious to open the box so I let her go inside and open the box while I got the hose. I wish I was there when she opened the box because I heard a squeal and a gasp and then nothing for 5 minutes. I called in to her and she said “mom, don’t come in my room – I have a surprise for you”. Five minutes later she walked daintily down the stairs holding the tip of the skirt of her beautiful new Soprano dress in her right hand while gently dragging her left hand down the handrail.. just like I imagine she will do on prom night.. but she won’t actually get to leave the house that night. 😉 Of course I didn’t have the camera ready and you can’t redo moments like and she’s not a fan of posing for photographs so I’m sharing the photos I took of her watering the plants.

Schoola.com offers parents an affordable way to dress their kids in stylish gently used clothes while donating to schools art and music programs.

40% of the proceeds raised from purchases made on Schoola.com goes to buying art supplies music instruments and supplies as well as new books for libraries at schools across the country. Parents like you and I can donate our children’s gently-used clothing. Learn how to donate clothing to Schoola here.

Schoola makes it easy to find exactly the pieces you’re looking for with their sorting feature. You can first sort by gender, then choose your child’s age range, then size, and even drill down to color, brand and price. You’ll find clothes from The Gap, Zara, Old Navy, The Children’s Place, and even designer clothes like Madelyn’s Soprano dress. Madelyn’s outfit (above) cost just $20.70 and $8.28 of that went to help schools art, music and pe program all around the country! Schoola.com even has a great selection of items for high school kids! I found an Old Navy sweater for just $5.98 and a Hanes fleece pullover, Sebastian’s favorite thing to wear these days, for just $2.98!

Go through your kids closets, figure out what they need, grab a cup of tea and head to Schoola.com to shop for clothes!

25% off Schoola.com through 10/12/14!

Get 25% off your Schoola.com purchase when you use promo code givingstyle through October 12, 2014!

An Education Is Invaluable – Upromise Makes It Achievable

December 9, 2011Brand Ambassador, Educationeducation, money, upromiseAlicia

The importance of receiving a quality education cannot be measured specifically in dollars and cents. While many people have price limits on products and services they purchase, the return on investment in obtaining a degree from a credited university far outweighs financial costs associated with reaching that goal. It is estimated that over an adult’s working life those with bachelor’s degrees and master’s degrees earn more in salary than adults with high school diplomas, approximately $1 million and $1.4 million in additional income respectively. Individuals with doctorate degrees and professional degrees command significantly higher earnings potential as well.

The dilemma many prospective students encounter, however, is obtaining the funds required to finance their college education. Over time, the annual cost of attending college has increased considerably as tuition has risen by nearly eight percent each year. Can you believe that.. 8%! Although scholarships and financial aid are available, few applicants are accepted, leaving a majority of people unable to advance their academic development. Parents that desire to provide their children with a better future by sending them to a respected college often experience a greater financial struggle than the students. Either poor planning, job displacement or other unforeseen events have created the inability for parents to afford college tuition.

Upromise provides a program that assists individuals in realizing their goal of higher education. While many financial institutions promote savings and investment plans, Upromise offers parents the ability to build their children’s college fund through a unique and simple process. Upromise provides participants the option to accrue funds by accessing their purchasing power.

Shopping online or at grocery stores, dining at restaurants, or purchasing particular items through the use of available coupons enables participants to earn a percentage of money spent. Money is deposited into an account to be applied towards future educational costs. Additionally, family and friends can assist in the program simply by what they purchase. With over 800 online stores, 8,000 restaurants and thousands of grocery and drug stores, saving for college has never been easier. It’s never too early to start!

Useful upromise links:

How upromise works
upromise college planning resource center
Ways to earn using upromise

Disclosure: I am a paid upromise college savings ambassador. All opinions are 100% my own and were not influenced in any way.

Summer Reading Activities – How to Keep Your Child’s Brain Active

July 6, 2011Educationeducation, Summer ReadingAlicia

Did you know that studies have shown that children fall three months behind in the learning progress they’ve made when they don’t do anything in the summer to keep up? Scary, isn’t it?

It is so important to keep our children’s brains engaged over the summer months, so they don’t lose their place in academics. Staying academically active in the summer doesn’t have to be boring, though. There are a lot of creative ways to keep the wheels in your child’s brain rolling!

Here are a few ideas on ways to keep your child’s brain active during the summer vacation months:

Have a themed dinner night for family and friends

Pick a theme, like maybe the 1980’s or even superheros, and have everyone dress up according to your theme. Find coordinating foods for your theme to serve to everyone. And most importantly, have lots of books on hand about your theme. Choose relatively short books so as to not bore your guests! After dinner, everyone can take turns reading all of the books together.

Have a book swap party

A great way to bring new life to old books is to have a book swap party. Invite some friends to gather up old books they no longer want and bring them over. As everyone comes in, take their books and set them all up on a table so they are easy to browse. Have your guests gather and mingle in the living room, but, set the books up in the dining room. Once everyone has arrived, file into the dining room so that everyone can choose some new books to take home.

Children can get together with a small group of friends and write a storybook

They can do so in a round robin way, where each child writes some and then passes it to the next for their turn. Or they can collaborate as they go along. When they are finished writing the story, they can work on some illustrations. They might even have fun finding pictures in magazines to use for the illustrations. They can put it all together with some cardboard pieces for the book cover. They will probably need your help with that part, as it will be hard to cut. When it is all done, they can take turns keeping the book each weekend to show grandparents and whoever else they would like to show it off to.

Don’t forget your public library’s summer reading program

It is a great initiative to keep your kids interested in books. Children can usually choose their own books to read for the programs. It is not only fun for the child, but it really helps to keep their desire to read going strong. Most children who are always told exactly what to read see reading as nothing more than a chore. Library summer reading programs usually have prizes for certain numbers of books read and then grand prizes at the end of the program. Many library reading programs for kids have a kick-off party and a party for when the program is over, too.

So many kids fall behind, just from the gaps that happen over the accumulated summers. It can be really hard to catch up when school starts back up in the fall and by the time the child reaches middle school, they may be several grades behind in reading alone. We don’t have to make kids’ summers all work and no play, but keeping their brains in operation is imperative for them to keep up in school.

Get Involved!

How do you keep your child interested in reading over the summer months?
Do you have any summer reading tips to share with us?
Tell us in the comments below.

Elementary School Homework Anxiety – What can I do about it?

March 2, 2011Personaleducation, homework, kids, School, studyAlicia

My eleven year old son is in 5th grade and is experiencing a bit of what I call “Homework Anxiety” lately. He already appears to have what I call “Test Anxiety” as even though he does (or did) well on his homework, he would not always do well on his test scores. I had test anxiety so severe in high school, my teachers put me in a room by myself during tests. That’s pretty strange now that I think about it 20 years later.

Anyway, I hate for my son and I to be stressed during homework time every day and it’s been happening for a few weeks so I’m trying to make some changes but could really use some other parent’s advice on this as well.

How I’m trying to help my son:

Communication – I emailed his teachers to let them know that we are working hard on getting him back on track and to ask them if they have any tips and advice for me regarding homework time.
Scheduling – I am trying to adhere to a more strict schedule with him so he knows when he has to sit down to do his homework and won’t get upset about it because he’s expecting it.
Stay calm – I’ve noticed that the second I start to get worked up and stressed about his homework, he would do the same. I’m trying to keep my cool and let him know that he needs to do the same.

Do you have homework tips you can share with me? Please leave them in the comments below.