I just posted an article about being the kind of parent who gets involved and makes sure your children stay academically sharp over the summer. One of the points I made talked about sitting down with your kid and helping them to choose a book that engaged them on a personal level.

For some kids, reading is a chose. For others, it is a delightful escape. No matter, all children need to be reading as often as possible. The more they read, the better they get at reading. The better they are at reading, the more they read. It’s an unending circle.

More often than not, someone just needs to spend one-on-one time with a child and help them to find at least one book that captures their interest. I LOVE to read, but a textbook on Economics puts me to sleep and is often a struggle for me to comprehend on a satisfactory level. I’m no different from anyone else. If we are honestly interested in what we are reading, it is easier to read.

For some kids, the text that hooks them might be a sports magazine, or a book about robots, or a story about a princess. One genre I have found interests a wide variety of children of school age is fantasy adventure. It just seems to resonate with children, probably because children have more vivid imaginations by nature than their adult counterparts.

Here then, is one reading suggestion along these lines: Chin and the Magic Stones: Book One – Becoming Guardians by L.J. Salazar.

It has adventure chock full of riddles. It has an entire world of fantasy vivid with the potential of magic. It has lessons in the value of positive thinking, and it has a protagonist that kids can relate to in our modern world. If you think your child would find joy in the fantasy genre, this is a good first book to give them as they embark on their new reading journey.

Clocking in at a brief 108 pages, Chin and the Magic Stones will not overwhelm a struggling reader. And, it will leave more confident readers anxious for the next book in the series. It is generally suited for young readers from the ages of 7 to 11, but we all know that kids read at many different levels at any given age, so this is a book actually appropriate for a much broader age range.

And, in the end, it all comes down to helping our children make reading choices that will not only engage and excite them, but also have a positive impact on their lives. Anyone who experiences Chin’s adventure along with him will come away with the benefits of some of the lessons he learns about believing in himself and understanding that positive thoughts lead to self esteem and the fulfillment of dreams. These are lessons we all need to learn – over and over.

Salazar is the father of an 11-year-old son, so you can rest assured that this story is coming from someone who understands the age group for which he is writing. On the surface, this is the exciting adventure of a boy and his dog (the extraordinary Eagle). On a deeper level, it’s a handbook for positive thought.

Take a look at Chin and the Magic Stones on Amazon’s website. You can pick it up for less than $10.

It’s summertime. At least for now, schools all over the nation are out for the season and kids (and teachers) have the opportunity to recharge and relax. I know that from a educator’s standpoint, we NEED this time to take a step back. Teachers would have meltdowns regularly if they did not have summer breaks. I know a lot of people see teaching as a job where you do not work as many hours in a day or as many days in a year as most other salaried folks, but they fail to take into consideration the almost constant engagement you have with students and their families throughout the school year. Teaching is indeed a job you take home with you.

However, that wasn’t my point. Sorry about that tangent.

My point is that, as parents, we need to make sure our kids still have opportunities to learn over the summer break. It is true that a good bit of time at the beginning of each school year is spent reteaching some of the skills kids seem to lose over the summer months. That’s not going to change.

You can help your kids stay just a little bit sharper, though, with minimal planning and effort.

Keep your kids active.
When I was a child, summer meant being outside from morning until late-night sundown. We ran and built forts and skateboarded down hills. We built dams in the creeks behind my neighborhood and explored old civil war bridges and chimneys in those same woods. Of course, I grew up in the DC outskirts of Virginia, where summers were temperate. Here in Florida I have to put a little more effort into figuring out places we can go to be active without getting to heatstroke. We load up on water and hit the local beaches and parks.

Help your kids stay interested in reading.
Especially with struggling readers, summer can mean months without picking up a books. Sit down with your child and help them find a book or magazine that is in their interest area. Find fun reading material that will wake up their imaginations. And, no matter how old your child, offer to read aloud to them. Even your teens will benefit from some reading aloud by mom or dad.

Find some fun lesson ideas.
If you are really motivated, you might even do some research and find some fun lessons online to help bolster any areas your child struggled in this past year. You don’t have to be a teacher to find a search engine and type in “lessons multiplication grade 4” – or whatever the relevant subject may be. You would be surprised at the massive cache of free worksheets and lesson ideas out there floating around in cyberspace.

I found some worksheets and learning strategies I am going to use this summer to help my daughter with some of the reversals she struggles with in reading and writing (b, d, p, etc.). I am also going to take things a step ahead and work with her on multiplication and division. She did not cover that in Kindergarten, but she loves math and actually delights in working ahead.

Anyway, my message is simply this – use the summer to keep your kids sharp. Believe me, the teachers will love you this fall. Parental involvement is something that has been proven to make a difference and teachers can tell which kids are receiving more parental involvement than others.

The job market is just plain. I never thought I would be swept up in the firestorm of layoffs and cutbacks that are tossing so many people into financial turmoil – but I did. A few weeks ago the school district sent out letters to those of us being cut due to lack of seniority.

It’s a hard pill to swallow, because I pointedly made a move to change careers three years ago. I went back to school and got certified to teach. I know my new career is not over and this is just a bump in the road, so I have decided to take the time that has been handed to me to do even more coursework.

Teachers are a group of people who enjoy learning. Therefore, teachers are continuously taking classes, going to trainings, and voluntarily adding to their knowledge base. Often, at their own expense and on their own time. I’m taking a series of courses on how to teach reading right now. And, I am looking for other courses that will add to my knowledge and make me more hirable for my next interview. My preference, due to being a single mom, is to take my classes online.

No matter what your professional field may be, continuing to add to your knowledge base is always a good thing. Not only will you stay on top of the most cutting edge Job skills and theories in your field, you will position yourself above other job candidates when you are up for a new position.

Of course, your resume will reflect your degrees and additional training, but now there is also another way to showcase your expertise. Learn.com recently launched a program called Skill Score. Think of it like you would a credit rating. Your Skill Score will directly reflect your skill, knowledge, and job readiness in any given Job Profile. You can take courses that increase your expertise in a particular field or access continuing education courses for fields such as nursing, teaching and accounting. You can even earn entire certifications.

Employers will ideally be able to look at your Skill Score and use it as a valuable tool in the hiring process. It is a simple indication that you are actively seeking to gain new knowledge and keeping ahead of the pack. A Skill Score is a measure of your potential worth as an employee.

I decided to check out how Learn.com’s system works by signing up for a free account and taking a course. Now, it looks like Education is not yet available as a Skill Profile or a Course category, but I have faith they will adding it soon. Just take a look at their IT category and you’ll understand why I say that. It’s full of amazing courses and other categories will follow suit.

In the meantime, I poked around a little more and in the Business section I found an entire category of coursework on Instructional Design. I’m not sure why this does not come up when you search “education”, but it should. More and more schools and businesses are offering training and coursework online. Even when looking for a teaching job, I am seeing more opportunities for people who know how to design courses that are being offered on our state’s virtual high school platform.

One of the Skill Profiles that interests me is Human Resources, Training, & Labor Relations Specialists. Based on my career before teaching, this is the area I am now looking for work outside the schools. Now that I have been in education, I see that training and instruction is my passion. Once you sign up for a particular Skill Proifile, you simply begin working through the courses. It’s all planned out for you.

Since a lot of employers will see my skill set as suited to HR, but look at my lack of experience in the field, working through my Skill Profile will show me where I already have strengths and where I need to focus on improvement and skill aquisition. This is going to be a more valuable tool for me than for anyone interviewing me

Another series of courses I’m excited about is the package that would give me an entire year of access to course work in Instructional Design. The cost is amazingly reasonable. And, if you only want a 6 month access window, you will pay less than you would eating out at a fast food restaurant for 2 adults and a child. I kid you not.

Instructional Design has five separate courses – Design Concepts; Analysis and Objectives; Evaluation; Planning and Implementation; Process, Needs and Roles. These are the kinds of skills I really want to be able to add to my resume. I’m looking forward to the additional confidence these courses will afford me when it comes time to apply for instructional jobs that may have been out of my comfort zone before.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: online learning is such a gift. As a single mom, I can be here at home with my daughter and still continue to advance my learning, add to my qualifications, and ensure that I stay at the head of the pack in this tough job market.

She fought hard. She had the money to fight hard. She had resources most people will never be able to access, due to money. And still, cancer is relentless. You can fight and use all the money in the world to try and find a way to beat cancer, but in the end you are powerless.

My mother has cancer. She has been fighting hard for over 14 years now. Mom living this long with the sort of cancer she has is a miracle. It is nearly unheard of. And still, if cancer wants to win — it will. I suppose that’s the reality that makes me feel so out of control when it comes to understanding my mother’s illness. She tries every day to live life as though nothing is wrong. After all these years, I have to believe that her ability to keep on living and to not give in to the cancer by giving up onn a normal life is why she is still with us.

I have Farrah’s family in my heart today. I know they must have all had a similar outlook after watching her fight so hard. They must have been focused on life as usual and the reality that we can often beat cancer. In the end, cancer won, but I am convinced that Farrah and everyone around her learned a lot about love and faith along the way.

Even though I am no longer married, I still think back to when I got engaged and remember how wonderful everything about that evening was. The most amazing part of the night was seeing the ring he had picked out for me – all on his own. All of my girlfriends had been in on choosing their engagement rings. While there is some level of safety in that scenario, it surely eliminates all elements of surprise.

And I love a good surprise.

I was thrilled and deeply impressed with the ring my ex-husband chose to give me when he asked me to marry him. In fact, when I look in my jewelry box now I find that the pieces that I like best are the ones past boyfriends have picked out for me on their own. I love the way those pieces really reflect two things: their own personality and just how well they all knew me and the things I love.

Two Tips for Men:

1. Let Your Own Personality Shine
When you are choosing jewelry for your women, allow some of who you are to come out in the piece. If you’re classic and tailored, don’t be afraid to choose a streamlined design. If you’re whimsical, choose something quirky and off-beat. It’s not as much about what you like, as much as what you ARE LIKE. You want your partner to look at that ring or necklace and know without a doubt that you bought it for her.

2. Know What She Loves
I was just reading an article on the Bella True website called “Color Her World” and it reminded me about how important it is for a man to know certain things about their wife or girlfriend – without having to ask. You should already know her favorite color, her birthstone, colors to which she has an aversion, if she likes dainty or chunky jewelry, etc.

While diamonds and pearls are generally a safe choice, it’s really an amazing feeling to receive a color gem from your man. It’s even more amazing when that gem is one you love. Me? I love amethysts. And, I feel very special when I receive amethyst jewelry without having to ask for it. One thing this article mentioned that I hadn’t even thought about is the fact that “many colored stones are surprisingly affordable.” So, you can wow your woman and not break the bank while doing it.

I went ahead and read through all of the articles on the Bella True “Tips for Guys” section. Finally, a whimsical little set of tutorials that not only seeks to let guys in on what really matters when it comes to buying jewelry, but also succeeds in making the whole process seem a whole lot less intimidating.

Ladies, you might just want to gently forward a couple of their links to your man.

A lot of what I plan to do while I have the whole summer off work is catch up on my reading. I want to re-read at least four on my Truman Capote books (I have multiple copies of all his books – he is my favorite author). And, I want to get going on the books I have added this past year to my time travel fiction collection. No, not time travel romance novels (Ick), but thoughtful time travel fiction generally residing in the science fiction or fantasy. I finally got a copy of Time Camera by Terence Lee (so far, it looks awkwardly written, but holding to a cool premise) and the first in the Time Travelers, Inc. series – Reflections of Toddsville by Hollie Van Horne.

To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the inner music that words make.
–Truman Capote

I have not actively been on my diet now for over 3 months. I have not lost any more weight, but neither have I gained any weight. I have successfully learned to maintain, which is a great skill to have. I can eat pretty heartily and maintain my weight, due to my activity level and a relatively good metabolism for my age.

I want to jump back on the train soon, though. I will not be going back to a weight loss doctor, because I can no longer afford it. Now that the school district has given my job to someone with more seniority, I am in a position where I have to wait and see. I need to wait and see if any positions open up this summer and I need to wait and see what sort of instructional positions will be posted for the upcoming academic year. I have to wait and see, and in the meantime I am without a paycheck and moving quickly into a situation where I will need to pay COBRA fees out of pocket in order to maintain my health insurance.

So my plan is to start back on the menu my doctor gave me and look into reviews to find the best weight loss pills that are available over the counter. I was getting a prescription at the office where I went for weekly check-ins, but I know there are medications more readily available that are just as safe – if not safer.

I had one friend tell me that I should continue seeing the doctor I was seeing; that I should consider it a financial sacrifice worth making. I told her that even when was working it WAS a financial sacrifice. I made poverty level wages in the position I had with the school district. Now I am making nothing, so it’s a sacrifice beyond reason.

…, just not in Florida.

I’m stuck in Florida. At least until my daughter is 18. I cannot imagine her father being alright with us moving away. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, because the job situation here in the schools is horrific. I suppose I thought it was like that everywhere.

It’s not. When I was up in WV visiting family, I took the time to check out postings in various counties. In the county where my dad lives there are already posting for at least 4 high school level special education teachers. In the town where a lot of my family lives and at least four of my relatives teach – they have already posted job openings for 5 high school level English teachers and 4 high school level special education teachers.

It’s enough to make me feel like drawing blood, I tell you. I want to pack it all up, find a cross country moving company and just move to a place that actually has the money and desire to hire teachers. Instead, I am stuck in a district that has cut almost 1000 instructional and support jobs during the past two school years.

I know the courts like to see children living close to both parents, but at what point so they become sympathetic to the fact that the mother is struggling to support the child. Sheesh.

…and more.

Now that I am back in town, I am back to my couponing hobby. I love getting more “bang for my buck”, so to speak, when it comes to groceries and personal care items. I have found that if I plan carefully, I can combine weekly sale prices with coupons and often come out on top.

This week at Publix I came home with 10 free packs of Bic Soleil Bella razors, 8 free packs of Fisher Fusions fruit and nut mixes, as well as 6 free pints of Starbucks ice cream and a couple of Morningstar Farms entrées. I also bought a couple of pints of Starbucks for less than 25 cents each last week, before the very cool $2/1 coupons that came out in this past Sunday’s Smart Source insert. We love coffee ice cream that actually tastes like a cup of rich coffee.

Now, if I only had a bigger freezer.

In addition to the free food items I got this week, I also picked up a couple packs of Perdue breaded chicken breast nuggets – which came out to about $1.20 a pack after the Buy One Get One sale and coupons in this Sunday’s Smart Source. Even without the coupons these nuggets were a great deal with the Publix sale price.

I picked up a couple of Duncan Hines cake mixes for about 35 cents each after using Target coupons (my Publix will accept Target coupons as “competitor” coupons). I like to make my cakes from scratch, but at that price it will be nice to have a couple of mixes on hand.

There are a lot of good deals this week if you carefully pair the sale prices up with coupons. I’m looking for my coupons for Honey Maid graham crackers and Dannon kids’ yogurts. Free or almost free will be the outcome if I can locate those particular coupons.

Money is tight for everyone. Be a smear shopper. Make sure you get your hands on the weekly coupon inserts. Save them from week to week, because they might not garner the great deal for a month or so out – but it will always be worth it. I go to my local Wal-Mart where they package two copies of my local paper on Sundays and sell them for the price of one. I pick up two or three sets and I always recoup my investment tenfold. Be on the lookout for coupon booklets available at grocery stores. Look for online printable coupons (they tend to have the highest dollar amounts).

About an hour or so of planning a week for me always returns great results.

I just got back from a vacation up North, at my dad’s house on the shores of the Shenandoah River. It was relaxing and good for my stress level. Also, the weather was phenomenal. It was in the mid 70s the entire time. I forgot how mild June is up that way.

However hot it is here in Florida, I’m still happy to live here all year around. Now that school is out, there is SO MUCH for us to do all within an easy driving distance. Yesterday, my daughter and I went to the beach for the morning. We got in the car and within 15 minutes were were comfortably ensconced on Honeymoon Island, surrounded by white sand and starling blue water.

We have season passes to Busch Gardens over in Tampa, because it’s too close to not have season passes. We also like to go a few times a year to SeaWorld over in Orlando. It only takes an hour or so to get there and they have such reasonable day pass and season pass prices for Florida residents. You can even get passes that let you into all of the Busch parks.

In fact, right now they have one of the best amusement park deals you can find in all of Florida. You buy a ticket for one park and get into another for free. For example, buy a ticket to SeaWorld and get a free ticket to Aquatica or Busch Gardens. I know you are probably looking at your budget this summer the same way I am looking at mine – getting the biggest bang for your buck. That’s why this kind of deal is just right for this summer.

I went in May to Sea World with some of the biology students at the high school. It was before Manta had officially opened and I was disappointed on the way over, because I was upset I would be missing out on riding such an exciting new attraction. I was thrilled when we got there and found out the Manta was on a “soft open”, which means that they were running the ride off and on all through the day. We happened to wander over when the line was shorter than usual and we got to ride. It was flat out incredible.

Back when I lived in Morgantown, WV I stumbled upon the Forks of the Cheat Winery. I had been out picking wild blackberries with my mother, who was in town for the summer from Florida. We decided to go to the winery and pick up some local wine and the owner, Jerry, asked what we had been out and about doing, since we were all smudged and rumpled from being out in the wild berry patches.

When I told him we had been picking berries all morning and still did not have enough for a pie, he took us up the hill and showed us the Vineyard’s lovely cultivated blackberry patches. In the end, he and I had made an agreement that I could come out and pick berries anytime I wanted and all I needed to do in return was leave half the berries in the vineyard’s freezer.

That was an amazing summer, filled with amazing blackberry pies and blackberry ice cream. I remember, in particular, hosting a blackberry ice cream party at my apartment for a bunch of my friends.

Anyway, today as my dad and my daughter and I were driving back across the state from my grandmother’s house to my dad’s place on the Shenandoah, we made a little side trip to the Vineyard. A few years ago my dad stopped and bought some of their Bad Cat and Airmail Jones (both sweet whites). He wanted some more and I wanted to pick up a bottle of their Niagara. She tasted it that day when we had been out picking berries and tells me often that it reminds her exactly of the grapes that used to grown in front of her childhood home.

Of course, I ended up with two bottles for myself – Reisling (my favorite) and a bottle of their Schwarzer Bär, which they categorize as an off-dry white. Both were outstanding.

The Forks of the Cheat Winery has changed a lot, but the wine is just as great as I remember. Now the grounds have terraced gardens and areas to sit and look out over the mountains. Apparently they have a lot of food and wine events there now. No wonder, it’s one of the most lovely places in the area.

Now, the challenge will be to get all of the bottles safely back to Florida in my suitcase, because the winery is unable to ship to Florida.

About three years ago I decided to make a complete career cahnge. I left an exciting career in graphic design and went back to school to get certified to teach. Why? I had always wanted to teach and at that time, only a few short years ago, the job market was wide open – especially in the field of education.

I am sure you can imagine what ahppened right around the time I was ready to look for work in the education field? Yep, the bottom dropped out of that particualr market. I am still struggling with getting off to the running start I envisioned for mysrelf. At my age, it feels quite odd to start over only to find out that the start is so sputtering.

I was talking to my step-mother today and she was stressing how most computer fields are still stable. She said that, of course, you need to make sure you get training in the specific fields that are still in demand. One of the upsides of getting training in most e-business skills is that a lot of the training can happen online.

One of the areas that is in hot demand is IT Security. As more and more people gravitate to doing more of their shopping, banking, and business online, hackers are ramping up their efforts to swoop in and find weak spots to hit for their own profit. The foil to that problem? Ethical Hacking and the need for Certified Ethical Hackers. An ethical hacker is essentially someone who knows haw to think and act like a hacker so that they can pinpoint the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in a system. They can use the same tools a malicious hacker uses in order to design a system that stays one step ahead of the malicious hacker and ensures the security of that system.

EC Council is on top of the tech careers that are still in demand. They offer certification in -Security Fundamentals, Ethical Hacking, Penetration Testing, Computer Forensics, Disaster Recovery, and Secure Programming. Their iClass program is not some shoddy, self-paced bundle of canned lectures. Rather, it is live and instructor-led – while still available from the comfort of your home or office via the internet.

I only mention this, because being in a relevant career field really appeals to me and I am willing to bet money that it matters to you as well. We are in tough economic times and we are all sitting helpless as we watch so many fields that always seems absolutely essential take massive downturns. I want to make sure I am doing something that people still want to pay me to do and IT Security appeals to me in a real and germane way.

I have been thinking lately that my daughter and I dine out too often for my budget. We eat at places that are reasonable and I’m not breaking the bank, but I had a food epiphany today.

My dad took me to a little place in Charles Town, WV today called John’s. It’s right up the road from the old Rainbow Room bar, where Patsy Cline used to perform. It’s unassuming to look at and advertises country cooking, but it is anything but. The menu is expansive and everything on it is high quality and absolutely amazing.

My epiphany is basically this – I have no business dining out at all unless the food I am paying for is at least as good as the food at John’s, and that is not something you are going to find all that often in the price range of John’s. Therefore, I really have no business spending my money of food that is only mediocre when I am really rather a good cook on my own.

John’s is no particular style. It’s just skillfully prepared food at about the same prices you might expect to pay at any given chain steakhouse. I had an almond crusted chicken tonight that actually had me scraping the pan-drippings off my platter. The crab cakes and breaded shrimp were better than any seafood I have had in all my years of living in Florida. My daughter had vegetable soup that was more like a stew and a meal unto itself. I could go on and on, because I shamelessly sampled from everyone’s meals to make sure I had a taste of everything. I kid you not, if you are within 50 miles of this place you need to take the time to give it a try.

I’m looking for a good link now, but they must not have a website. So, here is the information:

John’s My Pappy’s Place
U.S.340S (south of Charles Town)
Rippon, WV 25441
Map
304-725-4348

The last day of school for Gigi was Tuesday. My last day was yesterday. Some of the teachers went in today, but I was told I could stay home, which suits me fine while I sit and lick my wounds after the layoffs.

Anyway, Saturday Gigi and I are flying into Dulles. We are spending a week or so with my dad. He built a lovely home on the banks of the Shenandoah River and I can relax while Gigi runs wild and plays in the fields and in the water. We will probably take some time to go into DC, most likely so Gigi can see the National Zoo. I told her I would take her to where mommy went on field trips as a child and she is quite excited. We will also take time to drive out to see my grandmother. My daughter is fortunate to have a great grandparent alive and I feel bad that we did not get over to see her last summer. I had a set of great grandparents alive until I was about 13, and then another great grandmother who lived until I was 23. I was super fortunate and I want to make sure Gigi appreciates the time she has with Grandma Dot.

I know when we come back into town I have to wholesale resign a lot of my time for a job search, so I am determined to make the most of relaxing at the beginning of the summer break. I will be SO happy when I am finally at a place where I have a continuing contract with the school district so I can let down my guard just a bit.

A couple of years ago, sales jobs were a dime a dozen. Anyone could have snagged one, since the companies were desperate for people to come in and work insane hours for crappy commission pay.

Now I look in the want ads and see sales jobs where the employers can actually ask for previous sales training and experience, because the job market is so ghost town right now. People with tons of experience in much more skilled professions are thrilled to get sales jobs just so they can stay afloat in this economy.

Depressing, huh?