Tag Archives: education

If I Could Do It Again

Now that I have two kids in high school, I’ve been thinking a lot about my past and if I could do it all again what would I do?

If I could go back in time, I would do high school over again and I would do things differently.

You see, when I was in high school, I didn’t really participate in school activities, clubs, etc. I recall going to 1 football game in the 4 years I was in high school. I dated the same guy most of high school (and he didn’t even go to my school) and I definitely didn’t work as hard as I could have. Basically, I did what I needed to do to get through school, graduate and get the heck out.

If you gave me the chance to go back to high school right now, you would see an entirely different Anne. I would join clubs, attend football games and other sporting events. I would take classes that really interest me, not just the ones I need to graduate or that are easy. I would actually apply myself (this is HUGE to me…I had a 3.5 GPA when I graduated with my AA, wish I would have worked as hard in high school).

This year, I have been encouraging my kids to get involved in more clubs and school events and so far, they have been doing a great job. Now, if only I could go back and take that same advice!

school books clipart

If you could go back and do it all over again, would you? What would you do differently?

Educational, Sponsored Post

Planning for College – Are You Prepared? #JourneytoCollege

Anne Younger Leave a comment

*This is a sponsored post for SheSpeaks/Kaplan Test Prep. I received compensation to write this post, and any opinions expressed are my own, and reflect my actual experience.*

Now that we will have to children in high school this fall, it has hit me that we have to start talking, prepping and planning for college. Where did the time go and how the heck did we get to this point already?

I’ve been making lists of things I need to research about the whole process, making sure the kids are enrolled in the right classes in school, checking when they need to take different prep tests, doing my best to make sure they keep their grades up and encouraging them to explore all their options.

Did you know that Kaplan can help you with the college planning process with their KapMap?

The KapMap is a month-to-month breakdown that lets you know everything you need to know about getting into a college.

You will find out when to apply, why prepping for tests like the SAT and ACT matter, learn how to apply for financial aid and what you should be looking for when you are choosing a college.

Having never been through this process myself, it is very overwheliming but I don’t want my children to head down the same path after high school that I did. I want to make sure I am doing everything I need to do to get them on that path and the KapMap helps with that.

If you have a child in high school and are prepping for college, take some time to sit down and discuss their future plans with them. You can download your own KapMap to prepare for the discussion and help get your child on the right path.

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Educational Struggles

Anne Younger Leave a comment

Over the years as a mother I have learned that educating my children is not something that is done just at school. We do our best to continue to educate our children at home by challenging them everyday in their regular academics and other areas as well. Our Libby has faced a few struggles in school over the years and is still on a bumpy path but it is not something she can control. She struggles like I did in various areas but with math being her biggest struggle. We have worked along with the teachers and school over the years (since the first grade to be exact) and have chosen to try an adaptive learning platform as she continues to move on through school.

When we first started combating the problem I took the time to Google and educate myself on various sites such as the U.S. Department of Education site which offered a wealth of knowledge on different programs, web sites etc. that we could use to help further educate her at home and help her along her path.

In addition to the online learning, we also purchased different computer games, educational board games including math bingo, plus we made multiple games at home and tried to turn most of our every day tasks with her at home into a mathematical equation.

Out of all of the tools we used to help her along the way she has always had better success when using those that we online based and I think that is because computers are such a huge part of her every day life at school.

She still struggles with her every day academics and math is still a challenge, but we are doing our best every day to help her get to where she needs to be in hopes that she will eventually reach the point in which she no longer needs that extra help or push.

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Pay It Forward

Anne Younger Leave a comment

My very dear and lifelong friend Natalie is currently facing a bit of trouble. She is 4.5 months away from finally graduating from college with a degree she has worked very, very hard for. Natalie was recently informed by her educational institution via letter over her holiday break that she has exhausted her allotted financial aid funds and will be responsible for covering her last semester of school out of her own pocket and she will need to pay for half of that semester by January 12th. The total for the semester is $3000.

Natalie is a single mom to 4 kids. She works over 40 hours a week in a residential care facility caring for adults with severe disabilities. Not only does she work 40 hours a week, she also goes to school for 30 and is a full time mom as well.

Needless to say, Natalie does not have the funds or the means of producing the money needed to cover the cost of her final semester of school and neither does her family.

Natalie’s brother Bob has started a fundraiser to help raise enough money to help cover the cost of her last semester.

If you can donate anything, even just $1.00 it will help.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you can help!
Pay it forward

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Home Preschool Update

Anne Younger Leave a comment

Earlier this week I posted about our potty training issue and how it has hindered Alexander from starting preschool this fall but that we had decided to do our own preschool program at home for him.

I chatted with a few homeschooling moms on a few message boards and I can’t say that I was well received. Many of the chastised me for even thinking of sending my 3 1/2 year old to preschool and that I shouldn’t be worried about how he is developing yet because he’s only 3 1/2.

Personally, I think otherwise. By this age, my 2 other children could count to at least 10, knew their letters, shapes and colors. My little Alexander counts to 2 and well, that’s about it. He talks….A LOT but his speech is hard to understand unless you’re like me and 100% fluent in toddler.

So, we are going to proceed with our home preschool program. I will be holding preschool with Alexander 2 days one week and 3 days the next. We are kicking class off on the 6th of September and that week we will do class on Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00-11:00 just like he would have done had he been able to go to the class we had enrolled him in. The following week we will have class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Each week will have a theme and our daily activities will be planned around that theme. I plan to include art, music, math, science, small and large motor skill activities, and circle time with a story each day.

For me, I see all of this as more of a structured play time for the two of us together while he is learning new things. I have been busy planning our first month of “classes” and am looking forward to it all.

I will be posting updates of our Home Preschool Journey and let everyone know how it is going!