Category Archives: Education

5 Green Halloween Decorating Ideas for Families

by Baron Eliason
Founder, 123Recycling, Lubbock
Guest Contributor

We are so happy to introduce our readers to our newest local blog contributor Baron Eliason! He is the founder of 123Recycling based in Lubbock and he’ll be sharing with us ways that local families can make a difference in our environment AND do it while having fun! Have a question? Just leave a comment here or contact Baron through his website at 123Recycling.org or email him at baron@123recycling.org.

As they say, the family that plays together, stays together. With the holidays upon us, playing together is the key to holiday success. In our busy lives it is easy to conclude: “who has time for figuring all this out?” But the solution is right under your nose – recycling.

Art teachers have been recycling for years because the things we throw away make easy and fun art projects. Why not learn from the pros and try it at home. Recycling is as easy as 123 and it can be a fun way to make family memories that also teach great lessons about taking care of our beautiful environment. As a father of five I can also tell you this, you will treasure these little artifacts for years to come!

In this holiday recycling series 123Recycling of Lubbock will be bringing you fresh new ideas to make recycling memories for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. To get started, let’s set the basic ground rules, it is easy as 123: 1) keep it simple 2) keep it safe 3) keep it fun. What does that mean? Use what you have in packaging materials, etc, help the kids with things like hot glue and sharp scissors, make sure you laugh and praise and smile a lot!

For Halloween, we are going to focus on five easy ideas for yard decorations.

Not only will you be having fun but you will be saving lots of money too – nothing scary about that!

1. Milk Jug Monsters – faces

Milk Jug Monsters

a. Collect and clean the jugs.

b. Decorate the faces.

c. Light with Christmas lights (you need to find them anyway) or electric candles, etc. You can hang them from trees as floating heads or plant them in the garden, or put them on the roof as watchful gargoyles.
Hint: weigh them down with rocks, etc. to keep them in place, or……..

Milk Jug Monsters – yard spiders.
Take a look at these pictures. With scissors or a utility knife cut out these spooky spiders and let the kids decorate to taste.

2. Plastic Poltergeists

a. Gather trash bags and variously-sized plastic bottles to make your very own ghost family vis-à-vis the family stick figures people put on cars.

b. Use balloons to make the big trash bag heads and decorate them.

c. Use any kind of stuffing to make the heads for the smaller ghosts.

d. Tape the trash bags under the head at the neck to keep the heads in place – shred the bottom to make them really float in the wind.

e. Hang them from the trees, roof line, etc.

3. Terrifying Tombstones

a. Collect boxes such as Tombstone pizza, cereal, Amazon, etc.

b. Cover them with white paper.

c. Decorate with faces, R.I.P., funny messages

d. Stake down with hanger wire.

4. Marshmallow Minions

Marshmallow Minion1

a. Let the kids go wild making all kinds of faces.

b. Wrap them in a dryer cloth or post them on a stick!

c. You can make a whole pumpkin patch! Warning: dogs and others might eat your decorations

5. Things That Go Bump in the Night

a. Collect things like cola and tin cans… anything that clinks and make a wind chime for some scary noises at night

b. Put them on one side of a hanger and weight the other half to help them clink when the wind comes. Hint: you could arrange for them to be shaken with a string. Hint 2: you might need to hide them a bit, Moms might not be thrilled with the aesthetics.

As you can see, there are plenty of fun things you can do for Halloween with things that get thrown away. Stay tuned for some table decoration ideas coming in November. Please share this post with your friends and share some of your ideas this holiday season – then… recycle the materials and keep the memories.

Happy Halloween from 123 Recycling – find us at 123Reycling.org or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter. We make curbside recycling easy for you.

Photo Credits: 123Recycling – Lubbock.

Standardized Test Prep and the Benefit of a Summer Prep Course

Leave a reply

by Calli Christenson
Founder and Lead Consultant
CLC College Prep Services

Calli Christenson with CLC College Prep Services offers great advice for our readers in her latest post. “Why consider test prep help for my teen over the summer?” It’s a question that many parents struggle with and Calli helps answer here. Calli and her team at CLC assist high school students across the country, and internationally, with the ever-changing college prep process… and they are based right here in Lubbock! We are excited to share helpful education and college prep tips from Calli throughout the year at LubbockForKids.com.

In the increasingly competitive higher education admissions climate, standardized test scores provide a straightforward means for schools to evaluate potential applicants. While class rank, GPA and extracurriculars are important, test scores play a significant role in the admission review process and provide an even “playing field” for colleges to evaluate applicants who come from various types of high schools with varying opportunities and grading systems.

A strong test score allows students to stand out and can significantly impact the admission review process.

Furthermore, many colleges offer merit based financial aid that can considerably subsidize the cost of tuition and fees. Standardized test scores are one of the most common metrics used to differentiate between tiers of financial aid.

A strong test score will help students to be competitive for scholarships, both from colleges and outside organizations.

Junior students who score among the top of their peers on the PSAT have a chance to be designated as National Merit Scholars, which can often result in deep financial aid awards, including full tuition scholarships at many schools.

So, the pressing question is:

How does my child achieve a great score?

Very few students walk into a PSAT, SAT or ACT and receive a top score without some preparation leading up to the exam. The level of difficulty these exams present result in even the brightest students needing to prepare. We’ve found that the keys to scoring well on standardized exams come down to Knowledge, Strategy and Practice.

Knowledge:

Your student’s hard work in school lays the foundation for success on the SAT/ACT, but even students who perform well in the classroom will benefit from subject-matter review and content remediation, if necessary. Filling in the knowledge gaps and reviewing the fundamental concepts is an integral part of maximizing one’s potential on a standardized test. Practicing the large variety of question types for each test is essential, and understanding the content that is present on each exam will give students an upper-hand.

Strategy:

Test-taking strategies help students apply their content knowledge to the unique format of the standardized exams. Timed, multiple choice tests pose challenges that students may be unfamiliar with, despite having a lot of success in their high school classes. Test-taking strategies can help students pace themselves appropriately, avoid getting trapped by distractors (wrong answer choices), and make decisions about when and how to guess or skip a question to maximize the probability of choosing a correct answer. Students must be familiar with testing strategies in order to achieve their best score.

Practice:

Sound content knowledge and a repertoire of strategies are excellent starting points, but practice is essential in order for students to become familiar with the test questions and format. Familiarity leads to confidence and a reduction in test anxiety, which ultimately leads to better testing performance. Independent practice can be beneficial, especially for highly motivated and disciplined students but, often, guided practice in which students receive review, feedback, and support from an expert tutor is the most beneficial. Practice with an expert tutor will help students overcome the unique challenges the tests pose for different learning styles.

Even with good intentions it can be hard to maintain the discipline to study consistently on your own.

There are many great resources for practice available online; however, consistent and focused practice is necessary to take full advantage of those offerings. Tutors who are personally invested in motivating and meeting the unique needs of each student will help produce strong results. A collaborative, interactive classroom is a great environment for filling in knowledge gaps, in comparison to trying to “figure it out” on your own. The summer provides a great opportunity for focused test preparation without the demands of school and homework, and gives students the opportunity to acquire the skills they need to prepare for tests in June or early fall.

Photo provided by CLC College Prep Services

Calli Christenson is an Independent Educational Consultant and founder of CLC College Prep Services. Prior to college consulting, she worked in undergraduate admissions, most recently serving as the Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Recruiting at Vanguard University of Southern California. Calli is a Professional Member of the Independent Education Consultants Association (IECA) and holds a Certificate in Independent Educational Consulting from the University of California, Irvine. She is a member of the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA), Texas Association for College Admission Counseling (TACAC) and a 2011 graduate of the IECA Summer Training Institute at Swarthmore College.

Questions for Calli? Just comment below or she can be reached at calli@clccollegeprep.com. Follow her on Twitter @clccollegeprep and on Facebook at clccollegeprep

Financial Responsibility: Childs play?

Leave a reply

We are always looking for great tips to share with local parents that help make our journey a little easier together! That’s why we are proud to sponsor local consignment events like Just Between Friends and Cradles to Crayons that are so helpful for local families! Here’s a great article on the financial benefits that these events offer our kids from Just Between Friends.

Why Raising A Financially Responsible Child is Important
and How To Start

Young adults today have opportunities to get into more financial trouble than previous generations. Take, for instance, the sky-rocketing percentages of college students receiving financial aid. A recent study showed that 60 percent of students obtaining a secondary education have taken out student loans to pay for tuition and living expenses. Outstanding student loans totaled over $1.2 trillion in 2015.

Credit card debt owed by U.S. Consumers has reached a staggering $712 billion. This means the average person has around $15,355 in credit card debt alone.

A contributing factor is, no doubt, income growth has been outpaced by the rise in cost of living expenses over the past 12 years. However, it is no surprise that over-spending habits and materialism have continued to expand America’s growing debt problems more than ever before.

There has never been a time when educating children on financial responsibility has been more important. Promoting work ethic and entrepreneurship, and teaching children healthy spending habits when they’re young will help ensure they become financially responsible adults.

And Just Between Friends of Lubbock, TX, a local bi-annual consignment sales event, offers a good venue for parents to start their children’s financial education experience.

“Every aspect of JBF promotes financial responsibility,” says Courtney Kattner, event coordinator for Lubbock JBF. “Consigning your children’s outgrown, un-used items is a great way to start teaching them the importance of getting the full value out of material goods purchased at retail prices and encourages entrepreneurship.”

Lubbock JBF consignors priced, tagged, and dropped off over 35,000 of their own items to the previous Back-to-School 2015 sale in August. Earning up to 70% of their gross sold items, the average consignor check was $409. Kattner, who also participates as a JBF consignor, says she makes enough money selling her own children’s items to purchase the majority of what they need for the next season without spending any additional money.

And the financial value gained by participating in consignment sales events don’t stop there. “Shopping for needed items at consignment sales before buying them from retail stores teaches families to use their financial resources wisely,” states Kattner. “I have been buying about 95% of my kids’ wardrobe at Lubbock JBF for the last 6 years. Because of JBF, I am financially able to provide my kids with almost everything they need, in brands they love, without creating financial stress for my family.”

Effective teaching of financial responsibility includes showing children how to live within your means. And living within your means, is finding a way to meet your needs without spending more than you get paid. If this financial value is not instilled in a child, you end up raising an overactive consumer or someone who is constantly competing with the Joneses. Consignment shopping shows children they can spend less money on what they need, creating more available money for items they want, while staying within their spending limits.

Most consignment sales events, including Lubbock Just Between Friends, give a higher percentage to consignors who volunteer to help work the sale, promoting the idea that work ethic increases higher wages.

“Even the idea of earning a higher percentage in exchange for volunteer hours during the sale promotes solid financial values,” Kattner says. “When you volunteer and work a 4-hour shift during a Lubbock JBF sale, you earn a higher percent of your gross sold items, increasing the return on your initial investment.”

Showing your children the lesson that a little bit of work and time can have large-scale payoffs in the end is a virtue that will help lead them down the path of financial stability for years to come.

The bottom line is this: the best way to raise financially responsible children is to show them a good example. If your financial situation isn’t up to par, you can’t expect your children to pick up responsible spending habits. The good news is it’s never too late to start heading down the path of being a good financial steward. Baby steps lead to walking, then eventually running. And when it comes to your financial stability, running down the right path for as long as possible earns you huge rewards later in life for yourself and your children. Being a good financial role model could quite possibly end up being the greatest lesson you teach your children.

From Just Between Friends – Lubbock

To participate as a consignor or shopper, or to find out more details about the upcoming sale, Lubbock Just Between Friends Spring 2016 Consignment Sale happening March 9 – 12 at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center, visit their website at http://lubbock.jbfsale.com.

Tips for Successful Spring Break College Visits

Leave a reply

by Calli Christenson
Founder and Lead Consultant
CLC College Prep Services

Calli Christenson, CLC College Prep Services

We are so fortunate and excited to introduce our newest LubbockForKids.com contributor: Calli Christenson with CLC College Prep Services. Calli and her team at CLC assist high school students across the country, and internationally, with the ever-changing college prep process… and they are based right here in Lubbock! Calli will share education and college prep tips with us from time to time, starting with her first guest blog that features great info for families who may be hitting the road over spring break to visit potential college campuses.
Welcome Calli!

Spring Break is right around the corner and provides the perfect time for high school students and parents to visit college campuses.A strong campus visit is the single best way to determine if a school is the right fit, and will ultimately help your child to narrow his or her college list. Amidst the many tasks that high school students juggle – studying for college entrance exams, completing school assignments and filing college applications, to name a few – it is important to prioritize this piece of the college search and application process. College visits during the sophomore and junior year of high school can prove to be very beneficial. As you and your child get ready for this exciting time, here are a few tips to help you make the most of upcoming college tours:

Plan Ahead and Prioritize.

As you prepare for college visits, do your research and prioritize campuses you and your child want to see. The reality is that you simply won’t be able to visit them all. A good rule of thumb is to visit no more than two schools in one day. This should provide enough time to not only experience each campus, but to also get a taste of the surrounding neighborhoods and gain a better understanding of area safety, social life and job opportunities close to campus. Include your child in the planning process and use sites like Goseecampus.com or the College Board’s Campus Visit Guide as resources to help with planning.

Photo provided by CLC College Prep Services

Make it Official.

Although it can be tempting to do a campus “drive thru” and call it good, students and families who participate in official visits gain a greater understanding of the university as a whole. Typically, short information sessions are offered on the front or back end of a student-led campus tour. The info session presents a “highlight reel” of the campus and allows participants to ask questions. The campus tour is a way to see and experience, first-hand, the very best of each school’s facilities, traditions and culture. This information will reach far beyond what you might pick up from reading the school’s website or skimming a brochure you receive in the mail. Due to the high volume of visitors during popular travel times, it is important to register for these events through the school’s website, or by calling the admission office at least a couple of weeks in advance.

Take Advantage of Special Opportunities.

Many colleges allow prospective students to sit in on a class, tour a specific department, eat lunch in a dining hall or participate in an overnight visit. Don’t hesitate to inquire about special programs available. The opportunity to speak with a current student or meet with a faculty member can be a terrific way for students to experience life at the college and gain a better understanding of how and where they may fit at each school.

Document Your Visits.

As you take in each campus, encourage your child to document their thoughts through writing and taking pictures. By the time senior year rolls around, it will be difficult to keep all of the colleges and information neatly organized in your brain. Campus notes and pictures will help students quickly recall their overall impressions. Furthermore, as your student begins writing college essays, many schools will ask for detailed reasons for why they have chosen to apply. The ability to remember specifics from each school can make all the difference in essays that stand out from the crowd.

Let Your Child Lead.

As difficult as it might seem, your visits will likely be much more enjoyable and productive if you let your child experience them as the maturing adult that they are. There is a lot of value in parents visiting colleges with their kids, but the reality is that most teenagers want to feel in charge, confident, and self-sufficient – especially when surrounded by their peers. Encourage your child to engage, but don’t be disappointed if he or she doesn’t seem overly enthusiastic. This is all part of the process, and as your student moves closer to choosing a college, you will likely begin to hear more about their interests, dislikes and likes of the campuses they’ve toured. Simple steps like letting your child set-up the campus visit or allowing them to ask the majority of questions will show your child that you not only trust them, but you also support them on this exciting journey.

Photo provided by CLC College Prep Services

Questions for Calli? Just comment below or she can be reached at calli@clccollegeprep.com. Follow her on Twitter @clccollegeprep and on Facebook at clccollegeprep

1. Milk Jug Monsters – faces

2. Plastic Poltergeists

3. Terrifying Tombstones

4. Marshmallow Minions

5. Things That Go Bump in the Night

A strong test score allows students to stand out and can significantly impact the admission review process.

A strong test score will help students to be competitive for scholarships, both from colleges and outside organizations.

How does my child achieve a great score?

Knowledge:

Strategy:

Practice:

Why Raising A Financially Responsible Child is Important and How To Start

Plan Ahead and Prioritize.

Make it Official.

Take Advantage of Special Opportunities.

Document Your Visits.

Let Your Child Lead.

Why Raising A Financially Responsible Child is Important
and How To Start