Hop-A-Long's Schoolhouse
Tuesday, 05 October 2010 by Mommy Mentor
Written and performed by a team of professional educators,Hop-A-Long's Schoolhouse is an entertaining show that promotes environmental awareness, global responsibility, and character traits...all in a content rich format. "Hop-A-Long's Schoolhouse" is suitable for all children, but recommended for children ages 3-10. It was created by a group of educators and weaves content areas of literacy, science, music, dancing and language arts in each episode as well.
The series 1 DVD pack of Hop-A-Long's Schoolhouse includes three 24-minute episodes, a bonus music CD containing all the original songs from the series and a free poster. You can purchase Hop-A-Long's Schoolhouse DVD for $18.00.
Onto another parenting topic...sibling rivalry. On days when I am ready to throw in the towel, I try to remember that some amount of sibling rivalry is normal. However, just because it is normal does not mean that it has to become an accepted behavior.
Enter The Pocket Referee. A coin that is imprinted with the Referee on one side and a treasure chest on the other. The instructions for use are imprinted on the sides: "Get the Choice-Pass the Coin" and Pass the Choice - Keep the Coin". It is as simple as that. When a problem arises, the person who has the coin...aka The Pocket Referee...gets to make the choice of how to handle it. (To read more on how to determine who starts having the coin and how to use it with more than two children, read here.)
The Pocket Referee empowers children to engage in their own decision making, thus removing parents and other adults as the mediator in the process. By doing this, it also removes the reinforcement an adult response may provide to less than desirable behaviors like tattling and whining. You may in fact notice a decrease in the instances where things can't be worked out just because of this alone.
We keep one Pocket Referee in our van and the other in the house. For us, it has done all it asserts it will do. The children love it and think it is a special treasure to have in their control.
Another part of parenting that can take awhile to fine tune is childproofing. It takes a keen eye weeks to find all of the potential hazards in a home; child-proofing your fireplace can be a tricky one. The products available that soften the edges are rather costly and not very pleasing to look at.
I was excited to connect with Jamboo Creations who has developed HearthSoft, the first, custom-tailored fireplace hearth cover that allows you to baby or child-proof your fireplace hearth while maintaining a sense of interior design within your home.
Here are some specs on the design and materials used in the HearthSoft:
2” of Reflex 40 dense polyfoam on the top deck. Reflex 40 is flame retardant and meets UFAC Class I, California #117 Sec. E, and NFPA codes.
1” of 1.2-32 foam for the skirt.
Deck is wrapped with 3/4 oz Dacron
Zippered entry on all panels – deck and skirt.
The fabrics used are 100% polyester microfiber with brushed finish for softness and easily cleans with water. They also meet flammability codes UFAC I, NFPA 260, and Calif. Bulletin #117, Sec. E codes.
Being the mother I am, I could not resist a little stain test so I took a bit of the spaghetti from lunch and rubbed it in a bit. After 10 minutes, I removed the actual food part, wiped off the rest with water and it looked pretty close to perfect. Just to be safe I put a bit of stain spray on it, dabbed with water, and then let it sit to dry.
The result???? A very easy to care for fabric that is sure to make any parent happy.
