There is hardly ever a need to pay full price for kids clothes — even the super nice wear-to-a-wedding ones. Kids grow so fast that their clothes are usually “used” before they are barely worn. So, today we’ll cover 5 ways we dress our kids for a fraction of the full price tag. Continue reading…
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Shopping online this holiday season? Be sure to stop by RetailMeNot for coupon codes. The best site of its kind IMHO.
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I was going to write a post on how to survive working at home, then somebody did it for me. Kudos to “A List Apart”. Good stuff y’all.
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Like most homeschooling families, the walls of our house are lined with books. We turn to them for ideas, answers, solutions, inspiration, entertainment, and reassurance. During this brand new school year, here are a few we recommend.
NOTE: Although this list emphasizes homeschooling, (since that’s what we do) it’s not limited to information only useful to homeschoolers. Regardless of the form of “school” you’re using, your kids are learning all the time — and so are you.
Continue reading…
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Heads up travel freaks. Fodor’s has added six new guide books to their lineup.
Of course, we’re most excited about the new Buenos Aires
Three additional books for Spanish speaking destinations are Panama,
New for North America is Vancouver & Victoria,
Interested in the Carribean? Check out the new Aruba
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We consider ourselves pretty savvy, but this week we fell prey to one of the most sinister perils of traveling with children…Grandparents.
These slow moving creatures wield unorthodox weapons such as Ice Cream and the constant use of the word “Yes”.
An example of this horror came during our current visit to San Diego. I found our 2 year old standing in her Grandmother’s family room, face buried in a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. No spoon, no napkin, just a tongue and sheer bliss.
When questioned, Grandma’s defiant response was “I asked her if she wanted a spoon and she said no”.
What’s your Grandparent horror story, and more importantly, how did you get even?
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“Why don’t we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it’s because we’ve been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers.”
Ken Robinson is right up our alley. This 20 minute talk is terrific…and quite funny.
Related Posts:
Classroom To-Go: Brain Builders for Kids on the Road.
A Simple Trick to Turbo Charge Learning a Foreign Language.
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Introducing Jeana Mitchell:
Jeana is the mother of seven kids. An expert on crowd control and stretching a buck, she recently found the time to give our readers some terrific advice in the comments sections of our posts “The Slacker Parent and the Travel Friendly Child” and the “10 Essential Packing Rules”. We’re very pleased she has agreed to share some additional travel tips with Family Hack.
Vacation “packages” are set up for families of four. Having a family of nine can make vacationing on a budget a real challenge. However, it can be done! Here are some tips we have used to cut costs on our vacations without cutting out the fun.
Make friends with the staff at the hotel or campground you are visiting. Tipping well once or twice will make you a friend of all the staff. Train your children to be polite and helpful to the staff. This goes miles if you are a large group and works on several levels.
Before getting to your destination, locate at least two shops you would like to visit. When you’re there, ask the shopkeeper if they can recommend any other shops…they can! They will also usually tell you which grocery has the best deals as well. Also, grocery coupons that work in California, will work in New York.
For our family, the cost of a membership is roughly the same as visiting one time. Even if your family needs two or three visits to make up the cost, check out the fine print and see if your local museum, zoo, or science center has a membership program, find out if they are partnered with reciprocal facilities. If so, most will honor your membership and let you in free or at least for 50% off. Children universally love these places and they tend to be very different. As a bonus, most reciprocal facilities offer discounts in the gift shop as well. Check these websites for science centers and zoos that have programs nationwide:
Association of Science-Technology Centers
Association of Zoos and Aquariums
Make a travel checklist on fun or brightly colored paper and use it. This gives you time to figure out what is missing and put it in the bag before you go. Personalize a checklist for each member of the family, leave a few spaces blank so kids can add their own items to the checklist. Pack the checklists in each individual’s bag so nothing is left behind.
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For those of you following the saga of our friend Jenthemom (aka: my seemingly long-lost twin), the wait is over–the baby is here! Laurelyn was welcomed into the world at home by her beautiful family last weekend. We are so happy for them and only wish they lived closer so we could ooh and ahh in person.
Now that Jackson and Laurelyn have both arrived, the arrangement of their marriage by their blogging parents cannot be far behind…stay tuned!
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Introducing Jackson Davis, the newest staffer here at Family Hack. It was 8:09 A.M. on May 22nd, when we decided to make his 9 lb. butt a permanent fixture here. He’ll be in charge of articles pertaining to drooling, high finance and Philippino psychic surgery. Mom and baby are doing fine…no…strike that…they rock!
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