When I was growing up, both my parents were educators, so when summer rolled around, they weren't (technically) working. I, too, became an educator and was available for my kids in the summer when they were very young. It wasn't until I started doing work outside of the classroom and a school calendar that I understood the summer scramble.

I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. If you have school-age children, the summer scramble is all about figuring out what to do with the kids during the summertime. Will they go to camp? Should you hire a babysitter? Rec programs? Do you and your partner stagger taking vacation time all summer? That's the summer scramble. And it makes a lot of parents panic about summer coming.

Interestingly enough, some kids panic about summer coming, too. They're used to the routine of school, love their teacher and feel nervous about not knowing what's coming next. That's why it's just as important for parents to find ways to get kids prepared for summer vacation as it is to be prepared for summer.

In our house, our teenager is in the midst of trying to find a job or a volunteer activity, our middle guy has a bunch of STEM camps lined up and we've found a sitter for the little guy for a few days a week. And we've been talking about all of it for weeks now. How are you preparing your kids for the summer scramble?

Image courtesy of D. Sharon Pruitt via Flickr/CCL

I don't know where you live, but where we live, spring has finally sprung. (At least I think so, it could change in the blink of an eye.) Spring always brings good weather and, with two young boys around, it also brings creepy crawlies. I'm so glad that some of those creepy crawlies eventually become beautiful moths and butterflies!

In honor of those impending butterflies, I decided to make an under 5 dollar craft, the Coffee Filter Butterfly craft. Not only are they fun and inexpensive to makes, they'll challenge your child's fine motor skills. And, if you're willing to spend a little more time and money, you can string a bunch of them together to make a beautiful mobile!

Have some Friday Fun!

Photo courtesy of Amanda Morin

I love to read Valerie Strauss' column The Answer Sheet over at the Washington Post. She has a great way of taking educational issues and winnowing them down to the most important points so that pundits and parents alike get the point. Monday's column was no exception.

Titled "Why We're Getting the Homework Question Wrong," Straus's column talked about the increasing number of studies that are wholly inconclusive in deciding whether or not homework is helpful to kids' academic success.But then she made it more personal, discussing how, as a parent, she wants to make sure her child is experiencing balance.

She suggests that schools should only be assigning homework when it's going to provide an experience they won't be able to have during the school day. Beyond that, she supports the parent's right "to opt out of homework on behalf of their children, for any reason, without fear that doing so will result in negative consequences for the child."

I applaud Strauss for taking such a stand, especially since I've long said to parents they need to make sure their child is doing actual homework, not busy work, and to answer for themselves the question as to whether homework is really necessary.

I think being able to have some say without fear of academic repercussions could go a long way in reducing some of the homework battles parents are fighting with their children, battles we don't really want to fight because we don't believe that we're on the right side.

Tell me: What are you willing to do to end the homework battles?

As a former teacher, I have a high level of respect for Lakeshore Learning products. Lakeshore was always the first catalog I turned to when I was spending both district-budget money and my own funds, because I knew what they provided was always not only very well aligned to my unit objectives, but also durable as well.

That's why I was so excited to learn that Lakeshore had decided to create a line of educational software, targeting different skills, themes and age levels. I couldn't wait to see it and when I got an opportunity to try out a variety of the different interactive games, I wasn't disappointed.

These games aren't just educational, they're really cool and fun, too! My younger two children and I had a blast checking out the Weather and Seasons Interactive game, the Phonemic Awareness Fun Factory, the Sight Words Carnival Game and the Allowance Interactive Game (see the end of this post for the links to our reviews).

The kids loved the game play, the graphics and the sound/music accompaniment, as did I, but what really grabbed me was the way these games teach without really "teaching." Your kids, like mine, can play through without feeling like they're being deliberately taught and just enjoy the game.

I also loved that a few of the games had great references to the games and game shows of my youth, including cheesy game show announcers and goofy music. If you're looking for a few new, high-tech ways to help support your child's learning, I recommend you check out Lakeshore's educational software. It's very affordable--well worth the investment!

• Review: Lakeshore Learning's Weather and Seasons Interactive Science Activities
• Review: Lakeshore Learning's The Allowance Interactive Game
• Review: Lakeshore Learning's Sight Words Carnival Interactive Game
• Review: Lakeshore Learning's Phonemic Awareness Fun Factory Game

Disclosure: Review samples and images were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.