Stocking Up on Pencils

Back to school shopping is upon us. Whether you are like my cousin, Camille and entering Kindergarten or like me and entering your senior year in college you need a whole lot of stuff. I have always loved buying school supplies and picking out the best pencils or notebooks with the best designs. And when gel pens came out when I was in elementary, I was done for!

This article was sent to me from thebestcolleges.org and is titled, "60 Best Money-Saving Tips for this Back-to-School Season."

Number 15 on the list is "Make a beeline for the sales rack." Excellent idea and I love the wording.

Another one on the list is to pool with friends. This is such a great idea! Hit up Sam's Club and buy a pack of about a ba-jillion pens and divide them up throughout your friends.

"Do a clothing swap" is also a highlight of the list. Siblings tend to do this at the start of every school year but friends might as well get in on the act as well!

There is a section devoted to furnishing your dorm room as well. The list encourages looking at alternative ideas for inexpensive furniture like at IKEA or on Craigslist.

Your vs. You're

In a world dominated by social media in which we tap consistently on our keyboards to relay our inner most thoughts, we are subjected to poor grammar on a regular basis. This article sent to me from onlinecollegecourses.com is titled, "12 Mobile Apps That Grammar Geeks Just Love." I know quite a few of those so-called grammar geeks...

My favorite from the list are the Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, Grammar Girl, and Grammar Phone (mainly because of the pun)

How Pinteresting

It was only a matter of time before I was asked to comment on an article about Pinterest. This article was sent to me by oedb.org and is titled, "100 Inspiring Pinterest Pins for Back to School." There are some B-rilliant with a capital "B" ideas included in this list.

This pin has great ideas for how parents can help their college-bound students feel prepared and less anxious for the big transition and is from collegetipsforparents.org
http://pinterest.com/pin/253116441527200535/

A week ago I took my cousins to Barnes and Noble and we read books about going back to school, among other things. Sam will be in second grade and Camille will be in kindergarten. Here is a pin that has other great books about kids going back to school in the fall
http://pinterest.com/pin/208502657718950210/

Oh hey fellow college students! Here is a great pin on how to make a personalized message and marker board!
http://pinterest.com/pin/99219998010960931/

Sunshine and Learning

Since about first grade, I have been that persistent student that tends to demand that my classes be held outside. Not so surprising since sunshine is basically my favorite thing ever. I have been successful in this mission about two, maybe three times. Once in college during a literature class and a couple times in my high school German class. I am a firm believer that students of any age can learn better when they can look up and see blue skies rather than popcorn-tiled ceilings and feel plush, green grass around them rather than cold, hard desks and carpet that may or may not strongly resemble vomit. And hearing birds and wind rippling through trees is far superior than the annoying hum of an air conditioner.

I found this article sent to me by bachelorsdegreeonline.com very pertinent to my stance on learning in an outdoor setting. The article highlights the positive results of learning outside and is titled, "11 Proven Benefits of Outdoor Learning." All the reasons indicated could be translated into why people should simply spend more time outside even without your nose buried in a book.

I have favorites on the list however. Number 9 is "Increases self reliance." Delving into the outdoors usually means you don't have all the regular amenities of the indoors readily available, thus you not only have to be patient in others, but in yourself. Developing patience in oneself simultaneously develops self reliance.

Number 10 is my ultimate goal in any setting I find myself in; "Community improvement." For example, the four days I spent with a group kayaking down the Missouri River definitely bonded us. And because of that mutual respect we had developed for our group members we were able to successfully find other means of shelter when a terrific storm unexpectedly blew up and destroyed three of our tents.

My Favorite Abode

This article was sent to me by bachelorsdegreeonline.com and is right up my alley especially since I am moving back into a dorm room (my home away from home going on four years) next week. Even though other 21-year-olds would feel like living in a dorm room puts a cramp in your style, I love it. I love being surrounded by people on the same life track and also learning how to make the most of our 12' 1/2" x 15' 9" space. This article is aptly titled, "48 Ways to Make Dorm Life Worth Living”.

The very first suggestion struck me as highly ironic. My mother is basically a pro gardener and loving guardian to plants. Thus, you would think those genes would pass themselves down but they haven't so much. However, this spring I was able to successfully grow a plant I don't know the name of in my "hot girl" coffee mug.

Another suggestion is to "Get Creative." For those of you privileged people that have seen my lovely dorm room, you realize this is my motto for my dorm room. I must also give my mom credit because otherwise the green vintage rocking chair, the creaky turquoise book shelf, the red and turquoise end table, the green owl lamp and the garland made of horses cut out of French magazines would all be blatantly missing from my dorm room.

Number 15 on the list is (drum roll please): "Run for office or apply to be an RA." You can guess how I feel about that.

Number 40 on the list encourages harmless pranks. If Jackie Miles had written this list that suggestion would have been much closer to the top.

The Favorite Reads of the Great Writers

I love the idea behind this article that was sent to me by oedb.org and is titled, "The Favorite Books of America's Best Authors." Even the people that write the incredible books that we love to read must have a list of favorite books. This list compiles twenty famous author's favorite books.

Ernest Hemingway said of Mark Twain's, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, "It's the best book we've had. All American writing comes from that." I love the idea of one great and legendary American writer complimenting another phenomenal American writer.

Two writers, Ray Bradbury and Cormac McCarthy, on the list named Moby Dick as their favorite book. I had to read the nearly 8-pound book the summer before my junior year in high school and unlike the other 60 students that also had to read it, I loved it. It is not my absolute favorite book but I still felt a great wave of accomplishment upon completing the famous book.

Buzzwords

When I was little I had the American Girl keychain book, "The Little Book of Buzz-words." Because of that tiny little book, moxie is still one of my favorite words. This article, "The Silliest Buzzwords You’ll Encounter in B-School" was sent to me by onlinemba.com. Words are just so great!

My favorite in the list is "Shave the Baby" and means you must get absolutely streamlined.

New Obsession

Whew! After writing 8 posts commenting on articles sent to me I can finally write about my adventure last week which of course has developed into my latest obsession. Just adding to that already lengthy list...

For four days last week I was kayaking and camping and getting all rivery. It was the first time I had ever kayaked but I loved it within the first mile. I love the feeling of having unlimited strength and being able to do anything I want to do and thats how I feel while kayaking. We did 48 miles in three days and if it was feasible to use kayaking as a main means of transportation, I so would!

Some of the highlights of the trip were the sunflowers that followed us along the entire 48 miles of the river we traveled down; the gigantic sand dune we sprinted down and leapt into the river from during a lunch break; washing my hair in the river as a fish swam past my legs; taking refuge in a farmer's house after a huge storm broke three of our tents and watching the Olympics on mute with Harry and Linda.

The trip was led by my mom's friend Jo. They were best friends in high school and had their first apartment together. They became reacquainted this spring and Jo invited me to be her second camp counselor for this adventure. She is one of the most positive individuals I have ever met and rolls with the punches effortlessly and gracefully. She also was a professional chef at one point so her camp food rocked!

Optimism

When this article was sent to me I had to remind myself if I had written about being uberly stressed when my mom was unemployed for ten months in the last year. I don't think I did so the writers of this article sent to me from onlinecollege.org is cheerfully titled, "The Secrets to Staying Optimistic While Unemployed." I probably could have benefitted from reading this during those ten months even though I wasn't the one unemployed and my mom was far from stressed.

That being said, this article is very beneficial for all those college students that may face a period of unemployment following graduation. And the tips suggested could be used for any young professional no matter their current employment status.

The first suggestion is to accomplish 5 things every day. Accomplishing things for oneself is always a great feeling. I like to think that making something or doing anything creative could be included in this list. That's actually what my mom did during her unemployment stint.

My other favorite suggestion was to watch the company you keep. The article encourages you to surround yourself with optimistic and upbeat individuals. Also another great idea for life in general.

The Best of the Best

In lieu of Olympic season it is easy to get caught up in the ridiculously amazing feats of the human body in terms of perfect athleticism. This article sent to me bachelorsdegreesonline.com is cleverly titled, "The 10 Most Impressive Mental Athletes Alive Today" and can be found here.

These people are ridiculous, yet awesome!

I don't even feel worthy to comment too fully on these individuals so please just read the article and see for yourself how impressive the human mind's capabilities can be.

It's all crazy!

In a Library

Libraries are one of my favorite things. I love the feel of a room or building devoted completely to housing books and the stories those books in turn are a home for. My dream house will have its own library with stacks and stacks of my favorite books, vintage globes, turquoise bookshelves, vases of beautiful flowers, comfy chairs, colorful chandeliers and scarves hanging from floor lamps. Kinda like a gypsy library.

This article was sent to me by oedb.org and is titled, "15 Libraries Taking Summer Reading to the Next Level" and can be found here.

When all three of us lived at home during the summer which now hasn't happened for two years, we would have contests to see who could read the greatest amount of books. It was always interesting to see what the three of us would read individually. My mom and I tend to read similar books and Brytten reads biographies of her icons; Ava Gardner, Marilyn Monroe, Goldie Hawn. Oh and there was that summer I read every book Tom Brokaw has ever written...

As college students that face nine months of reading materials selected for us and having a minute amount of time for leisure reading, I think its important that we use our summer months to catch up on the stories we want to immerse ourselves in. This list compiles libraries across the country that have set out to cater to the summer reading desires of adult readers.

Here are my favorite things about each library included in this list:

Framingham Public Library
This library leads a reading competition much like the one we all did around third grade. Adult readers can log the amount of books they read, chosen completely on their own and the final prize is a Kindle. I love a good, healthy reading competition!

The Charles H. Stone Memorial Library
This library has a summer reading program for younger readers. I am a big fan of the program they have instigated because it combines reading and also the joys of summer that are unique to those three great months. Besides just reading, the young readers participating in this program can participate in a mobile space lab, yoga classes, magic shows and other fun activities designed especially for tween and teen readers.

Pima County Public Library
This library also has interactive activities for readers of every age. There are over 100 activities for its reading program participants to engage themselves with including learning more about native plants, taking photos, painting landscapes, cardio kung fu and younger kids can enjoy juggling shows, story time, and rocket-building activities.

Metropolitan Library System
Like the previous libraries this library also combine creativity-boosting activities in conjunction with reading like fiends. Activities include magic shows, steampunk-themed exhibits, business buidling classes, wizard rock shows (I have to admit, I am not entirely sure what that would be...), and a gnome hunt. A gnome hunt?? How can that not be fun?!

New Orleans Public Library
I am a big fan of all things New Orleans and it is one of my favorite cities I have traveled to so I was delighted to see it included on the list. Following the trend, this library promotes fun hands-on-learning-without-realizing-you-are-learning activities. But what is most impressive is that it boasts 500 teens and a whopping 3,260 kids signed up to participate in the summer reading program. 

Newton Country Library
This library has a unique system set up to encourage summer reading. Kids can sign up and pledge to read at least 15 minutes a day. When I read the pledge part I envisioned a secret readers handshake. Winner then receive free books and gift certificates. The library also brings in storytellers and kids can journey to the library to read under the stars, which I absolutely adore.  

Indianapolis Public Library
Ok I love everything about this library. Their program is called Gear Up for Good and is open to readers as young as toddlers. Go them! The program includes a children's book blog suggesting recommended books and most impressively an earn-and-learn program to help youngsters pay off library debt. Which would have been nice for Brytten and I when we were little as I am pretty sure we are now thousands of dollars in debt to the Sioux Falls Public Library because the books we checked out about 13 years ago are still dwelling in my bedroom. 

Fort Worth Public Library
I really like this library's attempt to combine fine arts in young readers. Their program not only encourages reading, obviously but also brings a jazz festival and art exhibits to the library. Way to go having all their bases covered. 

Harris County Public Library
The summer reading program at this library saw a humongous 81% jump in participation in the last year. This program encourages participants to utilize a ReaderNation blog to get suggestions for reading materials and then share their thoughts on the selections. They can even sign up with a personal reading consultant which I may have to add to my list of dream jobs. 

Clermont County Public Library
Their summer reading program's theme is "Read: Morning, Noon, and Night." Simply awesome.

Findlay Hancock County Public Library 
Like most of the other libraries in this list, this library combines other art forms along with the great art of reading. But these activities include scrapbooking, jewelry making and basket weaving. I love that!

New York Public Library
The mega-famous library has 23,000 registrants that can participate in awesome-ness like chess games, films, video games, and knitting circles.  

Brytten and I at the New York Public Library five years ago

Aiken County Public Library
This library is motivated to get the whole family involved in summer reading and has instigated programs including admiring creatures from the local River Ecology Lab, a Star Wars family fun night (ok, the three of us wouldn't have found that too fun...), an abstract painting class (that we would have found fun), and puppet shoes. 

Seattle Public Library
Summer readers in Seattle can take part in movie nights, grown-up story times, operatic performances, readings, and lectures on science and literature topics. 

San Antonio Public Library
Teen readers in this summer reading program can share reviews and make reading suggestions online. Maybe they will become future bloggers. Most impressively, and what makes this library probably the best on the list is their free lunch program which invites underprivileged kids to eat lunch, enjoy a book and take part in a community program. 

The Gifts of the Gifted

In the last couple years a proud moment for the entire family was when my cousin Sam had a reading level of 12 and he only needed a 3 to finish Kindergarten. The kid is a little bit brilliant. I thought of him when oedb.com sent me this article, "50 Essential Links for the Parents of Gifted Children."

The article divides the list of 50 suggestions into helpful organizations, Twitter feeds, blogs, designated resources, and note-worthy articles. I went through and picked my favorites from each section.

My favorite organization included in this list is Mensa for Kids. This organization develops monthly themes to get kids reading and learning at an advanced level. Their website can be accessed here.

The Twitter feed I was most impressed with is a non-profit that offers advocacy and resources for gifted kids and the people that want to see them continue to exceed. Follow @JeffcoGifted here.

The Prufrock Blog supplies resources and support in encouraging not only gifted and advanced students but also special needs students. The blog can be found here.

Obviously all these links supply resources for the people involved in a gifted student's young life and education but this resource seemed pretty stellar. Gifted Child Today is an open-access journal for parents. Students of any intellectual capability need a strong support system of people that have taken a vested interest in making sure they have the most successful education possible. Find it here.

The article included in the list that jumped out at me the most is titled "Gifted Students Go Dumb to Fit In." Let me tell you, intelligent students at any age do this which never ceases to befuddle me. Read the article here.

Mu-lah

I may have at one point in my life joked that I would be pleased to be paid in grapes or ballet shoes. I have in fact, been paid in coffee and school pictures of my cousins for my exceptional babysitting skills. So when I was sent this article, "10 Most Innovative Ways to Pay Teachers" by bestcollegesonline.com I was eager to comment on all the creative ways they had developed to suitably pay teachers.

I know all my future teacher friends would be happy to be paid in alternative means, at least once in awhile. Rachel, a high school chemistry teacher this fall, would gladly be paid in beads or flowers, I am sure. Maybe even in Qdoba. Katie, a future special ed teacher would be absolutely thrilled to be paid in Hobby Lobby gift cards. And Jenny, a future elementary teacher would be paid in random things like trips to Rhode Island, more coffee (probably drank with me) and beautiful photographs.

But I guess this list makes more sense and teachers would probably appreciate these forms of payment a little more..

Be Smarter on Your Smartphones

Two articles were recently sent to me discussing apps for smartphones that are pertinent to students. The first one, "Top 25 Smartphone Apps for Spanish Language Learners" was sent by onlinecolleges.net and can be found here. The second one cracked me up and was sent by onlinebusinessdegree.org. "8 Surprisingly Counterproductive Productivity Apps" can be found here.

The most humorous of these misleading productivity apps is iNap@Work. The app includes sounds of typing, stapling, and mouse clicks. Snooze away.

Business Incubators

In the last couple months I have received several requests to comment on articles written by websites that cater to college students and young adults looking to reach their life's fulfillment in a successful and happy manner. This article sent to me from bestcollegesonline.com is titled, "10 College Business Incubators We’re Most Excited About" and can be found here.

The sites mentioned in the article all encourage students to get very acquainted with the world of business they are hoping to enter.

The one I was most impressed with is the Rochester Institute of Technology's Simone Center. This center has instituted a residential community in which its student can bond in a community setting with common interests and become a part of co-ops, mentoring, similar courses and have constant access to the all-too-important incubator.