[Sponsored Post] Checklist for preparing kids for the new school year

In our household, our first born is getting ready to start her schooling. And it is a great moment of both pride and sadness for us. At one hand, we are proud of the bubbly young person we have created who is ready to let the school system mold her. At the same time, we are sad to lose her to the behemoth that the outside school system can be. Unfortunately, we can’t (and won’t) home school her for the rest of her life.

So we thought about all the unique experiences that she is likely to encounter in the first few days at school and how we could help her transition. It would make sense to have a list! We both sat down – she came up with some ideas and I helped her with the others.

* Making new friends – topmost! Friends we can choose (family we can’t)!

* Understanding and accepting discipline. Discipline in relation to other kids and to the teachers.

* Understanding roles and responsibilities. Different times in life require different hats!

* Finding new games and experiences.

* Learning to lead and learning when to be led.

* Being respectful of others – of their traditions, values and beliefs – which may be different than ourrs.

* Learning new things and ideas.

* Keeping safe. Understanding the dangers around her and how to find the best ways to deal with them.

* Handling stress. Yes, hopefully stress shouldn’t be part of her curriculum at the moment, but the better prepared she is now, the more helpful it will be in the future.

* Respect for the environment. This was a forced entry, as we wanted to round it off to 10 items. But this included inculcating into her the need to respect the things that are natural around her and leaving her rubbish behind, using recyclable items and taking care of nature strips.

We sat down and printed this on our own HP 8500 Officejet printer, and posted it in her room and kept one in her school bag. Hopefully, she will follow most of them. 🙂

Original HP ink delivers unsurpassed quality and reliability so when customers purchase HP ink they know they will get exactly what they pay for— superior performance, value and peace of mind.

Disclosure:

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by HP via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of HP.

Lots of Americans seem to think that May 5 is Mexican Independence Day, but that holiday actually falls on Sept. 16.

May 5 is the celebration of the Battle of Puebla, in which the Mexicans defeated the French in 1862. Independence Day marks the beginning of their fight for independence from Spain in 1810. That was the day of what’s known as El Grito de Dolores, or the cry of Dolores, for when the Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang the church bells at his church in Dolores and declared that Mexico should be free from Spanish rule.

They would fight for their freedom until 1821 when they finally gained independence.

Fabulous Classroom has a little of the history and ideas for celebrating the holiday for all age groups. There’s also a link to a good video in that post about the real story of Mexican Independence Day.

Twinkl also has a good tops about the history and different activities, discussion ideas, crafts and foods that can be incorporated into lessons at school or used at home.

I also found a few pins that no longer link to a website but include good information on Mexican Independence Day, including some questions for students to answer based on the reading. You can find more printables and questions for kids from TX Homeschool Mama on Etsy (also available in Spanish).

You can find a lot more paid resources about Mexican Independence Day at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Mexican flag crafts are a fun option for celebrating Mexican Independence Day (though the current iteration of their flag has only been in use since 1968). Kids Activities Blog has a free Mexican flag printable and a few different ideas for decorating it including dot markers and torn tissue paper.

You can also find some great Mexican crafts at Red Ted Art. The post includes all sorts of Mexican inspired projects including Day of the Dead crafts, Frida Kahlo pinatas and upcycled musical instruments. I love the giant paper flowers they shared from Honestly WTF.

Have you read?