LaLaGirl – Twinfinite Chaos! Parenting Multiples and Dealing with Autism

As you know, our family moved across town just after Christmas of last year, and my kids had to switch schools halfway through kindergarten. The transition went well, thank goodness, and we could not be happier with the new school – my kids have had great teachers and they’ve made lots of friends. Huge thumbs up all around.

Those early days were stressful and scary, though – and I remember how nervous Mallory was on that first day. It warmed my heart tremendously to see two special little girls, who have since become Mallory’s very dear friends, approach her from each side and take her by the hand to show her around the classroom. Here’s a picture from that day…you can see how apprehensive Mallory was, poor bug.

I was thinking of my kids and that whole experience as I read Elena’s Big Move, the story of a young girl who moves from Puerto Rico to the United States, leaving behind her home, school, and her friends. Elena, the young girl in the story, learns that her family will be moving to Indiana for her father’s job. She prepares for the move by taking lots of photographs of all the places and people in Puerto Rico that are important to her and which hold special memories. She puts these photos in a scrapbook to take with her and share with her new friends in Indiana.

After reading this story, I thought to myself, this is genius. I really wish I would have come up with this idea when we were getting ready to move. Although it would have been tedious trying to carve out some time to run around taking pictures of “our” McDonald’s and Starbucks and park playground and school classroom, I would have done it. It might have really helped all of the kids adjust to life in our new ‘hood, if we’d had a few memories of our old one.

This book would be a great addition to your school’s library or to your own library at home – it deals with a common life changing situation in a neat way – plus, it’s full of fun Spanish words. Check it out!

This book was provided to my family by the publisher for review purposes. We are donating it to our school’s library so other kids can benefit from it, too!

Popularity: 3% [?]

You all know I have a 14-year-old who is a little bit Twilight obsessed. So when I found out about a vocabulary workbook designed to be used side-by-side with the Twilight books, I was all over it. I just received a review copy of Defining Twilight from the book’s author, Brian Leaf.

I think the whole notion of jumping on the Twilight bandwagon and using the book’s popularity to sell your own books educate apathetic teens is GENIUS. The book is full of references with exact page numbers so you can flip back and forth and figure out the meanings of words. I’m not so sure my child would find it to be a fun filled activity that she would do all by herself, but if I were MAKING her do it, she’d probably enjoy it more than she would enjoy a regular old English lesson from her teacher. And I’ll bet there are some kids who would really enjoy this. I noticed there’s another workbook out that goes along with New Moon. Pretty cool.

Defining Twilight: Vocabulary Workbook for Unlocking the SAT, ACT, GED, and SSAT…Can you resist the allure of Edward’s myriad charms—his ochre eyes and tousled hair, the cadence of his speech, his chiseled alabaster skin, and his gratuitous charm? Will you hunt surreptitiously and tolerate the ceaseless deluge in Forks to evade the sun and uphold the facade? Join Edward and Bella as you learn more than 600 vocabulary words to improve your score on the *SAT, ACT®, GED®, and SSAT® exams!

Kind of a fun book, especially if you have a kid who’s preparing for the ACT or SAT test. Check it out!

Popularity: 2% [?]