This post comes to you a little later than usual. My techno troubles have continued unfortunately and my notebook is very broken and will probably not be fixed until Friday. In the meantime I will only have limited access to a computer, so apologies in advance for not participating much in the comments sections, or visiting your blog this week.

I love the amazing cross section of information that you come across whilst travelling the blogosphere. Here is a collection of 10 of my favourites from June:

SCHOOL HOLIDAY CRAFT INSPIRATION
(1). What Can We Do Today?? - Draw Big from Kate at Picklebums.
This is an inexpensive, quiet activity that will get the kids drawing.

(2). Book Cover Craft from Jane at Kidzarama.
Terrific idea for utilising the art work from the children.

(3). Some Friday Artfulness from Jean at The Artful Parent.
Two simple ideas that would be fun across a number of age groups - making a book and having fun with egg cartons. Also check out The Artful Parent’s etsy store while you are there, for some beautifully handcrafted items.

(4). Featured Creativity from Sew Mama Sew.
Visually all of these handcrafted items are so appealing (and probably completely out of my league in terms of ability), and they will certainly inspire.

(5). Softies for Mirabel - New Arrivals - Part 1 from Pip at Meet Me At Mikes.
A fantastic cause making softies for Mirabel Foundation. I can’t actually make these beautiful creations, but they do plan to sell some to raise fund, so I will wait to then and hand over some cash.

CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL ISSUES
(6). Should We Stop Having Children to Save the Earth? by Jennifer Lance at Eco Child’s Play.
This is the first of two posts on the issue of having children and the impact on the environment. This post gives some factual data on the foot print of a child, but points out that there are choices in the way we live that mean that the foot print does not have to be so heavy for a family.

(7). No Child Left Behind - from the Crunchy Chicken.
The second post on this issue poses the question “Is it morally wrong to have children?” Although a short post in itself, the Crunchy Chicken extracted 199 comments on this post and there a some very strongly held views from both sides of the fence which make interesting reading.

(8). “She’s just a cute Tween…but she grows up to be a curvy, cool Teen!” from Danielle Miller at The Butterfly Effect.
This posts starts with a critical review of a new Barbie like doll and uses this as a base from which to explore the issue of sexualisation of children in the contemporary media environment.

(9). A Solution to Global Obesity… YOU! from Craig Harper.
This post came after the announcement that Australia is now officially become the fattest nation on the planet and it really doesn’t hold back. “What causes obesity (for the majority) are poor choices over an extended period of time.” There is also so great discussion in the comments worth reading as well.

(10). Ain’t no power like the power of the mama from the Crunchy Domestic Goddess
Some postive affirmations about the potential of mothers as a pressure group with great links of where and how to get involved.

Take the time to check them out if you can, they are definitely worth it!

Technorati Tags: blogs, Monthly, posts

• 10 Top Posts For July
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At the start of May I changed to my own server and it took me a while to sort out some problems and settle in. As such the Monthly Review for April did not appear. This therefore is a combined review of April and May and some goals I am setting myself for June.

REVIEW - KEY TASKS FOR APRIL/MAY:

Not being too busy.
April was not great, May started roughly and I actually averaged about 6 hours a night sleep for the first 10 days in May. So far away from where I wanted to be. But in last two weeks of May, I have seemed to have achieved more balance. They key was creating a work plan and sticking to it. Providing I can stick to it for June, I will talk about this further in a separate post.

Making a decision on kinder for Babaganouski
Babaganouski is born on April 30 which is the cut off date for age entry into kinder and school. I needed to decide if I want to enrol him for 3 y.o kinder in 2009 or wait until 2010. We have decided that we will wait until 2010 and I am confident that this will be the right decision for him.

This decision has the flow on effect of determining when we send Babaganouski to school. Our decision now means he will turn 6 in the year he starts Prep. This is a widely debated topic in Australia and one which is a personal one for each family and is dependent upon the individual child.

Create a Command Centre
During April I had on my to do list to make this myself as per the instructions on Mom Ready. This actually never happened and so I decided to look to purchase one online. The Wall Organiser that I like the most and which will fit the space that I have for it, does not send to Australia. I am yet to find one similar that ships to Australia, so I am still searching on this one and if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them.

Birthday Celebrations
We had two small parties this year, Babaganouski’s was very small, but also very special as we were in Mildura a couple of days after his birthday and had it there with his grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousin who live there as well as his other aunties and uncles that were also visiting.

Organise the Special People
Each child had the special person of their choice to take to their school for Special Persons Day.

Writing Practice for Little Rascal
This was actually much easier than I had expected. One weekend in April while I was in the study blogging, I asked Little Rascal to come and sit with me and hand write a story. Once he completed it, I said he could use the computer to “publish” it and I would teach him to insert pictures for the illustrations.

It took him a little while to come up with a topic, but he decided on Scooby Doo. Now I would have preferred a different topic, but given that he was excited about it, I decided to let that go and focus on the fact that at least he was writing.

Once he had published and illustrated his first story which was titled Scooby Doo vs Shaggy, Little Rascal informed me that he was going to do a series and his next one was going to be Scooby Doo vs Fred. Each weekend he would work on a story and then take it to school for Show and Share.

I loved that he was so proud of his work. Little Rascal has a wonderful teacher and even without me discussing this project with her, after his second story he came home from school with a presentation folder to put his stories in. Little Rascal very excitedly told me, that when it is finished it is allowed to go in their reading corner!

Back Yard
We are into maintenance mode now here and as it is winter the level of work is not as great

GOALS - KEY TASKS FOR JUNE:

Not being too busy.
Measurables here for me are being in bed by 11.00pm and one week day a week where I am at home.

Mid year catch ups.
Now that we are entering June, it is going to be 6 months or more since I have seen some people. I am going to try and organise a couple of catch up with groups of friends, so I can see a few mates at a time.

Re-do the family budget.
This task actually falls into Mr Infrastructure’s department (yay!!), but I do have to help with the inputs. A few things have changed recently, so to be truly reflective of our in comings and outgoings we need to revise our figures.

Change over toys.
I like to change over the toys that we have out on display every couple of months, so they meet the interests and developmental needs of the children.

Gather donations.
The boy’s schools is supporting the St Vincent de Paul Society’s Winter Appeal I will get the children to help me go through some cupboards in our house and find items for donation.

So are you like me and a little freaked out that it is June already? What goals are you setting for yourself this month?

Technorati Tags: goals, Monthly, reveiw

• Monthly Review - March
• Monthly Review - June
• Monthly Review - February
• Monthly Review September

Time to take a look what I have achieved during March and then take a peek forward and see what is on the horizon for April.

My monthly review does not go into the low level detail, but looks at the key tasks that I was hoping to work my way through and how I fared.

REVIEW - KEY TASKS FOR MARCH:

Not being too busy.
My aim was to be in bed by 11.00pm as a norm and I have to confess to making it to bed by this time less than a quarter of the nights in March.

Towards the end of the month (knowing that I was going to have to write how poorly I had fared), I started noting down what I was doing with my time for a few days to see why this is a constant occurrence.

The bottom line is that I don’t want to miss out on anything, and will keep cramming things into my day without dropping any activities off. This is not a sustainable way to go and I have to make some decisions about where I will focus my energies this month.

Complete buying winter clothes for children and mum and dad.
Children - completed.
Mr Infrastructure - yet to start. If he doesn’t get going soon I will have to do it for him!
Me - The heavy winter coat that I have been hunting for is alluding me. But I came across I op therefore I am in by blog travels and I will check out a few of the stores they recommend.

Easter holiday and camping
Completed and so happy to have been part of my friends camping troop. I have memories of a strong, funny and intelligent woman that I will never forget.

Enrollment/Registration for Term 2 after school activities.
Completed

Back garden
Work in progress - about a quarter of the way through this project. It will probably be May before we finish as we have sport on both Saturday and Sunday mornings now.

GOALS - KEY TASKS FOR APRIL:

Not being too busy.
I will have to keep putting this one on until I achieve a better balance. I have quite a few things that I want to achieve with the blog over the next couple of months that will require a decent amount of work from me.

I have given quite a lot of thought as to where I can squeeze this extra time from and for the next 6 weeks I am going to try and limit some of my social activities.

I love morning teas, after school family plays, parties etc but I am going to try pulling back slightly this month, so that I can make it to bed by 11.00pm. I need to do better than last month.

Making a decision on kinder for Babaganouski
Babaganouski turns 2 on April 30 and I need to decide if I want to enrol him for kinder next year. This decision is just a part of the broader decision about when we send him to school.

April 30 is the cut off day for children turning 5 before they can enter school in Victoria. Little Rascal was April 20 and we made the decision to wait for him to turn 5 before he went to school (he turned 6 when in prep) and this decision was a fantastic one for him. He settled into Prep even better than I could have imagined. I need to assess if this will be the right move for Babaganouski.

Create a Command Centre
This sounds so completely nerdy I know, but if you take a peek at the photo in this link at The Organizing Junkie’s, you might understand why I want one!

I have a Manila folder that I keep on a kitchen bench near the phone, but it inevitably builds up to a mess and doesn’t always have the items I would like on hand there.

Birthday Celebrations
A party for Babaganouski and a dinner with friends for Little Rascal. You can see more about how I am planning those on my Thursday posts during April.

Organise the Special People
In May both kinder and school have Grandparents/Special Persons Days. We have 2 grandparents and a great grandmother in Melbourne, but there was a year (when Babaganouski was born) that I left the organising too late and the new born Babaganouski and I ended up being the special visitors.

Writing Practice for Little Rascal
Little Rascal is an active child and has a natural preference for mathematics. He will often ask me to write him sums to do, but when it comes to writing a story (and practising his handwriting) he is a little apprehensive. I think relates to his perfectionist nature, so this month I am going to try a few different things to get him writing more at home.

Back Yard
At least with the cooler weather the growth of the plants (and weeds) slows a little. I think to work through the next quarter would be doable this month.

How did you go last month and what key tasks are you setting for yourself for April?

Technorati Tags: blogs, Monthly

• Monthly Review for April/May
• Monthly Review - February
• Monthly Review - June
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Time again to list some posts that were highlights for me as I have travelled around the blogosphere during the month.

From the heart:
My parents, my heroes - A beautifully written post, which should make anyone appreciate their parents while they still have the chance to do so.

Mommy Cliques: A Ninja Survival Guide - A post I can relate to post about how to deal with a mommy clique.

Social Justice:
Our Global Reality Meal - A teacher describes an amazing exercise to highlight the inequality of our world for school students.

How To talk To Your Kids About Race - Ideas on how to get children to appreciate diversity.

Parenting:
How to Listen - Megan from Imaginif again comes up with some fantastic advice on communicating with your children.

Caught in the Act - A view from the other side of the fence for a change - from Dad.

7 Preschool Educational Toys That Cost Next To Nothing - Creative ideas from The Preschool Mama on using every day items with your child.

How to Motivate Students to Earn (Er Learn) - An example of why rewards (bribes) don’t work.

Tips:
Frugal Living Simplified in 5 Steps - Some practical advice, some of which I really need to take on!

60 Gardening Ideas For Kids - List’s the nine essential elements to consider in a child’s garden.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Technorati Tags: blogs, Monthly

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