Here’s what LeapFrog is up to (from a press release):

Another school year is underway, Education Nation has launched, Waiting for Superman is on movie screens, and we all want to give our children the best possible school experience. Knowing that literacy statistics in recent years have been discouraging at best, in 2009, LeapFrog decided we had to do more to help our youngest kids get started on the right foot—in Kindergarten, the year when “learning to read” usually begins.

So we donated $1.5 million in Tag Readers and books to the classrooms of 10,000 Kindergarten students nationwide. And after using them for a few months, here’s what teachers told us:

o 99% of them said they’d recommend Tag systems to other teachers and to parents, because it makes a real difference.

o   96% said their students’ attitudes about reading improved.

o   95% said their students wanted to spend more time reading.

o   97% said their students’ reading skills improved.

WELL. We felt confident that Tag would have a positive effect in the classroom, but even we were amazed by this feedback. Because teachers have made it clear that Tag helps them and their students, LeapFrog has launched the Tag. Give. Read. program, empowering anyone to “give the gift of reading” by putting Tag materials into the hands of 30,000 more students.

2 ways to get involved:

1.   GIVE TO A TEACHER. LeapFrog has donated $100,000 to DonorsChoose.org, to match donations, dollar-for-dollar, made to teachers who request Tag for their classrooms. This is teachers’ opportunity to post a request for Tag Readers and books, being sure to reference “LeapFrog Tag Readers” in the request. And it’s everyone else’s opportunity to help a teacher out. Everyone can give, no amount is too little, and LeapFrog’s gift effectively doubles every dollar given.

2.   “LIKE” LEAPFROG ON FACEBOOK. LeapFrog will give a Tag book to a Kindergarten teacher for each new Facebook fan we get—it’s what we’re calling our “Virtual Book Drive.” That way even someone who is unable to contribute financially can lend a hand by becoming a fan.

Pretty cool initiative, huh?

THE PRIZE:

Tag Reading System + US Map and 2 additional books for YOU.

Tag map

Tag Reading Sytem

PLUS, choose a Kindergarten teacher to receive a Tag kit for classroom use, consisting of 2 Tag School Readers and headphones, along with 2 copies each of 15 Tag books.

TO ENTER:

♣    “Like” LeapFrog on Facebook, then leave a comment here with your Facebook name. Limit one comment per person.

WANT BONUS ENTRIES?

♣    Suggest to 10 of your Facebook friends that they “Like” LeapFrog on Facebook too. The more “Likes” LeapFrog gets, the more books they get to give away! Leave a comment here telling me you did this.

♣    Subscribe to my blog via RSS or email, then leave a comment letting me know.

♣    Tweet this giveaway and leave a comment with the link. (You can do this daily.) Optional phrasing for your Tweet: I’m entered to win a Leapster Tag Reading System, U.S. map & 2 books from @MomofTwinsPlus2. Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/25jov9h.

♣    Post on your blog with a link about the giveaway and leave a comment here with a link to your post.

♣    Follow my blog on Networked Blogs and leave a comment here letting me know.

♣    Become a fan of Parenting By Trial and Error on Facebook and leave a comment here letting me know.

PLEASE READ: Giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time, Sunday, December 19, 2010. Any comments left after this time will be deleted. Open to residents of the U.S. only. The winner will be chosen using random.org. Winner will have 24 hours to respond to notification with shipping info. If no response, another winner will be chosen.

GOOD LUCK!

It’s such an overused expression, but time really does go by way too fast.

I remember being jealous of my friends whose kids were in school all day. I felt like that would never be me and I’d have little kids at home forever with no break in sight.

Now I go to the grocery store and see young moms with their broods in tow, looking harried and frazzled and I have to smile sympathetically. I remember feeling exactly the same way. Now instead of being one of those young moms with young kids, wishing I were shopping all by myself for once, I’m one of the moms of older kids, shopping while they’re all in school. Instead of trying to hurry as fast as I can to get through the checkout lane with the least amount of whining and begging, I’m frantically sending thoughts of, “Enjoy it while you can! It’ll be gone before you know it,” in rapid succession to every young mom I see.

It’s easy to romanticize a past time period in your life, but the adage is so true — kids grow up faster than you ever think they will, despite how long you may feel the days drag on when they’re still dependent. Try not to wish these days away because soon, ever so soon, your son will never again come out of his room, wearing a sheepish smile, all rosy-cheeked and tousle-haired, from his nap. Your daughter will never again climb on your lap with her blankie and suck her thumb and fall asleep as she listens to your heart beat.

I miss those days. You will too.

Do you ever find yourself wishing that your kids weren’t so dependent?

This year I have another kindergartner and the homework that started to trickle in at the beginning of the year has been gaining speed by the week.

Last week, when I went on my writer’s conference/cruise, the kids went with their dad to visit their grandma in the hospital for a couple days, thereby missing school. I got home to find a huge pile of make-up homework for Logan. We’re still not done with it, a week later!

I’m beyond frustrated. Logan, being a completely different kid than Cody, is a perfectionist when it comes to his work. Everything takes him 5 times as long to do as it took Cody. For instance, he had to color a few animals in a picture. Instead of just scribbling one color like many other 5-year-olds do, he had to painstakingly draw colored stripes in each animal. He wanted it to be “pretty so my teacher will really like it.”

The 1 hour+ picture

Completion time: over an hour. Yes, seriously. I was sitting there watching the whole process, so I know he wasn’t messing around.

Tonight he had to create a “Word Monster.” He chose to use a cereal box for this project, cutting the top into little strips for hair and adding multiple bee stickers, and it took him approximately two hours to complete.

Word Monster

It even has a “backbone, so he can be straight,” explained a proud Logan.

The backbone

Sigh.

This is going to be a long, long year.

What is a parent to do? We all know that if I protest the homework, even silently like I did last year with Cody, I’m going to be viewed as a bad, uninvolved parent. At the same time, I’ve already got way too much on my plate and frankly, I don’t have time (or patience) for this sort of homework.

I said it before and I’ll keep saying it: Beyond reading, I don’t think any kid this young should have homework. He’s already gone every day from 7:30 to nearly 4:30. Having to come home and do homework on top of that, when bed time is at 8:00, doesn’t give him a lot of time for kid stuff. At the rate he works, it barely gives him time to eat and bathe, let alone play.

Yes, I understand teachers have to meet certain requirements with their students, I really do. In this situation, though, I think it’s the teacher (who I like very much, incidentally — she does a great job) more than test scores. Case in point: My first grader does not have anywhere close to the amount of homework that my kindergartner does and this was particularly noticeable when the kids missed school.

I’m curious what others have done or would do in this situation. I adore feedback and comments, so please share!

In fact, I love comments so much, I’m going to send a little something to the author of my favorite comment for the month of November, so post to your heart’s content.

Have you dealt with the homework dilemma? What are your thoughts on homework in kindergarten?

Called to school to pick up the aforementioned child early because he had an on-again, off-again headache and tummy ache, I was leading my offspring, who didn’t seem sick at all, past the playground on our way to the van when his kindergarten teacher stopped me.

My little tall tale teller at age 2

“Um, I thought you might want to know that Logan has been telling everyone today that you are expecting,” she whispered so the other kids wouldn’t hear.

“What?!” I practically shrieked, appalled.

“Yeah, I didn’t think it was true, but he said, ‘My mom’s going to have a baby and then there will be 7 people in our family!’” she said. “I asked Mrs. Taylor (Cody’s teacher) if it was true and she asked Cody. He said no, but I just thought you might want to have a talk with Logan about it.”

“Well, it’s not true,” I said, still reeling. “Logan really WANTS a baby, but I’m NOT expecting.”

Minutes later, as he sat safely strapped into his booster seat in the van, I turned an evil stare on my youngest child.

“So,” I said, my voice dripping with warnings. “I hear you told everyone that I’m having a baby.”

He instantly looked abashed. “Well, yeah,” he admitted.

“Why would you say that when it’s not true?” I asked, genuinely perplexed.

“Well, because I wanted to make everyone happy,” he said. ” I wanted to make it a happy day for my teachers and my friends.”

“I see,” I said, beginning to be more amused than angry. “Do you realize that making up something about someone like that is a lie?”

Logan’s little face looked both upset and startled by this news. He clapped his hands to his mouth. “A lie?” he asked, behind his covered mouth.

“Yes, because now people believe something about me that isn’t true. I know you didn’t mean to tell a lie, but that’s what it was,” I said.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” he said in his most sincere tone. “I’ll be sure to tell everyone tomorrow that you’re not really having a baby and that I was just making it up so they’d be happy.”

“Thank you,” I said, appeased.

As fast as gossip like that gets around (divorced mom of 4 kids who isn’t even in a relationship is now pregnant with her FIFTH child and no one knows who the father is…you can imagine the rest), I wouldn’t have been at all surprised to have my daughters come home from school and ask me why I didn’t tell them I’m having a baby.

Thank goodness the rumor appears to have been contained in the grade school with no spillover to the middle and high school.

For now.

Sigh.

Has your child ever told a tall tale about your family?

You can expect me to be a sobbing wreck that day. I will also be posting a picture of Logan getting on the bus.

Here’s Cody’s first day of kindergarten last year:

I also still have my nephew here, so maybe I won’t even really notice Logan’s absence. (Hey, I can indulge in some wishful thinking, right?)

But just in case, if you want to leave me a comforting comment on Thursday, I won’t object. =)

♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦

How are the back-to-school days treating your family?

Fortunately, he made a little discovery about a month after school began. The object that turned his life around was this:

I know, right? It was a bit creepy to come in one morning to wake Cody up, only to have him emerge wearing these babies. After I got over my initial shock, I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing as he declared that these Magic Glasses would help him have a good morning. (Like most kids, Cody gets mortally offended when he feels he is being laughed at.)

The glasses did indeed help him have a good morning, sans whining and complaining. And a good next morning. And a good next morning after that.

And so on.

One day, he became panicky when he couldn’t find the Magic Glasses. However, by something short of a miracle (I suppose it could be called good behavior), he managed to have a decent morning anyway.

I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the Magic Glasses until a few days ago, when moving the kids’ rooms around again. I rescued them from certain destruction and began to reminisce fondly on how they changed Cody’s life. Or, at least, his perception of reality.

Hey, whatever works, right? I wasn’t going to argue if he believed that creepy eyeball glasses would help him have a good morning.

I think I’ll save them for Logan. Who knows? Maybe he’ll be in need of some Magic Glasses to help him get adjusted to kindergarten too.

Have your kids had any specially self-designated aids to help them deal with challenges in their lives?

Have you entered the giveaway for Green to Grow baby products? Take a second to leave a comment to win!

Part of my guilt stems from the fact that the Preschool/Junior Kindergarten teacher is a friend of mine and I know my decision caused her hours, and therefore her salary, to be cut quite a bit. Adding to that guilt was the phone call I received from the Kindergarten teacher yesterday about Logan’s first day. I asked her how many kids are in the class this year and she said 23, a few more than she was expecting. Evidently the kids who were going to be in Junior Kindergarten signed up for Kindergarten instead.

For some odd reason, I figured they’d just go back to preschool. Evidently I had also been secretly hoping (I say secretly because I didn’t even realize this until now) that the Junior Kindergarten would stay in operation in case I…er, I mean Logan…needed it.

You see, the closer we get to the start of school (August 25), the more I’ve been second-guessing my decision to send Logan to Kindergarten rather than JK. It has nothing to do with his intellectual ability or even his perceived lacking social skills, but it has everything to do with the fact that I’m not ready for him to go to school full-time.

It’s very upsetting to me when I think about the fact that all those hours I had alone with Logan are now over. It’s also quite shocking because a few years ago, it seemed a lifetime away until all my kids were in school all the time and I’d be able to write just about full-time myself. I looked forward eagerly to this exciting change in my life, but now that I’m almost there, I’m more sad and depressed than excited.

I know that putting Logan in JK at this point would only be for my benefit —just a little more time to savor with him — and that’s not good parenting (not that it’s even an option anymore). He would be horrendously bored if I forced him to do preschool yet again (JK consisted of preschool in the morning and kindergarten in the afternoon). Also, he’s such a bright little thing, there’s no way I want to hold him back from all the learning he’s so anxious to do.

Just the other night we were watching a movie and eating popcorn. Logan, typically bored with the movie, decided to start counting out popcorn kernels instead. Before long he pointed to two piles and said, “Mom, look! 2 and 3 make 5!” A few minutes later, he pointed again at three piles of two kernels each and said, “And 2 and 2 and 2 make 6!”

Now I’m no great mathemetician myself (that may be the understatement of the century), but I think these calculations are pretty darn good for a 5-1/2 year old.

In fact, I think Kindergarten better watch out for Logan.

Meanwhile, you’ll find me at home on the first day of school sobbing into Logan’s blankie as my heart breaks just a little bit.

<<sniff>>

Has your youngest started full-time school yet? If so, how did you deal with it? If not, how do you think you will feel?

My reasons are threefold:

1.  When Logan gets in a mood on mornings he doesn’t want to go to school, he always whines, “I hate school! It’s so BORING!” Considering he’s one of the oldest kids in the class, which seems to consist of mostly 3-year-olds, this is probably an accurate description. To make him do preschool yet again, after 2-1/2 consecutive years, even if he will technically be doing kindergarten activities in the afternoons, seems to me to be the equivalent of stunting his intellectual growth.

2.  As a wise commenter pointed out, if his social skills are in question, how will he be able to hone them in a class with only two other kids? It seems much more likely that he’ll get the interaction he needs from a bigger class.

3.  I talked to Logan himself yesterday on the way home from preschool. I asked him if he’d rather go to Junior Kindergarten or Kindergarten. At first, he eagerly voted for Junior Kindergarten, but once I began to explain the difference to him, and that he’d get to do all the things that Cody’s doing this year (reading, learning to count, spell, etc.), he became very excited. “I decided I want to go to REAL Kindergarten,” he told me.

Phew. I’m so very glad that decision is done.

“I’m just hoping that his presence (or lack thereof) in junior kindergarten isn’t the swing vote that decides on its existence.”

Guess what, ladies and gentlemen? Sure enough, Logan’s presence (or lack thereof) in junior kindergarten IS the swing vote that decides on its existence!

The school superintendent cornered me in the hallway the other day when I went to pick Logan up from preschool.

“So, are you going to send Logan to Junior Kindergarten?” he casually asked me.

“Um, I’m not sure yet,” I said, wondering what the rush was.

“Well, we’ve got two kids signed up right now and if Logan goes too, we can definitely have a Junior Kindergarten program,” he told me.

Great. So if I don’t send him to Junior Kindergarten, there most likely won’t be one next year. No pressure.

The thing is, his preschool teacher said that he could fall behind, but she told me that intellectually, he’s up to the challenge. Her worry is that with kindergarten being more like first grade used to be these days, kids are learning at an incredibly fast pace and Logan gets so into his own world, he could fall behind, especially with the fairly large class expected next year.

Logan at his 5th birthday party 3-14-09

So I’m torn. The factors I’m weighing are these:

Pros for sending Logan to Kindergarten: He’s intellectually ready; he will be 5-1/2 when school starts; he’s tall for his age; he will be there all day, every day, which seems like plenty of time to learn what he needs to.

Pros for sending Logan to Junior Kindergarten: School is only 3 days a week, which he would no doubt prefer since he complains about going to preschool now, just 3 mornings a week; we won’t risk him falling behind because he will only be with two other kids and will have a lot of individual attention from the teacher (his current preschool teacher).

Cons for Kindergarten: The intense schedule (a full day of school 5 days a week, plus nearly 2 hours on the bus every day); the possibility that he will get lost in the crowd and/or not be where the other kids are; the school probably won’t be able to have a Junior Kindergarten if Logan goes to Kindergarten.

Cons for Junior Kindergarten: Half of each day consists of preschool, which Logan has already been attending for the past 2-1/2 years; he may become bored; he’ll be 19 when he graduates from high school.

What I keep coming back to is this: The JK didn’t even exist until this year. Sending Logan to Kindergarten wouldn’t have even been a question a couple years ago, when there wasn’t that option because I definitely wouldn’t send him back to preschool.

Basically, it seems to me that he would be fine either way, which actually makes the decision harder!

Have any insight or comments for me? All are welcome and appreciated!