Another School Year Begins. . .

Our eldest starts grade 3 tomorrow! It's hard to believe that, considering it feels like she just started Junior Kindergarten yesterday!  She has her clothes laid out for tomorrow, lunch has been packed and is waiting to add to her new backpack by the front door.

She went with a purple and blue American girl backpack this year, she said she didn't want a character, but she did choose a princess lunch box and found matching accessories, such as a pencil case and erasers, so she's not all grown up quite yet.

 The more she grows up the more I notice that she wants to be like her friends. A lot of them apparently bring Lunchables for lunch but Lunchables contain gluten and, due to her having Celiac disease, are not an option for her. So I did the next best thing. I made a home made "Lunchable" for tomorrow.  Her version may be a little bit healthier, though honestly I think it's debatable so don't feel bad if your kid is eating the name brand. lol

Our "Lunchable" knock off includes Rice Crackers (Hot Kid Brand), Piller's Turkey Kolbassa, Black Diamond Cheese string, Act 2 Microwave popcorn, President's Choice Strawberry Applesauce, and a Five Alive juice box.

Hopefully it's as much of a hit as my 71/2 year old expects. She's quite excited for lunch tomorrow and of course nervous and excited to start a new school year.

We'll find out officially at 8:45am tomorrow who her new teacher will be. Here's hoping it's a good one!

A Reading Challenge

Back in elementary school and into high school I was a reader.  I loved a good book.  Then I started college and that changed.  Suddenly I found myself overwhelmed with the amount of reading that had to be done. Forget recreational reading!  Who had time for that!  Suddenly I had 2 chapters of a law text book to read for a test tomorrow!

And when summers came I wanted nothing to do with books.  I just wanted to bask in the sun with my room mates.  I got out of the habit of reading and I found the older I've gotten the harder it's been to get back into that habit.

Last year I heard about Random House's 2013 Reading Bingo Challenge.  I decided to take up the challenge to read 24 books in one year!  After not having picked up a book in years, I got off to a slow start but with one book done, I moved onto the next, and the next. . .by the end of the year I had read 19 books. Yes, I didn't make it to 24 but, all things considered, I think I did pretty well.

Now of course it's January 2014 and Random House has released a new Book Bingo Challenge.  So here we go. . .this time I'm going for all 24!  Care to join me?

Check it out here - http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/retreat-by-random-house-/reading-bingo-2014_b_4562961.html

Happy Reading!

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 20

Education.  Without it you can't get anywhere in life, and even with it, it isn't a guarantee you'll succeed.

I graduated from college in 2005 with a diploma in Office Administration.  I found my first "real" job in September 2008 so it took me approximately 3 years to find a job after graduating.  Then in 2009 I had a baby.

I haven't worked since 2009.  Was my education a waste of money?

The topic for this blog post is "How Important You think Education is."

You might think this is the point in my blog post that I'm going to argue that my education was a waste of time and money.  No, I'm not going to do that.

I actually started out my college education in a different program, Hotel and Resort Operations.  I didn't graduate from that but I did learn a lot.  I learned about mixing drinks in Bartending classes, how to pair wine with food in Wine Appreciation, I got my Smart Serve and I learned to make lots of fancy meals and use expensive knives in my cooking classes.

Then I took Art Appreciation - Design and Visual with a minor in Interior Design.  Yeah, I spent a lot of time in College finding myself.

When I finally took Office Administration - Legal I was able to use things that I had learned from the other programs to my advantage.  For instance, one of the tasks we were assigned was to design an office for our boss.  I knew how to do the proper layout for an interior design mock-up and I was familiar with drafting which helped a tonne when it came to getting high marks.

So, do I think education is important?  Yes.  I think learning is beneficial to everyone and it's essential to learn to read and write.  Is college or university important?  That's debatable.  I know without my education I couldn't get anywhere but with it still took a long time to get a job and even then it wasn't a very high paying job.  I was paid $10.50/hr to start with a maximum potential of $12/hr.  To compare that, in the call centre I worked at I made $17/hr and not everyone there had a college/ university education.

I am currently still paying off what was a $10,000 OSAP loan (1 year of education as I paid the rest out of pocket).  So, was it a waste of money to go to school? Despite everything, I don't think so. 

Will I encourage my daughter to go on to post-secondary education? Yes.  If not for the formal education or the possible wage increase, it's a great opportunity for self discovery, learning and having new life experiences.