In a breakfast rut? Got the cold cereal blues? Or do you dole out breakfast bars like a Vegas card dealer? Never fear – I’m here to shake things up!!

Whole grain cereals and low-sugar breakfast bars offer a bounty of nutrients, but nothing screams COMFORT more than a hot breakfast on a chilly morning. Problem is, most people think a hot morning meal means setting the alarm 30 minutes earlier. Not so! And breakfast doesn’t have to be traditional either. I think outside the box for ALL meals. I serve eggs dishes for dinner and dinner meals in the morning. Just because it’s 6:00 A.M. doesn’t mean I’m hungry for waffles. Why not have chicken egg rolls with leftover chicken from last night? Put shredded chicken in a flour tortilla with salsa and shredded cheese, roll it up, zap it in the microwave for 20 seconds and you’ve got a hot, hand-held breakfast! You can also assemble the egg rolls the night before, wrap them in plastic wrap and in the morning, just micro-and-go! A few more ideas to inspire you…

Be Creative: Don’t relegate pasta to P.M. meals. Toss whole wheat pasta with cubed melon, sliced strawberries, blueberries, red grapes, and low-fat yogurt for the ultimate fruit-pasta salad. Add fresh mint or cinnamon for a twist.

Serve “Snacks” for Breakfast: And choose what you crave: some days you want salty, other days a sweet treat is in order. Some fabulous ideas:

• Oat bran pretzels dunked in peanut butter ...

Sometimes I wish my utterances came with a reverse button.

The other day I had one of those “wishing I had a reverse button” moments while I was trying to motivate my daughter to complete a lesson for Biology. The words were,“You know how to do this, so why don’t you just do it already!” Yes, it was said with the exclamation point at the end. As the words went from my brain and through my lips, I could see by her body language that those words didn't do anything to motivate or help her with the task at hand.

So why did I choose those words? Because at that moment my motivation tool box was empty.

Motivating your student doesn’t mean that you have to make sure your student is always excited about what they are learning. Even with the best curriculum, students may have dips in their desire to learn, but the right motivater can help get him or her across the finish line.

Later when I felt motivated, I came up with these ideas for quick motivation tips to put into my Learning Coach journal:

1. Ask your student how you can help. Listen to both your child's words and actions. You know your child better than anyone. What are they telling you?

Notice how your student is feeling at that moment and encourage a change that will improve his or her learning mood:

(Copy the text in the box below to share the image above on your ...

I admit it.  I love snack time during the day—even more than my kids do!   To me, there is nothing better than a snack that is already made and requires nothing more than to open the door of the fridge, reach in and hand it out.  

Here's a quick tip to help prepare healthy school day snacks while you prepare dinner the night before.

Next time you are chopping up vegetables or cheese for supper, dice up a few extra and toss them in a plastic bag.   As you can see in the photo, we had green pepper stew for supper, (brown a pound of hamburger, slice an onion and a few green peppers, chop up a couple of tomatoes, top with grated cheese and voila! dinner).  After I cleaned and sliced the peppers I put a few pieces in a plastic bag.  Next I cut off a few chunks of cheese and tossed those in another plastic bag.

Now you are ready for that quick pick-me-up snack the next day.

Snack happy & I'll see you online!

Are you excited to kick off this new semester?  You should be.  There is no better feeling then the chance to start fresh and a new semester provides just that opportunity.  It's easy to fall into the habit of looking back and thinking about what went wrong and feeling bad about it.  Don't get sucked in, shake it off now!  Growth is about learning and moving forward, so don't let anything hold you back. 

Here's how to launch a great new virtual school semester.

For the Learning Coach:

• Refresh your focus - Remind yourself of the reasons you chose a virtual school setting.
• Revisit success stories - Chances are, you did more right last semester than you realize. Identify what went right and write it down.  You can also read about others’ success stories for an extra shot of motivation. 
• Build your support network - Reach out to other Learning Coaches via social networks or school message boards.
• Reflect on growth - In addition to information gathered from state testing, report cards, and lessons completed, talk about what your student has learned and how this gets them closer to their individual goals.
• Picture change - Schedule some time with your teacher to get their input on how the semester went. Find time to chat with your kids openly (not in an accusatory way) about what worked or didn't work during the previous semester.  If they aren't in a chatty mood, create your own list for reference. What would you and your ...

Math...math...math...

Does the thought of doing a math lesson send chills down your spine? Or do you love math so much you look for free math lessons online just for the fun of it? 

No matter what your learning style, there is one quick way to sweeten up a math lesson in a hurry - CANDY!

Candy can help make numbers jump off the page.  Throughout the year, you can buy candy in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes (watch for them to go on sale). Put some in a bag in the back of the freezer and bring it out to spice up a lesson. 

Use for:

• Learning to count
• Lessons dealing with addition & subtraction
• Reinforcing place value
• Exploring fractions
• When a lesson suggests using a math counter (such as beans or beads)
• Plotting points on a number line or graph
• Have your student tell you a math story ("Dan has 8 pieces of candy.  He wants 10. How many more...")
• Practice measuring lengths

We would love to have you share your favorite candy math stories here.  There's nothing like sharing sweet success with friends.

Let’s face it. Everybody is trying to be more resourceful these days. Whether it is saving energy, saving the environment, or saving money, we are all interested in doing a little saving wherever possible!

One way to save and to become more resourceful is to try some upcycling. Upcycling generally refers to taking a material that is no longer being used and creating an entirely new higher-quality product or valued piece of art out of it. Upcycling prevents valuable materials from being wasted, and it also reduces the unnecessary environmental impacts of creating new materials for consumption. Upcycling can also be a lot of fun!

Here’s an example of how I upcycled materials in my house to make something new, improved, and very useful. I live in an older home with “charming” older, drafty casement windows. I am always chilly when relaxing on the couch and was considering purchasing a heavy, warm blanket for the winter months. I also have a collection of outdated wool sweaters in storage that I felt too guilty to part with, but the truth is I wasn’t planning on wearing them ever again. The resourceful side of my brain got working and I ended up cutting my sweaters into various squares, stitching the patches together, and upcycling all of that wool into a warm, functional, and stylish quilt! It looks great, and it keeps me warmer than any other blanket in the house!

With 2010 in full swing, and in honor of the “Get Organized” ...

Whether you are homeschooling or in virtual school, spending so much time together can make it easy to forget that doing a little extra for your children during the school day can go a long way.

Here are some ideas that only take a few minutes, but could make a big impact on your child's attitude:

• Display - Hang a paper or picture your child is especially proud of on the refrigerator.
• Brag - Send a copy of this semester's report card to a friend or maybe a grandparent.
• Share - Read just one more book together before bed, or share a special poem with an older child.
• Praise - Every day draw attention to something your child does well.
• Spoil - Cut the edges of their sandwiches, or add hearts to the center of an apple with a cookie cutter.

Even if they act like it's silly, older kids still love your attention.  Little things do mean a lot.

Yesterday, I accepted the challenge of scheduling an appointment for my daughter. Scheduling an appointment for your kids is one of those jobs that I think should require a degree in skilled negotiation and mediation.

The receptionist and I went back and forth with suggested days and times, dodging other activities in my daughter's schedule, until finally she suggested an appointment time at 4 o'clock, after school. My focus on the negotiation was side-tracked when she uttered the words "after school." We didn't need a specific after-school time. After all, my daughter has a pretty flexible school schedule (unlike other stuff in her busy life), and we didn't need a special time after school. So I asked for a different time.

Without looking first at my daughter, I did it. I accepted her new offer for 11 o'clock in the morning. The appointment card she handed me was as good as a handshake, and we were set.

As I’m walking to the car to take my daughter to her next activity, I notice her looking at me with that look. The wheels in my head started turning, trying to figure out what motherly error I had made that earned her gaze. Then it clicked. Why didn’t I take the 4 o’clock appointment? After all, just because she doesn’t have to be in a school building at 11 o'clock in the morning doesn’t mean that she didn’t have schoolwork to do.

I didn’t say anything. After all, I don’t ...

Professional Organizing?! Yes, it is a career and one I found myself drawn to seven years ago. I'm Heather Ryan and while professional organizers focus on any number of areas, my specialty is homes, specifically family spaces. When you combine my belief in the benefits of organization with my passion for virtual schooling, you have organizing advice for active virtual schooling families.

In honor of ‘GO Month’ (that’s Get Organized Month for those in the Professional Organizing Industry), I’ll be looking at organization through the eyes of the Learning Coach. Some of these tips might just keep you sane in the coming months and keep your students on track to a great second semester in your virtual school! We’ll start with a look at how to freshen up and declutter your school area.

Tip: No matter their age, this is a great project to do with your students. Involving them in an organizing project teaches them valuable skills, allows them to be part of the process and will help ensure your school area stays organized for months to come!

How to organize and freshen up your school area in 8 simple steps:

1. Take a quick inventory of what’s in your school area—a computer, monitor, keyboard and mouse, books, notebooks, files, writing instruments, calculator, calendar, a picture of the family dog, etc.

2. Remove all items from the desk and group them into categories. For example:

• Equipment: computer, printer, phone, etc.
• Office supplies: pencils/pens, paper clips, tape, post-it notes, ...

Over the years I have discovered that some advantages of virtual learning are easier for people to grasp than others. Personalized learning, challenging and diverse curriculum, specialized teachers, and alternative scheduling—most people can understand these benefits. The socialization factor, however, draws many blank stares and more questions.

It's not uncommon to be in a store in the middle of a weekday afternoon with my children (especially when my children were younger) and suddenly find ourselves faced with a barrage of questions from a curious (but friendly) sales clerk. After the initial curiosity is addressed as to why the kids aren't in school, other questions like "What do you do all day?" "Do you work in your pajamas?" “How do you manage to socialize with your classmates?" and "Do you have friends?" will keep coming at us. I watch my kids take a deep breath, smile and proceed to describe the details of their virtual schooling life to anyone who asks. Naturally, I'm glowing the whole time, because the simple fact that they can converse like this with anyone reminds me that they are growing into well socialized young adults. 

The reality is that patterns of socialization for virtual learners are not so different from those in a traditional school. Do my kids ever miss the activities in a traditional school setting? Of course they do, but there are many things my kids have been able to do in a virtual school that they would have missed in a traditional bricks ...