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copyright © 2009, Alice Held, All Rights Reserved

 

Hi Ho, It’s Back to School We Go!

Back to work, back to school…Now that vacation time is over, renewal time again. Here are some ideas and websites to get you back in the groove.

While you or your kids have been enjoying those last few, precious days of summer, Alice has been putting the finishing touches on her pre-fall assignment: finding the best sites to get you prepared for the opening bell.
Wal-Mart has already pulled summer merchandise from the shelves and is replacing it with “back to school” and fall merchandise. For a really complete school supply site, try CNet’s Back to School 2009 Best Buys


To prepare and for help this school year for any student, I’ve put together an Essential Homework Helpers for you.

About Education chock full of resources to keep you on top of the latest developments in curriculum, technology, shopping and just fun!

Back to School graphics for your newsletters and reports are free at Back to School Clip Art and another.

To get online SAT and college preparation help, these mostly free sites will help!

MSN has some sites to help: Eco Back to School Guide and MSN Homework Learning & Research and A Parents Guide to Homework Help

For a power-packed list of Science, Math, and mind-expanding topics that are, I promise you, FUN! visit My page and get ready to launch to the next level. Need homework help, it’s here. Need an innovative project, it’s here.

For those parents who home school, the Family Education Network is full of resources.

Had a Big Idea lately?

Crayola is a fun site full of activities for the little ones.

McGruff’s Safety Tips: has hints for your children’s school days.

Recipes for Kids from Brainy Breakfasts to After School Energy Boosters and give that lunchbox a nutrition makeover with these 10 TIPS (Notice this page is from 1999, and still relevant today!)

Kids Domain has Back to School printable activity pages.

Geosense is an online, one-two player geography based game. Play alone or compete against an online opponent to locate cities as quickly and accurately as you can.  Simple, competitive, addictive.

And it’s Back to School time for teachers, too. For them, there’s Education World and A to Z Teacher Stuff and the Teacher’s Corner has good resource material.

For study reference, there is the World Fact Book And another good study resource is the Fact Monster. Do you want to know what famous person shares your birth month and day? Check out their birthday facts. One of mine is Martha Stewart!

One fun and scary website is the Population Calculator Learn how many people there are today in the world and how many there were when you were born.

For some information about Arizona’s schools, the School Reports, and this year’s AIMS scores, The Arizona Department of Education has it all and then some. Learn all about the public schools, charter schools, the university sites, the community college sites, with their website addresses.

Raising Arizona Kids is a local magazine full of articles, home schooling resources, schools for special needs students and lists all the Valley Public School districts with their phone numbers and websites. They also offer an Education Book 2007, that lists the schools, charter schools, daycare, babysitting sources, etc.

And another resource guide is the The Valley Parent’s Resource Guide with lists of preschools & child care, before & after school care, party planning, youth sports and groups, summer camps, education enrichment, special needs, tours & field trips and more. Yet another magazine geared to Parenting is Arizona Parenting

Back to School Trivia:

  • $8.8 billion on textbooks
  • $3.2 billion on clothing and accessories, $2.6 billion on dorm or apartment furnishings, $2.1 billion on school supplies, and $1.5 billion on shoes.
  • More money is spent on clothes for back-to-school shopping than at any time of the year except the winter holiday season
  • $2.2 billion is spent in bookstores.
  • One-in-four Americans over the age of 3 is currently a student—or 74.6 million students!

In décor for this year:

  • Microfridge (a combination of refrigerator, freezer and microwave.
  • Extra seats – loungers with modern design.
  • Mesh cubes for shelves.
  • Tapestries with bohemian prints used as wall hangings or bedspreads.
  • $2.2 billion is spent in bookstores.
  • One-in-four Americans over the age of 3 is currently a student—or 74.6 million students!

There’s some awesome statistics from the Census Bureau, put together by Blanche Evans of Realty Times.

All work and no fun? No way. Fall means the kick-off for fall and winter sports, and the Valley has its share. Maricopa County (Greater Phoenix aka as The Valley of the Sun) is one of only 11 markets in the country that boasts franchises in 5 national teams, National Basketball Association NBA; THE PHOENIX SUNS, National Football League NFL; THE ARIZONA CARDINALS National Hockey League NHL; THE PHOENIX COYOTES, Major League Baseball MLB; THE ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS, and our own PHOENIX MERCURY. Our Arizona State University’s SUN DEVILS deserve to be mentioned as well.


Hope this helps get you back to work and back to school,
and have fun while doing it!

Alice