Beyond the broadcast, kids are invited to create, write, and share their poetry online with the all-new Martha Speaks Rhyme Time pbskids.org/martha and at Fern’s Poetry Club pbskids.org/arthur.

Be sure to mark your calendar for Wednesday, March 28 and join us as we chat about poetry and creative writing in celebration of National Poetry Month!

Party Topic

Join WGBH, Martha Speaks, PBS KIDS, the Poetry Foundation, and our online panel of experts as we discuss creative writing. The party will be held on Wednesday, March 28 from 9-10 ET (8CT, 7MT, 6PT). Click here to see details about the giveaway and enter for a chance to win. 

Party Details

• What: Girls’ Night Out (#gno) Twitter party (Click here to learn about #gno!)
• When: Wednesday, March 28 from 9-10 p.m. EST (8CT, 7 MT, & 6 PT)
• Where: Party with us on our very own Custom Tweetgrid! (Use hashtags #gno and #kidspoetry.)
• Topic: Poetry
• Who: Brand Panelists: @wgbh_kids @pbsmarthaspeaks @pbskids, @pbsparents, @poetryfound, @hmhkids Community Panelists: @7onashoestring @mimibakermn @melissanorthway @tammykling @thegraciousgirl, Moderator(s): @jylmomIF @Dadventurous @troypattee and @MomItForward
• Party Favors: Please click here to see more information about the giveaway.

RT @MomItForward Join the @pbsmarthaspeaks & @PBSKIDS #gno Twitter party 3/28 (9-10 ET) on poetry http://bit.ly/GInnrm #kidspoetry PLS RT

Please leave a comment after linking… Thank you!

Note: Mom It Forward accepts paid sponsorships for most #gno Twitter parties. During the parties, brand sponsors provide tips, techniques, expert advice, and information on party topics. Mom It Forward is grateful for the giveaway prizes, coupons, and discounts that sponsors also provide to the Mom It Forward community in conjunction with #gno Twitter parties.

I learned right from the beginning that taking a more direct approach didn’t work. They didn’t take at all to me sharing the cold hard facts with them by saying, “That is a flute. Mozart wrote this.” So, I changed my approach.

3 Steps to Helping Kids Appreciate Classical Music

Here are some things you can do to teach your kids to appreciate classical music:

1.) Create a CD.

To begin, I bought my favorite 15 songs and downloaded them from iTunes to a CD so I could play them in our CD player downstairs so we could cuddle on the couch while we listened. I made sure to include songs from diverse composers, in a variety of genres, and that showcased many different instruments.

2.) Play the music often.

We would start the day off playing the CD. Or, when the kids started fighting, we would click play and we could tell an immediate change in our environment.

3.) Create an emotional experience.

The thing that worked the best for us was helping the kids have an emotional experience with the music. I would sit with them on my lap and make up stories to the songs. I would tell and retell those stories every time we heard the songs. I noticed that after a while, instead of calling the songs by their names, they started calling them, the “horse song” or the “fairy song.” To this day, when we hear those songs playing, my kids can tell me the stories we shared.

My goal at that time in their lives wasn’t to educate them, but rather to help them appreciate the music. They are still learning composers and genres and their music education has a ways to go, but they love classical music.

What tips do you have for helping kids to learn to appreciate classical music? What are the benefits of them having this appreciation?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

7 Must-See Sites in Belize

If you’re looking for some family travel fun and are thinking of a beach vacation, check out some of these must-see sites in Belize.

Belize City

The city itself is the main site to see in Belize City. Our Sunday drive in and out of town was a highlight of the trip for me. The only thing that could have made it better is if I could have hung out with some of the people we passed. I always love meeting the locals and was sad to not be able to sit and chat with them, get to know them, and go into their homes, kind of like I did in India. I did, however, attend a church service with the locals, and chatted with lots of people there, which was awesome!

Cayo

I associate Cayo with three must-see sites:

1.) Xunantunich, the ancient Mayan ruins. The ruins provide the perfect opportunity to turn the vacation into a learning experience for the kids. If you did enough research, you could teach nearly any topic, but especially geography, history, science, and math. Our favorite parts of this excursion were climbing to the top of “El Castillo” and seeing howler monkeys in the wild. While you can go with a tour group or as a day trip on a cruise, we opted to drive up with our in-laws, stopping along the way to enjoy Cayo, the countryside, and to take lots of pictures.

2.) Cave Tubing. One of the advantages of having in-laws who live in the country is meeting their friends. Ephraim, by day, works for a tourism company. Currently he is a guide at some Mayan ruins. But previously, he took cruise-ship day excursions cave tubing. He used his knowledge of the area to give us a VIP private tour. We got to see places the cruise ship people never get to go. And then, went tubing through the same caves they do. He had us eating termites (minty!) and learning to identify trees and flowers. Unfortunately, none of us had bug spray. The result? 70 mosquito bites on our 11 year-old son. Oh! My!

3.) The Belize Zoo. We ran out of time and were unable to go to the zoo, but we have heard from several people that it is simply amazing. Instead of importing animals from foreign countries, they only have animals that are indigenous to the area and their living quarters are more like their natural habitat. The Jaguar exhibit is supposed to be amazing and I’m sad we missed it. There’s always next time, right?

San Pedro (Ambergris Caye)

A trip to the cayes is a must when visiting Belize. Its location on the aquamarine waters of the Caribbean Sea make the islands off the coast of it simply breathtaking. Here are activities I recommend when visiting San Pedro.

1.) Tour the Island Via Golf Cart. The island is small enough that you can explore it all via golf cart in only a couple of hours. Doing this upon arrival will give you a good idea of places you would like to return to and spend more time at. Tattoo parlour anyone? Not for us.

2.) Seafood Restaurants. Not a must-see site I’d normally list on my list of recommendations, but being from Utah, our seafood is lacking. The seafood we ate on San Pedro was amazing, especially the lobster, which is what the island is known for and proudly celebrates. The Blue Water Grill was my absolute favorite.

3.) The Blue Hole and Sting Ray Ally. We found ourselves short on time while visiting San Pedro as well and while my husband had great intentions of scuba diving, wanting to repeat his recent experience doing so in St. Thomas, it was either that or spend time as a family and he chose the latter. But everything we could see and from what we heard the other tourists share, this is the place for all things deep sea: scuba diving, SNUBA-ing, snorkeling in the reef, or even just enjoying in a glass bottom boat or a sunset catamaran cruise, which would have been more my speed.

Like others I’ve talked to, I wondered if Belize was a place for kids. Taking eight and 11 year-old boys had me a bit worried. Would there be anything for them to do in Belize City? Would they get bored and fight the whole time? If they couldn’t scuba dive, would there be anything for them to do on San Pedro?

I worried in vane. They loved every minute of this trip. The found the ruins exciting and asked question after question, in between running around and climbing up steep steps, about the people who had inhabited it years ago. The loved driving around the city and through the country side. They were entranced during the 45-minute jungle walk to get to the caves, listening to our new friend and tour point out the birds and other local varieties of  insects, animals, and flowers/trees we do not enjoy here. And they found joy in simple things, like trying to break a coconut loose from a palm tree, which kept them busy for an hour, on San Pedro.

If you’re looking for a fun and different vacation, Belize is a great place to take your family.

What are your favorite family vacation spots? What determines where you will go for family travel? What has been your favorite family trip?

The first week of school was awesome. He came home one day proclaiming that he had “the best teacher ever.” Every day was awesome! The second week, even though he loved his teacher, he was back to not wanting to go to school again.

We finally got to the bottom of the problem. He just was not getting math. He felt stupid in class when he didn’t know the answers. Homework had been really difficult so far so we weren’t doubting him. But, it had escalated to the point where it impacted his confidence. He had little doubt he would always “suck at math” and since that was the case, there was no use in his mind for going to school.

Even though we worked with him every night on his homework and he was able to get through it, it was not without lots of tears, and candidly, lots of persuasive tactics. A friend finally suggested we hire a tutor. I won’t lie that we resisted for a while, feeling like we should be able to help him ourselves and like we were failures as parents if we didn’t. But finally, we gave in and hired a tutor.

6 Keys to Math Tutoring Success

We have found these six things to be helpful in creating a successful tutoring experience:

1. Find the right person. Finding a great tutor is critical to a successful tutoring experience. We decided to search through word of mouth and an email to Connor’s teacher, asking for help in locating a good tutor. She directed us to my 10 year-old son’s teacher, who happens to be fabulous at math. Score! She started the next week and came twice a week for an hour each time.
2. Hire the right person. A lot of people have math skills. A lot of people can teach math. But, fewer people come with the right attitude, which I have found to be critical in selecting the right tutor. Ours believes that attitude is half the battle. That if a child can increase his or her math confidence, that the math skills will follow. We have seen this in spades with Connor and are grateful to have found a tutor who focused first and foremost on building confidence.
3. Build in incentives. The tutor suggested an incentive-based approach to help Connor get over his initial fears of wanting to meet with the tutor. We went to the Dollar Store and bought lots of prizes the tutor could use to reward him. He resisted meeting with a tutor and doing more math until he learned about the prizes.
4. Create the right environment. Carving out a quiet space where the two could meet was really important. Connor has learned to love his one-on-one tutoring time and doesn’t want anyone to disrupt his learning experience. Even though they meet in our living room and prefer to sit on the carpet, we make sure they have peace and quiet so Connor can focus during the time she is here.
5. Have the right equipment. The tutor should come with activities and lessons. But, we found having basic supplies and equipment was also helpful. We ensure Connor has his math book from school, his latest tests, a pencil and some paper, as well as a lap top. This helps to maximize the tutor’s time and doesn’t require her to bring a lot of stuff with her.
6. Communicate! After most tutoring visits, I spend time with the tutor to get up to speed on how Connor is doing and what we can do at home to help him. She has amazing insight and has helped us a lot to be able to help him.

The benefits of hiring a tutor have far outweighed any cost or feelings of failure on our part as parents. Connor is confident at math now. He loves school. And he is acing his tests. Sure, he still has to work hard and maybe even harder than most. But, he is learning the basics early on and loves the subject. He is also learning that sometimes, mastering something requires hard work, diligence, and practice.

What is your experience in hiring a tutor for your kids? What tips do you have for finding the perfect tutor?

Troy’s parents, who are doing missionary work for our church in Belize, came through in a big way, helping us plan our family vacation.

The agenda for day 1? Visiting Xunantunich, ancient Mayan ruins about an hour and a half north of Belize City. Learning vacation? Check!

Travel Tip: For long car rides, take extra toilet paper, bug spray, activity bags for the kids, and as always, don’t forget your camera. The colorful countryside is something you won’t want to forget.

Also, to make this activity part of the learning vacation, research ahead of time and share information about the culture and area you are visiting, which is rich in history. Consider hiring a tour guide while you are there to explain the significance of all the sites.

Transportation to Xunantunich

While there are tourist companies that organize tours and bus people to the ruins, including cruise lines, we drove as a family. The drive north took us from dry Belize City into lush Cayo, where we enjoyed a delicious Mexican lunch. To get to Xunantunich, which is only 15 minutes outside of Cayo, you have to cross a river on a ferry manually operated by a local who turns a crank that pulls you via a cable from one side to the next. Mr. Dadventurous himself gives the crank a try below.

Travel Tip: Have back-up plans. If the river is too high, the ferry will not run and you’ll be out of luck!

Floral and Animal Attractions at the Ruins

You must pay a nominal fee to enter Xunantunich. This helps with maintenance of the ruins and grounds.

The area is beautiful and green. Many varieties of trees and flowers abound.

In addition, howler monkeys swing high in the tree tops. Though they are not often visible to the public, their sound is heard by all. They are small, but have a loud roaring (and a little bit scary) voice, which sounds very similar to a tiger’s.

Travel tip: Although it’s groomed and well maintained, the ruins are in the jungle. Make sure and put on ample bug spray.

Xunantunich Mayan Ruins

The ruins themselves are breathtaking, literally. They are a beautiful sight. And, after climbing the equivalent of 13 stories to reach the top, you may be a bit winded.

Travel Tip: If you at all suffer from a fear of heights, you may want to climb the first set of steps, take in the view, snap some pics, and call it good. Or, hang at the bottom, check out sites like this below, and snap a pic of your party when they reach the top.

The Castillo

Here is view 1 of the largest ruins in Xunantunich called “El Castillo,” which is the halfway mark (taken after climbing the first set of steps).

The craftsmanship is amazing. Check out this detail.

An Educational and Adventurous Activity for Kids

Our two boys loved both the educational and adventure aspects of visiting the ancient Mayan ruins. They learned a lot about the history of Belize and the Mayan Indians. And, they were able to get out all their energy, running around, climbing up stairs and walls, and swinging from tree branches. Score!

How do you build education into your family vacations? What activities do you like to do that are both educational and fun when you travel as a family?

Sure enough, everyone raved about them and many have since asked for the recipe.

The best part about these cookies is how simple they are to make. Check out the recipe below taken from the Betty Crocker website (which is worth checking out if you’ve never visited it!).

Cookie Recipe: Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon mint extract
• 6 to 8 drops green food color
• 1 egg
• 1 cup creme de menthe baking chips
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and take out an ungreased baking sheet.
2. Stir together the cookie mix, butter, extract, food color, and egg in a large bowl until soft dough forms.
3. Stir in creme de menthe baking chips and chocolate chunks into the egg mixture.
4. Use a small cookie scoop or teaspoon and drop dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 3 minutes on the baking sheet.
6. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack. Serve warm or cool completely. Store tightly covered at room temperature.

What easy-to-bake cookies do you love to make and share with friends?

Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker.

Transportation to San Pedro

To get to San Pedro, you must fly to Belize City and either take the water taxi or a puddle jumper air plane. The water taxi was a short hour and 15-minute ride and half the cost, so we opted for that route.

Travel Tip: The water taxi makes one quick stop at Caye Caulker before arriving at Ambergris Caye. Remember to stay on the boat at this stop.

Ambergris Caye Accommodations

We found Trip Advisor to be the most helpful resource for locating a hotel on the island. Depending on what you are looking for, the island has accommodations that can meet every family’s vacation needs. We stayed at Banyan Bay at the south end of the island.

Although it was a little ritzy for my taste, we loved our ocean view, that the hotel had a good restaurant on site with breakfast included, and that it was a one-stop shop, sporting golf cart and bike rentals, a full service spa, and a concierge who could arrange ocean adventures for you.

Travel Tip: If you want wi-fi, air conditioning, and TV in your hotel room, be sure to check ahead and ensure the hotel has those amenities as not all do. Also note that most swimming pools are not heated.

 San Pedro Restaurants

San Pedro is known for its lobster. Lonely Planet books have never failed us in recommending the best restaurants when we travel. Located right on the sea, the Blue Water Grill lived up to the Lonely Planet’s recommendation and the Sea Grill was a perfect selection.

Getting Around the Island

Getting around town is fun. The island is only 5 miles wide and 25 miles long, so you don’t see too many cars.

Most people rent or own bicycles…

…or golf carts.

Travel Tip: I highly recommend renting a golf cart. It is a fun way to see the entire island and get around town. If you are staying for a week, I suggest the weekly rental. Otherwise, most places rent by the hour.

Grocery Stores

Eating out for every meal, especially in the peak travel season, can be pricey. Fortunately, Ambergris Caye sports a nice grocery store with lots of familiar US brands. I’m not sure what I’d use a cake mix for while on vacay, but it was nice knowing we could grab snacks and bug spray at a moment’s notice if we needed to.

Travel Tip: Most places in Belize accept credit cards, US dollars, and Belizean dollars.

Scuba Diving and Other Activities and Attractions

Belize is all about sea activities. With the reef a half a mile off the coast of San Pedro, most visitors explore via scuba diving, SNUBA-ing, snorkeling, or in a glass bottom boat. Companies like Ramon’s Village, organize trips to places like the Blue Hole and Sting Ray Ally for water enthusiasts.

Travel Tip: If you are looking for nice beaches and body surfing, head to Hawaii or other Caribbean beaches, like Magen’s Bay on St. Thomas. While San Pedro is surrounded by beaches, they are grassy with smooth water (no waves), and not ideal for playing in, especially for kids. The real water adventures are near or at the reef and beyond, further out or deeper down.

The Most Important Part of the Trip

Planning and taking a family vacation requires lots of work and can be stressful. My main advice is to plan well in advance and then let the Caribbean breeze get to you and unplug and relax while you’re on the island. Make time for moments with your kids and your spouse. Life at home can wait!

What are your favorite winter destination locations? Where do you most like to go on family vacation to unplug and unwind?

I married at 27 and immediately, the questions came: “When are you going to begin having all of those 11 kids?” “How soon will you start a family?”

For the first time since my doctor started discussing pregnancy with me nearly 10 years earlier, I got scared. Between that time and the time I became Mrs. Pattee, my platelets decreased (due to my medication) to a much more than below average rate. I researched the birth defects and diseases my medicine was known to cause. I had too much information—information that caused me to feel that making it out of pregnancy as a healthy mom and with a healthy child was anything but certain and definitely something I couldn’t control.

So, I went through many years of denial, putting off the decision to have children until my 30th birthday at which time I realized that nothing in life is certain and some things are worth the risk. Having children, to me, was one of those things worth risking.

It’s funny, because once I made the decision, I didn’t look back. My anxiety melted away. I moved forward doing everything I could to be healthy and focused on learning about the baby growing inside of me.

Ultimately, nothing I was nervous about prior to getting pregnant materialized. My baby boy arrived healthy and with a full head of red hair, screaming and ready to take on the world. I had other complications though—pre-eclampsia, a near stroke at birth, and the inability to produce milk and nurse my baby. But all these things, however scary or frustrating in the moment, had solutions.

When I think of the potential complications I didn’t experience and the minor ones that I did, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for medical advances that made a happy and healthy mother and son and an ecstatic new father our reality.

Today, I’m not much different than I was as a child. I still like to feel certainty and a degree of control in my life. But, my definition of control has shifted and instead of thinking of things in terms of what I can control, I think of things in terms of what I can influence and what I have to be grateful for in life.

As someone who has lived with epilepsy for nearly 30 years, I know that I can influence my health tremendously by doing a few things—getting enough sleep, taking my meds daily, and decreasing my stress. While I was pregnant, I could additionally influence the outcome of a healthy baby by taking the recommended vitamins, most specifically folic acid.

Focusing on those areas of influence, rather than on what I could or could not control, were keys to a successful pregnancy.

I recognize things could have turned out differently. Sometimes, regardless of taking every precaution, the path can change. But focusing on things within our sphere of influence is the best chance we have at having healthy outcomes.

What did you do to stay healthy in your pregnancies? What can you do now to maintain good health?

My husband, @troypattee, has pretty much put me on a grocery shopping moritorium. I haven’t been to Costco alone in years. I am a sucker for “great deals.” And, I have lots of dishes and oversized bottles of Olive Oil to prove it. Can you relate?

But, one thing that has helped us get organized when it comes to groceries is Cozi.com and their online grocery shopping list and accompanying mobile app. All I have to do is make my list online and it syncs real time with the mobile app. Whenever Troy happens to be at the store (click here to see why he wears the shopping pants in our family), he can immediately see what we need and what to buy.

This was a recent find that I’m super thrilled about, because of what it has done for our family organization in the area of grocery shopping.

Apps, Websites, and Online Tools to Organize Your Family

Because of how helpful Cozi has been, I got to thinking of other online resources that have helped organize our family’s lives. Here are some I recommend:

• Google: I know! It sounds simple, but google’s calendar has changed our lives. I have three color-coded calendars: one for personal/family, one for my Mom It Forward work, and one for the evo Conference I co-organize. I especially love the calendar sharing feature, which allows you to share each calendar with different people. I have my husband copied on all three so he knows my plans for the week. The great thing about Google is that it interfaces with other calendaring systems, like Cozi.com.
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• AboutOne.com: This is a great site, allowing you to store all important family data like health, education, and even car maintenance records.
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• 1password.com: Have you ever forgotten your password? Try this site. It stores them all for you and you only to remember one for all of your accounts. Is that awesome or what? Love this!
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• My Job Chart: This is a fabulous online chore chart with built in incentives. It is great at helping organize your family’s chores and is fun for kids.
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• Apps for Moms: If you want a one-stop shop to find great apps for moms sorted by category, like this one from AllRecipes.com called Dinner Spinner, check out Apps for Moms, which directs you to a variety of apps for every need.
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• Pinterest: I’m convinced that the whole world has started cooking more and doing more crafts since the invention of Pinterest. As a busy mom, I love this visual bookmarking site because it allows me to store recipes, parenting tips, craft ideas, and more by category. So, when I need a quick dessert to take to a Christmas party or a gift for my kids’ teachers, all I have to do is go to my page and check out my pins and voila! Instant information.

What apps, websites, and online tools help keep your family organized?

But why wait until next Christmas to try them? Confetti Squares, not to be mistaken with the sweet treat variety, are a delicious, colorful appetizer sure to start off your New Year’s Eve party this week (or really any party) with a healthy bang.

How To Make Confetti Square Crescent Roll Appetizers

Feel free to get crazy with the ingredients. Add as much variety as you’d like in flavor and color.

Ingredients

• 2 pkg. crescent rolls (the kind you buy in the a package in the refrigerated section at the grocery store like these from Pillsbury.)
• 2 8 ounce pkg. cream cheese
• 2/3 cup mayonnaise
• 2-3 carrots (shredded)
• 3 celery stalks (diced)
• 1/2 yellow pepper (diced)
• 1 bunch radishes (shredded)
• 5-6 green onions (chopped)

Directions

1. Pat crescent dough onto a cookie sheet (jelly roll pan) and bake according to directions. Let cool completely.
2. Beat softened cream cheese and mayonnaise and spread mixture evenly on baked crescent dough (will be flat).
3. Sprinkle veggies evenly on top of the mixture.
4. Cut into small pieces before cooling.
5. Place in refrigerator and chill 3-4 hours before serving.

What is your favorite appetizer to serve during a New Year’s Even celebration?