Bistrot Aki

For many families with young children, our homes can tend to look less tidy than we would prefer. Hot wheels and Barbie dolls scatter the living room landscape, artwork hangs sideways by a magnet on the refrigerator, and velcro-fastening shoes seem to multiply on a nightly basis. Add to this all the “stuff” that comes along with doing school at home and you could have yourself a mighty mess. Don’t jump the gun and go hire a Professional Organizer just yet. In this article, I’ll share some tips that have helped curb the clutter here at The Clark Academy Of Excellence.

Go Paperless. - OK, OK, I know that’s not feasible, especially when you have children practicing handwriting, doing crafts and keeping journals but do as much as you can to keep the paper to a minimum or AT LEAST keep it organized! Here’s how we do it: For art projects, we have an “art line” in the bonus room. It’s like a clothes line except we hang artwork on it. Simply attach a string (we used some decorative ribbon) to each end of the room and use clothespins to fasten the papers. For other papers, we have a binder that holds our work for each week. Handwriting is one thing that I like to keep so that we can see progress over time. We do a lot of our math work on our chalkboard so there aren’t a lot of math worksheets to keep. Not every piece of work your child does needs to be kept. If you don’t need to keep it, throw it out! Another innovative way to go paperless: Consider scanning your child’s work at regular intervals and keeping digital scans. Many scanners will scan multiple documents into one .pdf file. You could also upload your child’s work to a blog and let them keep an on-line journal of their work.

Have A Designated Space For Your Supplies – So many of us dream of that extra room that we could use for a scrap-booking, craft or sewing room. Homeschoolers may also dream of having a school room. While that’s not realistic for many of us, it is realistic to have a dedicated space to keep supplies. An old armoire can be refurbished to cleverly hide supplies in a public part of the house or you could use a less attractive old metal cabinet and store items in your garage. Either way, having a place to keep books, papers, crayons, and glue is essential to being organized. The mantra “a place for everything and everything in it’s place” is a useful one. Spending twenty minutes looking for the scissors every time you need to do an art project is not an efficient use of your time and can frustrate your children as well as their teacher.

Utilize Unused Space Cleverly – I mentioned earlier that we use a chalkboard for many of our lessons. Not only does it cut down on paper but it also uses a space in our home that was not serving much of a purpose. It’s in the hallway, across from the staircase. The chalkboard is also magnetic so it serves the dual purpose of displaying an excellent sheet of handwriting or playing with magnetic tangrams. I painted it myself and the supplies were purchased at my local home improvement store. Also, The main storage space for our school supplies is in the laundry room. This space is pretty small but there was a blank wall with just enough space for a well organized shelving unit. We saved our pennies and had one custom built. It has a bookshelf, large drawers with compartments for storing boxes of crayons, glue sticks, stickers, and markers, and paper sized cubby shelves for things like construction paper and notebooks. Location is important, too. Since we do much of our writing and art activities at the dining room table, the laundry room is conveniently located close by with all the supplies we need.

Workboxes – The workbox system is all the rage right now for homeschool organization. We do not utilize it currently but I can envision doing so as I begin formally schooling multiple children and as we get into more “seat work” as the children get older. Essentially, workboxes are ways to store a child’s daily required lessons into individual folders or boxes by subject. The child knows what is expected of them each day and work stays organized. You can purchase a system ready to use or modify the idea to your needs as found at the-ella-echo.

Use Clean Up Time As School Time – With young students especially, tidying up between activities is useful not only for keeping your home clean but can be used for teaching as well. Are there toys all over the floor? Sorting is an important math skill for early elementary children. Look at your clean up time as part of your school day. You are instilling good habits and values in your children as well as teaching them to sort and classify. A bookshelf can be organized alphabetically by title and then on another day by author. Spatial skills are honed when a child puts away pots and pans and figures out where to place them and what will fit where.

Those Barbie dolls and tiny race cars may still pose a threat to you in the middle of the night but if you employ these organization tips, you’ll be on your way to a well organized home school environment.

 

Milan is economically the most important city in Italy and together with Paris it is the most fashionable city in the whole world. It is the paradise for every person who is looking for fashionable clothes and accessories, great food and hip happening night life. Milan is Italy’s most sought after industrial sector. The city contributes to massive employment. Milan is home to rich culture and architecture heritage. Its tranquility will leave you spell bound and will uplift your spirit. Milan offers a variety of large museums some of the museums are:

Museums in Milan

Cencalo Vinciano:The museum is Leanardo da Vinci’s famous “last supper”.Its demand is so much that tickets should be reserved before your visit.As people from different corners of the world thrive here for the view of this magnificent painting. Leonardo da Vinci the genius himself has worked his brilliance out in this masterpiece that is the “Last Supper”

You can reach to museums like Pinacoteca di Brera at brera street, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana,Poldi Pezzoli Museum Manzoni street can easily reached through as they are present in approachable places. A late 19th century sophisticated mansion with Italian renaissance art collections is also a piece of artistic values.

Leonardo da vinci museum of science and technology can be reached by bus or subway is also a magnificent museum as it contains magnanimous artifacts. Museo Teatrale alla Scala is the museum committed to world’s famous opera house is also present here.Milan is home to many major opera houses and the symphonies are also part of very major attractions. For staying Milan hotels are affordable and comfortable.

 

Churches



Churches and cathedrals are state of the art they are beautiful and sacred.DuomoSome of the most beautiful church you can see in Milan .Duomo is the main cathedral in Milan a majestic late Gothic church began in 1386 it is made up of pure white main marble with hundreds of spires and thousands of statues on its exterior. Its major gate is currently under maintenance while the whole cathedral is worth a watch. If you are there just feel the presence of calmness and purity that soothes your mind and soul. Don’t miss the chance of climbing up onto the roof to see the exotic look.

Another church of great importance saint Mary of the graces which houses the famous last supper by Leonardo da Vinci. Previously given example for the museum of Cenacolo Vinciano.

Saint Ambrose church is another beautiful church houses many weddings in this romantic cathedral. It was nearly destroyed in the bombings of world war.

 

 

Historic Monuments

History beholds many questions unanswered, the mystic past always come into forward and leave many answers still unfold. The historical monuments are Sforza-Visconti where families of ruling party lived late back it was the Austrian’s governor residence when Lombardy was part of Hapsburg. It now houses several museums.

La Scala Theatre Piazza Scala one of the most famous opera houses in the world it is also an architecture marvel.

 

The city contributes to massive employment. Milan is home to rich culture and architecture heritage. Its tranquility will leave you spell bound and will uplift your spirit.

In the heart of Manhattan sits a unique hotel that wraps all accommodations around the ever-popular iPod. Hotel rooms are small, stylish, and feature iPod docking stations, LCD televisions, and complimentary wireless internet. Private bathrooms contain rain-head shower fixtures and stainless steel sinks. If you’ve ever visited New York City, you know how hard it is to find safe, comfortable accommodations for under $150 per night. Most hotels charge over $200 per night, but Pod Hotels are different!

Pod Hotels are currently offering a winter special providing guests with comfortable accommodations for the low rate of $99 per night plus taxes. This is an amazing price within the city, especially for a new hotel that offers clean, comfortable rooms. Guests can choose from a bunk-bed room for two, double room (one double bed), or a queen room (one queen bed). For even less, you can reserve a single room (one twin bed) for one for the lower price of $89 per night.

Pod Hotels have on-site restaurants, a rooftop bar, and is within easy walking distance of Radio City Music Hall, the U.N. building, Times Square, and Broadway. Subways in New York City are safe, inexpensive and reach other areas of Manhattan within minutes.

London’s Pod Hotels

Currently, Manhattan holds the only official Pod Hotel, but there are other hotel chains mimicking what Pod Hotels set out to do. In London, EasyHotels, operated by easyJet, provide inexpensive accommodations that provide guests with little more than a bed, toilet, and shower. These rooms offer just the bare minimum, but the room rate of less than $50 a night makes them popular with budget travelers.

Obic Hotels in Amsterdam

Amsterdam’s Qbic Hotel offers rates of $80 to $200 a night for rooms that are always 8 by 10 feet and feature comfortable bedding, radios, in-room safes, wireless internet, and televisions. The interesting feature with Qbic Hotels is that guests handle their own check-ins through a computer kiosks. Qbic Hotels offers the lowest rates to those who book farthest in advance.

Japan Pod Hotels

Finally, Japan is home to the original idea for a pod hotel. These hotel spaces are literally sleeping pod capsules that are just big enough for a person to slide into and sleep. Japan’s idea of a pod hotel resembles a morgue with slide out body trays. The pods cost approximately $50 per night and are 3 feet high, 3 feet wide, and 6 feet long. A miniature television is located on the wall and the pods are equipped with lighting, radio, and alarm clocks.

With pod hotels, what they lack in size, they certainly make up for in luxury and style. The compact size allows for easy installation in many locations such as car parks, airplanes, and other buildings. They are great places to stay at overnight but probably no longer than a week due to the lack of space. Some companies are making radical changes like installing flat screens, rotating beds and surround sound stereo systems to make the stay as comfortable as possible. Whatever happens in the future, pod hotels certainly look like a trendy new idea for travellers because of its affordability and convenience.