LAUSD: Volunteering at Your Child's School

LAUSD policy allows parents to volunteer at their child's school, and most "good" schools encourage parents to volunteer - especially now, when budget cuts mean schools need all the help they can get. {And there's a correlation between student achievement and parent involvement.}

In order to volunteer, you'll need to complete a School Volunteer Application, which requires some background info. I think this is less important when it comes to parents, but since anyone can volunteer at an LAUSD school, it does help to weed out anyone who might have a less than honorable purpose for volunteering. The application is not required for one-time activities, such as chaperoning a field trip.

A negative TB test is also required within the six months prior to the volunteer period. However, TB test results are good for four years, so you won't need to get one every school year.

What can you do as a volunteer?

Some teachers welcome parent assistance and will be thrilled that you've asked to help them - even if your child isn't in their class! I know many teachers who love having a parent come in to read to the class on a weekly basis, and some teachers even have parents and grandparents of former students who read to their class weekly.

The school's administrative staff may be able to suggest other ways to help. At our, the PTA has a number of on-campus activities that could use more volunteers, including cleaning the cafeteria tables, supervising the kindergarten lunch period, staffing the library, gardening, and providing playground supervision during recess.

The bottom line: If you want to volunteer, do it!

Image via FreeDigitalPhotos.net by Supertrooper.

Chief Family Officer's Favorite Things: The Sneaky Chef's No Nut Butter

This post contains affiliate links that help support this site at no additional cost to you. Thank you for using them! You can read CFO's full disclosure here.


I have been meaning to write this post for quite a while now, because The Sneaky Chef Creamy No-Nut Butter has become a staple food in our house.
It's not the healthiest food, nor does it follow the "real food" rules of being minimally processed. The ingredients include powdered sugar with cornstarch, palm fruit oil, and mono and diglycerides from a vegetable source. But at least the main ingredients, golden peas and canola oil, are non-GMO.

And it's a great replacement product for us. Because where most families can use a 100% natural, organic, minimally processed nut butter like peanut butter or almond butter, or the popular alternative, sunflower butter, we eliminated those options when we discovered one of the boys is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, soybeans, and most seeds, including sunflower. Thankfully, his allergy is not so bad that the tiniest whiff of one of these forbidden items produces a reaction. But I certainly wouldn't risk having any of these things in my house.

I stumbled across No-Nut Butter about six months ago while doing research for an article, and since peanuts and soybeans - like golden peas - are legumes, I wasn't entirely sure that it would be safe for my son. But he's been able to tolerate it without issue, and I've been delighted to discover that No-Nut Butter freezes and bakes well.

In fact, I can prep ahead and make No-Nut Butter & Jam sandwiches to freeze for school lunches:


I freeze half-sandwiches, since that's what I pack for each boy. Each half goes into a plastic baggie, and then the baggies go into the bag the loaf of bread came in. When I'm getting lunch ready in the morning, I just pull a sandwich out of the freezer! {Making my own sandwich bread is one of my cooking dreams/goals, but I've yet to find a recipe that the kids like.}

No-Nut Butter also served me well in a modified version of these Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies, and is great in smoothies as well.

Of course, if you know of any other peanut-free, nut-free, seed-free alternatives, especially if they're less processed/more natural, I'd love to try them, so let me know in the comments!

Buy The Sneaky Chef Creamy No-Nut Butter for $7.49 at Amazon or Vitacost.

Menu Plan Monday: Week of September 29, 2014

I thought we were finally getting fall-like weather, but I just checked the seven-day forecast and it's supposed to be 105 degrees next weekend! So any baking I want to do will have to be done on Monday (the only day forecasted to be in the 80's), or in my toaster oven. I'm thinking brownies, cupcakes, chocolate-mint bars, and vanilla meringues. It's a lot, I know, but will definitely get eaten over the course of a week. I'm hoping the meringues will ship well in a priority mail box as a gift too.

Note re. last week's menu: I really liked the Baked Polenta with Mushrooms, which made a really hearty side dish and could certainly hold its own as a meatless entree.

And here's what I'm thinking for dinners this week:

Monday - Bean & Cheese Enchiladas, Salad

Tuesday - Cheeseburger Rice

Wednesday - Linguine with White Clam and Broccoli Sauce, Garlic Bread

Thursday - Crock Pot Eggplant Lasagna, Garlic Bread, Salad

Friday - Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Chirashizushi, Spinach Ohitashi

Saturday - Breakfast (pancakes, sausage, fruit)

Sunday - Leftovers

See more weekly menus at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

LAUSD Magnet Schools: The Impact of Parent Involvement on Schools

This is the time of year when many parents start looking at schools, especially magnet schools in Los Angeles, since applications will be due in a couple of months. One important factor to consider is the degree of parent involvement at the schools you're considering. Research shows that parent involvement results in:

• Higher grades, test scores, and graduation rates


• Better school attendance


• Increased motivation and better self-esteem


• Lower rates of suspension


• Decreased use of drugs and alcohol


• Fewer instances of violent behavior

Thus, the greater the parent involvement at a school, the greater the number of high-achieving students you'll find there. To assess the extent of parent involvement at a school, you can attend open houses, PTA meetings, and events at the school that are open to the public. (If the school doesn't have a web site with a calendar, call the office to find out when various events will be held.)

Once you've selected a school for your child, be sure to get involved. While you don't want to overextend yourself, participating in school events demonstrates the value you place on your child's education, which affects your child's own determination of the importance of his or her education. Good places to start are by speaking with your child's teacher, attending PTA meetings, and even making an appointment with the principal to discuss any needs at the school.

Image via FreeDigitalPhotos.net by Grant Cochrane.

Menu Plan Monday: Week of September 22, 2014

The last couple of weeks have been crazy hot, to the point where I didn't turn on the oven at all. {Thankfully, I can bake in my toaster oven!} The next week is supposed to be cooler, so maybe I will be able to bake extra and freeze some goodies. I'd also like to get some meals in the freezer so that some nights can be super easy. And, I realize I need to use my slow cooker more too!

I promised Jan an update on last week's Cauliflower Fried Rice: It looked fantastic, but I wouldn't say it tasted good. It was definitely edible, but we didn't save the leftovers for the next day's lunch, like we usually do, which says a lot.

So here's what I'm thinking for this week:

Monday - Dinner out {girls' night for me, boys' night for the hubby and sons}

Tuesday - Mac & Cheese, some kind of vegetable

Wednesday - Bean & Cheese Enchiladas {I'll make two or three meals' worth and freeze the extras!}

Thursday - Roast Cooker Shredded Beef {I'm going to get a big roast to make sure there are lots of leftovers}, Baked Potatoes, Garlic Bread, and some other kind of veggie

Friday - Baked Eggs with Spinach and Mushrooms, maybe some fruit or a fruit-y dessert

Saturday - Dinner out {I've been asked to bring vegetables, so I'll roast some cauliflower and I'm also thinking I'll make this meatless polenta entree as a side dish}

Sunday - Leftovers

See more weekly menus at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Chief Family Officer's Favorite Things: Burt's Bees After Sun Soother

This post contains affiliate links that help support this site at no additional cost to you. Thank you for using them! You can read CFO's full disclosure here.


For some of you in other parts of the country and the world, it may feel like fall has arrived. But here in Southern California, we've been experiencing an extreme heat wave with temperatures 20 to 25 degrees above normal. In my corner of Los Angeles, we had multiple days well over 100 degrees this past week!

Our family is actually really good about applying and re-applying sunscreen, which is important because we spend countless hours outdoors due to the boys' sports. But inevitably, we all end up getting too much sun at some point.

Which is why I'm so glad I discovered Burt's Bees Aloe & Linden Flower After Sun Soother:


Unlike every other aloe product I've tried for sunburn, this stuff really works. As I've mentioned before, I'm quite fair and redden and burn incredibly quickly. When I apply Burt's Bees After Sun Soother, the redness is almost always completely gone the next day, and if it's not totally gone, it's at least gone down significantly. Perhaps most importantly, any pain associated with the overexposure to the sun is always gone.

The After Sun Soother works well on my kids too, although they don't seem to respond to it quite as well as I do. But at least I feel ok about using it on them because it's 99.5% natural and is free of parabens, sulfates, and other possibly harmful ingredients. (And honestly, I'd use it on myself even if it weren't so natural because it's so effective!)

Burt's Bees Aloe & Linden Flower After Sun Soother is $10.66 at Amazon and $9.99 at Drugstore.com.

5 Easy and Affordable Real Food Changes I've Made This Month

This post contains affiliate links that help support this site at no additional cost to you. Thank you for clicking through them! You can read CFO's full disclosure here.


Ever since I reviewed Lisa Leake's new book, 100 Days of Real Food: How We Did It, What We Learned, and 100 Easy, Wholesome Recipes Your Family Will Love, I've really focused on eating more "real food" - by which I mean, minimally processed food.

We are not, by any means, an entirely real food family - every day, our family consumes some store-bought snacks, soda, and/or other processed foods. But I am making a conscious effort to reduce the amount of processed foods we eat, and that I keep in the house. Here are five easy real food changes I've made since reading Lisa's book, which take almost no effort at all:

1. We've switched to whole organic milk.

I've always bought organic milk for the boys, but since my youngest turned two, I've stuck with 1% milk. As Lisa points out, however, reduced fat milk is much more processed than whole milk. So I've switched to whole milk and my kids haven't said a peep. Fortunately, neither of them has a weight issue, so I'm not concerned about the additional calories.

Although Lisa recommends non-homogenized milk, since it's less processed, I haven't been able to find it at the grocery store so I just buy organic homogenized whole milk. The nice thing about this switch is that a gallon of whole organic milk costs exactly the same as organic reduced fat milk.

2. I now shred my own cheese.

As Lisa notes in her book, commercially shredded cheese contains an anti-clumping agent and possibly other additional ingredients that need not be consumed. She recommends buying blocks of cheese and shredding them yourself. It occurred to me that my food processor can shred a block of cheese in just a couple of minutes, so when I needed mozzarella cheese last week, I bought a log and shredded it. {I did buy a part-skim log because the texture is so different from whole milk mozzarella and my kids prefer the less-creamy type. Baby steps!}

I forgot to do an actual price comparison, but I think the price works out to about the same per pound, at least for part-skim mozzarella.

3. I'm now using honey wherever possible.

When I need sweetener, I now use organic raw unfiltered honey and organic maple syrup whenever possible {I prefer Grade B maple syrup because it's darker and has a stronger taste, and Trader Joe's stocks a great one}. I do still bake with organic sugar, but I try to substitute organic sucanat as much as possible, since it's less processed that granulated or brown sugar. {However, I rarely use all sucanat because of its strong taste. I buy 12 1-lb bags at Amazon for just $45.88 with Subscribe & Save}.

4. I now buy organic eggs.

This is the one change that's costing me more money. Organic eggs are at least twice as expensive as the "regular" eggs at Trader Joe's, but I took the time to read the packaging this past week and discovered that the organic variety clearly states no hormones or antibiotics were administered to the chickens, whereas those claims are not on the "regular" eggs. I haven't found "pastured" eggs yet, which Lisa recommends {meaning the chickens were allowed to graze outside}, but I'm looking.

5. I read labels even more intensely than I used to.

Ever since my son was diagnosed with food allergies, I've been a careful reader of ingredient labels. But now I'm not just looking to see whether the product is safe for my child or how "natural" it is. I'm also looking to see how processed it is. Lisa's "five-ingredient rule" for store-bought foods is a great guideline. In other words, I try to buy foods that contain no more than five ingredients.

This rule works especially well for pre-packaged snacks, which I do buy a fair amount of since we eat on the go quite a lot of the time, thanks to the boys' busy schedules. So far, my kids have loved BOOM CHICKA POP Sea Salt Popcorn {contains just popcorn, sunflower oil and sea salt; $24 + free shipping for 24 single serve packs at Amazon - but they're cheaper in the Halloween section at Target right now!}, and Crispy Green Freeze-Dried Asian Pear {contains just pear!; $17.12 for 12 packs at Amazon when you order through Subscribe & Save or $7.49 for 6 packs at my Whole Foods store}. They also like some of the freeze-dried fruit at Trader Joe's, which are one or two-ingredient products.

This post will be linked to Thrifty Thursday at Living Well, Spending Less.

Image via FreeDigitalPhotos.net by Ambro.

LAUSD Magnet Schools: What is Norm Day?

If you're an LAUSD parent, then you may have heard the staff or other parents mention "Norm Day" and wondered what it is, since this school year, it was this past Friday, September 12.

"Norm Day" is a day approximately four after weeks after the start of the school year that is significant to parents if you feel strongly about your child's teacher, and to school staff for a number of reasons.

On Norm Day, the student population count is considered "official" - that means budget determinations will be made based on those numbers.

This has a greater impact on schools than most parents realize. For example, positions that are dependent upon the number of students enrolled - such as a general assistant principal - may be added or taken away based upon the Norm Day count.

The number of classes per grade level is also fixed on Norm Day. So, for grades K through 3, the student to teacher ratio is supposed to be 24 to 1. Now, suppose there are three classes of second grade on Norm Day, but each class has ballooned to 30 students per class. Students will be removed from each class and a fourth class will be created. (I don't think classes would actually be allowed to get that big even before Norm Day, but that might depend on the school and/or budget constrictions.) Conversely, if the number of students is below the 24 to 1 ratio, the number of classes in the grade level may be reduced.

Because of the movement that is sometimes required after Norm Day, LAUSD does not guarantee the placement of your child with the teacher he or she has on the first day of school. And, schools generally do not accommodate a request to change teachers until Norm Day. If you like your child's teacher, you may find yourself breathing a sigh of relief once Norm Day has passed.

Norm Day numbers may also be used by LAUSD to calculate a school's budget. So while as parents we usually don't see the day to day work of the administrative staff, Norm Day impacts them greatly by determining the number of teachers, the number of staff, the amount of discretionary funds allotted, and so on.

Image via FreeDigitalPhotos.net by Grant Cochrane.

What's Going On + Menu Plan Monday: Week of September 15, 2014

As I mentioned on Facebook the other day, since reading Lisa Leake's 100 Days of Real Food, my eating habits have changed dramatically - far more than I expected. The idea of eating minimally processed food was not only appealing, but rather doable, so that's what I've focused on. Instead of eating a store-bought cookie, I eat a homemade one. Instead of drinking soda, I drink tea. I've also been cooking more than ever - especially snacks, which I've never included in my menu plan - and what's happened has blown my mind: The less processed food I eat, the less process food I want to eat. I'll be honest and admit that having a piece of fruit for a snack has never satisfied me. Until now.

Obviously, this is a great change that I am going to keep up. It's a little harder to get the rest of the family on board, but I can force change on them without them really noticing because I'm the one who buys the food and cooks the meals. When I buy prepackaged snacks (and I do, because we're out and about so much that I can't keep up with demand), I'm now looking for items that are not just natural and organic, but also GMO-free and contain as few ingredients as possible. And of course, I'm minimizing the amount of processed food I use when I'm cooking as much as possible.

We'll see how these changes play out, but in the meantime, here's what I'm planning for dinners this week:

Monday - Dinner out

Tuesday - Slow Cooker Paella, Bread, Salad

Wednesday - Cauliflower Fried "Rice" with Shrimp and Peas

Thursday - Pasta Bolognese, Steamed Broccoli, Garlic Bread

Friday - Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Chirashizushi

Saturday - Breakfast {Overnight Caramel French Toast, Bacon, Fruit}

Sunday - Leftovers

See more weekly menus at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Double Check Medications Against the Prescription

I had a rather scary experience at Target today:

I was picking up a prescription for one of the boys, who is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. The prescription was for Auvi-Q, which is similar to an Epipen but gives verbal instructions to walk you through the process. Fortunately, we've never actually needed to administer any injections, but I'd feel like a top candidate for the worst mother award if I didn't have the medication available.

The pharmacist checked the medication before handing it to me and paused.

"How much does your son weigh?" she asked me.

I told her.

"Um, he needs the junior and this is for adults."

She asked me to wait, then returned a few minutes later with the original prescription. It indeed said "Jr." but when it was inputted into their computer system, that part was left off. The most disturbing part is that I've picked up this same prescription three times before and no other pharmacist caught the error, even though the adult Auvi-Q box is orange and the kid version is blue, and they double check the medication before handing it over by confirming the patient's birthdate.

Of course, I feel like I failed to some degree as a mother. I should have checked the package when it was first given to me. Nowhere on the orange Auvi-Q package or actual device does it say "junior."

So I'm passing this lesson along: Always check the medication that you are handed by the pharmacist. Make sure that it is what was actually prescribed.

Since you have to hand over the prescription slip, you may want to take a photo of it so you can compare the label for what you receive to what was prescribed. Or, you can check with the pharmacist by asking if the medication and its dosage are appropriate for the condition and patient it's been prescribed for.

I'm just so grateful that we've never needed to administer an injection for an allergic reaction, and I pray that we never will. But you can bet I'll make sure that we have the correct medication on hand at all times.

Image via FreeDigitalPhotos.net by posterize.

Review: 100 Days of Real Food by Lisa Leake

This post contains affiliate links that help support this site at no additional cost to you. Thank you for clicking through them! All opinions are honest and my own. You can read CFO's full disclosure here.


I've been a follower of Lisa Leake's blog 100 Days of Real Food for a couple of years, so when she offered readers a chance to become "ambassadors" of her her new book by the same title, I immediately applied and was delighted to be accepted. I was expecting a cookbook, but I got so much more than that!

The first half of the book is a treasure trove of information. I consider myself pretty well-informed when it comes to healthy eating, current food trends and issues, and nutrition. But I still learned a lot from Lisa. Her book is written in the same clear, conversational manner as her blog, so it's easy to read and understand.

Lisa starts with her definition of "real food," which is basically food that is minimally processed, and locally and humanely produced. Lisa explains how she and her family started their real food journey with a pledge to eat only real food for 100 days (which has since turned into a lifestyle). Then she goes into a fantastic overview of various food issues, including:

• Different kinds of sugar and sweeteners


• Artificial food color


• Meat production and consumption


• Organic versus conventional production of food


• Genetically modified food (GMO's)


• Refined versus unrefined oil


• Nutrition and ingredient labels


• Packaging claims


• Food allergies and sensitivities

While I was familiar with most of these topics, I had never stopped to think about how processed cooking oil is. I mostly use cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil, which qualifies as "minimally processed," but I also regularly use grapeseed oil for frying and baking, and grapeseed oil is apparently quite refined/processed. Lisa recommends cooking with clarified butter or ghee (which I was able to find in the dairy section at Whole Foods), and coconut oil (which I dislike intensely because of the taste and refuse to use!).

Lisa also offers real-world, practical, doable suggestions for switching to "real food." She explains how she buys food, naming the stores she shops at and what she buys where. She covers budgeting and affording real food. She gives suggestions for making the transition to real food easier with small, practical changes, and 14 week-long mini-pledges. She even discusses meal planning, and provides ideas for freezer meals, fast meals, and seasonal menus with shopping lists. And the book is peppered with lovely photos of Lisa and her family, who look like the healthy family most of us aspire to:


The second half of 100 Days of Real Food is full of a wide of variety of doable recipes with ingredients that are relatively easy to find. There are dishes of every occasion - pancakes for breakfast, stuffed pitas for lunch, burgers for dinner, and carrot cake for dessert, just for example. I especially appreciate the lunchbox suggestions for school, and the recipes for homemade versions of basics like ranch dressing, BBQ sauce, and slow-cooker chicken stock.

As I mentioned yesterday, Lisa's book has caused me to do some serious thinking. Because despite considering myself to be well-educated when it comes to food, if I'm being honest, I don't really follow all the practices that I know I should. And Lisa's opened my eyes to new practices that I want to follow, like limiting refined oils.

I'm not ready to make hugely drastic changes, mostly because it would be too overwhelming with everything else that's going on right now. But the nice thing is, I have a good foundation to build on. I'm a pretty good cook. I have access to great food sources, like a farmer's market (when I can get to it), a CSA box (which is pricey but local, organic, and super fresh), Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and other natural foods stores. Not to mention online resources like Amazon and Vitacost.

And the big takeaway I got from reading 100 Days of Real Food is that I can feed my family healthier food just by looking for food that's minimally processed and contains a minimal amount of unnecessary ingredients. Which is very doable, especially if I cook regularly and bake often. Especially when Lisa provides recipes like the one from her book for Cinnamon-Raisin Quick Bread below (click on the image to see it larger). So check out 100 Days of Real Food, and start eating better!


100 Days of Real Food photo credits: Food photos ~ Carrie Vitt; Lifestyle photos ~ Kelly Trimble

What's Going On + Menu Plan Monday: Week of Sept 8, 2014

I'm still waiting for our fall schedule to be finalized, and in the meantime, I've been thinking hard about the way we eat (I've got a book review coming that will show you why). I try to get a lot done while the kids are in school, but lately I've also been thinking about make-ahead and easy/fast meals. Both would make my life easier.

I've also been feeling a bit overwhelmed by all that's going on. My life seems to go in the same cycle - first I get super busy and that stresses me out, so then I diligently cut back and create breathing room, which makes me feel like I can take on more, so then I get busy again, and then overwhelmed ... and so on. It's a natural cycle, but I don't really love it. I'd really like to find a happy medium that I can live in most of the time, where I've got a lot going on but it feels manageable. Unfortunately, I'm not there yet!

In the meantime, here's what I've got planned for dinners this week:

Monday - Rice, Salmon Furikake, Sauteed Broccoli, Miso Eggplant

Tuesday - Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Sandwiches, Broccoli Slaw, Edamame

Wednesday - Shrimp, Potato & Spinach Frittata, Garlic Bread, Salad

Thursday - Farfalle Smoked Salmon Salad

Friday - Cheesy Mashed White Beans With Kale, Parmesan, and a Fried Egg

Saturday - Chicken Enchiladas, Salad, Guacamole

Sunday - Leftovers

Even though it's still quite hot, I'd really like to get some baking done: chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, and maybe one or two other things.

See more weekly menus at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Make Homework Easier with Homework Caddies

When my boys are older, we'll probably have to get desks and chairs so they can study in their rooms, but for now, they do their homework near me while I make dinner or work on my laptop. For years, we've had an area with homework supplies, including a mug standing in as a pencil holder on a bookcase, a tub full of crayons, another tub with glue sticks, and so on.

But I got sick of watching my children - especially the youngest, who works the furthest away from the supplies but seems to need the most variety - constantly walking back and forth. So this school year, I've made the boys the homework caddies you see above. The caddies themselves were just $1 each at Target in The One Spot section, and each caddy contains:

Mechanical pencils
Colored pencils
An eraser
Crayons
Glue sticks
Pencil sharpener

The only thing I deliberately left out was a pair of scissors, because I thought it would be too dangerous. {It would probably be fine, but just isn't worth the risk.} I substantially pared down the color selection when it came to the crayons, but my kids really don't need blue green and sea foam to do their homework.

And, I accomplished my mission, as I no longer see my youngest walking back and forth from the supplies area to his homework area!