Barnes & Noble Yom Kippur Storytime today at 3:30!

At the Fair Lakes Barnes & Noble (near Fair Oaks Mall)
Special snacks, fantastic crafts, and stories to share with the whole family.

All ages are welcome!

12193 Fair Lakes Promenade Drive
Fairfax 22033

Sun Sept 27 @ 3:30pm

Next Year in Jerusalem!

Some would say that Yom Kippur is not for children, but I would disagree. There are many lessons children can learn from all that we do in preparation for Yom Kippur as well as on the day itself.
You could explain that another name for Yom Kippur is the Shabbat of Shabbats. It is even held holier than a typical Shabbat for on this day we have a heightened Shabbat experience.
We light candles, change our shoes, fast, pray, and hear the shofar.
There are some great stories too!

For some fun activities like making slippers or interesting stories go to
www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/354745/jewish/Yom-Kippur.htm

G'mar Chatima Tova! Have an Easy Fast!

Shana Tova Umetukah!

So whether you're playing Apples to Apples, Jewish edition, reading Sammy Spider's First Rosh Hashanah, or singing silly songs to the tune of Macarena (Apples, apples, honey, honey. They're so yummy in my tummy. Apples, apples, honey, honey. He-ey, it's Rosh Hashanah!).

As parents, we're always looking for ways to further educate our children, especially around High Holiday time.
Some sites to check out to get your young ones excited for the upcoming New Year:
www.akhlah.com/holidays/roshhashana/roshhashannah.php


www.torahtots.com/holidays/rosh/rosh.htm



www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/354744/jewish/Rosh-Hashanah.htm



www.artistshelpingchildren.org/roshhashanah-craftsideasjewishkids.html



Enjoy and have an especially sweet 5770!

Where to send them?

After 7 yrs of child-rearing, I had my first day today of having all of my four children in school.
I tried to be very productive, but wow, do those hours fly by.

It got me thinking how we got to this place. I had planned on homeschooling years ago, but I ended up with a child who wasn't interested in learning from her mother, and then I proceeded to have twins. My eldest first went to preschool when she was 4, my son when he was 3, and now the twins are going at 2 1/2. It's funny to me how in my family there seems to be a trend of going to school earlier at a younger age.

As parents we go through a whole process:
When they're babies we're not even thinking about schools and we keep putting it off in our minds. Then they're coming onto toddlerhood and you're sorting out whether to keep them home/ daycare or send them to preschool. This is not such a hard decision since there are so many Jewish preschool options in the area. Before you know it, it's time to think about elementary school and this is where all of those harder decisions come into play about where to send them? It's enough to make any parent turn prematurely gray.

I came across this interesting article called "Tuition or mortgage: Choosing public school over homelessness" by Mayer Fertig. Check it out!

The Learning Curve

It is so important to realize that your child is never too young to begin their path towards learning about their Jewishness: the rituals, the customs, the songs, the games; it's never ending! At 2 years old, maybe even 18 months for some, your child is absorbing everything they see and hear. For instance, in our household, we have little "kosher cops." I remember when we began using the term "kosher" for our children to understand that they could not have the candy because it wasn't kosher. That was all we had to say. They may not have understood it tangibly, but they did get it. Even at the age of 2 1/2, my boys will say to me, "Is it kosher mommy? Can we have it?"
There's nothing more rewarding to see those successfully trained children, especially when they are so fulfilled and joyous about their own religion. So parents, be aware, model your behavior and watch your child(ren) follow suit.