Creating a school themed bedroom has never been easier!  Especially when you implement some of the nine simple ideas provided in this article.

Find a solid red comforter or a comforter with a small print gingham comforter for your child's bed. Next add primary color throw pillows for comfort, reading and lounging at nap time.

Install a large molding at the chair rail height of her room and add wooden peg hooks. Your child will be able to hang coats, mittens, small bags, purses and other objects on these hooks. Keep the wall below the chair rail very neutral so that the items become the focal point and not the wall itself.

Above the chair rail, install a chalk board wall border. These wall borders can be found at any discount wallpaper store or online store and they have a true chalkboard surface. By supplying chalk, your daughter can be creative and teach her class at any time she likes.

Add a tall armoire that could resemble a locker. Paint the furniture a cheery yellow color which you can use as an accent color with your school house red. Add shelves and bins to your new locker so that your child will have lots of storage.

On the floor create a hopscotch board on a plain sisal rug with rubber backing (non-skid). This can be done easily by creating a rectangle template out of heavy card stock to use as a template. The template should be about 10 inches by 11 ½ inches. Find the center of the rug and trace your rectangles in the form of a hopscotch board. Next place number stencils in the center of each rectangle. Outline the numbers and paint them in with red acrylic paint. Use red bias tape and glue that over the outlines of your rectangles. You have now completed a hopscotch board for your child's playground If you would like, you can glue ribbon or rickrack to the backside edges, allowing it to stick out over the rug to finish off the edges.

Create a learning tree on one wall. This can be done by drawing a simple tree in pencil on a wall. You will need brown magnetic paint from a paint or home improvement store. Paint in your tree trunk with the magnetic paint and add green leaves at the top with regular paints. Next, you will want your child's participation in making all of the alphabet leaves. Collect real leaves from outdoors, use them as patterns and cut them out of colored craft foam. Next, draw or stamp all of the letters of the alphabet onto your leaves.

Lastly, buy some magnetic stripping, cut to size and glue on the back of your magnetic foam letters. Now your child can learn, teach and be creative  by spelling words on their new learning tree.

Make a school bus message board to hang on the wall. Buy a 13 inch by 36 inch piece of cork  Paint the cork yellow and cut the cork to the shape of a bus. This can easily be done by enlarging a photo of a bus and tracing it onto the cork. Next cut out two 4 inch circles for the wheels from black heavy paper or cardboard and adhere them. You will need 6 of 3 ¾ inch cork squares for the bus windows, painted blue. Attach your windows and pin on photos of your child and her friends in each window. Below the windows, add two 21 inch magnetic tapes running horizontally down your bus. Leave about 2 inches vertically between the two magnetic strips. Between the magnetic strips spell SCHOOL BUS with black letter stickers. Your child will be able to hang notes with paper clips on the magnetic strip and this makes a very clever and functioning room décor piece.

Find an old school desk at a flea market, yard sale or antique shop. Also add small wooden painted chairs for more students. Be sure to accessorize with plenty of dolls and stuffed plush animals who can double as students for your childs class.

Add a small table and chairs with puzzles and coloring books. Make a small activity center around the table with stackable bins to hold pens, crayons, glue, paper, coloring books, puzzles and more. If there is room add a desk that your child can grow with.

Any of these nine ideas, or all of them, make quick and inexpensive alternatives when creating a school house themed bedroom decor.

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Any parent with little kids at home is well aware that keeping them busy is a hard task. The kids' art easel is one toy that can keep them busy for hours as well as provide educational value. One of the best easels out there today is the Melissa and Doug Standing Easel. This adjustable-height deluxe wooden easel bought along with the Melissa and Doug Companion Set provide for the best art easel set in the market. Some online stores bundle both of these together and offer at very attractive prices.

This two-sided wooden easel will accommodate up to two kids at the same time and provides for multiple mediums for your kids to draw and paint. The height of the easel is adjustable and you can change it according to your child's height. This is one of the main features that distinguish from the other easels in the market.

On one side is a chalkboard, on the other is a dry erase board. In between the two easel sides is a dowel for holding a paper and an extra large tray for holding erasers, chalk and markers. The colorful clips, sturdy paint tray with cup holders, and easy-loading paper roll allows the kids to unleash their artistic talents.

Just like a professional easel, the workstation is generously sized so that children can complete projects both big and small. Its durable wood construction ensures that it won't tip and it folds up easily for convenient storage.

And the companion set provides all the necessary art supplies that are required to get your kids started on this wonderful toy. This accessory set comes with the following:

1. 4 eight-ounce bottles of poster paint - Provided in vibrant colors of red, blue, yellow, and green. They are washable, non-toxic and provide excellent coverage.

2. 4 spill-proof paint cups - These are dishwasher-safe and come with snap-on caps to keep the paint fresh paint and don't dry out in between art sessions. The assorted color caps are provided to keep the paint where it belongs.

3. 4 medium brushes with medium-tip and natural bristle come with easy-to-clean and easy to grasp handles to apply the paint. The brushes are really high quality and durable.

4. 10 jumbo triangular chalk sticks - Non Toxic, Colorful, chunky, triangular pieces are easy to hold, and won't slip away

5. 1 roll of easel paper - premium quality paper roll that easily loads on to the Melissa & Doug Deluxe Standing easel.

6. 1 felt eraser - A top quality eraser that features a solid-wood handle and thick, durable eraser pad.

7. 1 dry-erase marker - a standard one that easily wipes off any dry-erase surface

With the best standing easel and the best value for money accessory set this Melissa and Doug Art Easel Set provides the perfect combination of fun, education and value.

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The day I discovered that I was good at math, I was horrified. I felt as though Lucifer himself had risen from his fiery pit, and had stolen my soul. I was devastated. And I would never be the same again.

I had always hated math, and all math related topics. I especially hated my math teachers. Their personalities were so dry, I swore that if I blew on them they'd disintegrate like a pyramid of crumbs, and then scatter like dust in the wind. They were like desiccated fruit.

My algebra teacher, Mr. Connors, was the classic example of a geek, before geeks became popular. Black slacks, white crisp shirt, butch cut, pen protector in the pocket, horned rimmed glasses. I decided that he must be a virgin; I couldn't imagine him getting passionate and sweaty. I would squirm when I thought what his kisses might be like; tight arid pecks, void of moisture.

Mr. Connors' lessons were given in a steady monotone; an annoying drone about constants, variables, and Quadratic Equations that made me want to stand up and scream. There was the constant squeak and clatter of chalk against chalkboard, and what would spill forth were rows upon rows of nonsensical twaddle; parentheses and X's where numbers should be; an annoying array of plus, minus and equal signs, spelled out as if they were actual sentences.

How dare this mumbo jumbo parade around as if they were sentences! The sentences I loved were made out of words. Beautiful strings of words, held together by stanzas and paragraphs; descriptive snippets which oozed with love, death, agony, and the mysteries of life. Poetry and literature; that is where the sentences I understood were nestled, safe in their beds of wisdom and communication.

These math sentences were unsightly, meaningless gibberish.

Because Mr. Connors was always writing his ugly sentences on the board, I had plenty of time to stare at the back of his head and his very red neck. I found this far more interesting than the rubbish he filled the chalkboard with. His neck bulged slightly at the collar; I decided this was his only physical imperfection. He was strangely flawless; I was certain he'd never dropped a spoonful of pea soup down his tie. He was a robot; an unfeeling android. It was Square Root this, and Square Root that, and I often felt tempted to sneak up behind him and bonk him on the head with a heavy metal object. Not to kill him, but rather to shut him up. "Bang, bang, Maxwell's Silver Hammer came down upon his head," I would sing under my breath, trying to block his mind numbing prattle.

I cut my Algebra class as often as I could, and only attended just enough to pass the course. In those days, they didn't care too much about delinquencies from class; truants were rarely punished, and because we had few restrictions, graduating from High School really became our choice. No one was really going to force you to put in the necessary time; you were either going to work hard enough to pass, or you weren't.

I was going to pass. I was going onto college, and I had planned on getting the highest degree I could earn; a PhD in Literature. I had dreams as big as a Harvest Moon; I was going to be a novelist; a journalist; a columnist, and a War Correspondent. I was going to work at the San Francisco Chronicle, and I was going to share the occasional giggle with Herb Caen, whose office would be just down the hall from mine. I was going to rub shoulders with leather elbowed novelists, who would puff on a pipe as they'd quip about their latest narrative. I would be a member of the elite Literati, and I would spend the rest of my life dedicated to perfecting prose.

Sadly, this was never to be.

When I was a senior in High School, my parents sat me down one day, and explained to me that they were moving to Hopland, to the country home my Dad had been building for a decade. They would give me a month; I had to get my driver's license, which I had been putting off; buy a car, find a job, and find an apartment. I got my first credit card, and was in debt for $20,000 right out of the gate. I had no car, let alone anything to start a home.

Their announcement was one of the lowest moments of my life. I sat there dumbfounded; and I saw every dream I'd ever had for my future fly out the window, flapping merrily away, with little black wings. The depression was beyond tears; I was mute for a long time. "I'm still in High School," I finally said, as low and soft as my voice would go. But nothing I said would have mattered. I had to become an adult seemingly overnight, and I knew that college would have to be put on hold. I needed a job. And I could no longer take on menial jobs as I'd done in my past; I had to earn a living. I had to pay rent.

I went to work full time at Insurance Company in San Mateo. I honestly couldn't tell you what my job even was; not only don't I remember, but it was so inane I hardly knew what I was doing then. But I do remember that part of my job was mailing out hundreds and hundreds of policy statements to clients. So I typed up a small note which said something like: "I'm a frustrated writer held captive in Corporate America; in a tedious repetitive job that will surely suck the life out of me. If you can help me realize my dreams, and be a working writer, please call me at this number. 726-4854. Thank you." I then took this note and made hundreds of copies of it, carefully cut each one out, and piled them on my desk next to the stack of policies. Before I would enclose the policy in the envelope and seal it, I would tape one of these little notes to the bottom of the page.

No job offers came from this. But it did earn me a trip to the boss' office, when a client called and complained. And this led to another meaningless job and to another. I decided that if this was going to be my life, I would rather be dead.

But the nightmare only worsened in intensity. It was a beautiful autumn day, and my boyfriend was sitting on the patio in my front yard, doing his Algebra homework. He was whining and groaning; making sounds that were familiar to me, as they were similar to the noises I made when forced to listen to the incessant drivel from Mr. Connors. I ignored his feeble attempts to gain my pity; and while I had great empathy for his plight, I was determined to go nowhere near his math book. "Heeelllllllllllllppppppp Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee," he would bleat, as he would bang his head against his book.

"No."

I didn't understand what pleasure could be found in math. The whole idea of math was that it was a solvable puzzle; it was only a mystery until it was unraveled. It was a concrete science; and answers were either wrong or right. But there was always an answer; there was always a finite conclusion. Even if that answer was infinity.

Words intrigued me, because in my mind they were the reverse. The beauty of words was that there was no answer; literature and poetry are just beautiful chains of ambiguity and questions, strung together delicately, with the most invisible of filaments. There is no wrong or right; there is no black or white. It was an imperfect science without any conclusion.

"Help meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee," he pleaded again.

"You know I hate math. Stop bugging me. I wouldn't be of any help anyway. Do you know I barely passed Algebra in High School?"

"I know, I know, but just read this ONE problem with me, please. Maybe you can give me some perspective; something I cannot see. PLEASE. I can't figure out what it MEANS."

Rolling my eyes, I walked toward him, and toward the dreaded math book. I took a disinterested glance downward, and saw those strings of math sentences; just like the ones Mr. Connors would write on the board; the same ones that filled me with dread, confusion and loathing.

Imagine my horror, when I stared down at the page, and I could suddenly read them.
It was like staring at a page of words written in a foreign tongue that suddenly make sense. We've all seen pages of Chinese or Farsi; strange symbols that appear like nonsense on the page; and while we know that others can read the words written there, we also know that no matter how hard we try, we'll never be able to decipher their code.

That was the way Algebra always felt to me, and in this one moment, when I stared at the page, it felt like I looked at a Chinese book and could suddenly, miraculously, read Chinese. But I didn't feel joy; as if a magic wand had just given me a special gift of seeing; rather I was utterly sickened.

In short, this led me to becoming an accountant. Without any training, the double entry system made sense to me upon first glance. My mind wrapped around the entire accounting concept; as if I'd always known it. And unfortunately, I was very good at it.

When I would come in for interviews, I would often get similar remarks. "Wow, you're not what we usually expect when we interview for an accountant!" They always said it in a jolly but judgmental way, which caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up. With my wild hair, and robust personality, they couldn't quite imagine me sitting quietly in a corner office, seriously clattering away on an adding machine.

But I tried to fit in. I tried to look like an accountant. I tried to look like Mr. Connors.

In the early days, I would don panty hose, heels, and business suits; I talked in a monotone business-like way. I was efficient and calculated. Strangely, somehow, someway I could never truly hide who I was. I don't know if it was my wild hair or wild eyes, or that I wore too many rings on my fingers. Perhaps it was my hearty laugh, which I couldn't suppress from bursting forth when something struck me as ironic. But somehow they always figured out that beneath my business demeanor lived an untamed poet, aching to write.

I did beg for a job at the San Francisco Chronicle once. And I mean, I really begged. I decided to write a letter that would scream my true passion to such an extent that someone would feel my crazed enthusiasm, and like a freak accident, would offer me an interview. They sent back a personalized letter which was quite kind considering, saying they enjoyed my writing samples, but I needed more experience to become a columnist.

Somewhere along the line, I did find that there was actually a great deal of creativity in accounting. It was much more fluid than I had previously thought; I discovered that the Balance Sheet was actually something that could be manipulated. Not in a dishonest way, but a good accountant can book things one way or another to make the financials appear to the owner's liking, depending on the scenario at hand. And on some level, I enjoyed making sense out of chaos, which is really what the job of the accountant is. Not to mention, it paid well.

But one year turned to a decade, and a decade turned to two. And as the years slipped by, I had built a resume of my life, which could scarcely be changed. The longer I worked as an accountant, the farther away I got from being a writer. When I would apply for writing jobs, I could really only offer 25 years as an accountant for my history. And every day I just slipped farther and farther away from my dream.
Over the years the ache has faded. Or perhaps I'm just in denial.

Because it still aches.

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Wow, can you believe it's August already? Sadly, the laid back days of Summer are almost over and kids will soon be heading back to school. The school year brings lots of excitement but also a busyness. How do you stay organized during the school year? How do you encourage your kids to stay on top of their schedules and homework? As a parent it can be a full time job just keeping your family organized. In this article I hope to share with you some fun and stylish ways to keep you and your family organized this school year! I will cover some different styles of kids decals, from chalkboard stickers to whiteboard decals and educational kids decals, that can help you stay organized and encourage your children's learning all at the same time!

First on the list of helpful kids decals, are chalkboard stickers. If you haven't heard of these, you're missing out! These are one of the newest inventions when it comes to wall decor. Instead of having bulky chalkboards, you can now buy chalkboard decals! These decals are made of strong but thin, flexible vinyl. They're reusable and removable and stick to any clean, smooth surface. So your imagination is truly the limit. They aren't just stickers for walls either! You can apply them to refrigerators to help you and your kids keep track of schedules and appointments through the busy school year. You can stick them to the top of your pre-schooler's desk to encourage their practice of penmanship. Your tween or teen may find them helpful to apply to their lockers at school.

Chalkboard stickers come in all shapes and sizes. You can purchase chalkboard panels and put them in separate places or position them all together to form one gigantic chalkboard! There are fun shapes, like animals, buses and circles for preschoolers and for tweens there are guitars and fancy designs! What kid, no matter how old they are, wouldn't think it's super cool to write on the walls?

If you'd prefer to avoid the "mess" of chalk dust, then the dry erase panels and sheets would be perfect for you! Again, like the chalkboard stickers, these dry erase boards are made of that same wonderfully flexible but durable material. They are, as well, removable and repositionable and come in all different shapes and sizes too. Both the chalkboards and whiteboards are easily cleaned with a damp cloth. You can use regular chalk or dry erase markers on them, no special writing tools are needed.

Here's a fun fact to tuck away in your brain for both the chalkboard and whiteboard kids decals. You can cut any of these products to whatever object you desire! Say you're putting up a chalkboard decal in your son's room that's decorated in cars and trucks and anything with engines and wheels. Using a pencil or pen, you can trace an image of a car or truck onto the backing of the decal (before you peel it off the decal). Then carefully cut out the shape, peel it off the silicone backing, stick it to the wall, dresser, door, wherever and enjoy!

New designs and products are coming out all the time. One of these super cool items are the Dry Erase Photo frames. These are not as organizational in nature... but still very cool for the teen going off to college or for your tween that's looking to pimp out their locker at school! Dry Erase Photo Frames kids decals are sold in a pack of three and include "tacks" and "tape" kids decals. Simply frame your friends and fav places with these special frames. Then write a funny caption or title for each image.

A great benefit to both the chalkboard and whiteboard kids decals is that they're very economical and earth friendly. If you're family is anything like mine, we go through a LOT of paper. Whether it's making "To-Do" lists or the kids doodling their hearts out, we are certainly not saving any trees in our house with all the paper we use. By strategically placing these decals around the house, families could seriously cut back on the amount of paper that they go through. As well, my son, who is four, loves to practice his letters. By placing a fun chalkboard decal in his play area, I can still encourage this activity but be friendly to our earth as well!

The last group of kids decals that make learning fun are the many different styles of number and alphabet wall stickers! Because these kids decals are removable and reusable, your toddler and pre-schooler can use these fun and colorful to learn their ABC's and 123's. They can peel off the objects and match them to the letter they start with. Like move the elephant beside the "E" and so on. This is fun, interactive and a great way to encourage learning and stimulate their imagination. You can use them to teach colors and positions as well. "Which letter is Red?" or "Which object is Bigger?" or "Which object is Below the letter?". You get the idea. The ways you can use these cute kids decals is vast.

There are a number of people groups that I think could find these chalkboard stickers, dry erase whiteboards and alphabet wall stickers especially helpful.

Homeschooling is becoming an increasingly popular option for educating children. Whether it's through traditional textbooks or cyber school, more and more parents are opting to teach their children at home. If you're one of these homeschooling parents, these items could prove very helpful to you and your family. Like I said, for a very reasonable price you could provide a small chalkboard or whiteboard for each child or combine the panels to form one gigantic chalkboard to assist you in your teaching endeavors. As well, the alphabet wall stickers are a great way to start teaching your pre-schoolers their ABC's and 123's.

Other groups may be Preschools, Day Care Centers, Pediatrician offices, etc. How fun would it be for kids to doodle while they waited for their doctor visit. As well, these educational kids decals could be used to decorate the walls of these kid friendly places. This not only provides a fun decor but stimulates the children's imaginations and encourages their learning all at the same time.

Teens are the last group that could really benefit from these versatile products! If your teen is heading off to college, they'll be needing wall decor that is RA approved. Because kids decal chalkboards and whiteboards can be removed without leaving any sticky residue behind or pulling off paint, they're perfect for dressing up those drab dorm walls. Not only are they RA approved, but when your teen leaves one dorm to move to another place of residence, they can take their whiteboards and chalkboards and whatever other cool decals they have and reapply them to their new bedroom walls! Not only can your teen stay organized but they can express their unique styles and taste through their decor!

As you can see, these chalkboard stickers and dry erase kids decals can be useful no matter what age you are! The options are limitless. All you need is a smooth, dry, clean surface and you're good to go! Well, I hope this article was helpful in showing you just some of the fun ways that you and your kids can jump into this next school year with style and organization!

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So you want to change the look of your child's room but aren't really sure how to do it. You've never really been a painter, but hiring someone else to do is going to cost way too much. So now what? There are some fun and easy painting ideas for kids rooms that anyone can do and will easily change the look and feel of the bedroom all together.

1. Using words to decorate the walls. You probably never thought that decorating the walls with words could change the way it looks. You can keep the background color of your walls exactly the same not even lifting a paint brush. There are several different ways to go about painting words. You can do it by hand which can add a personal touch to any room, however if you're handwriting is less than perfect you can also buy stencils to etch the words across the room. Some of the most fun and creative ideas come from nursery rhymes and other poems you may have heard. For example, for little boy's rooms you could write the words "Snakes and Snails and Puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of." For little girls who might be sharing a room with sister you could write a cute phrase like, "Two are we, my sister and me." You can make them up yourself or go looking for different quotes to use.

2. Murals. There are hundreds of different murals you can paint onto the walls of a kid's room, however finding someone to draw it for you might be hard to find. Since it's not a "professional" room or model home that you're showing to a lot of people you can get away with having an amateur artist come and draw whatever it is you need. Then once the mural is done you can paint it as you like. Murals can change the look and feel of a bedroom dramatically and can literally make a kids room become a fantasy world.

3. Sketches. Sketching is a great way to use the paint in a bedroom, especially if you're talented with the pencil. So what if you're not? Well, instead of fretting over how you're going to draw what your child wants look through some magazines and books to find the picture, make transparency of it and then project it onto the wall and trace it. It's really that simple. Once you've got the outlines of the character or object you can start painting. So sketches can be a fun and easy way to add some personality to the bedroom whether you can draw or not.

4. Themes. Of course when you're painting your child's room you can always go with a theme which sometimes makes it easier to figure out exactly what you're looking for. If you pick a theme before you begin any of the other stuff you can really get a clear picture of how you want to paint the room and what colors you will want to use. There are thousands of ideas out there when it comes to using themes to paint a room. From ocean sea floors, to princess and space ships the sky is truly the limit.

5. Magnetic and chalked paint. There are thousands of different ways to paint a child's bedroom, and two of the coolest things you can do with wall paint is painting a wall with magnetic or chalked paint. Yes it's true, you can buy paint that will actually make the wall a magnet and create a world of fun for your child. You can also buy paint that will allow your youngster to write directly on their wall like a chalkboard and erase it just the same. Of course you have to be careful that they only draw on the wall that has the chalked paint on it, but other than that it can be a lot of fun. There are literally hundreds of painting ideas for kid's room. The hard part about it is finding one that you absolutely love and your child will love.

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