creative jewish mom

Preparing Your Child For College And The Finances Involved

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Preparing Your Child For College

One in five college graduates say that they wish they studied harder in college, making it the highest ranking regret. Preparing your child for college can help get them into a good mindset so that they are truly ready for college, regardless of whether they’re studying art and design or science. It’s important that they make the most of the opportunities offered for the most success, and they also need to understand the financial side of college, such as how student loans work.

Teaching Them About Finances

The reality is that going to college can cost a lot of money. 70% of college graduates will leave with a significant amount of debt in the form of student loans, with the average being $37,172, so it’s important to teach your child how to manage their money so that weighed down by debt in the future. Student loans are a part of going to college, but teaching our children how to manage their student commitments can help to pay debts off quickly and focus on buying a home or a car, instead of spending years paying high interest rates. Learning about money can be done from an early age, and be sure to teach your child more than the basics so that they understand how loans work and what options are available.

Dale Chihuly At The Tower Of David Citadel, Jerusalem

The Tower of David is now one of my favorite places in Old City Jerusalem, and while we missed his fabulous show at the museum in 2000, glass artist Dale Chihuly did leave a few items in the museum which I was delighted to see this past week. Now I'm regretting that I didn't make an effort to go see his historically famous show, as back then I didn't appreciate his work, sigh. What I didn't realize at the time is that the colorful glass forms for which Dale Chihuly is famous look amazing together with the medieval fortress stones, and this choice as a venue for the show was intentional as well as brilliant. It is so interesting that the glass forms of the chandelier piece seen here look like snakes or fire or any number of things that truly embue the medieval aesthetic! (Of course if you put this piece in an aquarium or natural history museum it looks like squid or octopi!) Lets take a look at a few more pieces Dale left behind after the show, shall we?

The Tower Of David Citadel Museum, Jerusalem

This Passover we were given the last minute gift of a complimentary vacation rental apartment in the Old City of Jerusalem for the duration of the holiday, in exchange for hosting a single father and his two sons for the Passover seder and a few days after that. It is true, for some all the rush and uncertainty together with preparing the kitchen properly wouldn't be a gift, but for us it certainly was! We had the opportunity to explore the history of Jerusalem up close, experience living withing a walled city, and witness the crowds who flock to the Western Wall for the entire week. One of the places I'll now recommend to everyone is The Tower of David Museum, both an interesting archeological site and a museum in one, with a fabulous night experience projected on the walls to boot! There are lots of stairs and places to explore, so it is perfect for kids, and the panoramic view one can enjoy by climbing to the top of one of the towers is uncomparable. The Tower of David Museum is located adjacent to Jaffa Gate, the entrance most take when visiting the city, so its location is also perfect! Lets take a look......

Notes To Self Passover 2019 To Refer To Next Year......

All of my Passover pots and pans and kitchen items are now safely tucked away in their special large cabinet, and our kitchen is once again ready to receive leavened food items, though we are not in any big hurry as we happen to love matza, and still have quite a bit left to enjoy. That said, before Passover becomes a distant memory I thought I'd jot down some notes and advice to myself to refer to in years to come, and while this may or may not be relevant to you, at the least it might inspire you to do the same, whether for Passover or anytime you've completed a major feat and want to remember how to prepare for such an event next time! Keep on reading for all the nitty gritty details......

Splitting Of The Red Sea Diorama— A Reader's Version!

One of the greatest pleasures of blogging is when readers actually use my instructions to make their own version of a project I've presented. So it is with very great pleasure that i present to you this fantastic version, submitted by Ilana Singer of Strasbourg, France, of my splitting of the Red Sea diorama, the original post can be seen here. While my original version is much simpler than this one, keep in mind that I made mine a whole nine years ago (gasp!) I love the idea of painting the cardboard waves and then adding cut paper shapes, as opposed to my tissue paper decoupage, and the Playmobil figures certainly add extra drama, right? The Singer's used their diorama for the Passover seders, and each child was given some of the figures to act out the crossing of the Red Sea, as told in the Passover Seder.

So dear readers, please do let me know when you make something you've seen on this blog, so that you too can inspire others to add creativity to their lives, got it? Keep on reading for more information and ideas regarding this craft, and I know, Passover is already history, but keep this in mind for next year!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks so much for joining me here! I am writing this before Passover, in order to open the party at a time when I will be very very busy packing away all my Passover dishes and kitchen items, which is necessary before bringing any leavened products into the house. Passover was actually over for us here in Israel Friday night, but since that was then shabbat we continued to eat as though it were Passover, making Passover actually 8 days for us this year. And that dear friends is fine with me, as after all that hard work the week goes by so quickly and I never for a moment miss bread, the matza we eat, handmade large rounds of hard cracker is delicious.......On another note, I did not in the end succeed in totally cleaning out my studio, ( our plans changed last minute, and I lost an extra 2 days for cleaning ) so I closed the door and locked it for the whole holiday, including this computer! So now I'm ready to finish my studio and get crafting once again......! Enjoy the feature from the party 2 weeks ago and how about taking your creativity outdoors?

Craft Schooling Sunday Is Taking A Passover Vacation, See You Next Week!

Thanks so much for dropping by for Craft Schooling Sunday. I made a last minute decision to simply take a Passover break with the party as that means I can literally stay unplugged all Passover long, which is truly one way to make sure I'm not a slave to my blog or the internet, right? We celebrate our deliverance from slavery every year, though we also apply the idea of slavery to our lives today giving the holiday many layers of relevance, and the all the house cleansing before Passover in turn leads to a spiritual cleansing on the holiday!  So dear friends, I'll be back next week, with hopefully a nice clean slate after crossing the Red Sea, so see you on the other side!

Wishing everyone a very meaningful and joyful Passover.

Wishing You A Wonderful Passover!

At sundown on Friday night we will not only welcome the holy shabbos, we'll also welcome the amazing holiday of Passover! This year we will all be celebrating for eight days, as the last day of Passover in Israel is back to back with shabbat, so we will just keep eating matzo, as though it is still Passover. I'm always sad to see the holiday end after so much hard work, so I'll happily take another day! This year we found ourselves without any guests, which is so unusual and then we were invited rather last minute to stay in a vacation apartment in the Old City of Jerusalem for 6 nights in exchange for hosting a single Dad and his two boys there, and we were able to say YES to the offer. Of course this meant getting ready much earlier than planned, but this also means once in Jerusalem we will slide into the holiday with relatively loittle stress as I've already done the bulk of the cooking at home, yippee! And of course I'll take lots of photos to share with you when I get back!

So I am writing this at 4am after spending (slaving?, which is perfect for the Passover story) the entire day and night cooking for our days in Jerusalem (I even froze Moroccan salads, no choice!) and wishing you a wonderful Passover holiday. May you experience great joy and freedom and find deep meaning in this wonderful holiday.

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Is Early Retirement A Feasible Dream For Parents Today?

This is a sponsored post.

Is Early Retirement A Feasible Dream For Parents Today?

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. This common quote by Benjamin Franklin is used in many contexts from succeeding in your academic life to keeping your finances as a family in check and it often rings true. For many families in Israel and in fact, around the world, the juggling act of keeping their family afloat financially is a full-time act and revolves around staying up to date with bills and keeping abreast with rising costs of living including costs of raising children. Although the country is viewed as a very promising place to raise kids, there are still costs attached to it. For those parents, when early retirement is thrown into the mix it can all go a bit awry. Is there space in a family’s budget to allow busy parents to prepare for leaving the workforce earlier? More importantly, what are the steps they can take to carve out retirement savings, even with a full financial calendar?

Unraveling The Barriers For Israeli Families When Saving For Early Retirement

The popularity of Israel as a retirement location has soared in recent years among expats and those looking to experience adventures abroad. Yet, local residents still earn about one-third of their US counterparts when it comes to salary and end up spending more than their earnings. In June 2018 the average monthly salary was estimated at NIS10,884, according to the Central Bureau Of Statistics. However, two-thirds of those in the working force were earning less than the general average which further highlights the increasing importance for parents to look for ways to get finances aligned with retiring early.

How To Make Simple Paper Pinwheels While Cleaning For Passover

At this point most folks have done the bulk of the necessary cleaning for Passover, (or maybe they are closing up their homes and heading to family or on vacation) and if not they are certainly not taking time to peek at my blog, as Passover starts on Friday night and there is soooo much to do for this 7 day (8 days outside Israel) holiday. So if you are reading this, either you don't celebrate Passover, or you are ready to do some quick crafting before the holiday, so lets do it! While of course pinwheels aren't exactly traditional Passover symbols, why not? The spinning of the pinwheel represents the cycle of life and the 4 seasons, both themes which relate to Passover, namely the notion of passing down our traditions from generation to generation, and the fact that Passover always occurs in the Spring, which is why, despite having a lunar calendar, we also have a leap year to keep Passover as a Spring holiday, phew! Okay, lets make some pinwheels to add some fun to your home this Spring/Passover!