My Precious Kid® - Precious Kids Newsletter
September 2004

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Subjects: Homeschool / Adoption / Parenting / Work at Home
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RECIPE

Allie's Delicious Baked Dumplings
A delicious baked apple dumpling with a crispy crust and moist and juicy
inside! Always a big hit for all occasions, and surprisingly easy to
prepare. Prep Time: approx. 15 Minutes. Cook Time: approx. 45 Minutes. Ready
in: approx. 1 Hour . Makes 8 dumplings (8 servings).
Printed from Allrecipes, Submitted by Alyson Pray

1 (17.5 ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 cup white sugar
3/8 cup dry bread crumbs
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
4 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and halved
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons milk

Directions
1 Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking
sheet.
2 Roll out each sheet of pastry to measure 12x12 inches. Cut into quarters,
to make 8 - 6 inch squares.
3 In a small bowl, combine sugar, bread crumbs, cinnamon and nutmeg. Brush a
pastry square with beaten egg. Place 1 tablespoon bread crumb mixture in
center. Place one apple half, core side down, over bread crumbs. Top with
another tablespoon of mixture. Pull up four corners of pastry and pinch
sides together to seal seams completely. Repeat with remaining apples.
4 Brush each dumpling with beaten egg. Place in preheated oven for 15
minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and continue
baking 25 minutes more, until lightly browned. Let cool completely at room
temperature.
5 To make icing, combine confectioners' sugar and vanilla and enough milk to
make a drizzling consistency. Drizzle over cooled dumplings. Serve the same
day.

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ADOPTION

You are considering adoption! Maybe you have no children through infertility
and are ready to start your family. Or you may have homegrown children and
know you are not finished. Or you may have an empty next with your grown
children gone and want to give to another child. But where do you start?

Let's begin with what kind of child do you want?
* A healthy Caucasian newborn?
* An infant of any race?
* An international baby or child?
* An older child in the foster care system?
* A special needs child?

Knowing what kind of child you are looking for will tell you where to begin.

Agencies can vary from $15,000-$40,000 for a newborn or infant. Caucasian
infants will require the longest wait and highest fees.

Facilitators have fees from $1000-10,000 for infants and newborns. They may
also have other aged children available. Usually you will have additional
legal fees added to this. Facilitators/Referral Services are not legal in
all states. Check out your states rules.

Attorneys can work independently to finalize an adoption that you bring to
them for $500-3000 or some will advertise and find you a child too with fees
up to $30,000.

Private adoption with your own networking will save you money and cost you
time and advertising money. If you find your own birth mother with child,
your costs will probably be $4000-10,000 for legal fees and travel and
expenses. There are a number of online registries to help you network like
http://www.Preciouskids.org

The state foster care system has many older and special needs children
available with no fees at all. In fact many of these kids may come with a
medical card and a monthly subsidy.

Once you have decided what kind of child you want, you can start to research
your options. A home study is required for all adoption. It can be done by
an agency, an independent social worker, or the state if you are going
through the foster system. The state foster system home studies are usually
free but are also not usually usable for private adoptions. A regular home
study will run $1000-3500.

No matter which option you choose it is helpful to network and tell everyone
you know that you want to adopt. Many successful adoptions come though word
of mouth, a friend of a friend. Some adoptive families build web pages. I
can help you with that. Kay@preciouskids.org  Some families have business
cards and color photo profiles to hand out to prospective people. Use your
imagination!

When we decided to adopt I told everyone I knew. I had photo profiles made
to send out. I built a web page with our photos and a dear birth mom letter.
We were listed on the registry at
http://www.preciouskids.org/adopt/registry.html

That is where our daughter's birth mom found us. We talked online for a
month or so until she chose us. Then we had an agency in her state handle
her counseling and legal work. Her doctor sent her medical records to our
pediatrician. We talked on the phone lots over the next 8 weeks.

We started looking in July 1999. She found us in November 1999 and chose us
in December. Haley was born in March 2000. Our total costs including travel
and our home study were $4000. We were able to receive all $4000 back in the
form of a tax credit.

I have a number of great resources for adoption options listed at
http://www.preciouskids.org/adopt/resources.html
I have some adoption scam red flag warnings listed at
http://www.preciouskids.org/adopt/scam.html

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HOMESCHOOL

Whether you choose to home-preschool your child or send him/her to a local
Preschool on a part-time basis, here's a suggested list of academic,
physical and social skills every preschooler should be learning. If your
child will be attending Kindergarten in the fall it would be a good idea to
continue working on these things over the summer. Kindergarten is a lot
tougher than it was even a few years ago, so the more prepared your child is
the better off he/she will be!

You will find that Kindergarten Readiness lists will vary but this is a
great list that covers the basics.

Academic Skills

Say the alphabet
Recognize own name, and letters in name
Recognize as many letters as possible (A-Z)
Count to 10
Recognize numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Count items
Name the basic colors (blue, red, yellow, purple, green, orange, white,
brown, black)

Physical Skills

Care for personal needs (Use restroom, wash hands, fasten clothes, wipe
nose, etc.)
Catch item tossed underhand
Walk up and down stairs
Use pencils and crayons
Use scissors & glue stick
Stack blocks
Put toys and class items where they belong

Social Skills (These are always a work in progress!)

Shares and takes turns
Sits quietly and listens in group setting
Follows directions
Demonstrates good manners while eating
Respects other students and adults
Respects other's belongings and class items
Expresses thoughts and feelings clearly

And a Note About Reading.

Depending on your local school system, children now begin reading in either
Preschool or Kindergarten. It is very important that your child be familiar
with the letters of the alphabet and if possible, even the sounds each one
makes. Knowing the letters will make the transition to reading much easier.

Throughout the early school years, teachers will often remind you how
important it is to read to your children every day. You can make it a
special time by letting the child choose the book to be read, and ask them
questions about the story as you go - this will also help them develop good
comprehension skills, which are needed throughout life.

Enjoy these early years together, they grow up so fast!


Copyright © 2004 by Michelle Jones

Michelle Jones, author of Dealing with Debt and publisher of Living a Better
Life: The Money-Saving Tips Ezine, is a frugal mother of 4 who's dedicated
to helping families live a better life, not by spending more money, but
less! If you'd like a free subscription to her monthly Ezine please visit
www.BetterBudgeting.com  for more information.
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HOME BUSINESS

The Basics of Starting an Online Business
© Terri Seymour of www.seymourproducts.com

If you are looking to start your own online business, the first step is to
decide what type of business you want to get into. You need to choose
something that you are interested in and like to do. If the passion is not
there, you will more than likely not succeed!

Ask yourself these questions:

Can I dedicate myself to this business?

Contrary to what a lot of ads tell you, there is no get rich quick business.
If you start an online business, you will be putting in hours each day to
make that business successful. You will need to be very dedicated to that
business to succeed. Weeks, months, or even years could go by before you
start making any money. Make sure you are ready for that kind of commitment
before you start your business.

What do I want to accomplish with this business?

Make sure you know exactly what you want to do with your business. Write out
your business plans and goals. This will help you to realize what you want
to do with your business and how you want to do it.

After you decide on a business, get your goals in order and make the
commitment, the next step is to build a website or get one built for you.
If you decide to build one yourself, there are tons of resources to help you
learn how:

Building and maintaining a website is a constant learning process. You need
to keep up with ever changing information. Try these sites to get started:
http://www.2createawebsite.com/
http://www.createafreewebsite.net/free-web-template-gallery.html
http://www.how-to-build-websites.com/

You will also need a host ( place to upload and store your website). This
will make it "live" on the net. One of the best hosts I have come across for
beginners is ICDSoft http://hop.clickbank.net/?webcentral/icdsoft  They have
easy file managing and an incredible support system.

More hosts to look into:
http://www.canaca.com
http://www.webhostsonline.com/

This would be the link and main page to your website.

Once you get all this set up you are ready to start networking, promoting,
advertising, marketing, etc. This is what takes the time and commitment. You
cannot build a website and sit back and wait for the clients/customers to
find you. You have to go out and
find your customers.

There are several methods of promoting and networking online. Remember to
advertise and promote your business offline as well.

Online Promotion:
ad swaps
ezine publishing
forum networking
joint ventures
ezine advertising
directory submissions
link exchanges
contests
and many more!

Offline Promotion:
flyers
bulletin boards
freebies (such as ink pens)
business cards
newspapers
radio stations
and many more! To read more about many of these
methods send any email to:
seymour-articles@getresponse.com

Terri Seymour and her husband Terry offer a no-cost, non-MLM home business
opportunity.
They also provide a website building service. Take advantage of the gifts,
resources and
more provided for your home and business at http://www.seymourproducts.com
FREE ecourse at:
business-building-ecourse@getresponse.com

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Kay Green
kay@mypreciouskid.com
503-693-2832

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
My Precious Kid® Child Safety Products
http://www.mypreciouskid.com
Home Business Resources
http://www.123homebusinessguide.com
Homeschool / Adoption Resources
http://www.preciouskids.org
Child ID Challenge
http://www.childidchallenge.com
FREE Xerox Printer
http://www.123homebusinessguide.com/free-printer.html


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