Weekly Parent Update 11/25/16

Happy Post Thanksgiving Everyone,

Getting Ready for the Holidays

December Group Meetings

Please look at the December Schedule (visit www.lunchgroups.com and click on "Calendar"). Our Teen group meetings are unchanged, but there is a special meeting date for our 6-8 year old group. Also, the 8-11 and 11-13 year old groups have only one meeting due to the way the calendar is organized.

Do we still pay a materials fee for the two sessions in December?

The answer is "Yes," for the following reason. Not all of the money each session is used for snacks or meals. We "bank" some of the money for raffles and upcoming community outings, which begin in February. So, if you are a 6-8 or 8-11 year old family, you were charged $30 for the month of December, $40 if you are an 11-13 or Teen family. Please let me know if you have any questions.

December Webinar and Parent Meetings

The next Webinar is on 12/14 at 7:30pm. Please see last week's update for the link to sign up and related details.

I didn't hear back from any families with special requests for Parent Drop In Times, so I moved them around a little bit and have scheduled them. They are as follows:

• Sun, 12/11, from 10:30-12:30pm
• Wed, 12/14, from 5-7pm (Yes, the Webinar is at 7:30pm)
• Fri, 12/16, from 10:30-12:30pm

You may have noticed that the weekend meeting is on a Sunday rather than a Saturday. Just trying to insure that everyone who wishes to attends has a chance.

Please RSVP by clicking here. You will also receive a separate invite. It is only necessary to RSVP one time per person/family.

Mid-Session Progress Reports

In January, when everyone returns, we will be sending out a special version of Rapid Screener®, the survey that everyone filled out when you started the program. This will be used as part of of our information for developing progress reports, which will go out in February. It will be important that we receive this back in a timely manner in order to analyze your data and include it in the update.

Bonus Webinar - Responsible Technology Use

Back in 2015, I created a comprehensive Technology Webinar for parents. I have made it available after hearing from families that they are feeling overwhelmed about their children's technology use. You may access this via the Parent Portal or by clicking here. Log in required. Feel free to use the comments section on the video.  I have created "Chapters" for it so you can skip around more easily, plus added a few updates. I will be referring to this information in an upcoming webinar on tech use and your children as it pertains to social skills.

See you in December (Starting this coming Thursday)

Weekly Parent Update 11/18/16

Hi Parents,

We've had a few last minute families join and now the groups are closed. Some of you have referred families to our program and I greatly appreciate it. We will place these families on a summer wait list or (believe it or not!) for next school year. I also try to direct them to other resources.

Parent Rosters

Over the next week, Terry will be creating Parent Rosters that will be sent to each group. This will include the following information:  Child's name, parent Name(s), primary email contact, home and cell phone contact. child's current age, and zip code. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please call Terry at 818-788-2100 x2 to discuss so we can accommodate your requests.

December Group Meetings

The schedule for this month is mostly unchanged, please see below:

6-8 Group 4-6pm

Meets on Dec 2 (Friday, special time) and Dec 13 (Tues, regular time. This is occurring because our normal 4th Tuesday meeting would fall during the holiday break and this group started later than the others initially.

8-11 Group 4-6pm 

Meets on Dec 6 (Tues) only for this month. The second meeting time would have occurred during holiday break.

11-13 Group 4:15-6:45pm

Meets on Dec 7 (Wed) only for this month. We had polled families to see about having a second meeting, but less than 50% indicated they would be able to attend.

Teen Group 4:15-6:45pm

Meets on Dec 1 (Thu) and Dec 15 (Thu), which are our regular meeting dates.

If you know that your child will be missing group, please call Terry to inform us.

Remember, you can always view the current calendar by visiting www.lunchgroups.com.

December Webinar and Parent Meetings

The next Webinar is scheduled for the next Wed in December, on 12/14 at 7:30pm. Everyone should have registered for the webinars, however only 1/2 of our families have done so. You only have to register one time, then you are automatically registered for all the webinar meetings until May.

If you have not registered, click here to do so now. You will receive a notice that your registration is "pending." Once I approve it you will receive a confirmation (need to do this since I am posting the link on a public blog rather email).

In the next weekly update, I will confirm our Parent Meeting dates. Last month, we held a meeting on a Wednesday evening from 5-7pm, Thursday at 10am and Saturday at 11am.  If none of these times work for you and you wish a different time for December, please send me an email or call the office and I will change one of the times/days if I received enough input.  The upcoming December dates will be posted in the next weekly update, dated 11/25.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Weekly Parent Update 11/11/16

Hi Parents,

Parent Drop In Meetings

It was wonderful seeing parents at the recent drop in meetings held over the past few days. The purpose of them is to have an opportunity to view videos of your children in group, ask questions, clarify information from the webinars, and bring up any other topics of interest related to your children.

Our next series of parent meetings will occur in December. As we get closer to that period, I will again send out an email requesting that you RSVP. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of parents are following through on this request.

New Families

We had a couple of families need to drop out, so some of the families from the wait list were contacted and joined our programs. Accordingly, you may see a couple of new faces. We won't be accepting any new families for the rest of the School Year program.

New families should be receiving information about signing in for webinars and related information. Let me know if you haven't gotten this information.

Monthly Webinars

The monthly webinars are continuing. We had the November webinar last week. We covered the basics of behavioral management and reviewed some of the more critical concepts from the October Parent Orienation. If you missed it, click here to access (you will need your username and password. Contact me if you have any questions or problems).  You can make comments right on the video (just remember all parents can see them).

Some of you haven't registered for the webinars yet. Once you have registered, you will receive your login information plus reminders just before the webinar occurs each month. These will continue through May. See if you can find the link in one of the recent emails. If not, send me an email and I will send it to you.

Upcoming Meetings This Month

We'll be meeting this coming week for the 8-11, 11-13, and Teen Groups. Our 6-8 group meets on Nov 22, just a couple of days prior to Thanksgiving.

8-11 and 6-8 Groups: We're going to to Libbit Park for our next groups. Please make certain that your kids are wearing shoes and socks. You've heard me mention this before, but we still have just a few who are showing up in shoes that aren't suitable for walking and especially for running around a bit at the park. Also, they tend to shuffle along in these shoes and slow the group down. Thanks for your help.

Thanks it for now. Please be in touch if you have any questions.

Bruce

Weekly Parent Update 11/4/16

Hi Parents,

Please take a minute to read through this important information.

A reminder about LUNCH Points™ Certificates

All the groups seem to be running smoothly and your kids are generally settling in. Hopefully you're feeling comfortable with the LUNCH Points™ program and how that works.  We're getting a small number of group members coming in with certificates, although it could be more. Remember, one certificate is plenty and two certificates should be considered the maximum. The main reason your child is receiving it from you doesn't have anything to do with "reinforcing them," and everything to do with increasing their motivation to change their behavior outside of group sessions.

I’d be happy to “walk through” any parents who are having difficulty, just send me an email.

Upcoming Parent Webinar

Webinars will be held on Wednesdays from 7:30-8:30pm. You will receive an invitation Monday night. Just enter your name, email, and answer a couple of questions. You will receive a registration confirmation and follow up reminders about the webinar.  You will be able to watch it from any portable or desktop computer, but there will be a small piece of software you must download. It’s a good idea to try to join the meeting prior to the actual time since this will install the necessary software on your computer, tablet, or phone. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to use the link again when it’s time for the webinar.

Wrong time on Calendar?

If you are seeing incorrect times on the calendar, it is most likely due to an incorrect setting on your time or date function (most likely only a problem on Mac and PC computers).  Open up your date and time settings and confirm that it is set for California. Some people accidentally leave their settings on the wrong time zone, then adjust their clocks for the current time. That will cause appointments that haven’t been set by you to appear to be a few to several hours off. If you are having problems with this, again, just send me an email and I will walk you through the process.

Upcoming Parent Drop In Meetings

I have scheduled three Drop in Meetings for parents this week. Please remember that these meetings are only for parents. Children may not come to the office during these meetings and there are no exceptions.  If your child is old enough to wait by him or herself at a nearby store, e.g., Gelsons or Starbucks, of course that’s fine, but we cannot be involved in this.

For the month of November, meetings will be held on the following Dates/Times:

• Wednesday, November 9, 5pm-7pm
• Thursday, November 10, 10am-12pm
• Saturday, November 12, 11am-1pm

During each meeting, you will have an opportunity to see videos of your children, plus you are welcome to bring up any topics you wish about ways to help your child.

RSVP for Parent Drop In Meeting

Please click here to RSVP, it greatly helps me to plan for how many are attending and which groups to emphasize. While any parent can ask questions, I typically plan the video segments according to the proportion of families who are attending each individual parent meeting.

Special Information for Parents of the 11-13 year old Group

The meetings are as usual for November, but December presents an issue. The first Wednesday in that month is 12/7 and normally, we would meet on 12/21 for our second meeting. However, since this is right in the middle of holiday break, our office will be closed. So, we are proposing that there be a second meeting on 12/14. 

If you are in the 11-13 year old group, please CLICK HERE to complete this very quick survey to let us know if you can have your child attend on this date.

Starting Blog for LUNCH Groups® Parents

Hi Parents,

I have decided to begin providing updates via this blog. That way, if you miss an email, you can always visit this link and review anything you may have missed.

I will also use this site for providing information about any updates, such as new tutorials.  You will be able to access the parent blog two ways:

1. Through the Parent Portal that you will find on the www.lunchgroups.com website (click here to access directly)
2. Directly via the link below:
   http://lgsy16-17.blogspot.com/

Let me know if you have any questions.