WFMW: Filling out school forms

We've gone back to school here and with it came an onslaught of forms to fill out. This year I've got two kids in school and I'm filling out the same forms for both of them and they're also the same forms that I filled out LAST year. So, I scanned the forms using my scanner and then filled out the forms on the computer so I could just change the stuff that was different between each child. I just used a photo editing program on my mac to do it (MSPaint would work on Windows), but you could OCR the form, if your scanning software supports it, and then edit it in Word or OpenOffice.org. Then I saved a copy of each form so I can just update the new stuff next year.

Alternatively, if you're not that computer savvy you can fill out the common information for the forms, make a copy of the form and then finish filling it out for each child. I did that last year, and saved a copy for this year, but realized it would be easier to read if I typed it. My handwritting isn't very neat anymore now that I type pretty much everything!

This has worked for me for school forms and other forms as well, anything that I need to fill out for both kids. It works best if the form is on white paper too.

For more great tips, check out Works for Me Wednesday over at We Are that Family.

Backpack Makeover

A few years ago, I found some brand new backpacks at Good Will for $2.50, but, I didn't like the design that was on them.  I picked up a couple of them anyway though intending to give them a make over.

This year, I was intending to get some princess fabric to decorate one for my youngest, but she decided she wanted a ballerina backpack.  So, I bought some fabric with ballerinas on it, cut it to size (with about a half inch extra on all 4 sides to turn under), then I sewed around the edges turning the raw edges under as I went.  I did the stitching by hand because I wasn't sure that I'd be able to manipulate the backpack with my machine enough to do a good job.  After I finished sewing it, I sprayed it good with Scotch Gaurd.  The fabric will attract dirt faster than the canvas part of the backpack, so I wanted to counter act that.

So, now my daughter has a backpack with the design of her choice and there's not likely to be anyone else in Kindergarten with one like it.  This would work well too for the times when your child out grows the theme of their backpack but it's still in good shape.

Back to School

It's getting close to that time, stores have their back to school supplies on sale.  I took my youngest shopping for a new outfit for her to wear the first day of school.  We hadn't even left the store yet before she was asking how many days until she starts school.  She's just a *wee* bit excited about this next step!

After getting asked a number of times the rest of the day, I finally asked her if she wanted to make a chain to count down.  So, that is what we did.

I've made it into a pdf for you to print.

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Some of the graphics are from WebWeaver.