Family Meetings + Summer Planning

In our house, a weekly family meeting on Sunday afternoons helps set expectations, troubleshoot issues, and - best of all - make plans for FUN! In today's episode Sarah does a deep dive into how family meetings work in the Powers house, from what, when, why, and how they happen to sample agenda items and ideas for making them fun for kids of different ages.

As more families start to travel again this spring and summer, we're chatting about our own wanderlust, and how it relates to the media we consume. We talk about where we've been, where we'd like to go, and how the books we read and the shows we watch have inspired our travel goals. Plus we've got updates to what we're reading (and listening to), and what YOU're reading too.

Behind the books we read, the podcasts we love, the movies we watch, and the music we listen to are the methods by which we consume the media. From smart speakers to apps, headphones to charging solutions, today's episode is all about the tech in our lives that helps us consume the media we love.

It's easy to get excited about new books at the library or in stores, but sometimes we forget just how many great books we already have at home. In today's episode Sarah and Allegra each choose four books - across multiple age levels and genres from picture books through YA fiction - to spotlight from our home shelves. We share why we chose them, why we love them, and who else might love them too.

From encyclopedias to biographies, nonfiction additions to your home library make for great learning--and fun--at all ages. In Episode 29 we share some of the reasons we love a well-curated nonfiction collection, recommendations for capturing kids' natural interest through nonfiction books, tips for reluctant readers, and more.

From animated comedies to edgy documentaries, 1990s mega-hits to new releases, our family is big into streaming television lately. Today's episode is fully of recommendations for TV shows to watch as a family as well as shows specifically for elementary-aged viewers, tweens, and teens. As always, we round out the episode with book recommendations inspired by what we're reading AND what you're reading with your kids these days.

Let's talk about food and cooking--and the media that helps us make and eat yummy stuff! In Episode 27 we share our favorite ways to get kids inspired in the kitchen, from magazines to cookbooks, TV shows to apps. Allegra talks about a multi-course, internationally-inspired meal she recently made from scratch for a school project, and, as always, we round out the episode with what we're reading and what YOU're reading.

Listening to audiobooks is a great way to pass the time on car rides or during long days at home, and we have some specific suggestions for HOW to get your kids hooked on listening to great books. In today's episode we share ideas for getting started with audiobooks (even with very young children), plus some specific titles that we love for little kids and several more our bigger kids have been loving lately. As always, we wrap up the episode with what we've been reading and what YOU've been reading.

If you're listening, you probably identify as a reader. But do you give much thought to WHERE, WHEN, and HOW you read? Today's episode is all about our family's reading habits; with two grownups and three kids, we run the gamut between late-night marathon readers to early birds who read in the morning, and everything in between. In this episode we also chat about electronic vs. paper books, reading in bed vs. outside, and more. Plus we'll share what we're reading and what YOU're reading.

Whether it's through an old attic, a mysterious tree house, or a speeding Delorian, the idea of traveling through time to another era makes for great storytelling. Inspired by a new television series that hooked us recently, we look at time travel as a genre: from why we love it to how different authors handle it. We offer some book, TV and movie suggestions for other fans of time travel and, of course, we also share what we're reading and what YOU've been reading lately.