Unconditional

It’s an easy, alluring trap to fall into, and I do it more often than I’d like to. It starts so simply; one or another of them will come up to me, waving a piece of paper or a Lego monstrosity or a frog made out of craft foam, and more often than not, it’s …

Am I Nurturing Myself?

Or am I finding more ways to aggravate the stress? I don’t really have a solid plan anymore. It’s just kind of this vague, fuzzy glob of thoughts. My oldest two kids have moved out. One of them almost a thousand miles away, the other less than fifteen minutes away. I still have my twelve-year-old …

Point of Departure

Sometimes, familiar actions – the ones we’ve repeated over and over for what seems like forever - carry extra weight. In this case, it’s the school dropoff, an act we’ve been performing daily since the girls were three. At some schools, the dropoff involves a circle ("Parents, please remember to enter COUNTERCLOCKWISE!"). At others, it …

Love Rollercoaster

I let my wife know I was struggling with this month's blog post and she had my back.  She had written something a while back and when I told her I was having a hard time with this blog, she shared it with me.  She said that even though it might not fit in with …

On Being Thankful: A guest post from Mona Chicks

Happy Monday everyone! I hope my friends in the US survived the long holiday weekend filled with food, family, shopping and fun., Today I am pleased to host a guest post by Rev. Mona Chicks. Mona is an ordained American Baptist pastor (retired), who supervises the home-based learning of her profoundly gifted and twice-exceptional son. She enjoys …

That Word…I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

"He's kind of a perfectionist," A's first-grade teacher told us around this time last year. We were a month into the school year, just about time for the first substantive teacher feedback to start trickling in, and sure enough, the tears were getting a label: the dreaded, misunderstood, p-word.  "If he doesn't get it right …

Surviving Middle School…So Far…

In preparation for this post, I asked my newly minted 6th grade daughter if she had any tips for surviving Middle School. She said, “Watch Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide.” I gave her the facial equivalent of “dash, underline, dash,” or: -_- and then said, “I can’t just tell people to go watch a kids’ …

4 Books About Friendships for Young Kids

Welcome to our first Book Review of the new year. For this post, educational writer Barbara Jolie brings four books about friendship for younger readers. Take it away Barbara: Back to school is an exciting time for everyone; new classes, new teachers, new clothes and new responsibilities. Sometimes our friendships are even new. Learning how …

In Denial

My youngest is going into 6th grade, which is the first year of middle school in our area. The first Official day of school begins August 21. Because my daughter is an incoming 6th grader, she has to show up for a sort of orientation on August 20. In addition, August 16 is the first …

Some Advice for Writers…

OMGosh...I am SO happy it's Friday - even if it is Friday the Thirteenth (No Triskaidekaphobia here!). You know, today marks the end of the epic Blog Book Tour and I'm hanging out on Eric Stallsworth's blog today. Since he was nice enough to host the final leg of the tour -  thought I'd ask him …